About HectareWise

What it does

You draw a boundary on the map. HectareWise measures the area, looks up what it can about that site, and compares around 40 farming, horticulture and forestry options on their estimated costs and returns.

Residential and commercial development, small-footprint ventures (such as insect farming or microgreens) and marine farming are not ranked. They need rezoning, sea space or specialist advice.

How the figures are made

Each option is appraised the way a farm consultant would start: a mature-year profit, a cash flow over the option's life, and a range.

• Area is measured from the boundary you draw.
• Usable area: each option counts only the part of your block it can use, by land cover (Land Cover Database) and slope (LINZ elevation) at about 400 points. Which land cover and how steep a slope each land use can take are our rules, shown with each option. Without that measurement an option uses the whole block, and the report says so.
• Each option's figures come from published NZ sources where they exist (the source is shown on every option): revenue, operating costs, setup cost and timing. They're used as published, for the region and year of the source, with no adjustments. Options without published figures use general assumptions, multiplied by an assumed regional factor and by a factor for how well the land suits the option (worked out from the island-wide soil and climate profile, not site data). Labour-intensive options also add labour at an assumed $25 an hour. These options are labelled Not benchmarked or Partly benchmarked, and each one lists what was assumed.
• Setup costs that aren't published are left out and the option says so. For sheep, beef and high country farms no setup cost is published, so their figures exclude buying stock and infrastructure.
• Operating profit per hectare is revenue less operating costs at full production, before a management wage, tax and finance.
• Cash flow runs over the option's own productive life (up to 50 years) in today's dollars. Revenue starts at zero, begins at 30% of full output in the first production year and reaches full output by the peak year. Costs that vary with the crop (picking, packing, freight) follow the same ramp; the rest are paid from planting.
• Forestry earns ETS carbon credits each year from the official tables (to age 16 for radiata pine under averaging accounting) and a net timber return at harvest.
• Net present value (NPV) discounts that cash flow at a real discount rate (6% unless you change it; an assumption, not a published rate) and subtracts the setup cost.
• Annual value spreads the NPV evenly over the option's life, so a 5-year crop and a 30-year orchard can be compared. Options are ranked by it.
• Range and break-even: the NPV if revenue moves up or down by the option's assumed price and yield volatility, and how far revenue can fall before NPV turns negative.
• IRR is the discount rate at which NPV is zero. Payback is when cumulative cash flow turns positive.
• Frost: frost-tender crops (avocados, kiwifruit, feijoas) aren't ranked where the region's frost risk is too high.
• Not included yet: buying the land, tax, financing, and the income you give up from the current use.

Data sources

Your site

• Regional Council 2025 In use
  Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa
  The region your boundary's centre falls in, which sets the regional figures and where crops are grown commercially. Boundaries simplified to about 100 m, so a block right on a regional border may be matched to its neighbour. Licensed for reuse under CC BY 4.0.
• NZ Primary Parcels In use
  Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ)
  The legal description, title reference and parcel area at the centre of your boundary. Sourced from the LINZ Data Service and licensed for reuse under CC BY 4.0.
• Fundamental Soil Layer (NZ Soil Classification) In use
  Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research
  The soil order and group at the centre of your boundary. Shown in the report; it doesn't change the estimates yet.
• Land Cover Database v6 (2023) In use
  Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research
  The mapped land cover at the centre of your boundary, such as pasture or exotic forest, and the share of the whole block in each class, measured at about 400 points. It decides how much of the block each option can use (our rules, shown with each option). From LRIS, licensed for reuse under CC BY 4.0.
• Land Use Capability (NZLRI) Coming soon
  Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, via LRIS
  LUC class 1 to 8, the standard NZ rating of what land can sustainably support. Will rule out options the land can't carry.
• S-map soil properties Coming soon
  Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research
  Drainage, rooting depth and water holding capacity, which decide whether orchards, vineyards and crops will thrive.
• Elevation and slope (LINZ Basemaps elevation) In use
  Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ)
  Slope at the same points, which leaves out land too steep for each option (our limits, shown with each option). Large blocks are measured on coarser pixels, which read steep slopes lower. Elevation and aspect aren't shown yet. Our slope is based on Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand elevation data, licensed for reuse under CC BY 4.0 by LINZ and the licensors LINZ lists for each survey.
• Climate (rainfall, temperature, frost, growing degree days, sunshine) Coming soon
  NIWA (now Earth Sciences New Zealand)
  Long-term climate for the block. Today these are regional averages, and growing degree days and sunshine are not estimated.
• District plan zoning Coming soon
  District and city councils
  The zone your block sits in and what it allows.
• Rural land values Coming soon
  QV or REINZ rural sales
  Land value per hectare, so returns can be compared with what the land is worth.

Prices and economics

• NZD/USD exchange rate In use
  ExchangeRate-API (open.er-api.com)
  Refreshed about once a week and shown with its date. Display only: no calculation uses it.
• Dairy farm economics In use
  DairyNZ Economic Survey (2024-25, and regional averages 2020-22 via Land Use Opportunities)
  Dairy revenue and farm working expenses per hectare for your region, and herd value as the setup cost.
• Sheep & Beef Farm Survey In use
  Beef + Lamb NZ (2024-25, by farm class)
  Revenue and operating costs per hectare for South Island finishing-breeding, North Island finishing and high country farms.
• Orchard, vineyard and crop budgets In use
  Land Use Opportunities (Whitiwhiti Ora: Manaaki Whenua, AgResearch, Plant & Food Research), budgets by Agribusiness Group and Fruition, 2022-23
  Revenue, operating costs and the share that varies with the crop, for apples, green kiwifruit, avocados, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Central Otago cherries, covered blueberries, Canterbury wheat and onions.
• Orchard setup costs and timing In use
  Te Puni Kōkiri (Tupu) fact sheets
  Development cost per hectare, years to first and full crop, and productive life. Where a range is published, the midpoint is used.
• Low-emission land use economics In use
  Ministry for Primary Industries, Technical Paper 2021/13
  Mānuka honey income and costs, and radiata pine establishment cost and net harvest return.
• Forestry carbon tables In use
  Climate Change (Forestry) Regulations 2022, Schedule 4; Scion guidance on averaging accounting
  Carbon stock by age for radiata pine in your ETS region and for native forest, which sets the credits a forest earns.
• NZ Unit (carbon) price In use
  NZX secondary market close, December 2025 auction dashboard
  $41.70 per NZU, shown with its date. A live price feed is coming.
• Benchmarks for the remaining options Coming soon
  Summerfruit NZ, Deer Industry NZ, FAR (arable), and industry bodies for newer crops
  Stone fruit, deer, ryegrass seed, oats, irrigated rotations and newer crops have no published NZ per-hectare figures we could find yet. They are labelled Not benchmarked.
• Official cash rate and inflation Coming soon
  Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Stats NZ
  The economic indicators in the report are fixed estimates until these are connected.

Maps and place names

• Place search and names In use
  OpenStreetMap Nominatim, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
  Address search, and the street and town used to suggest property names.
• Map and satellite imagery In use
  OpenStreetMap; Esri World Imagery
  The base maps you draw on. Display only.
• LINZ aerial imagery basemap Coming soon
  LINZ Basemaps
  Sharper, more recent NZ aerial photos to draw boundaries on.

Questions and feedback

HectareWise is in closed beta. If a figure looks wrong for your block, tell Bradley: it helps us check our assumptions.