The Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) is pleased to announce the start of seven new projects which aim to benefit the New Zealand arable industry.
These projects are entitled‘Understanding the Post Harvest Logistics for New Zealand Grain', Optimising the Use of Dairy Shed Effluent for Crops', ‘Arable IPM Training and Transitional Support Programme', ‘Getting the Best from Beans', ‘A Guide to Nutrient Plans for Arable Farms', ‘Sustainable Weed Control on Arable Farms' and ‘Variable Rate Irrigation for Improved Irrigation Water Use Efficiency'are the latest line-up of successful applications in the MAF Sustainable Farming Fund (MAF SFF) 2010 funding round. FAR will not only be involved in all these projects but will also lead a number of them.
The New Zealand arable industry produces milling, malting and feed grains, pasture and vegetable seeds for domestic use and export and maize silage predominantly for the dairy industry. However New Zealand has no data on the projected production of crops during the growing season, it has no system in place to monitor the amount of grain in store at any one time and has no dedicated transport mechanism in place from the farmer to the end user, especially in the case of getting South Island grown grain to end users in the North Island. As a result, it has become more difficult for buyers and sellers to operate in a market with confidence, certainty of supply and consistence in quality at a financially sustainable level on a long term basis.
Nick Pyke, Chief Executive, says the project entitled ‘Understanding the Post Harvest Logistics for New Zealand Grain'will aim to deliver a report which will help to determine/understand the production quantities, transport and storage logistics of New Zealand produced arable and maize crops and the constraints to post harvest grain handling and storage. "In the long term, we trust that the outcome will be one that will assist with ongoing forecasts of crop production, quantities and locations of crop in store. This will be coupled with new and revised transport and storage practices which will be designed to ensure farmers and other industry participants can confidently utilise high quality New Zealand grain in their business."
This project will take place over one year and will receive co-funding from FAR, Federated Farmers and United Wheat Growers. The Arable Food Industry Council (AFIC) is also supporting this project.
With an investment of more than $1/4m, theArable IPM Training and Transitional Support Programmeis a three year project which aims to ensure a widespread uptake of integrated pest management practices among arable farmers. Research into IPM adoption suggests that an initial change in the ‘spray an insecticide just in case' attitude is required, therefore with better understanding of IPM, we trust that decision making will become considerably easier for the farmer.
This project will take place over three years and will be co-funded by FAR, Elliot Chemicals and Sumitomo with science and technical input from Plant & Food Research.
Sustainable Weed Control on Arable Farmswill be driven by Diana Mathers, FAR Research Co-ordinator. Herbicides are a key management tool for controlling weeds in arable crops with poor weed control reducing crop yields by as much as 60% in the worst cases. This three year project co-funded by FAR, Nufarm, Orion and Zelam will receive an overall investment of $1/2m.
Since the 1960s, irrigation in New Zealand has approximately doubled every decade. The project entitledVariable Rate Irrigation for Improved Irrigation Water Use Efficiencyaims to provide an opportunity to save water on a very large land area. This project will be co-ordinated by Rob Craigie, FAR Project Manager. Dairy NZ, who will also be co-funding this project.
Tracey Wylie, FAR Trials Officer will head up theGetting the Best from Beansproject. She says over the last 10 years there have been significant efforts to identify suitable legume grain crops for New Zealand arable production. "Faba beans could be a valuable break crop for New Zealand, producing high yields of high quality grain in a number of environments and producing a deep nodule laden root system which improves soil quality." She said. "Significant quantities of commercial crops were grown in 2009/10 with variable results from 1-2 t/ha to 8.5 t/ha. This programme plans to undertake a survey of commercial crops to identify what is limiting yield at some sites and to investigate how to improve yield across all fields."
Previous FAR research has shown that there are clear benefits associated with using dairy shed effluent as a nutrient source for arable crops which have created win-win outcomes for both dairy and arable farmers. In order to maximise the benefits from the effluent, farmers need to know when to apply it in relation to the nitrogen mineralisation processes in their soils and when and how much of the plant-available nutrients are released during the growing season. A one year project entitledOptimising the Use of Dairy Shed Effluent for Cropswill be co-funded by FAR, Dairy NZ, Genetic Technologies and Environment Waikato. $50,000 will be invested into this research with the aim of building on previous work to answer these critical questions and to provide definitive recommendations for the efficient use of effluent to maximise crop yields and minimise potential environmental impacts.
The final project in this line up of successful applications is titledA Guide to Nutrient Management Plans for Arable Farms - a technical guide and checklist for growers. Managed by Nick Poole, FAR Research Co-ordinator, this project will introduce the principal components of nutrient management plans for arable farms with a view to developing a self help guide to nutrient managements plans, dissemination of such to all New Zealand arable farmers, delivery of a number of workshops to introduce nutrient management plans and nutrient budgeting and to carry out a survey of growers to ascertain the current methods of nutrient budgeting in order to assess adoption and scope for further extension. This project has been developed based on the mandated requirement for regional councils to ensure that the quality of New Zealand's fresh water is enhanced.
FAR is thrilled that it will be able to deliver these new areas of research to the New Zealand arable industry. Nick Pyke, FAR's Chief Executive says "The New Zealand arable industry is one of the world leaders in both its practices and performance. It is vital that we continue to conduct research and extension activities, especially in those areas likely to have the largest impact on our industry in the future if we are to remain world leaders."
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SFF Supports New Research Initiatives
