2025

Background

The food and fibre sector represents a cornerstone of the New Zealand economy and our rural communities. It is confronted with unprecedented and interlinked challenges; environmental and regulatory change, consumer driven climate pressures, volatile global markets, geopolitical instability and rising demands to demonstrate sustainable practices.

Rural managers play a critical role in supporting farmers, specifically in achieving goals, business resilience and financial wellbeing. However recent evidence points to challenges in farmer-bank relationships. This leads to the question; how do we enable trusted, high value relationships between rural managers and clients?

This report is directed at rural banking leaders, rural managers, and rural professional organisations concerned with the future of New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of this research project is to identify key factors that enable high-performing rural managers to build trusted, high value relationships with their clients.

Methodology

The methodology comprises of a literature review to understand the key elements in establishing strong, trusted relationships. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with the aim to explore the perspectives of three distinct groups: clients, rural managers and external stakeholders. The data was then analysed to identify common themes.

Key Findings

Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, combined with insights from the literature review, resulted in these findings.

Key attributes of high-performing rural managers:

• Build trust first – they listen, show genuine curiosity, and invest time on farm
• Blend technical insight with strong interpersonal skills
• Are proactive, prepare well, bring solutions and anticipate needs
• Understand growth mindset, owning their learning and resilience
• Collaborate and share knowledge.

Factors enabling high performance:

• Leaders who recruit for empathy, curiosity, integrity and ability to collaborate
• A performance framework that links clear competencies to remuneration, progression and retention
• Consistent coaching, feedback, and accountability
• Supportive culture that values training, autonomy and empowerment.

Recommendations for Rural Managers:

• Build trust through demonstrated understanding, consistent follow-through and clear, empathic communication.
• Prepare thoroughly and turn data and information into proactive, client-specific insights.
• Seek feedback, reflect regularly, be visible, use and share best practice.
• Use internal tools, and team expertise to deliver fast, coordinated client support.
• Schedule time for self-care, planning, learning, and relationship building.
• Maintain a growth mindset.

Recommendations for Leaders:

• Actively role model values and desired behaviours.
• Provide targeted training in storytelling, structured communication, courageous conversations, and interpersonal skills.
• Complete regular one on one sessions, including field based feedback to embed training into business as usual activities. Ensure two-way communication.
• Be consistently courageous in identifying and addressing underperformance.
• Celebrate success.

Recommendations for Organisations:

• Recruit for empathy, curiosity, character and collaborative mindset.
• Define excellence with a clear evidence based three tier matrix, and link remuneration accordingly.
• Embed growth mindset training covering resilience, change management, and learning from setbacks.
• Hold leaders to account.
• Recognise that high performance is supported by physical and mental wellbeing.

Background

Farmers are facing challenges such as environmental regulations, inflation, and price volatility, leading many to seek land use changes and diversification. Agritourism has emerged as a popular option, integrating tourism into farming and providing opportunities for experiencing real farming life in New Zealand and re-connecting with nature.

Aims & Objectives

The research aimed to understand why farmers diversify into agritourism and what opportunities exist in this sector. The question addressed was, “What opportunities lie in New Zealand agritourism?” The goal was to provide information for farmers considering agritourism to diversify their farming businesses and investigate how the agritourism sector could grow.

Methodology

A literature review established definitions, drivers, benefits, and challenges of agritourism globally and compared them to New Zealand. Qualitative interviews with agritourism operators and stakeholders identified motivations, benefits, challenges, and success factors in the sector.

Key Findings

• Agritourism diversification is driven by financial and social factors.
• Diversified income and resource optimization enhance business resilience and facilitate business growth.
• Agritourism provides opportunities for non-farming partners and family members, enabling personal growth and offering flexibility.
• Challenges include operational considerations such as balancing farming and tourism activities, health and safety, weather implications and staffing requirements.
• Authenticity is the key to success in the agritourism sector. Providing experiences unique to individual businesses and the resources they have available.
• Agritourism helps bridge the rural-urban divide and helps educate urban people on the primary sector.
• Agritourism can also help promote New Zealand farming and products on an international scale.
• New Zealand lacks agritourism leadership compared to countries like Australia and Scotland. No national strategy exists to support sustainable growth of agritourism.

