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Thriving Southland: Communities creating a healthy environment from mountains to sea

In Murihiku Southland, local farmers and communities are coming together to protect the land they love, supported by a community‐led organisation called Thriving Southland.

3 minute read

Thriving Southland supports 36 catchment groups across the region and helps communities prosper by taking action towards a common goal. These catchment groups are scattered along the Mataura, Aparima, Waiau, and Ōreti rivers, covering over 90% of Southland’s productive land and involving over 1,300 farmers and community members.

Bringing communities together

Local dairy, beef, and sheep farmer, Ewen Mathieson – board member and former chair of Thriving Southland – is part of its Pourakino Catchment Group. Ewen says, “When it comes to tackling sustainability challenges, the most powerful tool we have is community engagement.” Sustainability is about people as much as it is about the environment. Ewen is proud of the way in which the organisation has brought communities together, especially nowadays when some traditional local gathering places have fallen by the wayside. “If we’re talking about mental wellbeing, one of our strongest values is just connecting with the community,” says Ewen.  

Enabling informed action

There are a lot of complex environmental challenges Thriving Southland is supporting the community to understand. The organisation provides the community with great data, science, and information to make informed decisions. Ewen says, “When change is afoot, we often try to solve these problems in silos. At Thriving Southland, our facilitators create local connections. Together, we look at environmental challenges such as water quality and carbon emissions through a farm systems lens. For example, if you look at nutrient loss and you look at emissions reduction, the mitigation for one, can be mitigation for the other as well.” 

“When you get a group of farmers or a community together and you have a common challenge, you get some really progressive thinking about some of the big questions. It empowers people to take ownership of where they’re at.” 

Empowering farmers and growers

Dana Muir, BNZ’s Head of Natural Capital, is inspired by Thriving Southland. She also feels there is effortless alignment between Thriving Southland’s values of community empowerment and the innovative approaches the BNZ Agribusiness and Natural Capital team is taking to support farmers and growers across Aotearoa. 

“We want to support farmers to think about what’s right for their land and what’s right for their business, and how they can go about continuously improving what sustainable land management looks like to them,” says Dana.

“Thriving Southland helps empower farmers to look at the influence of their own business and community on the environment, and to think about how they could really drive change themselves. That’s something we’re really passionate about at BNZ too, empowering farmers and growers to understand their business and how they can make meaningful impact,” adds Dana.

Developing a deeper understanding

BNZ Agribusiness partner, Katie Moffatt, is based in Southland and involved in the Mid-Ōreti Catchment Group (MOCG). The MOCG is currently busy facilitating the planting of over 1,000 donated natives on schools and private farms as part of a riparian planting initiative. The group also hopes to continue growing its own natives to provide to the community. Katie was motivated to join the group to give back to the community and remain connected to her academic background in Agricultural Science. She also found this volunteering supports her work at BNZ. Katie says, “Professionally, it allows me to enhance connections with my clients, create new networks with farmers and other rural professionals in the area.” 

“I can get out in a more relaxed setting to understand what farmers and growers are feeling on farm. Seeing first-hand what they are achieving, and hearing about their goals helps us understand our agribusiness customers on a deeper level,” adds Katie.

BNZ has also partnered with Thriving Southland via a wellbeing fund to support farmers who have been working hard in their catchment groups by having social time off in their communities. Our Natural Capital team is dedicated to supporting Kiwi farmers through the changing landscape of environmental management, and helping agribusinesses find a way to a better future. For more information, get in touch with your nearest BNZ branch, your BNZ Agribusiness Partner, or your BNZ Business Banker.

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This article is solely for information purposes. It’s not financial or other professional advice. For help, please contact BNZ or your professional adviser.

No party, including BNZ, is liable for direct or indirect loss or damage resulting from the content of this article. Any opinions in this article are not necessarily shared by BNZ or anyone else.