The New Zealand Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, today in Brisbane announced a new trans-Tasman partnership to solve complex problems in agriculture.
She announced that AgResearch— a New Zealand Crown research institute — and The University of Queensland (UQ) had agreed to jointly fund a new Chair in Systems Thinking and Practice.
Known as the AgResearch Chair in Systems Thinking and Practice, the position will be established in the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, based at UQ’s Gatton campus, 80 km west of Brisbane.
The Chair will travel to New Zealand several times a year as part of the partnership, working with AgResearch researchers and with key pastoral industry players and policy agents. An international search will commence shortly to recruit the Chair.
AgResearch Chairman Rick Christie said the issues confronting agriculture on both sides of the Tasman were complex and required an approach that looked at the whole environment in which farming occurred – not just the physical environment, but also the rural community and the economic situation.
“They are all intertwined. In the past decades New Zealand has dealt with each separately to the detriment of farming,” Mr Christie said.
The Chair will take a wide, comprehensive view on how to best propel research that brings together environmental, social and economic realities of farming and the rural community. This person and the researcher network they operate within, will consider the farm, agribusiness and the rural community as a single, complete system.
University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay, AC said the University welcomed the collaborative arrangement which took an imaginative approach to leveraging the research and education strengths of both institutions.
Professor Hay said there was a natural synergy between the two organisations which would help provide international leadership in this area.
The AgResearch Chair in Systems Thinking and Practice will support both organisations in achieving an outstanding international reputation. The aim is to benefit Australian and New Zealand rural communities and national economies; to refine systems theory and methods to better solve complex problems in farming and agro-ecosystems, and to build an appropriate systems culture and capacity in both organisations.
Mr Christie said both AgResearch and The University of Queensland agreed that systems thinking and its application would be important to sustaining natural and managed ecosystems.
Head of the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management Professor Ockie Bosch said the new Chair would develop systems theory, help develop systems research and supervise PhD students to accelerate the development of the next generation of systems thinkers.
“We see an interdisciplinary approach as the only way to deal with complex management problems to help build a more sustainable future,” Professor Bosch said.
The Chair will have a strong relationship with AgResearch’s Agriculture and Environment S&T Group. The Group undertakes R&D primarily to ensure the ongoing global competitiveness and vitality of New Zealand’s pastoral industries, by providing profitable and sustainable production systems and supply chain management, and facilitating the adoption of these, while also developing strategies for protecting our pastoral systems from diseases, pests and weeds.
AgResearch General Manager of Agriculture and Environment Peter Benfell said UQ was the logical choice for this partnership. “I believe UQ’s systems research is of international standing and at the leading edge in Australasia. In addition, they have a very strong education programme that will up-skill our researchers and provide us with access to first-rate post-graduates.”
He said the position would assist AgResearch to deliver on its 2020 Science strategy and associated five “big ideas.” These include doubling the dairy industry’s value while halving its costs and impacts, doubling the value of the meat and textile industries while halving their costs and impacts, reducing the risk of pests and diseases getting a foothold and managing those already existing, maintaining strong relationships between agribusiness and communities, and securing scientific and commercial opportunities beyond food and textiles.
Media: Further information:
AgResearch (New Zealand)
Mike Eng
Telephone +64 3 321 8825, email: Mike.Eng@agresearch.co.nz
UQ (Australia)
Jan King
Telephone +61 7 3365 1120, email: j.king@uq.edu.au
