SPECIAL REPORT • N CAP
Process engineer Teresa Bakhos and Mike Manning – coatings containing trace elements can be added to create fertiliser specific to a farm or even a paddock.
Nitrogen cap a ‘BLUNT INSTRUMENT’ The proposed annual cap on N application will be difficult for some farmers and may not have the desired effect, as Anne Lee reports.
T
he government’s national 190kg/ ha/year cap on nitrogen has rung alarm bells in the rural sector – not necessarily because of the number itself but because it heralds a much-feared shift towards input controls. It’s in stark opposition to the essence of the effects-based Resource Management Act where output limits are set on the effects an activity has – for instance, the amount of nitrogen potentially leached – leaving farmers to innovate, manage their inputs, or adjust their systems to achieve the output limit. Both the Minister for the Environment David Parker and Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor warned farmers last year when they attended meetings about the proposed Essential Fresh Water Package they should be careful about their opposition to proposed output limits such as dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN).
The alternative, they warned, would be input controls and no one wanted to see that, O’Connor said. But, despite the cap not being part of the proposal, the input control has found its way in while the DIN limit is to get more investigation. Nitrate toxicity levels were tightened for fresh water bodies so that 95% of fish species cannot be affected by nitrogen levels rather than the previous limit of 80%. That’s likely to translate into nitrate toxicity level well below the 3.8g/m3 level DairyNZ submitted, and may mean even tougher reductions in nitrate leaching limits for regions where farmers are already working towards significant cuts. The nitrogen fertiliser limit in itself has been viewed as missing the mark when it comes to improving water quality standards.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | July 2020
Mike Manning – innovation driving precision and efficiency.
Ravensdown predicts it will affect about 30% of farmers around the country with most of them in Canterbury. Nitrogen leaching into underground aquifers is the issue in that region, with the major source being cow urine.
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