Recommendations For Farmers

• Investigate agritourism as an option to optimise land use, improve profitability and create a role for non-farming partners or other family members.
• Undertake robust business planning and market research to and develop products that suit the land, region and people in the business.
• Ensure offerings are unique and authentic to avoid “cookie cutter” experiences.
• Consider the effects on your local community, both positive and negative. Minimise any negative impacts to maintain social license.
• Connect with Regional Tourism Organisations for local tourism information and collaboration opportunities.

Recommendations to stakeholders

• New Zealand government needs to recognise the opportunity within agritourism and develop an agritourism strategy for sustainable growth. Pulling inspiration from existing international strategies such as the Australian “Agritourism 2030” national framework.
• Tourism New Zealand needs to redirect funding from marketing to destination management and infrastructure development in the regions to support sustainable growth of agritourism.

Veterinarians in the Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) Verification Services (VS) are essential to New Zealand’s food safety, biosecurity, and export assurance systems. Despite their essential role, MPI faces ongoing challenges in attracting, retaining, and supporting veterinarians, especially in rural, shift-based, and sole-charge positions. This research, conducted through the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme, explores these challenges and identifies practical strategies to enhance veterinary retention, engagement, and workforce resilience.

Key Findings

Eight interrelated factors influence veterinary retention at MPI:

• Leadership visibility and recognition: Limited connection with senior leadership and inconsistent recognition practices.
• Line manager capability: The quality of local leadership significantly shapes daily job satisfaction.
• Career development: Limited clear pathways for progression and inconsistent access to Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
• Organisational structure and agency: Centralised decision-making reduces veterinarians’ ability to influence their work environments.
• Workload and flexibility: Rigid rostering and inadequate relief cover negatively impact wellbeing.
• Onboarding and early attrition: Inconsistent induction processes lead to early disengagement.
• Career adaptability and return: Opportunities for flexible roles can retain veterinarians who initially leave.
• Purpose alignment: Lack of clarity regarding the regulatory nature of roles contributes to early dissatisfaction.

Recommendations

To strengthen veterinary retention and resilience, MPI could:

• Reinstate structured onboarding and mentorship programmes.
• Develop transparent, flexible career pathways across VS and MPI.
• Standardise and promote equitable access to CPD, focusing on both technical and soft skills.
• Enhance rostering, relief planning, and leave management.
• Empower Veterinary Technical Supervisor 1s (VTS1s) and provide comprehensive leadership training.
• Encourage peer-led innovation to increase frontline agency and ownership.
• Reassess the requirement for full-time on-site veterinary presence.
• Strengthen recruitment communication and purpose alignment during onboarding.
• Align Remuneration and Responsibility for VTS1 Roles

Additionally, veterinarians themselves are encouraged to proactively engage in professional development, peer support networks, and contribute positively to team culture.

Improving retention involves more than keeping staff, it requires designing supportive, engaging systems where veterinarians thrive. Addressing these structural and cultural factors will enable MPI to sustain a resilient, future-ready veterinary workforce.

As the New Zealand dairy sector navigates increasing consumer scrutiny, technological disruption, and regulatory expectations, the role of on-farm event data has come into sharper focus. This research set out to answer a simple but nuanced question: Are dairy farmers incentivised to know about and share accurate on-farm event data, or do they prefer to present data that is favourable in the eyes of downstream consumers?

Drawing on interviews with dairy farmers, milk processors, and agri-tech firms, this study reveals a nuanced landscape shaped by incentives, trust, control, value perception, and the broader data ecosystem. It introduces the “make/save/comply” framework, a practical model that captures the motivations behind farmer engagement with data.

Key Finding: Farmers Are Rational, Not Resistant

The overwhelming conclusion is that farmers are willing to share data however it is conditional, based on a rational assessment of:

• Control over who sees the data and for what purpose.
• Trust in the requesting party and the data’s intended use.
• Tangible value returned from sharing, whether financial, operational, cultural or strategic.

Data sharing occurs within a spectrum rather than a binary choice. When these three conditions are met, farmers demonstrate a high degree of professionalism and transparency. When they are not, farmers may lean toward selective or minimal disclosure, not to deceive, but to protect their business from misinterpretation or unintended consequences.

