Following New Zealand’s treaty settlement of Maori land in recent times, there is a challenge to advance not only the economic, cultural, social and environmental outcomes when the land is so fragmented by geographic isolation and in often inaccessible landscapes.

With research that is the first of it’s kind to take a multidisciplinary approach, it was important to the authors of ‘Heartland Strong’ that not only was the research to be ‘participatory and integrative’ but more relevant for people who are not going to be read in scientific journal papers. 

In this episode, host Denise Bewsell, speaks to Alec McKay,  Principal Scientist at AgResearch and Bonny Hatamai, Project Manager for the Ngāti Pāhauwera Development Trust.

They discuss :

• How to unlock the potential of Maori land ownership across pastoral, indigenous vegetation & forestry when 1.5million hectares of Maori Land is in 160,000 parcels is of less than 10ha in size

• The work of AgResearch and the Maori land trust working together to reconnect the individual land parcels to reconfigure under one farm management operation 

For the transcript and video of this episode, please visit: https://www.agresearch.co.nz/resilient-rural-communities

To purchase your copy of the book :

https://www.amazon.com/Heartland-Strong-Zeland-change-thrive-ebook/dp/B07XLCZJS9

The definition for measuring resilience was the ability to bounce forward and adapt to change or to bounce back and return to what was before, so to measure this definition took some complexity.

In this episode, host Denise Beswell, speaks to Bill Kaye-Blake, agricultural economist and AgResearch social scientist, Penny Payne, who are both co-editors for the book ‘Heartland Strong’ about how they blended quantitative and qualitative research methods to find some interesting outcomes.

For the transcript and video of this episode, please visit : https://www.agresearch.co.nz/resilient-rural-communities

To purchase your copy of the book :
https://www.amazon.com/Heartland-Strong-Zeland-change-thrive-ebook/dp/B07XLCZJS9

Farmers live complexity every day and researchers struggle to find a simple framework that can cover all of the aspects that affect rural resilience. The ‘Heartland Strong’ research team needed to build a world-leading interdisciplinary framework to bring social and physical science together.

In this episode, host Denise Beswell, speaks to Bill Kaye-Blake, who is an agricultural economist and is also one of the co-authors of the book ‘Heartland Strong’ about why existing research frameworks could not have applied to this project.

Bill explains the importance of government policy ‘rural proofing’ it’s thinking to avoid unintended consequences.

For the transcript and video of this episode, please visit : https://www.agresearch.co.nz/resilient-rural-communities

To purchase a copy of the book :
https://www.amazon.com/Heartland-Strong-Zeland-change-thrive-ebook/dp/B07XLCZJS9

With research that is the first of it’s kind to take a multidisciplinary approach, it was important to the authors of ‘Heartland Strong’ that not only was the research to be ‘participatory and integrative’ but more relevant for people who are not going to be read in scientific journal papers.

In this episode, host Denise Beswell, speaks to Dr Margaret Brown, Senior Social Scientist at AgResearch and leader of the Resilient Rural Communities Program as well as Liz Wedderburn, Assistant Research Director at AgResearch responsible for International Collaborations, Adoption and Practice Change.

They discuss :

1. Why take this approach to research & their methodology
2. Their definition of rural resilence and the ability to bounce ‘forward’
3. The importance to reach more people with science

For the transcript and video of this episode, please visit: https://www.agresearch.co.nz/resilient-rural-communities

To purchase your copy of the book :
https://www.amazon.com/Heartland-Strong-Zeland-change-thrive-ebook/dp/B07XLCZJS9