Living Labs - FOOD, WATER, BIODIVERSITY NEXUS

Viticulture adaptation: Challenges and opportunities in North Canterbury 

Location: Multiple vineyards in North Canterbury
Time: 10am – 3pm
Details: Depart Te Pae at 10am for Waipara to tour through vineyards before returning to Te Pae by 3pm. Lunch at a vineyard, tastings and buying wine are all at participants own cost.

A changing climate presents challenges to the viticulture sector. In the North Canterbury region, growers are already observing changing seasonality, greater variability and increasing extremes. Some growers are making changes to their systems now to increase their resilience. On this Living Lab we will visit 2-3 vineyards and learn about the challenges they are facing, how they are adapting their systems to cope with the changes and how they anticipate being able to continue producing high quality wine into the future. 

Please bring a water bottle, solid footwear and a rain jacket. 

Natural Regeneration at Hinewai Reserve, Banks Peninsula

Location: Hinewai Reserve, Banks Peninsula
Time: 9am – 5pm
Details: Depart Te Pae at 9am for a 2 hour drive to Hinewai Visitor Centre. There are multiple walks available to participate in, before heading back to Te Pae at 5pm. A packed lunch will be provided. 

This visit to Hinewai Reserve in the southeastern corner of Banks Peninsula, about 90 kilometres by road from Ōtautahi Christchurch City, involves a full day outing, a minimum walk of 5-10 minutes down a track to the Visitor Centre, an informal chat about Hinewai Reserve and Banks Peninsula, followed by optional walking. This will be guided by Hinewai staff, of up to 2 ½ hours at a gentle pace, through the regenerating vegetation and wildlife. There will be options of shorter walks, depending on participants’ capabilities and weather. Greater Hinewai is about 1,600 hectares of hill country, cleared of native forest in the second half of the 19th century, farmed for much of the 20th century, now managed for natural regeneration of native forest and fauna under a management policy of “minimum interference management” and “light ecological footprint.” Carbon sequestration income has assisted in the expansion of the reserve from its beginnings (109 hectares) in 1987. The land is legally ‘owned’ (“ownership” of land is regarded by Hinewai’s kaitiaki (guardians) as an absurd example of human hubris) by a private Charitable Trust. Free public access has been part of Hinewai’s kaupapa (philosophy) since the beginning, although this is regarded as secondary to our conservation goals. Similarities and differences with “rewilding” projects elsewhere in the world can be part of the kōrero (discussion) on the day.

To see more information, please watch a documentary here. 

Please bring a koha (donation) if you wish, and a water bottle, reasonably strong walking footwear, a raincoat and sufficiently warm clothing for autumn.

Dairy farming for the future

Location: Lincoln University Dairy Farm, Springston
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Details: Depart Te Pae at 9.30am for the Research Station. Arrive back at Te Pae for 12.30pm. 

The Lincoln University Integral Health Dairy Farm is adapting a traditional dairy farm to address the food, water, and biodiversity nexus under a changing climate. Through examples of nature-based solutions such as wetland regeneration; native planting that considers the local biophysical characteristics now and into the future; and modifying livestock feed production to cope with drought and other extremes, the Lincoln University Integral Health Dairy Farm is exploring, implementing and testing adaptation approaches for agricultural resilience into the future. The changes being made have multiple benefits in addition to climate change adaptation: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing water use and improving water quality, as well as increasing biodiversity. You will be taken to this working dairy farm to see and hear about the latest developments and innovations.

Please bring a water bottle, warm clothing and sturdy footwear.