In partnership with Westpac New Zealand, the AERU (lead author Professor Anita Wreford) produced research assessing the risks and opportunities presented by climate change to New Zealand agribusiness, as well as the sector's vulnerabilities and potential responses.

Unlocking Export Prosperity is delivering new knowledge on how local enterprises can achieve higher returns by ensuring global consumers understand the distinctive qualities of the physical, credence and cultural attributes of agri-food products that are Made in New Zealand.

Following on from the successful Integrating Value Chains programme, this research is testing whether the key characteristics identified in that programme as important for a successful value chain have validity for designing a new value chain for a New Zealand land-based export product.

Integrating Value Chains tested whether New Zealand’s world-renowned reputation for food and fibre would allow our producers and processors to capture higher returns for agri-food exports.

Our land in New Zealand is used in many different ways. As our population grows and needs change, land is being used for different purposes. Our Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) Framework has been developed to enable people to explore different land use scenarios and see a broad assessment of the economic, environmental and social impacts.

In 2023, the AERU was commissioned by the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre (NZFSSRC) to make an independent estimate of the value of the Centre to New Zealand. Case studies examined the value of the Centre by industry - namely dairy, kiwifruit, and poultry. The total conservative estimate based on case studies of the above industries was NZ$164 million per year - a significant return on the government’s NZ$2.5 million investment.

Through a suite of approaches incorporating physical science, agricultural productivity models, economic approaches and social science, this project aims to fill some of the gaps in our understanding of the impacts of climate change on agriculture.

In their new book, authors from the AERU set out a wellbeing economics framework that directly addresses fundamental issues affecting wellbeing outcomes. Drawing inspiration from the capabilities approach of Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, the book demonstrates how people can enhance prosperity through their own actions and through collaboration with others.

The AERU is currently engaged in a project to estimate the economic impact of extreme events in relation to climate change on New Zealand's primary sector, funded by MPI's Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change programme.

Anita Wreford was New Zealand’s only lead author of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019), the second Special Report to be produced in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Cycle (AR6).

Since 2022, the AERU has been involved in a series of surveys aimed at measuring farmer participation in farm certification schemes.

The New Zealand Government launched a National Climate Change Risk Assessment to take place in 2019 and 2020 to provide an overview of how climate change may affect New Zealand, with the AERU’s Associate Professor Anita Wreford leading the Economy domain.

AERU researcher Dr Sini Miller assessed how Canterbury residents value and trade off multiple attributes of freshwater use, developing policy scenarios to explore impacts on employment, as well as the environmental, recreation, and cultural values associated with water.

The AERU was contracted by Ihi Research and Development to perform a cost-benefit analysis of the He Toki ki te Mahi initiative, and provide an analysis of the initiative's economic impact.

The AERU is co-leading a project aiming to provide decision support tools for dynamic transition for the Taranaki region's likely future with an active volcano (Mt Taranaki).

The AERU were the principal investigators for the Matrix of Drivers, a project aiming to identify all of the known drivers and issues that affect land and water use in New Zealand, funded by the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge.

The AERU and Ihi Research produced a discussion paper as part of a work programme to develop New Zealand Treasury’s Living Standards Framework (LSF). The purpose of the paper was to analyse culture and wellbeing in the context of the LSF.

The AERU is contributing to a research programme that aims to estimate the economic values of braided rivers alongside the management implications, and contribute to understanding the benefits and costs to affected communities from the different braided river management options developed.

Since 2007 the AERU has been commissioned by Antarctica New Zealand to produce a report outlining the contributions of Antarctic-related activities to the Canterbury and New Zealand economies.

Maximising Export Returns (MER) was a three-year project, funded by MBIE, examining international consumer preferences towards key food and beverage product attributes in key markets for New Zealand's food and beverage trade.