ENC Growth Strategy Agriculture and Broadband August 2013

Agriculture CDC strategy shows the rural economy is vital to Greater Christchurch’s recovery ENC must be involved in promotion of the rural economy of North Canterbury Previously assisted Hurunui Water Project Project to support technology transfer Review has identified areas we can participate by facilitating and complementing rather than leading

Farming Environment Growth is beneficial Government funding available Water quality regulations demand better practice New irrigation – cost and opportunity New technology and IT skills part of future tool kit Many agencies involved/crowded space The psychology of farmers – individuals and self sufficient, who do they trust?

ENC Focus Link NC farmers to SFF and PGP projects of relevance Increase farmer access to independent one- to-one advice Enhance the connections between local government policy, infrastructure needs and socio-economic impacts Facilitate improved dryland dairy farming in the Hurunui

ENC Focus Link with existing networks and players rather than duplicate Ensure NC farmers are equipped to meet compliance requirements of water quality regulations Facilitate NC farmer access to training on IT based farm management systems Support increased understanding of new land uses resulting from irrigation

ENC RURAL Establish ENC presence Must be relevant and credible Use the strengths from other sectors Leone Evans is the project leader

Broadband In town and country ….. High speed broadband is essential to maintain current competitive position It is NOT a competitive advantage Need it to be in the game Service requirements in all sectors becoming more complex; requiring connectivity everywhere, all the time, with big data capacity and high speed

Rural Examples Product traceability/bar-coding Fonterra – milk quality management ECAN water data recording and reporting Must be reliable and constant Extending fibre as far as possible increases capacity (speed) and reliability (always on)

Government Roll Out Limited fibre roll out in rural North Canterbury Some towns, schools and hospitals Increased wireless coverage and capacity Only paying for the infrastructure – Chorus, Enable, Vodafone Who will provide the service? – Telecom, ISPs, Vodafone - not funded by government What demand at what price will determine the service provided rurally? Not promising so far!

Key Messages Don’t wait for fibre to arrive – be proactive in seeking it Create communities of interest in localities that will benefit from BB – those who see the potential Create partnerships to create and deliver a BB service to rural sector Rural economic development will require business/technical partnerships

ENC Activities Work with communities and groups to increase capacity and speed beyond the RBB limits Work with communities and groups to encourage service providers to provide a service in rural areas with small demand Facilitate the community engagement, that is the only way NC will have a BB service comparable to the cities

Examples Oxford – there have been a number of community discussions What is needed now is a qualified solution involving critical players – Oxford school, a fibre layer, a service provider Identifying “Home Based” professional groups in localities – in Waimakariri and Hurunui

Fibre to the Farm We are starting with a vision to see fibre delivering broadband services to every location in NC 10 years from now It will require strong community engagement and commitment with technical and service delivery inputs – and the community will have to pay Tom McBrearty –

Summary Actively identify and support the critical components in growing NC rural economic wealth “ENC RURAL” One of these is providing comparable BB service to rural NC “FIBRE TO THE FARM”