Introducing the “Make/Save/Comply” Framework

A central contribution of this research is the “make/save/comply” framework, which emerged from interviews across all stakeholder groups. It categorises the perceived value of data sharing as:

• Make – Increasing productivity, accessing incentive programmes, genetic gains, or market premiums.
• Save – Reducing cost, time, and complexity (e.g., lower vet bills, automated compliance).
• Comply – Meeting industry, regulatory, or processor obligations to operate.

This model resonates strongly with both farmers and agri-tech firms and provides a common language for discussing the incentives underpinning data sharing. Importantly, compliancerelated data (the “comply” category) was identified as the most sensitive, often invoking hesitation unless communication and support are strong.

Trust and Control as prerequisites

Across interviews, trust consistently emerged as a key enabler of accurate data sharing. Farmers are more willing to share when:

• They understand the purpose of the request.
• There are clear boundaries around data usage.
• They receive insights or benefits in return.
• They can provide context around the data to avoid misinterpretation.

Trust underpins the Make/Save/Comply framework. Where trust is low or the requesting party is seen as overreaching, farmers become more cautious. Examples include fears that lameness or mastitis data, without context, could unfairly disadvantage them. Some processors and agri2 tech firms are actively addressing this by developing “managed connections” features, improving transparency and ensuring farmers retain control.

Evolving customer expectations and their impact

One of the forces driving increased interest in farm-level data is the shift in customer expectations, particularly among key corporate commodity buyers such as Nestlé and Mars. While end consumers are not always seen as the direct drivers, major commodity customers now demand proof of sustainability, traceability, and animal welfare.

Milk processors have responded with incentive frameworks like Fonterra’s Co-operative Difference, Synlait’s Lead With Pride, and Miraka’s Te Ara Miraka, all of which depend on farmer-supplied data. These programmes offer financial bonuses (up to $0.20/kgMS in some cases) and signal market alignment but also raise the stakes for farmers in terms of the nature and accuracy of what they report.

Favourable vs. accurate: a subtle tension

There exists a delicate tension between sharing accurate data and presenting favourable data. This is not rooted in deceit, but in defensiveness, farmers want to avoid being penalised for anomalies that may be beyond their control or misunderstood without context. Selective data reporting is most likely when:

• Incentives or penalties are tied to thresholds.
• The data’s interpretation is unclear.
• There is a lack of trust in the party requesting it.

However, where there are strong relationships and mutual benefit (particularly with agri-tech firms providing operational insights), farmers tend to provide complete and accurate data. This reveals the importance of framing the request for data as a tool for support, not surveillance.

The role of agri-tech firms and system design

Agri-tech firms play a pivotal role in shaping the data-sharing environment. Farmers show high levels of trust when these firms:

• Focus on enabling decision-making, not just data collection.
• Design products around practical value rather than compliance pressure.
• Prioritise interoperability and reducing duplication.

Integration across systems remains a major frustration for farmers. Despite progress from platforms like LIC’s MINDA Integrations, many still report the burden of manually transposing data between platforms. This duplication erodes the incentive to share and diminishes data quality.

Reframing relationships: the coaching analogy

To help clarify roles and expectations, this research introduces a novel “coaching team” analogy to describe how farmers interact with various stakeholders, processors, agri-tech firms, consultants, and regulators. Just as a professional athlete works with a team of specialised coaches (e.g., performance analyst, strength and conditioning coach, nutritionist), so too do farmers engage with domain-specific experts.

Each coach has a role and a time horizon:

• Attach coach: Supporting national branding and premium market access.
• Sports psychologist: Driving long-term innovation.
• Rehabilitation coach: Supporting animal health.
• …and others.

This analogy helps stakeholders contextualise data requests in a way that aligns with their role and relationship with the farmer. It also gives farmers a useful mental model for evaluating the relevance of requests, helping to reduce friction and increase cooperation.

Final reflections

This research finds that data sharing is neither inherently problematic nor universally embraced. Rather, it depends on:

• Relevance: The data request must align with the role and relationship of the requester.
• Value: The farmer must see a clear and proportionate benefit.
• Trust and control: The data must be handled ethically, securely, and transparently.

