Maori livestock farming achieving functional integrity

Abstract

This paper uses a historical analysis of agricultural development to explore functional integrity of the New Zealand rural landscape arising from a national agenda to pursue greater agricultural outputs. The concept of functional integrity is extended by Maori farming as it introduces a further set of functions related to the aspirations of indigenous landholders. A land-use integrated decision-mak­ing framework (IDMF) was developed and applied to four Maori farm case studies that wanted to use land performance to meet their aspirational goals. The IDMF has linked indigenous knowledge with Western science and industry knowledge to form a holistic framework for framing questions, and evaluating and designing land-use options that have the potential to balance multiple out­comes and confer functional integrity. The IDMF provides a framework that will organise multiple activities and coordinate different quantitative and qualitative data sets in a visual format that allows for discussion within a collective deci­sion-making environment. The framework was found to be useful for exploring and making transparent the trade-off between differing functions. This under­standing guides the exploration of strategies that will enable the attainment of several functions simultaneously.