There has been a recurring theme resonating throughout Rural News over the past five years – New Zealand’s agriculture sector desperately needs meaningful investment in research and development (R&D).

By no means was this our fight; rather it was a stance the newspaper supported as a groundswell of agricultural research organisation heads, agribusinesses and enlightened farmers came forward to express their fears for the future of the industry, and indeed the wider economy, in an innovation vacuum.

It is gratifying then, that the Government has finally chosen to listen to them. Last week’s announcement of a $700 million sustainable food and pastoral investment initiative is not so much a win for the science sector, it is a win for farmers and all New Zealanders.

The Government’s upfront seed funding is expected to grow to $1 billion as it earns interest, industries are expected to match the State’s investment on an annual basis which should see the fund grow to $2b over the next 10-15 years.

Inevitably there will be comparisons between OECD spending on R&D. And it’s likely to be found that even this funding might only lift New Zealand marginally from its lowly ranking.

But the announcement heralds the Government has finally accepted that for New Zealand to have a prosperous economic future it must invest in innovative primary sector products – continuing to trade bulk commodities, competing on the grounds of simplicity with land-rich and labour-cheap nations like Argentina and Brazil is futile.

The investment also affords scientists a degree of funding security that has been lacking from research initiatives for far too long and been a key contributor to the brain drain. Like it or not, farmers need scientists as the drive for sustainability and production increases intensifies.

And scientists will also help farmers cash in on the gains to be made from selling sophisticated, high-value foods to a rising wealthy class emerging in China, India and other Asian nations.

This investment is a bold bet on where New Zealand’s future lies but it is also a politically prudent one.

National leader John Key failed miserably in his attempt to take the gloss off a scheme that has sector-wide acceptance. Whereas the Opposition has been able to ride Labour’s mistakes to massive opinion-pole leads, the research initiative announcement forced Key’s hand and exposed a party apparently devoid of policy in this area.

Over the years Rural News has been covering this vital farming sector issue, National has not once given the paper (nor the primary or research industries) a commitment of extra investment, indicating instead it still favours the privately-funded R&D model that scientists continually warn has failed in the past.