Where these conditions are met, farmers are willing and even eager, to share data that is accurate, timely, and actionable. Where they are not, favourable data or minimum compliance becomes the fallback.

The challenge for the dairy sector, and the broader agri-food industry, is to build a shared data culture grounded in trust, clarity, and mutual benefit. This includes:

• Aligning incentives with outcomes.
• Investing in interoperability.
• Standardising data governance practices.
• Educating farmers on data value and sovereignty.
• And above all, respecting the farmer’s role as a steward of both land and information.

In a world where market access, compliance, and competitive advantage are increasingly data-dependent, creating a farmer-centric data ecosystem is not optional, it’s essential.

Leadership in New Zealand Agriculture, with a focus on people management has only become a widespread discussion topic in recent years. There is a need for effective people management as the sector relies heavily on manual labour to achieve business success. Managers in the sector have historically been promoted from within the sector based on good technical capabilities. What may not be well understood is that the knowledge capability associated with being technically proficient, does not necessarily correspond with being an effective manager.

This report aims to describe a small qualitative study conducted on a group of farm owners, managers and leaders. It will also describe the qualities and attributes identified in these leaders and how the learnings can be utilized and applied by novice or first-time managers.

The research show that good managers prioritise the care and welfare of their employees. They ensure that good communication about work and home life is enacted to better understand how their employees are feeling. This leads to a relationship of increased trust, which helps the leader to engage with staff about the business and its operations. Leaders ensure they behave consistently with all of their staff to role model good behaviour and understand conflict. The leaders interviewed have all grown in their leadership skills and have come to value reflection and introspection. This has been used to improve further on their leadership traits.

The leaders interviewed have largely learnt and refined the skills, knowledge and tools they use to lead well through trial and error. Finding out what works and what doesn’t has been an individualistic progression for them. On top of trial-and-error learning, some of the interviewees had attended short form courses, as well as using their respective industries for support. All of the interviewees have over the course of their leadership journey, relied heavily on trusted mentors to help guide them. The ability for a leader to utilize the knowledge and advice of a more experienced leader has helped all interviewees grow.

The leaders interviewed in this study all displayed transformational leadership qualities. These qualities revolved around empowerment through trust in their employees. They recognized that they needed to understand each employee as individuals to get the best out of them, and once they truly appreciated them individually, it was easier to empower them. The leaders interviewed all dealt with conflict management as part of their role, however, most admitted to being non-confrontational people. They understood the need to display positive leadership traits during conflict management in order to have a functioning business. They had learnt to put more effort in to doing it better as they moved through their leadership journey.

The leaders interviewed recognized that good leadership was not always the easy choice when managing people, but the long-term gain made it worth it. They recognized that time, effort and focus had to be implemented on a daily basis in order to achieve good management practices. The structure and financial constraints of a business might also impact a manager’s capabilities to practice good leadership. They also warned that a manager’s ego would quickly ruin hopes of good leadership, as it restricted individualism and ingenuity of employees.

New Zealand’s sheep population has experienced a significant decline, decreasing by 21% over the past decade to reach 23.6 million as of June 2024. This trend is driven by a combination of environmental pressures, suboptimal wool returns, elevated input costs, and a transition towards a more beef-dominant system. However, the most influential factor has been the expansion of Carbon Forestry, facilitated by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) policies, which has resulted in the conversion of 260,000 hectares of sheep and beef farmland into pine plantations. Since the inception of the ETS in 2007, the national sheep flock has shrunk by 40%. As lamb exports continue to generate $3.18 billion annually, optimising productivity from the remaining ewe flock is of utmost importance.

This report focuses on the significance of terminal sires, particularly emphasising the utilisation of heterosis to improve lamb carcass weights and support the industry’s sustainability in the future. This report aims to investigate the current use and effectiveness of terminal sires within New Zealand’s sheep farming systems, with an emphasis on enhancing productivity from the declining ewe flock. Acknowledging the industry’s diversity in adaptability, this report is designed to influence the middle 60% of farmers, specifically those receptive to pragmatic, evidence-based transformations. Through the implementation of a relatable Mock Farm Model and accessible analysis, this research aspires to equip this group with the knowledge to make informed, production-optimising decisions regarding terminal sire usage.

