By Annabel McAleer, Senior Communications Advisor, Our Land and Water (this article is from the National Science Challenges website). Buckwheat, soybeans and quinoa trials were undertaken in Canterbury last year, comprising three of the six ‘star’ specialty grains and pulses identified by Our Land and Water research as having high potential for New Zealand farmers. […]
Water
Imagine if we could store ALL that water
The recent holiday deluge of rain in the south saw two very different reactions. There was despair from the holiday makers trying to take a break from the year we’d had, right through to joy and relief from the local farmers, who were even prepared to tolerate the disruption the flooding brought because of their […]
Putting the bite on five myths about meat
If one of your New Year resolutions was to do better for your health and the planet by eating less meat, thumbs up to you. Can’t fault the desire to be a more conscious consumer. But before you entirely swap out beef steaks and rack of lamb for eggplant and lentils, you might check out […]
Partnership the key to success for Canterbury sustainable irrigation award winners
Canterbury farming couple Ted and Sue Rollinson are the New Zealand region winners of the inaugural Zimmatic™ Sustainable Irrigation Awards. The Rollinsons own a 380-hectare dairy farm in mid-Canterbury. Sharemilkers Tom and Leanne Heneghan have been on farm for 11 years and milk 1,500 cows on the property. The awards aim to celebrate excellence in […]
Winter grazing recommendations will work for environment, and farmers – Bernadette Hunt
Southland Federated Farmers Vice-President Bernadette Hunt is confident that recommended changes to proposed winter grazing rules put to the government this week will work for the environment as well as farmers. “We believe freshwater outcomes will be improved by the recommendations [the Southland Advisory Group] have made because they are very outcome-focused and backed by […]
Smartening up our act on environmental data
By Chris Allen, Federated Farmers environment spokesperson OPINION: Have we got the smart environmental data we need to inform smart environmental investments? The short answer is no. Federated Farmers has this week published analysis of the Government’s Our Freshwater 2020 (FW2020) report jointly published by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand. It’s […]
Improving the use of farm technology and data for applied farm management
Watermetrics is continually analyzing and improving its collection andpresentation of hard farm data so that effective farm management decisionscan be made. This year we developed Soil Moisture Analytics which is a new addition to theway data is presented. This tool helps present Soil Moisture, Rainfall andWater Meter data in an easy to understand way. For […]
Dairy industry big guns join forces to tackle nitrogen leaching
Fonterra and Nestlé are teaming up with DairyNZ to expand a promising plantain trial to help improve waterways and reduce on-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Incorporating certain varieties of plantain into a cow’s diet has been shown to reduce the nitrogen concentration in their urine, which can leach through soil into groundwater. To test the […]
Get the research funding right says Environment Commissioner
A report released yesterday by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment supports fears held by Federated Farmers that environmental policy making in New Zealand is based on incomplete and under-funded data collection. PCE Simon Upton is urging the Government to reconsider the way it funds environmental research in New Zealand. “New Zealanders are entitled to […]
Feds members show excellence in sustainable irrigation
Federated Farmers members Ted and Sue Rollinson are the New Zealand region winners of the inaugural Zimmatic™ Sustainable Irrigation Awards. The Rollinson’s own a 380-hectare dairy farm in mid-Canterbury. Sharemilkers Tom and Leanne Heneghan, who are also Feds members, have been on farm for 11 years and milk 1,500 cows on the property. The Awards […]