| 63 Clever EU compliance solution awarded A remnant indigenous forest area within a farming system. This is the type of asset the Europeans are looking to ensure remain protected. Technology and Innovation Award winner Matt Lythe (Prism) with Dan Boulton (Silver Fern Farms), Ashlin Chand and Nathan Guy (MIA) (inset left). Examples from the system (inset right). Karen Phelps Prism Earth has been named winner of the Technology Innovation Award at the 2026 Primary Industries New Zealand Awards, recognised for a system that helps the country’s red meat sector comply with tough new European Union deforestation rules. The award, presented as part of the annual awards programme celebrating those driving New Zealand’s food and fibre sectors forward, honoured the company’s work building a compliance solution ahead of the EU’s Deforestation-free Supply Chains Regulation, known as EUDR. The regulation requires importers to prove that products such as beef and wood have not been sourced from deforested land and access to the EU market is worth an estimated $200 million a year to New Zealand’s beef exporters. Judges praised the solution for positioning New Zealand as one of the only countries ready to meet the EU’s strict regulations while future-proofing the sector’s environmental credentials. The system was developed in partnership with the Meat Industry Association and Lynker Analytics, combining satellite imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR and artificial intelligence to map grazing land and track canopy loss identified as conversion of forest to agriculture. This is then cross-referenced with cattle movement data from the NAIT programme to establish whether any animal has crossed deforested land during its lifetime. “This is a massive data fusion effort,” says Prism Earth managing director Matt Lythe. “We’re analysing forest loss across more than 10 million hectares of grazing land using medium-resolution satellite imagery then validating it with high-resolution data to deliver robust evidence of compliance.” AWARDS » PRISM Weaving a sustainable future together. Reducing emissions and developing sequestration pathways Restoring and strengthening Aotearoa’s ecosystems Building resilient, future-ready businesses 027 387 7866 kiaora@whirika.co.nz www.whirika.co.nz Whirika Consulting is proud to support Prism The platform generates a cloud-free satellite image mosaic of New Zealand dating back to 2020 with LiDAR used to measure canopy loss between years. An AI model flags areas that breach forest loss thresholds, which then undergo human review to remove false positives such as cloud cover or shadow and to confirm the cause of any vegetation change. Daily ear tag movement data from OSPRI is layered over the resulting map of deforested parcels, allowing processors to identify and exclude any cattle that do not meet EUDR criteria before exporting. The system then automatically generates due diligence statements for New Zealand based exporters, which can be shared with importers in Europe via an API, certifying that consignments of beef are deforestation-free and compliant with the laws of their country of origin. This is a mandatory requirement for every shipment entering the EU once the regulation comes into force, now delayed until 30 December 2026. According to MIA, New Zealand is among the few countries in a position to meet the requirement at all, with many international counterparts only partially prepared or actively pushing back against the regulation’s timeline. As well as compliance Matt says the technology has wider applications. “It’s not just about meeting EU rules, it’s about future-proofing New Zealand’s reputation for sustainable, traceable agriculture. The data could also support claims around carbon sequestration as international buyers increasingly demand evidence of climate credentials and exporters could use the same risk-mapping tools to safeguard access to other markets sensitive to deforestation.” Prism Earth, a partnership between Silver Fern Farms and Lynker Analytics, describes itself as a nature advisory bureau that turns environmental data into insights for land-based food producers. It already provides annual carbon stock assessments for several New Zealand food producers, work endorsed by carbon certification body Toitū Envirocare. With the EUDR deadline looming, the MIA is now promoting the system across the wider sector, with the aim of cementing New Zealand’s red meat industry as a global leader in climate-conscious trade. (04) 213 8935 info@lynker-analytics.com lynker-analytics.com • AI & Computer Vision • Geospatial Intelligence • Data Engineering & Analytics • Database & Cloud Solutions • SQL Server - PostgreSQL - PostGIS • AWS & Azure Experts
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