The methodology employed in this research comprised a national farmer survey, semistructured interviews, and the implementation of a Mock Farm Model. The survey collected regional and on-farm data from sheep farmers throughout New Zealand, with a particular emphasis on terminal sire usage, lamb slaughter performance, and the perceptions held by farmers. Comprehensive telephone interviews were conducted with a geneticist, a diverse group of sheep farmers, and a lamb trader to investigate the practical and commercial aspects of terminal sire application. Lastly, a Gross Margin analysis, based on a mock farm scenario, was utilised to evaluate the economic implications of heightened terminal sire adoption.

The survey findings indicate that farmers utilising higher rates of terminal sires exhibited a significantly higher percentage of lambs killed off mum at weaning. However, the insufficient availability of quality maternal ewe lambs for replacements continues to pose a primary barrier to the increased adoption of terminal sires. Apprehensions regarding lower lambing percentages and the limited integration of Breeding Values in the selection of terminal sires compound this issue.

Interviewees highlighted strategic flock selection, grouping ewes into ‘A’ and ‘B’ mobs, which enables the targeted utilisation of maternal rams for replacements and terminal rams for production enhancements. The lamb trader confirmed a premium for terminal lambs before Christmas, which contradicts certain perceptions held by some farmers. Furthermore, participants stressed the necessity to enhance the quality of terminal sires to maximise performance and improve industry outcomes.

The Mock Farm Model indicated that through increasing the utilisation of terminal sires from 10% to 50% resulted in a significant feed surplus in mid to late summer and advanced the average kill date by 13 days. This feed surplus may be allocated for baleage production, enhancing the Body Condition Scores of ewes for improved scanning results, or for fattening lambs to heavier carcass weights. Scenario modelling proposed an enhancement in Gross Margin, thereby affirming the economic viability of the strategic use of terminal sires.

To optimise production within the declining population of ewes in New Zealand, this report presents the following recommendations:

• The flock on farm is to be segregated into two distinct groups:
  • An ‘A’ flock comprised of high-performing or younger ewes intended for breeding replacements, limited according to actual replacement requirements
  • A ‘B’ flock consisting of older or less productive ewes, which will be mated to terminal sires to leverage hybrid vigour for the production of heavier, more market-ready lambs at the time of weaning.
• Align sire selection with breeding goals, focusing more on rams with high genetic merit. Investing in quality terminal sires is a cost-effective decision due to their considerable effect on production.

With constant changes in rural New Zealand, particularly when it comes to owning or operating a business, it is clear there is a fundamental shortfall in financial literacy education (McHutchon, 2021). In order to develop strong financial literacy and therefore resilient rural businesses there needs to be a refocus on priorities within rural communities.

This report examines the current levels of financial literacy in rural New Zealand and how best to develop them in a manner geared towards the learning styles of typical rural New Zealanders. The purpose of this report was to identify implementable strategies to bring financial literacy education to everyone involved rurally including farmers, growers, and rural professionals.

In order to complete this report, a survey was conducted of sixty-three participants to get an understanding of the state of financial literacy in New Zealand currently. The survey was supported by a literature review of financial literacy and financial literacy education in rural communities on a wider scale. The report shows the results of the survey as well as analysis of the themes found from a combination of the survey and the literature review.

The themes identified in the report were:

1. Financial literacy education
   
   1. What education needs to be offered
   2. How best to deliver it
2. Access to education rurally
3. Socio-economic factors impacting ability to access financial literacy education
4. Financial literacy paradox

Recommended actions to address the issues identified in the report were:

1. One-to-one education
   Fleming (2020) shows that farmers and growers learn best in a one-to-one environment free from judgement and social stigmas. This means that providing farmers and growers with financial literacy education would likely fall to rural professionals who are already meeting with rural businesses at the kitchen table.
2. Gamification
   There is an opportunity to make the education accessible to all through gamification (Czech et al., 2024). It will allow rural New Zealanders to be educated effectively and on a wider scale at times convenient to them.
3. Making an education paper compulsory for students studying agriculture degrees If we are expecting rural professionals to step in as educators in this arena, it makes sense to give them a foundation on how best to educate people. Adding a compulsory paper to agriculture degrees and perhaps to law and finance degrees would allow new rural professionals to enter the industry with confidence to support farmers and growers effectively.

