NZ out of step - report
New Zealand is out of step globally in looking to put a price on agricultural emissions from food production.
Ravensdown has unveiled new methane mitigating technology that it says virtually eliminates the methane emitted from effluent ponds - reducing it by up to 99%.
Ponds are the second largest source of methane on a dairy farm - behind direct emissions from the animals themselves - so Ravensdown says its EcoPond system could cut total farm emissions by 4% to 5%.
EcoPond is an offshoot of Ravensdown's award-winning ClearTech effluent recovery system, giving many of its benefits without the full cost of its holding tanks and associated machinery.
It was developed in conjunction with the same team of Lincoln University's Emeritus Professor Keith Cameron and Professor Hong Di.
The automated "plug and play" in-line system can be retrofitted to existing ponds and uses the same iron sulphate additive as ClearTech, metered into the pond by a computer-controlled pump and mixing system. To help ensure reliability and reduce cost, it uses the proven properties of liquid flow through coiled pipe to thoroughly mix the additive and effluent without any further moving parts. A raft-mounted sensor in the pond monitors and adjusts the mix in real time.
The system was unveiled recently at a launch at Lincoln University’s Dairy Research Farm, with speeches from a number of both Ravensdown and Lincoln bigwigs and a pre-recorded video message from Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor.
Explaining the science behind it, Cameron told the launch that it was a natural process mimicking what happens in coastal wetlands.
“People could not understand why coastal wetlands had lower missions of methane than inland wetlands and it’s because of the sulphate in the seawater.
“Really, we’re looking at a nature-based solution following exactly what happens in those wetland soils.
“We’re stopping the methane at this point, keeping the carbon in the solution that gets returned to the pasture soil.
“So we’re returning, not only the nitrogen, the phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium, magnesium copper, manganese, zinc etc, it also returns more carbon to the land because it’s not been blasted off into the atmosphere as the greenhouse gas methane.”
Hong Di added that EcoPond reduces the risk of Dissolved Reactive Phosphate loss to water by up to 99%.
“This means that this essential nutrient can be recycled with reduced risk of water contamination. The EcoPond system also strips out E.coli so that the dairy effluent is much safer to irrigate to pasture.”
Meanwhile, Ravensdown’s product manager Carl Ahlberg says there are now 10 ClearTech installations in operation from Northland to South Canterbury.
The release of the science around EcoPond was “another big tick” for them, as it confirms that they are already getting the benefit of reduced methane from their effluent ponds, he said.
While ClearTech was primarily designed to recover and reuse water from effluent, many farmers didn’t need that. Ravensdown would continue to offer both systems.
At an estimated $45,000 to $49,000, Eco- Pond would be about a third of the cost of ClearTech and Ahlberg said there was a huge amount of interest in it already.
He noted that the country has now set a 12% target for biogenic methane reduction by 2030.
Ham has edged out lamb to become Kiwis’ top choice for their Christmas tables this year.
Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) has announced real estate company Bayleys will be the naming partner for its 2025 conference.
As New Zealand enters the summer months, rural insurer FMG is reminding farmers and growers to take extra care with a new campaign.
Hato Hone St John is urging Kiwis to have a safe summer this year.
Hawke’s Bay’s Silt Recovery Taskforce has received the Collaboration Excellence Award at the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) Awards.
Construction is underway at Fonterra’s new UHT cream plant at Edendale, Southland following a groundbreaking ceremony recently.
OPINION: It could be cod on your cornflakes and sardines in your smoothie if food innovators in Indonesia have their…
OPINION: A new study, published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to some existing evidence about…