Food production of natural resources is a goal for Papua New Guinea but attracting a mushroom expert to get started is proving a challenge.  

Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) is committed to building sustainable communities across the Pacific but has had one particular vacancy for a mushroom cultivator in Papua New Guinea (PNG) unfilled for 252 days and counting.

This is despite reaching out to mushroom businesses across New Zealand who have not, so far, had the capacity to help. 

“So, we’re widening the net and hoping a story in the media might spur a couple of applications,” VSA country programme adviser Ngaire Tihema said.

Bringing in a Kiwi mushroom cultivator for a four- to six-month assignment means the  Daughters of Mary Immaculate (Filae Maria Immaculata, or FMI) congregation of Vunapope, who run a women’s refuge-style facility in PNG, will be able to produce fresh mushrooms for sale.

This will go some way to becoming self-sustaining financially and will also mean that the community has access to locally grown, nutritional mushrooms. 

“In PNG, there is a significant shortage of trained horticulturists who can provide technical support to locals and instead, most farmers rely on traditional knowledge, which is often insufficient to address the modern challenges such as pest control, disease management and seed quality in agriculture,” Tihema said.

“Food security and nutrition in PNG is a major issue and a lot of processed foods are becoming common because many Papua Guineans are not looking at their own food sources or knowing what to do with it,” Tihema said

“Mushrooms grow in the wild here and no one is cultivating them because they don’t know what to do with them.”

Tihema said farming is not seen as a “particularly noble profession” in PNG and young Papua Guineans are turning away from it. 

“Imagine mushrooms from the paddock to the plate and there are plentiful resources of other fruits and vegetables too. 

“We just need more priority for agriculture and that will hopefully come with the focus on increasing awareness of agriculture, food production and getting young people into agriculture.”

The main aim of the Mushroom Cultivation and Production Trainer assignment is to support the FMI Sisters in generating sustainable income for their vital work, which involves providing safe housing and care for women, young people and children in PNG.

The assignment is also designed to enable the trainer to teach and mentor prospective mushroom farmers in the community, helping them understand costs, market dynamics, and the profitability of mushroom sales. 

“By training and mentoring individuals to grow mushrooms locally, we aim to contribute to poverty reduction, economic empowerment, and greater resilience against food insecurity, ultimately enhancing health outcomes and livelihoods.

“Furthermore, mushroom farming promotes skill development within the community, enabling farmers to adopt sustainable cultivation methods that encourage co-operation, development, and inclusive, shared economic growth.”

In areas where diets are primarily composed of staple crops and ultra-processed foods, mushrooms offer a nutrient-rich alternative that helps diversify local food sources and reduces dependency on imported items. 

Currently, mushrooms are imported and retail between 80 and 100 kina ($32-$40) a kilogram.

If you are an experienced professional in mushroom cultivation, looking for an extraordinary overseas experience in the Pacific to build into your field of expertise then, Tihema said, “we have an exciting opportunity in store for you”.

The FMI Sisters’ tradition of selfless service began more than 100 years ago. Since 1912 the FMI Sisters have demonstrated steadfast resolve to support women and communities in pursuit of a better society.

The VSA assignment is a partnership between VSA and the FMI of Vunapope. 

All volunteers are flown in and out of the country, accommodated, and paid a living allowance.

To change your scene and become a VSA Volunteer and share your experience, knowledge, and skills to transform the lives of many, email volunteer@vsa.org.nz or or visit the website.

In Focus Podcast | Sheep outlook: the future of our flock

Sheep farmers are doing it tough right now, with farmgate returns dropping back after a few good years and input costs rising. Add to that the march of pine trees across the land, and there’s talk of an existential crisis. Bryan asked AgriHQ senior analyst Mel Croad to give him the lay of the land and asked her what the sector needed to do to find prosperity again.

Access to water remains one of the most crucial issues facing the horticulture sector.

That is according to Michelle Sands, Horticulture NZ’s policy and strategy manager, who said while the issue can create tension, she believes the sector is well placed having demonstrated it is an efficient user of water and adopts best management practices.

“Access to reliable water is so important to production but needs to be managed so waterways are healthy,” she said.

The sector body is watching closely changes the government is making to freshwater policy settings.

“It’s about efficient use of water, how it is efficiently allocated and, in some places maybe aspirations to have less water taken in the future, but how that will be designed over time.”

