Approval has been granted to import and release two new organisms, a hoverfly and beetle, in a bid to reduce plague populations of invasive German and common wasps in New Zealand. The Tasman District Council applied to introduce the wasp-nest beetle, Metoecus paradoxus, and a hoverfly, Volucella inanis, for biological control of the wasps Vespula germanica and V. vulgaris. The […]
Biodiversity
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 […]
Harnessing the power of catchment groups
Policy aimed at changing practices on individual farms isn’t working, writes Jim Sinner from the Our Land and Water Collective Responsibility research team. Could collective management, through catchment groups, achieve better outcomes for our waterways? (This article was first published on the National Science Challenges website.) Over the past several years, I’ve had a growing […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Southland’s freshwater picture brought together in one report
Thriving Southland today released a literature review, The Southland Science Report, detailing the water situation in Southland. The Southland Science Report, written by Landpro Ltd, compiles all the science and data that has been publicly released about Southland’s land, soil and water into one report. Thriving Southland Chair and farmer, Ewen Mathieson, says “it’s the […]
Survey shows farm plans are driving change
A new survey of farmers in Aparima, Southland, shows farms achieve better environmental results when they have Farm Environment Plans. Six hundred dairy, sheep and beef farmers work together in the Aparima Community Environment Project, which aims to improve the health of freshwater and reduce environmental footprint. A recent survey of 151 Aparima farmers showed […]
Working better together – Fish & Game and Federated Farmers
A ‘goodwill meeting’ held between the boards of Federated Farmers and Fish & Game has signaled an attempt to calm the troubled waters between the two organisations. However, the initiative has raised some eyebrows among freshwater campaigners. Six members of the NZ Fish & Game Council met with their counterparts from Federated Farmers at the […]
Our Land and Water: Better Together webinar series
Announcing four Our Land and Water webinars, weekly on Mondays at 12 noon from 30 November What will the food and fibre producing landscapes of New Zealand look like in a future where scientists, farmers, growers, iwi and businesses have worked together to respond pragmatically and effectively to environmental degradation? A series of four webinars […]