A Challenge for the NZ Sheep and Beef Industry: Retaining Skilled Farm Managers

Attracting and retaining skilled sheep and beef farm managers is a critical challenge for New Zealand farm owners. Despite high demand, many experienced managers are leaving the sector, driven not only by better pay elsewhere but also by limited ownership opportunities, unclear career progression and unsupportive workplace dynamics.

Through an interview process conducted with farm owners, current farm managers and former farm managers that have left the industry, this report investigates the core retention issues, focusing on the difficulty of farm ownership, misaligned employer-employee expectations and the need to understand current farm manager motivations. While there are several themes obtained from these interviews, three main and interconnected themes were sighted:

1. It is clear from the interviews that participants believe wages in sheep and beef management are lower than in other industries, making it hard for managers to build savings and secure their financial future. This, combined with a lack of clear career progression, inconsistent job titles and pay expectations, contribute to discontent.
2. Workplace dynamics significantly impact job satisfaction. The demanding nature of farming often leads to a poor work-life balance, with long and often inflexible hours being a major source of frustration for the majority of managers, especially those with families. A positive work environment, built on trust, clear communication and feeling valued, is crucial. The absence of this was a key reason former managers left.
3. The sharp rise in land price makes traditional farm ownership almost impossible for new entrants. While alternative equity models are proposed, they often lack clear, repeatable structures and have been met with scepticism in the sheep and beef sector, unlike in dairy.

Despite these challenges, a successful case study demonstrates that separating land ownership from the farm’s operating business can create viable equity partnerships, allowing managers to buy into the operating business directly. Crucially it addresses the entry and exit concerns around fluctuating livestock prices, the livestock buy-in prices are set at market value but the exit prices are set using the previous five-year average, reducing the risk of one of the partners strategically exiting when prices are high.

To address these issues within the sheep and beef sector, this report recommends that farm owners proactively invest time into their staff, understand their goals and help improve financial literacy, while planning for succession with innovative equity partnership models. Additionally, understand the benefits of workforce stability, as it reduces the significant costs associated with high staff turnover.

Farm managers should more clearly communicate their aspirations to farm owners and financial lenders, seek roles with clear progression, prioritise work-life balance and strategically build personal wealth.

Finally, the industry must establish clearer employment standards (like defined job titles and pay scales), as well as actively promoting well-structured equity partnerships. Consideration should be given by government to support equity partnerships through government-backed loan guarantees or tax incentives. Implementing these changes is vital for ensuring a stable and rewarding future for the managers within New Zealand’s sheep and beef sector.

Soils lay the foundation of al farming productivity. Whether the farm is managed conventionaly or holisticaly; it al starts with soil.

How farmers manage their soil is influenced by multiple factors. Overarching al of them is our scientific space which affects farmers’ perceptions both culturally and technically.

Linear, cause and effect, output focused, studies suit fertiliser research and fit well with our commercialised scientific frameworks. This product based mentality has extended into our shift towards environmental research with productive environmental science providing solutions through this lens. Meanwhile studies on soil function have been limited, and studies on soil function relating to productivity are non-existent. With baseline biological data missing, soil biology studies related to fertiliser usage have used inconsistent rudimentary measures that have not been built on over time.

The major players within our commercialised scientific frameworks have been driven by market incentives in a way that flies by soil biology and function without stopping to investigate. Public funding is limited, private funding won’t receive a product from it and our scientists have entire careers within this framework that encourages short term thinking. So the long game of soil, unwinding its complexity and variation, falls by the wayside in spite of the possibilities it can bring.

Farmers, in an effort to do the best they can, take advice based on these scientific outputs. The science technically supports fertiliser and culturally supports linear thinking. There is no scientific basis for holistic management, because the studies have not been conducted.

Combined with political and media portrayals, an unnecessary cultural gap is created between conventional and holistic farmers. A gap that limits what conventional farmers see as viable options and leaves holistic farmers to do their own experimentation.