Sands said there also needs to be recognition that grower farms cover a small area that is intensively farmed.

In some regions, such as Pukekohe, farms straddle several councils, which have their own rules and regulations that can differ depending on the jurisdiction.

The sector is currently in the Environment Court with the Horizons Regional Council over water quality controls, and it is working with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council over issues of water extraction, minimum flows and storage conditions on the Heretaunga Plains.

She said they generally have good relationships with regional councils.

HortNZ has asked the government to establish a national direction for vegetable production to manage the sector’s effects and to standardise rules.

Sands has worked for HortNZ for six years following a career in freshwater science and environmental engineering.

That background gave her a grasp of the issues facing HortNZ.

“Within that freshwater experience, I did a lot of work on resource management mostly for resource users.”

Her role has extended to other issues facing growers, such as policies impacting regional and district planning that impact amenities such as crop protection structures and discharges to air, land and water.

The National Policy Statement on highly productive land is potentially another contentious issue, but Sands said HortNZ’s stance is not about locking this land away, but ensuring some is prioritised for primary production.

“Our focus is not about obstructing urban development by using the highly productive land provisions but using it to prioritise some areas for primary production.”

The coalition government’s policy priorities have certainly upped the workload for grower bodies like HortNZ.

Genetic engineering, the Resource Management Act, freshwater and labour are all under review, alongside industry staples food safety, biosecurity and agrichemicals.

“They are very broad ranging and wide topics.”

Sands is under no illusion that horticulture ticks the boxes of being low emitting and efficient users of water and a low environmental impact.

“We have no problem with the horticulture sector operating within environmental inputs but it’s a matter of making sure the policy settings make sense.”

It has been a bumper year for kiwifruit, with export values up 20% to $3.1 billion in the year ended August 2024, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

That’s an increase of $524 million when compared with the year ended August 2023.

“Kiwifruit export values for the season so far are the highest they have ever been,” Stats NZ international trade manager Viki Ward said.

The kiwifruit export season is typically from March to November. Gold kiwifruit exports were $2.4bn, up $45m (24%) from the year ended August 2023. This increase was driven by an increase in quantity (up 23%).

Green kiwifruit exports were $737m, up $67m (9.9%) over the same period. The increase in green kiwifruit export values was driven by an increase in price (up 9%).

“Growers in New Zealand are increasingly planting gold, and now red, kiwifruit, to capture greater export value in markets like China and Japan,” Ward said.

The top destination for gold kiwifruit is China, while the top destination for green is the European Union.

Raised on a Merino sheep station at the bottom of Lindis Pass, Sarah Rutherford is no stranger to getting her hands dirty.

On her family’s massive 5500 hectare farm, she would often get in the garden with her mother while growing up.

“My mum’s family were all really into gardening.

“I was never a passionate gardener, but I just loved gardens and flowers and helped Mum in the garden, growing up on the farm.”

The farm has been in her family from her mother’s side for over a century – her brother Tim and father Alastair run the stock now.

But tucked away at the end of her parent’s vegetable garden is a world of its own. It’s Sarah’s world of flowers and blooms. She is The Joy Farmer, and sells her flowers locally.

Since changing lanes in 2020, she has become an artisanal flower farmer and feels more at home in this occupation than she did in the Australian stock market, she said.

“I was in suits, high heels, dealing with executives, so a vast difference. When I came back to Wānaka, what I did as an accountant didn’t really exist here.”

Rutherford had a successful career in both London and Sydney as a chartered accountant working for Cadbury and Stocklands. She enjoyed the city life and even had a doorman at one of her offices in Central London.

“In Berkeley Square it was pretty awesome. We were in this beautiful old house with a doorman who would greet us.”

But the pull of home, the open country and fresh flowers was too much to resist.

During the pandemic she was unsure what her future as an accountant had in store for her, so she quietly started to plant, grow and sell blooms from her Joy Farmer Instagram account and at a tiny stall in Tarras, Central Otago.

“For me it was never meant to become a business, I was just doing it as a side thing. I just started this as a little play.”

As an accountant, the figures would have to add up for her to continue. And they do, just. But the job gives her more flexibility to be present for her seven-year-old daughter, while her partner’s job as a lawyer is more stringent.

“When people say they want to do it [grow flowers] as a job, I just say think very carefully about what you want to get out of it. Because you can make money out of it, but to make it a full-time job you have to be going pretty hard.”

