Chair & Chief Executives report
Chair Jo Brosnahan and Chief Executive Warren Parker
New Zealand’s biodiversity is of great importance to the world and especially New Zealanders. Our forests, rivers, lakes and coasts provide a backdrop to our way of life; and species such as kiwi, kauri and weta have come to symbolise the special relationship New Zealanders have with the environment. But overall New Zealand’s biodiversity is in decline, with growing numbers on the threatened species lists. Developing practical, cost–effective solutions to describe, protect and restore New Zealand’s biodiversity represents about one–quarter of our research effort. During 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, we worked with the Department of Conservation to design a robust measurement framework for biodiversity for guiding reporting, planning, and policy decisions. This is essential for the effective measurement of biodiversity performance.
Biodiversity is protected by the removal of pests and weeds, and regional councils (and others) need to confirm that expenditure on pest control (which nationally exceeds $100m p.a.) is contributing towards gains in biodiversity. Our groundbreaking fi eld trials over the past four years show tree weta are a valuable indicator of the effectiveness of different pest control strategies in reducing rats. Because the incidence of tree weta is easier to monitor than birds or other indicator species, they provide a practical means for measuring biodiversity recovery. Our capacity to introduce control agents for major environmental and pastoral weeds such as Tradescantia, woolly nightshade, banana passionfruit and thistles was doubled with the opening in April of a new purpose–built invertebrate containment facility.
Finding a solution to the pathogenic Phytophthora threatening our iconic kauri is, however, proving challenging. Joint–agency funding was secured in September 2009 to launch a multi–pronged programme to address kauri ´dieback´. Subsequently, we improved the mapping of the incidence of the disease, promulgated early steps to help reduce its spread and commenced a research programme to address knowledge gaps.
Improving the productivity of land and water is a significant focus of our research. The award–winning work on precision irrigation we are developing with Massey University and Feildingbased company Precision Irrigation illustrates the gains that can be made by adopting a multi–disciplinary approach to natural resource management. On–farm tests show water savings of 9–26% based on trials at six farm research sites. The water saved can be redirected elsewhere, which improves overall water use effi ciency. This integrative, systems approach to developing natural resource management solutions is a hallmark of our role as the ‘integrating CRI’. It is manifested in our work with the Animal Health Board to test whether ‘low–sow’ pest control technologies can eradicate possums from large areas while concurrently signifi cantly lowering per hectare costs. It underpins the research we are doing with fi ve companies and BusinessNZ to identify profi table ways to reduce their environmental footprint. These life cycle management studies will help businesses to meet more stringent market and regulatory requirements for environmental performance.
These same market forces are adding momentum to our work in developing environmental technologies. Over the past 12 months, the carboNZeroCert TM programme established a presence in Chile, secured new customers and a licence agreement in Australia, won recognition from the UK Environment Agency, and was awarded a ‘Green Ribbon’ award by the Ministry for the Environment. We acquired the global rights for Enviro–Mark®, and Sirtrack developed a new series of standard products and secured two licence agreements for leading edge technology. Demand for ecological genetic tests through EcoGene™ grew 23% over the previous year and a new forensic test was launched to identify dogs that destroy kiwi.
With New Zealand’s economic future being more tightly linked with Asia, we worked to form networks in this region. Through the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) we have been at the forefront of initiatives with our Invasive Mammal Impacts research to develop the New Zealand – China Strategic Research Alliance.
Next year we aim to participate in international collaboration to quantify greenhouse gas emissions and removals, and develop new mitigation technologies with funding from the New Zealand initiated Global Research Alliance. This will build on the foundations laid this year with the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre and our leadership of new research to retain soil carbon, and participation in programmes to mitigate nitrous oxide and methane emissions.
With respect to our financial performance the Group Return on Equity target of 6.4% was met, excluding the impact of 0% building depreciation announced in the Government’s May 2010 Budget. A strong performance by the Parent mitigated the operating loss by Sirtrack (which was impacted by an unfavourable exchange rate and the global financial crisis depressing demand) and additional investment into carboNZero’s international expansion. The net operating cash flow of $4.8m means the company’s capital structure was strengthened further compared to last year. Next year, in addition to paying a dividend, we intend to reinvest retained earnings into improved infrastructure, better coordination of science and enhanced knowledge transfer.
During the final quarter, we worked closely with our shareholders and stakeholders to develop Landcare Research’s Statement of Core Purpose and implement other recommendations in the CRI Taskforce Report. We welcome the comprehensive changes arising from the report. In addition to shaping our work over the next decade to help grow the New Zealand economy in an environmentally responsible manner, they will enable genuine strategy–led engagement with our end–users, more effective collaboration with other research providers and a longer–term focus on managing our research capabilities. The next 12 months present a rare opportunity for Landcare Research to consider, with its partners, new ways of working together to address the multi–faceted challenges arising from the natural resource constraints and ecological limits that could beset New Zealand’s economic performance. This will include using our membership of BusinessNZ’s Major Companies Group and the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development to develop opportunities arising from the 2010 Budget package and the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) to support increased eco–innovation in the private sector.
Our staff continued to excel, with notable achievements including a New Zealand Association of Scientists Research Medal to Thomas Buckley. The Australasian Plant Pathology Society made Ross Beever a Fellow, and long serving Research Associate Des Ross was elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Soil Science. It is with considerable regret, however, that we note both passed away during the year.
Alastair Lawrence retired from the Board after an outstanding contribution over the past six years. He will continue to Chair the carboNZero programme’s Transition Board. Ralph Marshall succeeds Julian Raine as Chair of the Sirtrack Board from July 2010. We thank Julian for his many contributions to Landcare Research. It is also a pleasure to welcome Professor Grant Guilford, Dean of the School of Sciences at the University of Auckland, to the Board. We thank the directors and the senior executive team for their support and commitment during the year.
Jo Brosnahan
Chair
Warren Parker
Chief Executive
We have a strong focus on maintainintg our science excellence. We were pleased with our standing in the latest SCImago Institution´s rankings report, SIR 2009 World Report. This ranks more than 2000 of the best worldwide research institutions and organisations, from 84 countries across five continent, whose output in 2007 surpasses 100 scholarly publications.
We were first in New Zealand on a scientific publications per scientist and citations per publication, and second on normalised citations. We are also very competitively ranked against Australian institutions, and not too far behind in relation to those scientific powerhouses, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Citations for each of the top 10 papers published by our staff over last 10 years (2000–2010)