Advancing Sustainable Management Systems
in Agriculture and Horticulture

About SAMsn

The establishment of the Network was based on areas of 'commonality' across the agriculture and horticulture production sectors and has an objective to more efficiently develop commonality and build on the known NZ advantage of high quality and environmentally friendly production - the NZ 'clean and green' image.

Implicit in this is the ability to produce and develop agriculture and horticulture products in a sustainable manner. Productivity and good resource management are interlinked.

The Network developed a focus on Sustainable Management Systems, which encompasses the 'pillars' of environment, economics and social responsibility, and the interactions between the 'pillars', in an on-farm context, because of the recognition that the future of the New Zealand primary industries depends on both sustainability and profitability.

It was recognised that programmes currently developed and used by the sectors, such as Environment Management Systems (EMS) and Quality Assurance (QA) programmes, contributed toward such an approach.

Such programmes are increasingly being required of producers to provide markets and communities with assurances about the sustainability of primary production systems.

Every farm business produces a range of products (e.g. milk, meat, fibre, livestock, horticultural, arable and /or forestry products), with a range of independent EMS/QA compliance requirements.

This has resulted in multiple systems addressing similar issues across agriculture and horticulture. The problem is that this largely ad-hoc development of systems has resulted in duplication of effort and concerns about compliance costs, leading to compliance fatigue amongst farmers and growers. The NZ agriculture and horticulture sectors that have already developed EMS/QA programmes are individually proud of their particular industry systems, developed in response to market opportunities. It is unrealistic to expect them to abandon their individual systems for a national, non-partisan, EMS/QA.

In response to this trend SAMsn has undertaken to develop a framework that could form the basis of any agriculture or horticulture industry Sustainable Management System (SMS) now, and in the future. It has also identified information and a wide range of possible resources that could be used by organisations to develop and refine SMS systems which may lead to the evolution of common approaches and elements across programmes. The purpose is to add value to producers, sectors, industries and businesses with a focus on both productivity and sustainability.