The flower industry in New Zealand has hundreds of independent growers and many still popping up around rural NZ. The New Zealand Flower collective lists where you can buy local flowers at a place near you: some sell from the farm gate; some use the blooms as a hobby; and others sell wholesale.

Since her business sprouted, Rutherford has concentrated on seasonal selling.

“My focus is all about local and getting back to seasonal flowers. Flowers are a bit like food; you can go online and pretty much order whatever you want whenever you want and get things out of season.”

What a lot of customers don’t realise when buying from florists is that some of the flowers are imported. This is needed, as Kiwi growers cannot cater the full amount, but if you buy seasonally, you are more certain to be buying from NZ flower farmers.

“I was so unaware that roses were shipped from Columbia and get chemically treated when they come into the country for biosecurity … would you want that on your kitchen table? 

“I think there is a way of thinking about flowers and choices when you consume them. Consider that maybe you just get what’s in season and what is actually grown locally because it will sit better in the environment.”

While hothouses don’t get the storm damage that smaller flower farmers get, there are environmental question marks around them.

The prices for domestic and international flowers are often similar. Those at the farm gate can often be cheaper, but these growers aren’t usually looking to make a huge margin.

“People expect farmgate flowers to be heaps cheaper, but in a lot of ways they are more expensive to produce.

“A lot of people selling at the farm gate aren’t trying to make a profit there. It is artisan – you are doing a small amount of everything and learning to grow multiple varieties and you get so much wastage.”

Since taking up flower farming Rutherford has got in touch with her creative side, which is new for the financially minded grower.

“Obviously as an accountant you are not typically considered creative. I love it. It combines all the things I love: science, business and creativity.”

She said the industry has been welcoming and providing flowers for events such as weddings and hens parties has been the highlight.

“The people, even if you are dealing with someone that is grieving you are still bringing a little bit of comfort or joy to their day.”

Her next project will be “flower parties”.

“A lot of people don’t have gardens and they want to play with flowers so I thought [about] hen’s parties, kids’ birthday parties – give them [customers] the tools and their flowers and they take it to their venue and they can make their bouquets.”

Would a flower farmer have a favourite type?

“I love scented flowers, I have always loved roses. But I fall in love with a different flower every week.”

More: The Farmers Weekly Rural Living series highlights the rich diversity and people of Aotearoa New Zealand’s rural communities, farming families and contributions to the food and fibre sector.

Bumble bees in Tasmania, Australia, are being fitted with micro radio transmitters and cameras to help scientists uncover their environmental impact and crucial role in crop pollination.

Delivered through Hort Innovation’s Frontiers investment programme and led by Western Sydney University, the $3.3 million initiative will produce a comprehensive large-scale study of the buff-tailed bumble bee.

The programme will use various cutting-edge technological solutions to efficiently generate a large volume of unique data.

Hort Innovation chief executive officer Brett Fifield said this investment forms part of a multi-pronged approach to ensure the horticulture sector is prepared for the future.

“This investment is a prime example of using breakthrough research to strengthen industry’s readiness for existing and emerging opportunities and threats,” Fifield said.

“With the arrival of varroa mite to the Australian mainland, there is a sense of urgency for industry to explore other potential options for safeguarding crop pollination services across the country. This research will expand our knowledge of bumble bees in Tasmania, giving growers another tool in their toolkit.”

Western Sydney University postdoctoral researcher Dr James Makinson said incorporating state-of-the-art technology will result in significantly more comprehensive insights than previously possible.

“Radio transmitters will allow us to discover the daily foraging habits of bumble bee queens in different agricultural and natural landscapes and allow us to follow bees back to their nests. Transmitters can be easily recovered, allowing us to track dozens of individuals across multiple field sites in a single season,” Makinson said.

“The automated real-time analysis of video footage from our audiovisual monitors will allow us to collect long-term continuous data of the foraging activity of wild bumble bee and managed honey bee colonies, saving hundreds of hours of fieldwork and data analysis. 

“Monitoring cameras can be placed in the field and left alone, allowing a single researcher to monitor multiple locations of interest, passively collecting data for multiple experiments.”

Fruit Growers Tasmania chief executive officer Peter Cornish said the insights will help the Tasmanian horticulture industry plan effectively for the future.

