Strong uptake of good wintering practices
DairyNZ has seen a significant increase in the number of farmers improving their wintering practices, which results in a higher standard of animal care and environmental protection.
An interactive web tool to help dairy farmers plan and implement plantings along their waterways is getting good uptake, says DairyNZ.
Senior developer for sustainability and land management Matt Highway says the Riparian Planner tool, online for just over two months, now has about 4000 registered log-on users, and about 80 rural consultants and planners are trained to use it.
Highway presented the tool to a popular workshop at the recent SIDE (South Island Dairy Event) in Invercargill.
He says the tool enables farmers to examine their waterways on an interactive map, plan suitable plantings and cost the work over the time they expect it to take. The tool can export documentation, for contractors or authorities, if planting plans may be needed under consent conditions.
"If you're a dairy farmer, you put in your supplier number and it'll zoom you to your farm anywhere in the country and allow you to map your waterways and wetlands. And then it asks you what that waterway is like."
The tool will prompt for information on, for example, whether erosion is a problem, and possibly promote that to the top of the priority list. This will allow farmers to plan what they will do and how long it would likely take. Plans might range from merely fencing off grass strips to full planting projects.
Highway says the tool was developed with local experts so that where it suggested possible plant species they would suit the local conditions and be approved by regional authorities.
With 96% of dairy waterways now fenced under the water accord, Highway says the tool will be "the next step" in managing waterways. "This is part of our commitment to New Zealanders towards managing our water quality as well as we can."
More information on riparian plantings is available in regional riparian planting guides, of which 4000 have now been ordered or downloaded directly from the DairyNZ website.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the relationship between New Zealand and the US will remain strong and enduring irrespective of changing administrations.
More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
Livestock can be bred for lower methane emissions while also improving productivity at a rate greater than what the industry is currently achieving, research has shown.
OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.
OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.