16 minute read
Research
by AgriHQ
The Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Inventory compiles and calculates greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in New Zealand.
Funding the GHG inventory
By Samantha Tennent
The Government has more than $1m to help organisations research and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Around half of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in New Zealand come from the agricultural sector and it is essential they are effectively measured to help determine ways to tackle them.
And there is money for it.
The Greenhouse Gas Inventory Fund (GHGIR) was established in the early 2000s and applications for the 2021-22 funding round have just closed.
“We have $1.1 million available for new projects that aim to improve the Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Inventory,” director of investment programmes at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Steve Penno says.
“The inventory compiles and calculates greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in New Zealand and it is an important tool in enabling New Zealand’s reporting to the United Nations under the Paris Climate Agreement.
“It also informs policy decisions, improves the accuracy of our inventory and helps our agriculture and forestry sectors to manage their greenhouse gas emissions.”
Since its establishment, GHGIR has funded over 80 projects and most of these have been related to agriculture, although nearly 30 have focused on forestry. The fund was independently reviewed in 2020, which resulted in some changes, with more to come.
“The fund is significant to support the development of land-use projections, including afforestation and deforestation, which show how carbon accounting rules lead to changes in land-use,” he says.
Priorities for the 2021 funding round include methane, modelling and data, as well as land-use emissions. There is a focus on policy-driven research and reviews and updates to existing inventory items.
Four projects from AgResearch were approved in the last round, looking at a range of topics. From exploring the total number and proportion of dairy cattle grazing on slope classes to the nutrient transfer model, as well as nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from nitrogen fertilisers.
AbacusBio have been analysing lifestyle blocks to compile the number and characteristics of lifestyle blocks
and farmlets in NZ. And the University of Canterbury has been doing some economic modelling on the impact of carbon price and ETS accounting rules on afforestation in permanent and production forestry.
Projects from previous years have provided a range of recommendations around the management of GHG emissions in NZ.
Back in 2009, AgResearch concluded the N2O emission factor should remain separated between dung and urine and in 2018, they went on further to determine what the equations for the calculations should look like.
In 2016, Plant & Food Research concluded there was insufficient justification or supporting information for incorporating irrigation into the inventory. And following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 guidelines that require reporting to account for N2O emissions due to pasture renewal, they also put together a report around estimating NZ’s emissions.
“The funding offers valuable opportunities for research into GHG emissions. We are always excited by the breadth of applications we receive and look forward to seeing the robust research with practical outcomes,” he says.
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MPI director of investment programmes Steve Penno says the priorities for the 2021 funding round include methane, modelling and data, as well as land-use emissions.
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Plantain is usually used as part of a pasture species mixture, but can also be sown by itself as a special-purpose feed for animals.
Billion-dollar plantain boost
By Anne Boswell
A new seven-year research programme on nitrate leaching and plantain could save farmers big dollars in the future.
DairyNZ senior project manager Kate Fransen says modelling forecasts that plantain pastures will reduce nitrate leaching by 15,000 tonnes/year on farms in nitrogen-sensitive catchments. A new programme designed to reduce nitrate leaching, boost regional economies and provide an alternative to costly infrastructure will potentially save farmers more than $1 billion per decade.
The new $22 million Plantain Potency and Practice programme aims to help dairy farmers improve freshwater quality through using plantain pastures, a lowcost forage solution to nitrate leaching.
“There are currently about 4200 dairy farms in nitrogen-sensitive catchments in New Zealand,” DairyNZ senior project manager Kate Fransen says.
“Modelling by DairyNZ forecasts that plantain pastures will reduce nitrate leaching by 15,000 tonnes/year on these farms by 2035, a 37% reduction from current levels.”
Plantain is usually used as part of a pasture species mixture that most commonly includes perennial ryegrass and white clover. However, it can also be sown by itself in a few paddocks as a special-purpose feed for animals, often performing considerably better than ryegrass in summer dry.
Previous research has shown plantain reduces nitrate leaching by reducing the concentration of nitrogen in urine and by improving the efficiency of nitrogen uptake by pastures via soil nitrogen/ carbon processes.
The new programme is a partnership between DairyNZ, PGG Wrightson Seeds, Fonterra and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
It will use Agricom’s Ecotain environmental plantain, as it already has proven effectiveness. An evaluation system will be developed to assess the environmental benefits of other plantain cultivars.
