Best for
Use at the start of the research phase to help ākonga build good habits before they get deep into searching.
Social studies + research skills • Years 9–10 • Unit 10 cash crop poster
Cash Crop Research Guide: Finding Valid Sources
Good research means knowing where to look and how to judge what you find. Use this guide to find reliable information for each section of your cash crop poster, and to check whether a source is worth trusting before you cite it.
Ngā Whāinga Ako / Learning Intentions
- We are learning to identify reliable sources for economics and trade research.
- We are learning to evaluate whether a source is trustworthy before we use it.
- We are learning to use search strategies that produce valid evidence for our poster.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain why some sources are more reliable than others.
- I can find at least 2–3 valid sources for each section of my poster.
- I can apply the four evaluation questions to any source I find.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
This research guide supports the Social Studies inquiry process and information-literacy strand. It connects to tikanga around careful, accurate knowledge-gathering — understanding where information comes from and who has authority over it is part of how we practise responsible research in Aotearoa.
What to print: one copy per student at the start of the research phase. Use alongside the Bibliography Template and Poster Checklist.
Free research guide, premium source-finder support
This guide covers the core research framework. Te Wānanga can help when you want tailored search strategies for a specific crop or need help understanding complex trade data.
- Generate targeted search terms for your specific crop.
- Get plain-language explanations of complex economic data.
- Save a research plan and source list in My Kete.
1. What makes a source reliable?
Reliable sources include
- Government websites — FAO, World Bank, Statistics NZ, NIWA
- Academic sources — university research, peer-reviewed articles
- Reputable organisations — Fair Trade, Oxfam, World Food Programme
- News sources — BBC, RNZ (check the date)
- Industry bodies — commodity boards, trade associations
Be careful with
- Wikipedia — useful for finding other sources, but don't cite it directly
- Personal blogs or opinion pieces — unless clearly labelled as opinion
- Undated pages — statistics without a publication year are unreliable
- Promotional content — pages that are trying to sell something
2. Where to find information for each section
Section A — Geography & Production
Search terms to try:
- "[crop name] origin" or "[crop name] history"
- "[crop name] production countries" or "[crop name] where grown"
- "[crop name] climate requirements" or "[crop name] growing conditions"
- "[crop name] processing" or "[crop name] harvest to export"
Good sources: FAO, National Geographic, BBC Country Profiles, Encyclopedia Britannica
Section B — Economics & Trade
Search terms to try:
- "[crop name] global market value" or "[crop name] billion dollars"
- "[crop name] supply chain" or "[crop name] farm to table"
- "[crop name] corporations" or "[crop name] monopoly"
- "[crop name] price" or "[crop name] scarcity" or "[crop name] food security"
Good sources: World Bank, FAO Trade Statistics, Fair Trade organisations, Oxfam reports
Section C — Aotearoa Link
Search terms to try:
- "[crop name] New Zealand" or "[crop name] NZ"
- "New Zealand [crop name] import" or "NZ [crop name] trade"
- "Kiwifruit export" or "Mānuka honey export" (for comparison)
Good sources: Statistics NZ, Ministry for Primary Industries, NZ company websites
3. Four questions to evaluate any source
| Question | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Who wrote it? | Government, university, or recognised organisation — not anonymous |
| When was it written? | For statistics, look for data from the last 5 years |
| Why was it written? | To inform — not to sell something or push a specific viewpoint |
| Can I verify it? | Find the same fact in at least one other reliable source |
4. Research tips
Start simple
Begin with basic searches like "Where does coffee come from?" before narrowing to specifics like "coffee export value 2023".
Use multiple sources
Try to find 2–3 different sources that confirm the same fact. If only one source says something surprising, look harder before using it.
Record as you go
Write down where you found each fact while you're there. It's much harder to trace a source after the fact.
Check the date
Statistics change. A commodity price from 2010 is not useful for understanding current scarcity. Aim for sources within the last five years.