“This research will answer important questions about bumble bees as pollinators. What are bumble bees doing in Tasmanian ecosystems? How are they interacting with different commercially-important crops? Can their populations be naturally manipulated to achieve conservation or pollination service goals?”  

The Environmental Protection Authority has strengthened the rules governing the use of chlorthal-dimethyl, also known as DCPA, because of concerns about its effects on fetal development.

The new rules come after the EPA’s red alert on August 22 urging people to stop using weedkillers that contain this chemical.

This followed the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency banning the substance earlier in August.

US data found the substance can affect fetal development and cause low birth weight and irreversible, life-long impacts, such as impaired brain development and motor skills.

The EPA has introduced restrictions to New Zealand so the weedkiller can only be used on soil where specific crops are grown. Pregnant individuals or individuals who may be pregnant are prevented from using the substance or entering a site where it’s been used, and wide buffer zones further protect the public from spray.

All restrictions on the use of products containing chlorthal-dimethyl took effect from September 13.

“Putting these restrictions in place now is the quickest and most effective way for us to protect people’s health and safety,” Dr Shaun Presow, Hazardous Substances Reassessments Manager, said.

“We have consulted with organisations that use this herbicide, and we have found that it’s not widely used in New Zealand, especially compared with the United States.

In New Zealand, chlorthal-dimethyl is used mainly for controlling a specific weed in onion, garlic and shallot crops before the vegetables emerge from the soil.

“These crops aren’t sprayed directly, and the substance breaks down before harvest, so we can assure people there is no risk through exposure from vegetables,” Presow said.

The EPA’s next steps are to gather and analyse all information on how these weedkillers are used in New Zealand, before carrying out a full review that may lead to further restrictions or a ban.

The three products containing chlorthal-dimethyl that are registered for use in New Zealand are Dacthal, Deramot Xtra and Chlor-Back 75WG.

Read more about the new restrictions on chlorthal-dimethyl.

HortNZ is backing the government’s decision to pause the Freshwater Farm Plan rollout.

HortNZ acting chief executive Michelle Sands said they agree that the country needs a fit-for-purpose system for Freshwater Farm Plans (FWFPs) that works for horticulture and delivers on environmental outcomes.

“We believe that the optimal approach to making progress on regulatory issues is to establish a pathway to enable growers to use industry assurance programmes like New Zealand Good Agricultural Practice (NZGAP) and GLOBALG.A.P. to meet market and regulatory requirements via one integrated farm plan.”

Sands is encouraged to hear that the government is wanting to integrate existing industry assurance programmes into the FFP system. 

“We want to see recognition of programmes like the NZGAP Environment Management System, which is trusted, robust and meets the desired policy outcomes.

 “It would fit with the government’s goals and enable growers to find the right solutions for their farms and catchments.”

 HortNZ is also calling for commercial vegetable production to become a permitted activity for growers with a FWFP.

 “Over 80% of NZ-grown vegetables are grown for the domestic market,” Sands said.

 “New Zealand’s growers are committed to operating to good management practices and the industry is committed to supporting them.

 “That includes through product group research like the Sustainable Vegetable Systems programme and the HortNZ/Ministry for the Environment Growing Change project, which is supporting growers to develop their FWFP through a catchment-led approach. We encourage growers to maintain their ongoing efforts in environmental management via GAP and the EMS, supported by Growing Change, and to continue their sustainability journey despite the policy uncertainty.”

 Sands said HortNZ wants a nationally consistent approach to planning rules to provide certainty for commercial vegetable production in New Zealand.

 Regional councils have been unable to develop workable rules for vegetable production. Some regions constrain crop rotation, constrain nutrient supply to a level that reduces the amount of vegetables that can be produced and constrain expansion so growers cannot grow more vegetables to feed a growing population.

 “Regional councils are not well placed to balance national benefit with local effects. The risk is regions make unworkable rules for commercial vegetable production, without taking into account the national importance of vegetable production in securing a resilient supply of healthy fresh food for New Zealanders.”

Brothers Tim and Stef Zeestraten were meant to be tomato men, following in their grandfather’s footsteps by farming tomatoes in the south of the Netherlands.

But as fate would have it, their parents sold the farm and shifted to New Zealand while the kids were still at school, and the crimson fruit was eventually exchanged for the many shades of purple at Wānaka’s Lavender Farm.

