Protecting the waterways of Aotearoa New Zealand is vital. Ecologically, culturally, and economically, our freshwater environment is a rich and valuable resource that is essential for food production in our country.

For those in the Horticulture sector, managing a farm’s impact on freshwater is an important focus: clean water means long-term business sustainability.

To support this, Muka Tangata has worked alongside Horticulture New Zealand as part of the Growing Change Project^[1] to ensure those in the sector are confident and capable in managing the risks to freshwater that horticulture production can pose.

The ‘Assess and manage risks to freshwater from horticultural production’ micro-credential has been developed to upskill growers, horticultural advisors, auditors, and horticulture ākonga (learners’) awareness of freshwater values and uses, and the potential risks posed by horticultural production systems.

The micro-credential was developed alongside a new skill standard and an updated Code of Practice for growers – ensuring a consistent approach to freshwater risk management in Aotearoa.

The group responsible for developing the micro-credential was made up of representatives from across the horticulture production sector, as well as qualifications experts from Muka Tangata, to ensure the course content would be relevant to everyone undertaking it.

The project group also included representatives from horticulture vocational education providers Primary ITO and Fruition Horticulture and stakeholders and industry-specific product groups, small and large growers, and Māori growers to make sure that the project would cater to the specific needs of all those in the horticulture sector.

“Protecting freshwater is not only important from an ecological health perspective,” says project team member Helen van der Werff, Learning and Development Consultant specialising in horticulture, “but from a community recreational and cultural perspective. Freshwater may be used for gathering kai also. This means that during the development of the micro-credential, ecological and cultural considerations were at the forefront.”

Upon completion of the micro-credential, ākonga will be skilled in identifying and assessing biophysical and management risk factors from horticulture production activities that may impact on freshwater health, and will be able to recommend practices to manage these risk factors.

“[The micro-credential] makes growers more aware of their requirements for managing production activities, and the environment they’re working within,” says Helen. “It encourages them to think about how their production processes are impacting the environment.”

Horticulture NZ Regional Extension Officer Mark Shelly agrees: “The most important thing is that we give growers the tools and knowledge to appropriately identify, assess, and mitigate on-farm risks that are uniquely specific to the horticulture sector.”

“Muka Tangata were absolutely essential in this project,” says Mark. “They were really great to work with.”

The micro-credential and skill standard are now listed on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework and available to be picked up by providers. Primary ITO and Fruition Horticulture are currently working together to develop a programme leading to the micro-credential.

 

^[1] Growing Change is a project co-funded by Horticulture New Zealand and from the Essential Freshwater Fund, which is administered by the Ministry for the Environment.