Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF)

Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF) “Grassroots-up” Fund Supports ‘Communities of Interest’ to: • Capitalise on new opportunities: • Technologies • Management practices • Emerging markets • Resolve common challenges • Share best practice

Social Environmental Integrating Profitability with Sustainability Economic Economic Economic

Fit With Other Funds TechNZ: Individual company SFF: Collective of farmers / growers MfE-SMF: Community-driven SFF: Farmer / Grower-driven Industry bodies: Primarily $$ issue-driven SFF: Primarily sustainability-driven PGSF: Basic / fundamental research (R,d,e) SFF: Applied research and extension (r,D,E)

‘Rules of Thumb’

YES √ Applied research Technology transfer / extension Field trials / demo sites Irrigation feasibility studies (Min. 50% co-funding) (NO X) Fundamental / long-term research Projects benefiting one business or an individual Capital expenditure Long-term, on-going costs Retrospective projects What does SFF fund?

SFF Support $$ • Funding available: $9.5M pa • Project type: • Niche / Local / Scoping projects <$20k • Main projects $20k – $200k pa • Project duration: 1–3 yrs • Oversubscription: Last round 215+ proposals req. >$30M Expertise, Linkages & Facilitation • Expertise: • Direct advice to project teams • Access to external expertise & information • Linkages: Joining up related projects & teams • Facilitation: Wormwise Strategy; Catchment Catch-Up Workshop; Small Crops Forum; etc.

Rest of the SFF Team

Pipsafe

New round: dates

Potential Impact Consider economic, environmental and social sustainability Try to quantify — Size the Prize / Scope the Hope Likely uptake Assessed with respect to the CoI User Commitment / Community of Interest (CoI) Farmers/Growers > Industry organisations > Consultants/Researchers Engagement — Real vs. paper? Co-funding — Level / ratio depends on nature of activity & CoI Ability to Deliver Is it technically sound? Is the project logistically do-able? Value for Money Bang-for-buck? Assessment Criteria

Assessment Process • Extensive Pre-Panel Input • Industry bodies / stakeholders • Government stakeholders (MAF, MfE, EECA, etc) • Panel • Apply Criteria Project-by-Project (1–7 scale) • Generate Panel Consensus Score • Consider Balance Within & Across Sectors / Regions • Make Final Recs Based on $$ Available

Giving your application the best chance • Community of Interest • Clearly written application • Cash and in-kind contributions

Community of Interest / Applicant Group NZ indoor tomato growers, HortNZ, Crop and Food NZ Dairy Farmers NZ Vets, Dexcel HortNZ Fresh Tomato Product Group Reproductive Management Plan Team Northland farm foresters, researchers, regional council Tanes Tree Trust

What works? • Strong Community of Interest • Proactive group of farmers / growers / foresters • A strong project champion • Systems (holistic) approach • Good two-way learning & information transfer

Community of Interest :what works? • What is an example of your Community of Interest? • What are the expectations of the group? • What has worked well for your group?

Writing a clear application.. • Your ideas?

Writing your application What we want to know… Who are you? What are the issues? Why are they important? What is your project going to do about it? How are you going to go about it? How much money do you need to do this?

Writing your application Some hints • Normal sized fonts – plenty of white space – make easy to read • Assume readers won’t all be familiar with your industry/ issues – explain the problem, don’t use jargon • Use a direct, easy-to-understand writing style (not a “scientific style”)

Writing your application • Be clear and specific about what you want to do so we can form a clear picture in our head. • Explain why what you are doing is different/ unique from any similar work that has been done before – do your homework! • Remember – assessment is based primarily on the written application – make it self-explanatory.

Cash contributions • Max government funding (i.e. SFF + any other central government funds): 80% of total project • However… most projects average approx 55% SFF funding: partner funding (cash + in-kind) • Large industry and/or large project = more cash co-funding expected • SFF is rarely the sole cash contributor

In-kind contributions • Need to be genuine! • Charge at the going rate (default $25/ hour labouring or $75/ hour professional time). • If it is not going to be invoiced to the project then record as in-kind (e.g. Regional Council may provide monitoring services as in-kind) • Refer to guidelines for more detail

Contracting • Our contract • Intellectual property • Contracting with your sub-consultants and research providers • Your experiences?

Cash flow • SFF has a set budget each year (1 July – 30 June financial year) • You need to set up your budget correctly at the start of the project • Everything is GST inclusive • Payments 3 x per year with request for payment • Advance payments possible – must be accounted for in future reporting • 15% payable upon receipt of final report

Assessing in-kind • Step 1: List all the different parties who potentially are contributors to the project and the contribution they are likely to make. • Step 2: Assign the contributions to the categories as set out in the SFF claim form and draw up an in-kind budget. This will help you track progress overtime • Step 3: Devise a system for recording the individual contributions. Develop a system that works for you. • Step 4: Keep regular checks on how things are going. Ask your contributors to return a regular update of their in-kind expenses. Remember: Recording in-kind contributions is a matter of horses for courses. It’s a matter of finding an approach that works for you and your group.

Reporting 30 October – due 15 November 28 February – due 15 March 30 June – due 15 July Needs to be in on time! New reporting template Web summary

What is a milestone? • Mark critical points in completion of the contracted work. • A significant development, event or accomplishment in your plan of attack • Achievements that help verify that the project is on track and on schedule • An essential component of good project management Note: Milestones should be closely related to the anticipated project outcome/s, objectives and project budget

Milestones need to: • Describe what will be achieved • Be specific (If the milestone can be interpreted in more than one way it is not specific) • Include success or quality measures (These are particularly important if you have contracted someone else to do the work.) • Include a Target Date Milestones also need to be realistic – do you have the capacity ($$ and people) to achieve them?

Some examples Submitted milestone • Commence literature search. Target date: Feb 2008. Revised milestone • Literature review of community attitudes to landscape planning completed according to agreed terms of reference and distributed to steering committee. Target date Feb 2008. Example 2

Some examples Submitted milestone • First workshop undertakenTarget date: Feb 2008. Revised milestone • First workshop on organic farming techniques undertaken. (At least 20 participants in attendance) Target date Feb 2008 Example 3

Final reporting • “Pulls everything together” • Record key learnings from the project • Achievements by milestones • Where to from here?

Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF)