Collaborating across the regions:

How economic development agencies are breaking down silos and working together for a stronger food and fibre sector

When the Northland Inc. economic development agency (EDA) began connecting with Venture Taranaki to learn about their land use and food and fibre diversification project, an idea sparked.

“We wanted to learn from their previous experience; there’s no need for us to duplicate all the work they’d already done.

But we also saw the opportunity to build better relationships across the various economic development agencies (EDAs) that support the primary sector in their regions,” shares Vaughan Cooper, Northland Inc’s GM of Investment and Infrastructure and chair of Economic Development New Zealand

This collaborative approach is very different from the way EDAs have traditionally worked:

“We often find ourselves competing against each other for limited resources and funding for regional projects, because current innovation models encourage competitiveness, rather than incentivising collaboration. Too often, knowledge and IP are not being shared effectively.”

Even though there is a lot of activity occurring in the primary sector to try and find innovative solutions to key challenges like climate change, regulatory pressure and increasing exports – much of it is happening in silos.

The team in Northland believes this model must change – an opinion echoed in KPMG’s Agribusiness Agenda delivered in 2023: In order to drive better outcomes for the sector, there is a need for real and genuine sector-wide collaboration that disregards geographical boundaries.

 To encourage this sector-wide collaboration, Northland Inc partnered with Venture Taranaki, Venture Timaru, and Great South to create insight-sharing and learning tours within each region.

Spread across three days, these events bring together economic development practitioners involved in the primary sector from each of the four regions. The in-region visits include touring primary sector projects unique to each region and allowing space and time for people to connect, ask questions, and learn from each other.

The first tour was held in Northland in February 2024, funded by AGMARDT.

The Northland team emphasise the importance of the AGMARDT funding and belief in this project: “EDAs tend to work on a shoestring budget, so we owe a huge thanks to AGMARDT. There is no way we would be able to create this type of learning without them.”

To their knowledge, it was the first time that regional EDAs have gathered to learn from each other in this way. All 16 people who attended considered it to be an invaluable time together.

One highlight included a visit to Upson Down Farms to learn about the commercial viability of growing hi-oleic peanuts on a large scale. This 3-year project, led by Northland Inc, has brought together MPI, Plant & Research, Landcare NZ, and a range of landowners as they pursue creating a peanut industry for the region.

“As we are undertaking our own trial sites, it was great to be able to see another EDA in a similar role and what challenges they have faced and how they plan to initiate a new industry in region,” shared Stacey Hitchcock, General Manager of Investment at Venture Taranaki.

 With all the travel between site visits, people had time to connect and share insights – something Codie McIntyre, Investment Facilitator at Northland Inc, said was the highlight for her. “So many strategic conversations happened outside of the scheduled visits – and these are conversations we’re continuing and building upon.”

In July the team hosted the first strategic follow-up hui, where people shared progress on initiatives, talked through strategies and supported each other. They’ll gather again in October to learn from Great South, the Southland Region EDA.

Building on their past collaboration, Northland Inc and Venture Taranaki recently signed a MOU titled “National Land Use Diversification and Value Chain Growth Programme.”

It outlines how the EDAs will work cooperatively together on a range of activities focused on pursuing optimal land use and value chain diversification to support the growth of the food and fibre sectors, both within the respective regions, but also from a New Zealand Inc perspective.

The MOU is also designed to be expanded to include other economic development agencies across the country.

This is the type of work AGMARDT wants to encourage through its funding.

“Current funding models don’t provide for this type of national collaboration. So AGMARDT funding is helping to build relationships, identify opportunities, and provide fruitful outcomes so the model can adapt and change,” says AGMARDT General Manager Lee-Ann Marsh.