“My grandfather started a tomato farm in Holland in glass houses and my parents took over and so I was destined to be a tomato grower for sure,” said eldest brother Tim.

“Then Mum and Dad moved to New Zealand and I was gutted. My vision was that I was going to be the next generation of tomato farmers.”

Now in his early 40s, it’s hard to ever imagine a life without lavender wafting through the air, tourists walking through his gate and of course, that purple Instagram door.

“The whole taking photos and putting it on Instagram is such a bonus … they [tourists] are doing the advertising for us.”

The farm turns 10 in November, and while it’s not what you’d call a traditional Kiwi farm by size or crop/stock numbers, there is no denying it is one of the most recognisable farms in the country to a tourist audience.

Tim was 11 when the family left the growers and farmers zone of De Lier in the Netherlands for Aotearoa, and was working near full-time hours between classes at school. 

The family based themselves in Christchurch at the beginning and while he and Stef pursued careers in mechanical engineering and snowboarding respectively, their parents bought Kaikoura’s Lavender Farm, which they operated commercially. 

They were on to something, he said.

In 2011 the brothers and Tim’s wife Jessica purchased 12 hectares between Wānaka and Luggate – a location that is renowned for its picture-perfect landscapes, scents and tantalising lavender tea.

Tim never envisaged what was to come of the bare paddock of an old sheep and deer farm – more than 700 visitors a day to the farm during peak season, a larger staff count, and 364 days of trading, with Christmas Day being their only day off.

“It is the volume of humans coming this way, but also, you have to push it, you can’t do a half-arsed business.”

The farm didn’t ask for a door charge initially, but it crept to $2 a head, and now during peak season an entry fee will cost a child $7.50 and an adult $15. 

“Locals, internationals who come and visit, they do that whole experience here on site. They like and appreciate that everything they can see here, buy here, is being done on site.”

He puts much of the success down to luck and location.

When the three looked over the district for the right spot to set up, they very nearly settled in the Maungawera Valley, between Lake Hawea and Wānaka. But at the last minute they found the perfect location.

“One of the locals says ‘That bit of land might be fine, see what that’s worth’, and basically that’s how we decided this is a good site. It’s on the highway. It’s good access and not too far from Wānaka.”

A decade on, he admits such a prime spot would be unaffordable for the small start-up that they were.

“If you have got deep pockets or a good backing there is still that option to produce the same business, but it is worth a lot more now. Finding the right bit of land is key.”

The operation produces 200 litres of lavender oil, hand creams, soaps, teas, ice cream, moisturisers, lavender honey, pickles and so on. They didn’t open their doors to the public for the first three years while they worked to get it up to scratch.

There’s now over 25 varieties grown on the farm.

“There’s white, purple, there’s even green lavender, there’s pink lavender, there’s the bluey and then there are different sizes and some produce oil better than others. 

“They are special. Especially when they are first coming up after the winter and you get that first new growth all uniform in colour and it is spectacular in a large mass.”

He hasn’t tired of the scent after all these years.

“When we are doing that first run in the distillery it is unbelievably beautiful when that oil comes out and the smell that comes off that is amazing. I love it.”

The work that goes into a farm like this is around the clock.

Tim is often on the tools, Jessica runs the shop, the staff, the business and Stef does everything in between, such as the financial side, layout and design of the farm.

As with many farming set-ups, brotherly love can be displaced at times of stress.

“There’s always things. You can swear your brother to pieces, but you are still family so you are going to have to work it out.

“It can get niggly running a business with family, but we’ve chosen to go for it and there has been some really positive stuff out of that too, because everyone has got a different skill set to bring to the party. If we didn’t have differing opinions it wouldn’t be what it is today.”

While the family could have capitalised on its brand and sold throughout New Zealand, they have chosen to keep purchasing on site and online.

“We sell it only here because the whole model of our business is that you must come see it for yourself, you must come experience the lavender, you must smell it and you must taste it.”

His parents Jan and Corry both live on the farm, and for the record, the Zeestratens still grow good tomatoes.

More: The Farmers Weekly Rural Living series highlights the rich diversity and people of Aotearoa New Zealand’s rural communities, farming families and contributions to the food and fibre sector.

Zespri and shipping partner ANL/CMA CGM have launched a feasibility study into a possible low-emissions shipping corridor between Tauranga and Zeebrugge in Belgium, via the Panama Canal.

