Precision N application test costs 'outweigh returns'
Precision application of nitrogen can improve yields, but the costs of testing currently outweigh improved returns, according to new research from Plant and Food Research, MPI and Ravensdown.
Well-known Plant and Food Research soil and environment scientist Brent Clothier is the new president of the Royal Society, Te Aparangi.
The society's role is to recognise, promote and support excellence in science, as well as encourage the development and use of scence for the benefit of humanity.
Clothier's appointment is for three years and he is only the third president, in about 40 years, to be elected to chair the Royal Society with an agricultural background. He told Rural News the appointment is a huge honour and responsibility.
"The society is very keen to build a connection with the CRIs and independent research organisations and also into the applied research and primary production research," he says. "This is because there is a huge amount of research, innovation, science and technology that goes on in NZ that comes out of our primary producton systems.
"Think of Gallagher electric fencing and what they have done, and now the massive amount of innovation in robotics in Tauranga."
Clothier believes his appointment indicates the Royal Society would like to engage more with the knowledge systems around primary production and also the humanities of rural and Maori communities.
While Clothier says he has no specific plans to play an advocacy role for the primary sector in his new role, he does want to broaden the reach and connectedness of the Royal Society into the science and innovation being undertaken in the sector.
"After all, 65% of our export revenue comes from agriculture which is unusual within the OECD countries."
Sixty-nine-year-old Clothier is still working full time for Plant & Food Research based in Palmerston North. He began his career as a mathematician and had planned to do his PhD overseas. However, love intervened when he met his wife-to-be and he stayed in NZ, switching to becoming a highly-regarded soil and environment scientist.
Clothier says a lot of his work is now focused in environmental issues as they impact on primary production systems.
"This is becoming more important with national policy statements on water and productive skills," he adds.
"It also impacts on what I call the 'eco credentials' of our products in international markets. We gain money in the market by having evidence-based eco credentials about our environmental performance."
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
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