Fransen says the programme will build on existing research and extension projects, including Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching, the Greener Pastures Project and the Tararua Plantain Project – and is expected to demonstrate plantain’s efficacy at scale so farmers
are confident to invest in pasture and practice change.
The programme will incorporate several aspects, with farm trials held at both Massey and Lincoln universities, measuring nitrate leaching under plantain pasture compared to perennial ryegrass, capturing any changes in farm profit between the systems and confirming the proportion of plantain required in the pasture to achieve nitrogen-loss reductions.
Six field trials held in regions throughout the country will be used to develop management strategies to enable persistence of plantain pastures under different soil and climate conditions.
Research will also aim to identify the effect of plantain on milk and meat. Dairy cow health and welfare will also be monitored to determine any effects of including plantain in the diet.
Finally, the programme will support farmers to integrate plantain into their farm system.
“The programme is extremely wellrounded in its approach and with multisector involvement, we believe it is set up for success,” she says.
A significant reduction in nitrate leaching is not the only benefit being examined in the programme: plantain use is also predicted to lead to flowon benefits to national and regional economies.
This is due to farmers spending less on other nitrate leaching solutions, therefore having more money to spend on goods and services.
“Plantain is a low-cost option; it is inexpensive to plant and manage and will not reduce farm profitability,” she says.
“By comparison, alternative solutions to nitrate leaching, such as barn and stand-off infrastructure, are more costly.
“Using plantain to achieve similar benefits will save farmers a lot of money and the flow-on benefits to rural communities will be quite significant.”
Overall, economic modelling forecasts on-farm savings of more than $1b per decade.
“This programme is very exciting and is geared at delivering many positive outcomes for farmers, the environment and New Zealand’s economy,” DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says.
“Plantain offers the sector real potential to deliver a new effective option for farmers. This research is a platform to see what it can really do for farming and our waterways.
“Dairy farmers have a long history of innovation on-farm. This is a great example of government, farmers and organisations working together to refine our practices and technologies.”
Programme partners DairyNZ, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Fonterra are collectively investing $10.47m in cash and $2.8m in kind, with an additional grant of $8.98m from MPI’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund.
Additional delivery partners in the Plantain Potency and Practice programme are Lincoln University, Massey University, Lincoln Agritech, AgResearch, Plant & Food Research and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. n
Plantain is a low-cost option that often outperforms ryegrass in summer.
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Canty water rules to tighten
By Tony Benny
New rules around freshwater means the Canterbury Water Management Strategy will need to be updated to meet these.
The environmental limits under which Canterbury farmers operate will be redrawn to comply with the Government’s Essential Freshwater Package and the rules will most likely be tightened as a result.
Under the Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS), the maximum in-stream concentration of nitrogen was set at 6.8mg/litre, which used to be the national bottom line, but under the new rules that limit will be reduced to 2.4mg/litre, something Environment Canterbury (ECan) director of science Tim Davie describes as a “big, big change”.
Most streams in intensively farmed areas of Canterbury currently exceed 6.8mg/litre.
“In setting it at 6.8, that required reductions and that required change in farm practices,” Davie says.
“The new limit will mean continuing those changes over a longer time period and maybe it does mean some land-use change over a long time period.”
Davie prefers to use the term intensive farming, rather than dairy farming, but whatever it’s called, he says there will need to be changes to farming to meet environmental targets.
“But let’s be optimistic there will be other land-uses coming in and there will be other technologies to help us achieve this. It’s not saying that in 2024 we must have all our streams at 2.4, it’s saying by 2024 we have to have a plan on how we’re going to get there,” he says.
ECan will have to develop a new plan to accommodate the national policy, despite having spent $60 million over the past seven or eight years developing its Land and Water plan, of which the CWMS is part.
“One way of looking at it is to throw your hands up and go, we’ve got to redo all that,” he says.
“The other way is to say that’s a longterm investment – yes we do have to redo it because we have to have a new plan by 2024 to be compliant with the national legislation but at the same time, it’s cheaper for us to do it now than if we were starting from scratch because we have already got a framework in place.
“We’re going to have to change some of it and there are some really big things in it to change, but it’s not like there’s nothing to base it on.”
