Changing farming climate AgResearch focus

Changing farming climate AgResearch focus

A caravan that measures nitrous oxide emissions, software that helps manage soil nutrients and a full programme of measures to keep lambs alive will be profiled by AgResearch at the Waimumu Southern Field days on 10–12 February on its stand at exhibit site 211 and 212.

AgResearch Corporate Affairs Manager Allanah James is expecting interest in the exhibits, “AgResearch comes to Field days to engage with farmers, to hear what they have to say about their issues, and to discuss how we can help support sustainable, profitable farming”.

The 1972 Gypsy Moth Caravan which is the centrepiece of AgResearch Field days exhibit has one side which looks like any normal caravan, but from its other side the solar panels and automated chambers show this caravan is very different. The hi-tech AgResearch-designed system, funded by MAF, measures nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from soils and sends results to a secure web address. The manual method for collection and analysis of N2O is time-consuming and costly, however the system installed within this caravan automatically collects air samples in special chambers located around the paddock and calculates the N2O concentration in each sample.

Soil nutrient inputs and losses have always been difficult to estimate and predict but AgResearch’s Overseer™ is a clever software tool that calculates these as part of a nutrient budget. Developed by AgResearch scientists with investment from MAF and the Fertiliser Manufacturers’ Research Association, Overseer™ is now used on dairy farms throughout New Zealand to estimate nutrient inputs, on-farm transfer and losses. It is also being used by regional councils to underpin allowable nutrient emissions from agricultural and horticultural enterprises.

Also available for farmers to look at when they visit the AgResearch exhibit is Lamb Alive; a programme that helps farmers identify issues and work out solutions for lamb survival. AgResearch created the tool recognising that lamb survival-to-sale is the major driver of profit in our sheep farm systems. Developed from farmer workshops and research data, the Lamb Alive software predicts present and future climatic impacts on lamb survival on-farm and allows for farmers to select their best management approaches.

ENDS