Unsung heroes under the soil
Much of the scientific work being carried out at the Massey University led regenerative agriculture project, Whenua Haumanu, is below the ground.
That's the theme of this year's Massey University Farmed Landscapes Research Centres (FLRC) annual workshop, which takes place next week (8-10 February) at the Palmerston North campus. The workshop has been running for 35 years and is one of the highlights of the agricultural science calendar.
The director of the FLRC, Professor Chris Anderson says the workshop will focus on the science around land, air and water and will seek to highlight diverse solutions in these areas and also look at how best to deliver this knowledge to farmers.
The workshop runs for three days - Wednesday to Friday and will feature close to 70 speakers who will present papers on a range of topics including carbon, greenhouse gas emissions, a range of issues around water and soil health. Anderson says there will be a special session on how best to deliver some of these solutions.
"We are being pragmatic by recognising that NZ has a massive opportunity to grow food but that we need to make sure that we have the environment to support that. We go for producing high-value, nutritious food and therefore we need a diversity of integrated solutions to make sure our environment meets that challenge,” he told Rural News.
While the workshop has run for 35 years, most of this has been the standard face-to face conference format. But Covid changed this and last year the conference was held virtually. Anderson says Massey recognises that things have now changed and that some people are not willing to travel for a variety of reasons but are keen to attend remotely.
Last year, Massey based the conference at a studio in Wellington, but this year it is setting up a studio at Massey (Palmerston North) in order to provide a professional, online option for those not attending the workshop in person.
“We are quite excited by having the workshop streamed online for the three days. People can register for the whole event or they can choose to select one or two days as well if they want to.”
But Anderson says because of the cost of running such a professional service means that there will be a registration fee for online.
“FLRC is about showcasing incredible innovative science and we see this workshop as being the melting pot of those professionals in the farming sector, including farmers to see what we and others are doing.”
Registrations are still open and details are on the FLRC web page Farmed Landscapes Research Centre Workshops.
