Farmers investing in sustainability - Westpac
New Zealand farmers are committed to making their businesses more resilient to climate change and are embracing innovation to help them do so.
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
China’s Ambassador Wang Xiaolong says bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and New Zealand has made significant and rapid progress.
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.