Category Archives: Alternative Vision

The Economics of Space in Land Use: and our Unrealised Potential in New Zealand

Posted on May 14, 2019 by cjkperley

New Zealand industrial agribusiness uses a variety of false assumptions about the economics of space that works against the integration of trees, wetlands and other diversification elements into our farmed landscapes.  It conceptualises complex and multifunctional landscapes as simplified factories; a … Continue reading →

Posted in agricultural strategy, Alternative Vision, Building Regional Economies, Land Use, Land use policy, Thought Pieces | Leave a comment

Changing the Framing of our Lands and Forests …. and Hedgehogs – and Foxes

Posted on April 11, 2019 by cjkperley

“The fox knows many things; the hedgehog one big thing.” Archilochus The Parliamentary Commission for the Environment (PCE) report Farms, Forests and Fossil Fuels: The next Great Landscape Transformation was released 26th March 2019. Amidst all the calls for clarity … Continue reading →

Posted in agricultural strategy, Alternative Vision, Building Regional Economies, Land Use, Land use policy, Land use strategy, Landscape function, Reimagining, Thought Pieces | 3 Comments

Reimagining landscapes as socio- and agro-ecosystems [1]

Posted on April 11, 2019 by cjkperley

Preamble: Dr Mike Joy brought a team of people together to consider the question of how we can help solve New Zealand’s freshwater crisis.  The contributions were published by Bridget Williams Books as Mike Joy (Ed) 2018 Mountain to Sea: Solving … Continue reading →

Posted in agricultural strategy, Alternative Vision, Building Regional Economies, Commodity trap, Land Use, Land use policy, Linkages, Reimagining, Resilience Thinking, Socio-ecological Systems, Thought Pieces, Water retention, Wicked Problems | 2 Comments

Reimagining Landscapes I: Rejecting the Machine

Posted on August 1, 2017 by cjkperley

How do you separate the personal from the professional?  We are taught to deal in the ‘objective’, in measured things.  But the whole idea of reimagining how we look at landscapes – our so-called ‘working lands’ of farms and forests … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Vision, Land Use, Land use strategy, Landscape function, Reimagining, Thought Pieces, Ways of Seeing | Leave a comment

Does Ozymandias Live in the Bay?

Posted on September 14, 2013 by cjkperley

A democratic society is based on the values of an open society, those nebulous things that don’t fit into a financier’s or an economist’s spreadsheet.  These values provide for the trust, participation, creativity, freedom and imagination that makes the good … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Vision, Community resilience, Democracy, Knowledge Systems, Local governance, Management Style, Social Capital, Virtues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Realising the Potential of Hawke’s Bay (and NZ Primary Sector)

Posted on September 12, 2013 by cjkperley
Posted in agricultural strategy, Alternative Vision, Commodity trap, Community resilience, Environmental value, False clichés, Fruitbowl or Dustbowl, High value, Industrial Mindset, Land Use, Land use strategy, Landscape function, Local governance, Market position, Mordor vs the Shire, Primary Sector Strategy, Quality vs Commodity, Transfer, Water retention | 4 Comments