Several chronic diseases – obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers – have been linked to lifestyle and diets high in calories, based on processed foods and lacking diversity and nutritional value.

These diseases are among the greatest health challenges globally and in New Zealand, placing growing pressure on healthcare systems.

This highlights the need for prevention strategies that address not only individual consumer behaviour but environments and food systems.

Research increasingly shows how connected our health is to that of the animals we eat and the land they graze. The conventional view of landscapes as merely sites of food production no longer holds.

My team’s research focuses on designing and implementing new food-production systems as part of a project that integrates farming with health in pursuit of “healthscapes”.

Our objective is to innovate, demonstrate and manage a tangible transition from current practices to a system designed to enhance health from the ground up, with measured improvements in soil, plant, animal, human and community health.

A new approach to pasture-based farming

New Zealand’s conventional pasture-based farming often relies on uniform and monotonous feed systems dominated by grass monocultures. Even balanced mix diets, repeated without variation, compromise animal welfare, behaviour, health and........

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