AginED
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FOR E FUTURIA G R R S! U E N E R P
Volume 68 I August 9th, 2021 I email: agined@globalHQ.co.nz I www.farmersweekly.co.nz/agined WeatherWatch with Phil
STRETCH YOURSELF: 1 Having worked in highly pressured environments previously both Ben and Libby understand the importance of having a positive mindset. What do they mean by this and how do they use it to benefit their farming? 2 After being caught short in an extended dry period in 2013 Ben decided to diversify their system by adding what? What does this do for their farming system?
Have a go:
3 Birch Hill sells as many lambs as possible off their ewes before Christmas? What are their reasons for this?
1 Go to https://farmersweekly.co.nz/section/other4 What is their sheep breed of choice? Why do sectors/on-farm-story/learning-from-experience they choose this breed? Watch the Onfarm Story of Ben and Libby Tosswill 5 Ben and Libby are working with the Hawke’s Bay “People, Planet & Production and read the Regional Council on a pole-planting programme. accompanying article “Learning from experience” What is this, how does it work and what are the 2 Where in New Zealand do Ben and Libby farm? benefits? 3 What do they produce on their farm? 6 Libby has a passion for biodiversity and Birch 4 Prior to returning to NZ to farm where were Ben and Libby based and what industry did they work in?
Hill is home to a significant block of native bush which is fenced separately from the rest of the farm. They have a predator control programme in place. What types of predators would they need to control and why?
7 They have also diversified with a glamping spot on the farm. They believe that with visitors invariably being from urban lifestyles, staying on the farm can give them a better perspective of the primary sector, including how and where their food comes from. Do you think that this would be effective in helping build knowledge for urban based people? How else could we start to build this understanding and knowledge of what farming and agriculture do in NZ for those outside of a rural setting?
This graph from Stats NZ shows land use over the past 20 years for the agricultural sector.
STOP PRESSURING ME!! We have written a few pieces in AginEd about air pressure (what we call barometric pressure) but in today's update we want you to see if there's any connection between low pressure and wetter/windier weather and high pressure and calmer/drier conditions. High pressure systems don't always equal calm - but at some point as the air pressure grows the central part of the system does become quite settled. We measure air pressure in hectoPascals (hPa). Average air pressure is 1013hPa but 1020 to 1050 is considered high pressure in NZ. For lows/storms the air pressure tends to be 990 and below (usually 960 to 995 for the lows passing near NZ… and most are around 990). Your challenge is to head to www.RuralWeather.co.nz and halfway down the page you will see ‘Detailed Data’. In this tab you can check out Air Pressure (it’s on the right hand side of the Detailed Data column) and it covers every hour for 10 days out in every single hyper-local part of NZ. Perhaps find four locations to choose from in northern NZ, southern NZ, and the east and west, to see if you can find: 1 How LOW does the air pressure go in the four forecasts you checked? 2 What's the HIGHEST barometric air pressure you can find in the forecasts? 3 Can you find any connections between low pressure/ high pressure and the forecasts around that time?
Have a go: 1 What sector uses the most land in New Zealand? 2 What sector uses the smallest amount of land?
Farm land use area in new Zealand, 2002-2019
3 What sector has had the biggest change in land use over the past 20 years? 4 What could you expect the total land use for forestry to do over the next few years?
STRETCH YOURSELF: 1 Head to www.stats.govt.nz/ indicators/agricultural-andhorticultural-land-use 2 On the interactive graph, compare the change in land use by region for beef cattle. How has the total hectares used for beef cattle changed in your area from 2002 to 2019? Has it increased or decreased? 3 What are the results for dairy cattle and sheep?
Beff Cattle
Grain
Dairy Cattle
Horticultural
Forestry
Sheep
4 Sheep farming decreased 1.7 million hectares (29 percent) and beef farming decreased 1.3 million hectares (32 percent) between 2002 and 2019. Meanwhile, dairy farming increased 991,000 hectares (81 percent). What do you think has driven this? 5 In the next 20 plus years, how do you think total land use for agriculture will change in New Zealand?
Got your own question about how the weather works? Ask Phil! Email phil@ruralweather.co.nz with your question and he could answer it on the Weather Together podcast!
In 1984, economic reforms by the government changed New Zealand farming forever in the era of ‘Rogernomics’. Do some research on this and how farming was affected.