Drawing up a new plan won’t be cheap and ECan councillors voted in February to put two rate-rise options out for public consultation; one proposing an 18% rise and the other a 24% rise. The smaller increase is what’s needed to fulfil the council’s statutory obligations – what it’s required to do by the central Government – plus some transport spending and covid-related spending.
A 24% rise would also fund “transformation opportunities”, including accelerating regeneration of the natural environment, building community engagement and leading climate change resilience.
Covid funding from the central government has boosted three big projects: wallaby control in South Canterbury, wilding pine control in the high country and work to enhance braided rivers, particularly the Rangitata. But he says that funding requires ECan to match the spending and that’s part of why the rates need to be increased.
“Those funds have all come with the fishhook of having to match them. Therefore you’re faced with this dilemma – what a wonderful opportunity but it will cost us. We’ll get twice as much done as if we’d just invested it ourselves, so it’s a great opportunity but there is a cost,” he says.
ECan brought in a new Land and Water plan in 2012, in part to cope with the rapid increase in dairy farming in the
Environment Canterbury director of science Tim Davie says big changes will need to be made to the Canterbury Water Management Strategy to meet new government rules.
region in the past few decades, much of which occurred before environmental limits had been put in place.
“The intensification wasn’t as a result of our planning but our plans weren’t coping with the facts so essentially we were managing consent by consent and then you can’t get the cumulative impact,” he says.
“If one farmer intensified, you could argue that had a very minor effect overall, but then a neighbour does it and then everybody starts doing it and there is a cumulative effect.”
The original planning framework was more about water quantity than quality but now there are limits in place, albeit at a higher level than the Essential Freshwater Package calls for. Now ECan has to redraw its plans.
“It costs a lot to develop a plan, to get all the planners together for a start to write the thing. You’ve got to consult with your community around what is achievable, how we’re going to do it; there’s a lot of science and then there are hearing commissioners and having to pay for a hearing and get all the submissions. That’s where the $60m has gone over the last seven or eight years,” he says.
And it’s not just a matter of imposing new limits, Davie says there are other factors ECan is required to accommodate in the new plan.
“When we think about changing land uses, what would happen if you took dairying out? What does that do to our communities, to rural schools, our rugby, netball and hockey clubs? So it’s not just the environment, we have to take into account the whole of the system,” he says.
“What we’re trying to find is the sweet middle ground, lower impact agriculture that is still economically feasible and will sustain a healthy economy.” n
New rules state that the maximum in-stream concentration of nitrogen will be 2.4mg/litre.
Daniel’s Keeping Abreast Of New Developments
The Nelson family have a proactive mind set when it comes to their long-established family farm in Te Kauwhata, North Waikato. When Daniel noticed they were outgrowing their effluent management system, he did his research and was happy to seek out specialist advice to invest in a system that would future proof the farm.
‘We’re a long-established family farm, and we like to stay abreast of new developments.’
Previously a sump collected effluent from a feed pad with a barrier ditch, which was then pumped out to travelling irrigators. Although the system worked, with growth of the farm, the system was starting to strain.
Daniel began his search for a solution and contacted Nevada. Mike took a visit out to the farm to see how it all operated, and discuss Daniel’s long term goals for the farm.
‘Our long-term goal is to use the effluent we’ve got more effectively, and efficiently.’
The first issue to address was storage. The sump was no longer enough to safely store all the effluent during times where spreading wasn’t an option, so a large HDPE lined pond was installed along with a Nevada electric stirrer to keep the effluent well mixed and prevent nutrients separating out and accumulating at the bottom of the pond. The effluent then drains back into the sump ready for spreading.
‘The pond is great for storage over the wet months so we can spread when it’s most needed.’ ADVERTISEMENT
Keeping the sump in use means if there was any sediment it would be drained by the sump and sucked out by the new 14,700L Nevada slurry tanker – so there’s less strain on the pump and irrigator system, and no nutrients are going to waste.
Daniel chose a 14,700L slurry tanker as it was the most efficient size for spreading the effluent over the entire farm without needing to make multiple trips back to the sump. All in all Daniel’s really happy with their investment…
‘We’re pretty happy with it all. It’s met our goals of futureproofing the farm so we’re not worried about issues cropping up, and we’re making more effective use of the nutrients. The system is efficient and fast, so it’s not a drain on time. It’s been well worth the investment.’
NZ’s Leading Dairy Effluent Management Specialists nevadagroup.co.nz 0800 464 393
