Economic Studies Joint Venture Project - Waikato Land Allocation Model

Report: TR 2021/13

Authors: Femi Olubode & Blair Keenan, Waikato Regional Council; Alvaro Romera & Matt Newman, DairyNZ; Darran Austin, Ministry of Primary Industries; Graeme Doole, University of Waikato

The Waikato Economic Impact Joint Venture Studies Project was a collaboration between the central government, the Waikato Region Council (WRC), the Waikato River Authority and industry. The project aimed to inform decision-making on the potential impacts of setting freshwater objectives and limits in the Waikato-Waipa River Catchment. One output of that project is a catchment-level economic model that will be made available to the WRC’s Healthy Rivers Plan for Change/Wai Ora project.

This report is a documentation of the model, Waikato Land Allocation Model (WLAM). The documentation covers the model’s three main components: the logic behind the model in terms of its conceptual framework; the algorithm in terms of how the model works; and the baseline data used together with the assumptions in each component.