This paper does not make arguments for or against either strategy, but rather highlights how different farmers consider soils within their systems and the challenges they experience in managing them. Combined with the views of advisors and scientists, it tries to explain the drivers behind these challenges and perceptions.

This report investigates the ethical, ecological, and cultural complexities surrounding wild deer control in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using an autoethnographic method integrated with policy analysis and a wide-ranging literature review, it explores why deer control remains so persistently contested, despite clear evidence of the environmental damage caused by expanding feral deer populations. Framed around the central question, Guardians or executioners? Navigating the ethics of deer control, the report critically examines how ethical frameworks shape, constrain, or enable management decisions in a settler-colonial context.

Introduced in the 19th and 20th centuries, deer have shifted from protected game species to pervasive pests. Today, they occupy more than 44 percent of the country’s land area, contributing to the decline of indigenous biodiversity, impeding native forest regeneration, and affecting productive land use (Mason & Allen, 2020). Although successive governments and agencies have undertaken control efforts, reinvasion, fragmented governance, and inconsistent investment have allowed deer populations to persist or expand in many regions.

This report weaves personal experience with academic critique to expose the moral tensions at the heart of contemporary deer control. Managing sentient animals through lethal means raises discomfort, resistance, and conflict, especially in rural and Māori communities. These tensions are not just policy obstacles; they reveal deeper misalignments between dominant control paradigms and the ethical, cultural, and ecological conditions in which they are applied.

Key themes include:

• The enduring influence of settler-colonial narratives that frame deer as either invasive threats or charismatic game animals.
• The emotional ambivalence and cultural complexity deer represent for many communities.
• The fragmented statutory environment that contributes to inconsistent and ineffective management across land types and jurisdictions.

Chapters 7 and 8 assess historical and contemporary control strategies, including iwi-led restoration projects, community-based catchment programmes, and commercial harvesting through Wild Animal Recovery (WARO). Chapter 9 introduces relational ethics, ecological justice, and kaitiakitanga as alternative frameworks for understanding and guiding decision-making. Chapter 10 presents six future-oriented models for deer control, each grounded in collaborative, context-sensitive practice. These chapters collectively argue for a pluralistic and adaptive strategy that reflects the diversity of New Zealand’s landscapes and communities.

Key Findings and Recommendations

The report identifies several key findings that inform a new approach to deer management in Aotearoa New Zealand. First, ethical tensions are not peripheral but foundational. For deer control to maintain public legitimacy and long-term support, it must be conducted in ways that are humane, transparent, and culturally appropriate. Public discomfort and resistance are not merely obstacles to overcome but signals of deeper ethical concerns that must be addressed through inclusive practices.

Second, co-design with Māori and rural communities is essential. Initiatives such as the Raukūmara Pae Maunga Project illustrate the potential of place-based governance that aligns with Te Tiriti o Waitangi and incorporates local knowledge, values, and aspirations. These models offer powerful alternatives to top-down approaches and help ensure that management strategies are both socially legitimate and ecologically grounded.

Third, the complexity of deer management demands multiple concurrent approaches. No single model is sufficient. Effective outcomes will require a combination of landscapescale coordination, iwi-led governance, catchment-level collaboration, and adaptive management hubs. These approaches must be responsive to different ecological conditions, land-use priorities, and community relationships.

Fourth, the way deer control is framed in public discourse has real consequences. Moving away from militaristic and adversarial metaphors toward a language of care and responsibility can create space for more constructive, pluralistic dialogue. This shift in narrative can reduce polarisation and foster broader public engagement with the ethical dimensions of environmental stewardship.

Finally, there is an urgent need for a coherent national deer strategy. Such a strategy should provide integrated direction that balances biodiversity outcomes, ethical responsibility, and Treaty obligations. Without national coordination, efforts will remain fragmented and inconsistent, limiting their long-term impact.

Ultimately, this report calls for a paradigm shift in how deer management is conceptualised and enacted. Rather than viewing it solely as a technical challenge, it must be recognised as an ongoing ethical practice rooted in care, cultural legitimacy, and ecological responsibility. Through this reframing, Aotearoa New Zealand can develop deer control systems that are not only effective but also just and enduring.