Question 1

What is NCEA AS 91865 about?

Accepted Answer

This internal standard (done at school, not in an exam) asks you to look at a real agribusiness and explain what future forces or pressures could affect whether that business keeps surviving and succeeding. 'Future proofing' means thinking ahead about things like climate change, new laws, technology, or changing consumer attitudes, and working out how a business can deal with those pressures to stay viable (keep going and remain healthy). You will research an actual agribusiness and write about the influences that could shape its future.

Question 2

What do students need to do for AS 91865?

Accepted Answer

1. Pick a real agribusiness (like a sheep and beef farm, a dairy operation, a horticultural business, etc.). 2. Identify future proofing influences that could affect it — these could be economic (costs, markets), environmental (climate change, water quality rules), political (government policy), social (what consumers want), technological (new machinery or software), legal (regulations), ethical, cultural, biological, or scientific. 3. Explain how each influence could affect whether the business stays viable — can it keep running, stay profitable, and meet future needs? 4. For higher grades, dig deeper into short-term and long-term impacts, and think about effects beyond just the business itself (e.g. on the wider community, industry, or environment).

Question 3

What's the difference between Achieved, Merit, and Excellence for AS 91865?

Accepted Answer

Achieved: You explain what some future proofing influences are and describe how they could affect your chosen business's viability. Your answer shows you understand the link between the influence and the business, but it may be fairly straightforward or surface-level. Merit: You give a thorough explanation that covers both the short-term and long-term impacts of the influences on the business's viability. Your answer goes into detail and shows a clear understanding of why those impacts matter over time. Excellence: You evaluate the impacts — meaning you weigh them up and make judgements — and you predict consequences both inside the business and beyond it (e.g. effects on the local community, the wider industry, or the environment). Your answer is well-reasoned, uses specific evidence, and shows you have thought critically about the future of the business.

Question 4

What mistakes do students typically make in AS 91865?

Accepted Answer

1. Writing only about what the influences are without clearly linking them to the viability of the specific business chosen. 2. Staying too general — not using enough specific detail about the actual agribusiness being studied. 3. Covering short-term impacts but forgetting to discuss long-term impacts (or vice versa), which is needed for Merit and Excellence. 4. For Excellence, failing to go beyond the business itself — not discussing consequences for the wider community, industry, or environment. 5. Listing influences without evaluating or comparing them — Excellence requires judgement and prediction, not just description. 6. Choosing influences that are not genuinely relevant to the business or the agribusiness sector.

Future proofing business

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