Competition too great says West

Outgoing AgResearch chief executive Andy West is not surprised by a survey which showed high levels of job dissatisfaction among agricultural and soil scientists.

The survey, conducted by Professor Jack Sommer of the University of North Carolina for the New Zealand Association of Scientists, found more than 61 per cent of agricultural and soil scientists questioned were concerned with the direction funding of scientific research was heading.

The survey was conducted in 2008 before the general election in which National, with John Key at the helm, was victorious over Labour, led by Helen Clark.

More than half (51.6 per cent) felt secure in their jobs but 48 per cent said job satisfaction had decreased since the last survey five years before. Only 42 per cent would recommend science as a career.

Dr West, who leaves the job on June 30 after announcing his resignation this month, is looking at the private sector and offshore for his next role.

"Presently, there is too much competition for funding. However, I am hopeful that a better balance between contest and stability will be introduced in the near future," Dr West said.

The results of the survey, Dr West said, was symptomatic of the competitive nature of New Zealand's science funding system.

Nearly 6000 scientists responded to the survey, 8.6 per cent of them in the agricultural and soil sector.

"It is notable that 16.1 per cent of respondents were social and behavioral scientists, nearly twice as numerous as agricultural and soil scientists," Jon Hickford, president of the NZ Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science said. "When you consider the worth of the primary sector to the economy, either GDP or export, these figures do seem a little low to me."

Prof Hickford, an associate professor in animal breeding and genetics at Lincoln University near Christchurch, said New Zealand needed to move away from lottery style handouts for short-term projects and invest in decades-long research.

"The majority of funding is still competitive and it becomes a bit of a popularity contest," Prof Hickford said. "We have got to understand how the rumen works in more detail if we are going to get our heads around ruminant methane production."

Other areas of research that needed long-term funding, he said, were climate change, drought tolerance and nitrogen use.

Prof Hickford said things looked more favourable for agricultural and soil science since the appointment of Professor Sir Peter Gluckman as Prime Minister John Key's chief science adviser and Dr Stephen Goldson as strategy adviser to the Prime Minister's Office. "It's the first time, in 20 years, that we have had a government that has acknowledged the role agriculture and horticulture play in the economy," Prof Hickford said.

- © Fairfax NZ News