The PIVOT AWARD: Enabling Innovation in Agriculture

LIVE Magazine Article Credit: Massey University

In June 2022, the Taranaki ReGen network was awarded the $100K Pivot Research Award to co-design and pilot a ‘Regenerative Monitoring Framework’ in Taranaki. This initiative aimed to explore practical, farmer-led, science supported, ways of monitoring farm health and progress toward regenerative outcomes.

The project worked in 50/50 partnership with Massey University’s Department of Agriculture, integrating findings into Massey’s Whenua Haumanu pastoral research project. As part of this collaboration, Massey began using Visual Soil Assessments (VSA) alongside their more technical methods and incorporating Soil Food Web analysis - both practical, farmer-accessible tools for tracking soil health and guiding management decisions.

This community research project built on the earlier Curious Minds Regenerative Research Project (2020/2021) and was made possible thanks to the involvement of local farmers, collaborators, Manaaki Whenua, Massey University, and the Bashford Nicholls Trust. The goal: to strengthen farmers’ ability to engage with monitoring backed by the science community, grow shared evidence, and better understand the practices that lead to improved wellbeing, resilience, and prosperity - aka regenerative outcomes, on their farms and in their local environments.