Reality check
OPINION: Your canine crusader gets a little fed up with the some in media, union hacks, opposition politicians and hard-core lefty whiners who claim the answer to all the country’s current financial woes is to tax the rich even more.
Are you keen to know whether our farming practices are sustainable and environmentally friendly? Just ask LUCI.
A computer modelling programme designed by a Victoria University of Wellington academic is helping ensure that farming practices here and overseas are as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.
Dr Bethanna Jackson from Victoria's school of geography, environment and earth sciences has developed a land management decision support framework and software package called LUCI. It analyses impacts of changes in the way land is used across a range of ecosystems, and identifies where trade-offs or co-benefits might exist.
"LUCI looks at the way land management can affect a variety of things such as water quality, flood risk, agricultural productivity, greenhouse gas emissions, erosion, or sediment," says Jackson.
"It looks at everything in a holistic manner—the impact of all those cumulative changes in the way land is managed on a whole variety of different environmental, social and economic functions.
"It helps you plan the way you manage the landscape and can isolate areas where you might, for example, be able to plant trees to improve your environmental function while maintaining a reasonable level of production."
In New Zealand a number of regional councils are using LUCI, and it is also being used by the Welsh government to monitor the success of its agricultural subsidy programme. "They're paying farmers to make various interventions, so they're using LUCI to see whether the scheme is helping with things like reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving water quality, or reducing flooding."
"We've got a bit of money from Victoria's University Research Fund to extend our work to Samoa and Australia, and we've previously worked in Greece and Ghana too," says Jackson.
The potential scope of LUCI is vast, according to Jackson.
"Land management is a huge issue—we rely on it for food production and water quality. But to keep that sustainable and to keep waterways clean it needs to be managed properly, and that's what LUCI is about."
To find out more about LUCI, visit www.lucitools.org
OPINION: The recent Federated Farmers / Rabobank 2024 Farming Salaries Report revealed strong growth in farm salaries over the past two years.
The low unemployment environment is one of the key factors driving on-farm salaries higher over the past 24 months, says Rabobank general manager for country banking Bruce Weir.
Fonterra has appointed a new chief financial officer, seven months after its last CFO’s shock resignation.
A seminar on rural dispute resolution has been organised at Lincoln University, Christchurch this month.
The legacy of Dr Peter Snow continues to inspire as the recipients of the 2023 and 2024 Peter Snow Memorial Awards were announced at the recent National Rural Health Conference.
One of Fonterra’s global customers, Mars is launching an ambitious sustainable dairy plan to work with dairy farmers and cut emissions by 50%.
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