Zespri executive officer for sustainability Rachel Depree said low-emissions shipping is a critical part of carbon reduction for exporters.

A low-emissions shipping corridor is defined as “a route between two or more ports where zero-emission shipping solutions are demonstrated and reported”.

“Collectively we are already facing rising costs as carbon is priced into the economy and our markets and customers are starting to demand targets and plans to lower emissions over time,” Depree said.

“Shipping plays a critical part in New Zealand’s export-driven economy, carrying 99% of the country’s trade by volume and around 80% by value.”

Depree said while kiwifruit is a low-carbon product, shipping emissions make up a larger portion of the product’s overall carbon footprint at 43%.

“Zespri can’t directly reduce shipping emissions ourselves so we’re working with our shipping and distribution partners to improve efficiency and find opportunities to pilot low-emissions fuels solutions as we work towards our ambition of being carbon positive by 2035.

 “This includes continuing to advocate for new port infrastructure and supporting the introduction of more low-emissions shipping vessels, fuels and technology”.

A report on the feasibility of such a corridor by EY for the feasibility study showed New Zealand trails other countries in climate and transport policy and investment for low-emissions shipping.

The report says European ports made large investments to accept alternative-fuel ships, which are larger than conventional vessels, with some already running on 100% renewable energy.

Collaboration with other New Zealand exporters is critical to show demand, reduce cost and speed up investment. 

Governments have an important part to play, with new policies and regulations needed to transition fuels and infrastructure.

The outlook for alternative fuels is complex, with no clear preferred low-emissions fuel, which means an adaptive and multi-fuel approach is needed.

Emissions intensity of alternative fuels is dependent on how these are manufactured.

Biofuel can provide a useful lower-emissions bridge as it can be “dropped in” to conventional vessels often with little or no modifications.

Alternative fuels are expected to price-match fossil fuels by 2040 onwards, due to reducing renewable electricity cost, the removal of subsidies on fossil fuel and carbon taxes.

First movers are needed to understand commercial production and economies of scale, the report says.

Crops were grown successfully across 34 sites that suffered serious silt incursion during Cyclone Gabrielle, a study shows.

Hawke’s Bay researcher Alan Kale, who worked with colleague Diana Mathers, said the study was aimed at growers to support their recovery and that of the land impacted by silt.

“We found that land covered by sludgy clay-based silt could grow good vegetable and arable crops in the next season, with minimal additional effort. 

“However, the story was considerably different for land covered by sandy silt. Crops grown on this land did not thrive,” Kale said.

The study looked at the recovery of silt-covered land at 34 different sites in Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa. 

The study was managed by the Foundation for Arable Research with funding from the Ministry for Primary Industries, North Island Weather Event Fund and Vegetable Research and Innovation. 

Kale said initial conclusions from the study showed cropping on silted sites in the Heretaunga Plains was very successful.

No extra pest and disease inputs were required. 

Some fields had an extra side dress applied, otherwise fertiliser practice was as normal.

Most sites grew and produced crops at or above normal pre-cyclone levels, and current season non-silt crops.

Generally, growers were comfortable to return to normal cropping cycles on these sites.

The exception was the sandy silt type sites, where at one site the sandy silt layer severely impacted maize plants growth and yield by preventing roots reaching the soil below.

Kale said some extra remedial cultivation was required to deal with silt.

“Once you can, stir the silt up to help with the drying process.

“The silt holds onto moisture. Be prepared to wait longer between cultivation passes.

“Post harvest, growers still report needing a longer gap between cultivation passes.

“Extra ripping was often reported as the flooding created a tighter profile.”

The study covered sites where arable, seed, market gardener, processing and cucurbit crops were grown.

“The whole idea of the study was to create a body of knowledge that could be used immediately, as well as in future similar flooding events. We believe we have achieved this outcome.”

In Focus Podcast | New tech to map farms and aid decision-making

Silver Fern Farms has partnered with Wellington-based Lynker Analytics to form a new company, Prism Earth, to help farmers better understand and capitalise on their natural vegetation and biodiversity.

Managing director of Prism Earth, Matt Lythe, tells Bryan the company will help primary producers face up to critical challenges such as developing diversified revenue streams, adjusting to changing climatic conditions, meeting emissions targets and responding to changing buyer behaviour.