Situation and outlook for New Zealand agriculture and forestry (August 2007)
5 Nanotechnology is not science fiction
It is 125 years since New Zealand first exported frozen meat to the United Kingdom by ship. This was pioneering technology that opened new and distant markets for New Zealand. The impact of this single innovation still echoes around New Zealand today.
Technological solutions and new applications of cutting-edge science can improve productivity, contribute to better environmental outcomes, and open new markets. Those who develop these innovations can also capitalise by licensing intellectual property rights.
Nanotechnology cuts across all scientific disciplines. It is already being used to enhance health and safety, and new applications, for example, in medicine and energy, are being developed. Nanotechnology could provide the basis for a wide range of innovative practices and products to help agriculture and forestry become more efficient and sustainable.
Nanotechnology is not science fiction. A willingness to explore new technologies will improve the financial viability of our primary and downstream industries.
Using nanotechnology can also be controversial. New technologies need new ways to control possible negative consequences and uncertainties about environmental and human health risks. Society’s views must be clearly understood and taken into account before new technologies are used in agriculture and forestry.
What is nanotechnology?Nanotechnology is about understanding and controlling matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometres. A nanometre is one-billionth of a metre. As a size comparison, a human hair is about 80 000 nanometres wide, whereas a DNA double helix is just 2.5 nanometres wide. Because of the incredibly small size of materials at the nanoscale, their physical, chemical, and biological properties often differ in fundamental and valuable ways from those of materials observed at the microscale (that is, at 1000 nanometres, or one-millionth of a metre) or larger. |
Nanotechnology in New Zealand
It is too early to predict the impact nanotechnology will have on agriculture and forestry in New Zealand, but it is vital that emergent market opportunities are not missed. The ability to quickly identify new processes and products will be a key determinant of success.
The emphasis in New Zealand is on the synthesis and study of nanomaterials and on developing devices that incorporate nanoscaled structures or materials. The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology has established a bionanotechnology network to co-ordinate research in this area, because biological applications of nanotechnology are likely to be relevant to New Zealand.
New Zealand researchThe three main research groups involved in nanotechnology research and development in New Zealand are the:
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The future of nanotechnology
Nanotechnology offers exciting new possibilities for maximising productivity, reducing undesirable effects on the environment, and increasing food safety and animal health. Nanotechnology may add value to New Zealand’s industries by enabling products to be traced through supply chains or by creating new types of products.
Nanotechnology is not science fictionNanotechnology is used in the following products.
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Traceability of the agricultural food supply
Tracing food from paddock to plate is important for some markets. Identity preservation can create value by enabling customers to identify and trust the source and production systems used to produce their food. However, financial limitations restrict the numbers of inspectors employed and tests undertaken in the production, shipping, and storage of food. Identity preservation using nanosized monitors, such as nanobarcodes, could allow the continuous tracking and recording of the physical path a particular product takes, as well as variables affecting food safety such as temperature.
Nanobarcode particles manufactured using inert metals such as gold and silver could be used for robust nanoscale tagging and tracking of small products. The particles get their unique identity from the difference in reflectivity of adjacent metal stripes and could be used to tag items previously not practical to tag with conventional barcodes.
Disease detection and treatment
If a plant or animal becomes infected it can be days or months before the disease is detected, and by that time the disease may be widespread with entire herds or fields needing to be treated or destroyed. Quantum dots could be used to allow the earlier detection of pathogens and contaminants.
Quantum dots are nanocrystals that, when illuminated with ultraviolet light, emit distinctive colours depending on their size. They have been widely used in biotechnological applications, for example, to swiftly detect pathogenic bacteria by binding to certain bacterial proteins.
A farm-based nanoparticle treatment is being developed in the United States for the removal from poultry of Campylobacter jejuni, which causes abdominal cramps and diarrhoea in humans. This treatment uses poultry feed containing nanoparticles specifically designed to bind to the surface of Campylobacter bacteria in the poultry’s intestinal tract. The nanoparticles form aggregates and help to dislodge Campylobacter colonies, so they are expelled from the intestinal tract, making poultry meat products less likely to become contaminated during processing.
Ministry of Research, Science and Technology’s nanoscience roadmapThe Ministry of Research, Science and Technology has produced the Nanoscience and nanotechnologies roadmap to guide New Zealand science and research activity and set the context for funding. Industries such as agriculture, horticulture, and forestry underpin the New Zealand economy and are important target sectors for nanotechnology. |
Wood protection
Nanotechnology could be used to enhance the characteristics of solid wood products that are hard to modify using traditional technologies. For example, wood surfaces are vulnerable to degradation by ultraviolet light, and the method of protection commonly used is a semi-transparent or opaque coating. This coating, however, obscures the look and feel of untreated wood, which can affect whether consumers choose to use that product. Adding 5 percent nanoparticles of titanium dioxide to such building materials prevents damage from ultraviolet radiation while still allowing the natural properties of wood products to be visible.
New materials and composites
Wood and wood-based materials are increasingly being used in composites with non-wood materials to produce, for example, medium and high density fibreboard, plywood, and oriented strandboard. Nanotechnology offers the potential to develop entirely new methods for producing engineered wood and fibre-based materials.
What the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is doing
We are interested in all new technologies that will have an impact on our primary and downstream industries. New technologies have risks and benefits, and MAF is keen to foster debate and allow informed choice about their responsible use. Emerging technologies often create challenges, such as the control and distribution of benefits and uncertainty about environmental and human health risks, and have ethical implications. The Government understands that society’s views must be clearly understood and taken into account before new technologies are used in agriculture and forestry.
It is tempting to look at the evolution of agriculture in New Zealand and assume that we will continue to be successful. This is a false assumption if we do not continue to innovate. Science and technology are vital components of productivity.
Freezing meat transformed our ability to export. What innovations and challenges will nanotechnology bring?
Contact for Enquiries
Manager
Monitoring and Evaluation
MAF Policy
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0623
Fax: +64 4 894 0741
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