New Zealand is recognised internationally for its stunning landscapes and productive agricultural and horticultural land.
Since human settlement, the way we have used our land has fundamentally shaped our nation. Land is important to many of us in other ways – it can contribute to our sense of belonging to this country, and represent the place we call home.
New Zealand has developed internationally-recognised expertise in the productive use of land resources, exporting high-value agricultural, horticultural, wine, and timber products to the rest of the world. In recent decades, New Zealand has also marketed itself internationally as an attractive destination for scenic and adventure tourism.
A definition of land
Land is considered to include:
-
the aesthetic components of landform and landscape including the vegetation cover
-
the physical components of soil and parent material (the soils and underlying rock types that give rise to soil)
-
the plant and animal communities in the soil, such as, insects, mites, springtails, nematodes, worms, fungi, bacteria, and algae
-
the exotic and native ecosystems resident on the land, such as, exotic forestry, urban settlements, native forests, and tussock grasslands.
Land and our economy
Land plays an integral part in supporting New Zealand’s top two export earners: tourism and primary production. In 2007, agriculture, forestry, horticulture, and viticulture generated $16.1 billion, $3.6 billion, $2.5 billion, and $662 million respectively in export earnings. In other words, about one-sixth, or 17 percent, of New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) depends on the top 15 centimetres of our soil. In 2006, tourism generated $8.3 billion in export earnings.
Land use and environmental impacts
Using land for production and urban development puts pressure on the wider environment: urban and rural run-off pollutes our waterways and coasts; urban expansion leads to the loss of versatile soils; and more intensive agricultural land use increases the risk of detrimental long-term effects on soil quality, and the quality of our waterways.
Intensification of pastoral land use
Recent trends in land use in New Zealand include an increase in intensive pastoral land use (for example, higher stocking rates, increased use of fertilisers and agricultural chemicals, and increases in irrigation use).
For example, Figure 3.4 shows that by 2006, dairy cow and deer numbers had increased to just over 5.2 million and 1.5 million, respectively. Between 1996 and 2006, the national dairy herd grew by 24 per cent. The recent expansion of dairy and deer farming has been particularly notable in the South Island. On the other hand, the number of sheep decreased to just over 40 million, and beef cattle numbers dropped to just under 4.5 million.
Figure 3.4: Livestock numbers in New Zealand, 1981–2006
Data source: Ministry for the Environment, 2007b.
Text description of figure
Figure 9.4 shows a graph with the changes in livestock numbers nationally, measured in millions of animals, for sheep, beef cattle, dairy cows and deer between 1981 and 2006. Refer source data.
Our primary production sectors rely on the land.
Source: Ministry for the Envirnment.
Fertiliser use
Intensification of pastoral land use has led to a noticeable increase in the use of fertilisers in high-producing exotic pastures. Most of the increased fertiliser inputs are removed from the land as production, but there is no doubt that the intensification of pastoral land use has increased the pressure on our surface waterways and groundwater, as discussed in the Freshwater section.
Total fertiliser use significantly increased in New Zealand between 1985 and 2004 (see Figure 3.5). The amount of nitrogen fertiliser used in New Zealand has increased about ten-fold since 1985 and has doubled since the mid-1990s. Nitrogen from livestock manure, which contributes around five times the amount of nitrogen to the land as nitrogenous fertilisers, also steadily increased.
These changes coincide with the trend towards more intensive forms of farming; particularly dairy farming, with its high density of grazing stock. Dairy cows excrete almost seven times the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in their faeces and urine as breeding ewes, and around three-and-a-half times that of breeding hinds (deer).
Figure 3.5: Sources of nitrogen and phosphorus in agricultural catchments, 1985–2004
Notes:
(1) N = nitrogen.
(2) P = phosphorus.
Data source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Text description of figure
Figure 3.5 shows a graph with the changes in nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to agricultural catchments, measured in thousands of tonnes, between 1985 and 2004. Inputs include nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilisers and livestock manure respectively Refer source data.
Land cover
Reflecting changes in land use, land cover in New Zealand continues to change as our population grows, land prices change, and international commodity prices fluctuate.
In 2002, native forest, native vegetation, and other natural land cover (for example, rivers, lakes, snow, ice, and scrub) made up 50 per cent of New Zealand’s total land cover area. Pasture was our second largest land cover at just over 39 per cent. Exotic forest covered 7.31 per cent of New Zealand’s land area.
Table 3.1 reports satellite measurements between 1997 and 2002, which showed that:
-
pastoral land cover decreased by 125,200 hectares (or just over 1 per cent)
-
human settlements increased by just over 5,300 hectares (or 3 per cent). This represents 96 per cent of the total increase in artificial surfaces of 5,500 hectares
-
native vegetation and native forest decreased by 17,200 hectares (or 0.15 per cent)
-
exotic forest cover increased by 139,500 hectares (or about 8 per cent)
-
horticultural land area increased by 4,500 hectares, with the total area of horticultural land at just under 1.6 per cent of New Zealand’s total land area.
Table 3.1: Changes in land cover between 1997 and 2002
Land-cover class | 1997 area (hectares) | Percentage of total land area (%) | 2002 area (hectares) | Percentage of total land area (%) | Change in area (hectares) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exotic forest | 1,822,300 | 6.79 | 1,961,800 | 7.31 | 139,500 | |
Exotic shrubland | 370,900 | 1.38 | 363,300 | 1.35 | –7,600 | |
Native forest (including mangroves) | 6,485,400 | 24.18 | 6,483,100 | 24.17 | –2,300 | |
Native vegetation | 5,263,400 | 19.62 | 5,248,500 | 19.57 | –14,900 | |
Other native land cover | 1,588,400 | 5.92 | 1,589,100 | 5.92 | 700 | |
Primarily horticulture | 413,000 | 1.54 | 417,400 | 1.56 | 4,500 | |
Primarily pasture
| High-producing exotic grassland | 8,985,200 | 33.50 | 8,885,800 | 33.13 | –99,400 |
Low-producing grassland | 1,678,100 | 6.26 | 1,652,300 | 6.16 | –25,800 | |
Artificial surfaces | 215,000 | 0.80 | 220,500 | 0.82 | 5,500 | |
Total | 26,821,600 | 100 | 26,821,600 | 100 |
Note:
Figures rounded to the nearest 100 hectares.
Data source: Ministry for the Environment, Land Cover Databases 1 and 2.
Land
March 2021
© Ministry for the Environment