Australian grain growers are set to get better crop variety recommendations faster through a major Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) international collaborative investment. The $5.39 million five-year INVITA (Innovations in Variety Testing in Australia) investment will deliver improved predictors of variety performance, quicker access to trial data for growers, better monitoring of trial quality […]
Agri Tech
Hotter, drier, CRISPR: editing for climate change
Gene editing technology will play a vital role in climate-proofing future crops to protect global food supplies, according to scientists at The University of Queensland. Biotechnologist Dr Karen Massel from UQ’s Centre for Crop Science has published a review of gene editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 to safeguard food security in farming systems under stress from extreme and variable climate conditions. […]
White paper sets out pressing regenerative agriculture research priorities
A new white paper says there is significant overlap on the continuum of practices between mainstream and regenerative agriculture. Among its conclusions is that there is a pressing need for scientific testing of the limited evidence and anecdotal claims being made by regenerative agriculture practitioners and proponents. Lead author Dr Gwen Grelet, a senior researcher […]
NZ needs its own Project Warp Speed on climate change
by Peter Griffon, founding Director of the Science Media Centre. This article was first published in BusinessDesk. OPINION: The good news about the Climate Change Commission’s draft plan to meet our Paris Agreement commitments and avoid the worst of climate change is that it doesn’t hinge on technology yet to be developed. The commission has […]
Knowing your fertiliser includes understanding how it spreads
With the summer season being a busy time for farmers and growers keen to get the fert’ on, there’s often a tendency to focus on getting the job done, rather than think too much about what’s in the product or how it’s being applied, says the Fertiliser Quality Council. The organisation, which overseas Fertmark and […]
Plenty for sheep & beef farmers at the East Coast Expo
The 2021 East Coast Farming Expo is a two-day mid-week gathering (February 24-25) for sheep and beef producers with a focus on farming smarter. It’s held annually at the Wairoa A&P Showgrounds and includes exhibits, outdoor demonstrations and seminars. It’s a chance for farmers to talk one-one-one with industry innovators and leaders and has become […]
Glyphosate – a tool that requires care
Colin Hurst, Federated Farmers Arable Industry Group Chairperson The news that the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) requires all honey exports to Japan to undergo glyphosate testing, has again generated media comment about the safety of its ongoing use. Those in the primary sector are glyphosate’s primary users, but it is also commonly used […]
The underground army
New Zealand is recognised as the world’s leading pastoral agricultural producer. Pasture-based exports account for almost half of our total exports and given the state of the rest of the world, we are quickly becoming globally recognised as gold standard food producers. Unfortunately, all that productivity puts us in the shit…. tonnes of it. It’s […]
Distribution partnership will lead to ‘connected cows’
Herd improvement and agri-tech cooperative LIC has formed a distribution partnership with Israeli-based Afimilk to market its hi-tech cow collars in New Zealand, supporting a global trend towards ‘connected cows’. The AfiCollar, worn around the neck, collects data on animal health, wellbeing and fertility. Afimilk is one of the dairy industry’s leading producers of cow […]
DairyNZ wins science award for fertility research
A DairyNZ-led team took out the Primary Industries Award at the Kudos Awards for its ground-breaking collaborative research into improving dairy fertility genetics. The Improving Dairy Fertility Genetics research project has determined new ways to select inherently fertile cows. It has also demonstrated that genetic selection for cow fertility will improve herd reproduction. “The ability […]