5. Understanding large numbers
When you find statistics like "$20 billion," you need to be able to explain them clearly on your poster.
| Number | How to read it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | One thousand | 1,000 kg of coffee |
| 1,000,000 | One million | $1 million market value |
| 1,000,000,000 | One billion | $20 billion global market |
Practice: If the global coffee market is worth $20 billion and there are 8 billion people in the world, how much is that per person? ($2.50)
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- Investigate a cash crop systematically across geography, economics, and trade
- Understand the full supply chain — from farmer to consumer — and where power and profit accumulate
- Apply economic concepts (scarcity, trade-off, opportunity cost) to a real food system
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- I have gathered information across all three research sections
- I can explain the full supply chain of my cash crop
- I have identified at least one trade-off in my cash crop system with specific evidence
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Economic Understanding
Level 3–4: investigate how economic concepts explain resource decisions; evaluate trade-offs in economic choices; understand that scarcity is a structural condition affecting communities differently based on access and power.
Mathematics / Numeracy
Level 3–4: apply arithmetic and data representation to real economic contexts; read and interpret charts showing resource allocation; understand that accuracy in resource calculation has real consequences for food security.
Whakaaro Hōhonu · Reflection
What is one insight from this activity that connects to the unit's big question: "What Will We Eat Tomorrow?"
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
In te ao Māori, research begins with relationship. Before you can understand a place, a plant, or a practice, you must understand your relationship to it. The cash crop research guide asks you to investigate a global food system, but kaitiakitanga thinking asks a prior question: what is this crop's relationship to the land that grows it, the people who harvest it, and the communities that depend on it? Research that treats its subject as an object produces different knowledge than research conducted from within a relationship. What would a farmer in that region want you to understand?
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
Resources already provided:
- This handout — cash crop research and assessment scaffold
- Quick Reference Card (unit-10-quick-reference-card.html) — cash crop, supply chain, trade-off definitions
- Cash Crop Research Guide (unit-10-cash-crop-research-guide.html) — step-by-step research framework
- Peer Feedback Form (unit-10-peer-feedback-form.html) — get feedback on your poster draft
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to investigate the intersection of kai (food), culture, and climate — exploring how mātauranga Māori approaches to food production, preservation, and distribution offer powerful responses to contemporary food security and climate challenges in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain how traditional Māori kai practices (maramataka, kūmara cultivation, rāhui) embody ecological knowledge and food security principles.
- ✅ Students can connect kai culture and climate scarcity to contemporary community action and food sovereignty movements.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers that map traditional kai practices to modern food security concepts at the entry level. Offer extension tasks asking students to research a specific iwi's traditional food system and evaluate its contemporary relevance, or to investigate a local food sovereignty initiative.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach domain vocabulary (food sovereignty, food security, kaitiakitanga, rāhui, maramataka) using visual diagrams and real-world examples. Draw connections to students' own cultural food traditions — these are valid entry points into the unit's themes. Allow oral or visual presentation of learning as alternatives to written tasks.
Inclusion: Kai is a universal human experience — all students have a relationship with food, seasonality, and sharing. Neurodiverse learners benefit from concrete, hands-on engagement with these concepts (e.g., examining a kūmara, mapping seasonal foods). Acknowledge diverse economic circumstances sensitively when discussing food security. Choice in how students demonstrate understanding (written, visual, oral) supports inclusive assessment.
Mātauranga Māori lens: The maramataka — the Māori lunar calendar — is one of Aotearoa's most sophisticated environmental data systems, encoding centuries of ecological observation about planting, harvesting, fishing, and weather patterns. Kūmara cultivation in pre-colonial Aotearoa was a feat of agricultural knowledge adapted to a new climate. Rāhui (temporary resource restrictions) is indigenous resource management — conservation before conservation. Kaitiakitanga frames the relationship between people and kai not as extraction but as reciprocal guardianship. These are not historical curiosities — they are living solutions to contemporary problems.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from foundational understanding of climate change and food systems. No specialist mātauranga Māori knowledge required for entry-level engagement — the unit builds this knowledge progressively.
Curriculum alignment
- Place and Environment — Social Studies: Understand how people's management of resources reflects their values and their view of sustainability — and how mātauranga Māori frameworks provide models for sustainable resource management.
- Ecology — Living World: Understand how human activities and natural factors affect the distribution and abundance of organisms; evaluate the impact of changes on ecosystem health and food systems.