14 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT
Thursday, September 7, 2023 Wairarapa Times-Age
Tararua plantain project wins award
WAIRARAPA 2023
MAIZE & cropping
The DairyNZ-led Tararua Plantain Project, which focuses on improving water quality, won the team and collaboration award at this year’s Primary Industries New Zealand Awards. The project supports local dairy farmers to understand and adopt the grazing herb plantain in their pastures, which helps improve water quality by reducing nitrogen leaching to waterways.
Wet weather puts groundwork behind schedule Low dairy payouts, declining lamb prices and uncertainty around contracts are facing farmers and their agricultural contractors as the maize and cropping season gets started, says Rural Contractors New Zealand vice president and Wairarapa ag contractor Clinton Carroll.
Clinton expects a lot of barley to be planted this season, along with a growing amount of wheat and peas, which have come back to the Wairarapa over the last couple of years.
The Wairarapa is coming out of one of its wettest winters since records began, Clinton says.
“This will make things run smoothly and ensure the best results for the farmer.
As usual, he expects fodder crops to be widely planted including some vegetable seed crops. Clinton recommends farmers have early talks to their merchants, and have good constant communication with their contractors.
“It remains very wet out there, with not a lot of groundwork being done yet. “There will be a lot of damaged paddocks from the wet winter. “With this last spell of fine weather things are looking a little more promising, but most farmers we have talked to say the conditions are still very wet.”
“Have the paddocks fresh before spraying out, and look for any problem weeds as often there will be withholding periods for drilling and grazing. “Understand that contractors are working hard, and doing their utmost to get to all of their clients on time.
FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 15
www.age.co.nz Thursday, September 7, 2023
Average spring rainfalls expected Near normal rainfalls are expected for the Wairarapa during early spring, according to NIWA in its Seasonal Climate Outlook August-October 2023. “Temperatures are most likely to be above average (60% chance). “More frequent westerly winds may increase the chance for hot days in earlyto-mid spring. “Rainfall totals are about equally likely to be below normal (40% chance) or near normal (35% chance).
“The developing El Niño is expected to result in a lower likelihood of tropical moisture plumes. “However, occasional easterly winds may still bring heavy rain from time to time. Seasonal wind speeds may be stronger than normal. “Soil moisture levels are most likely to be below normal (45% chance) while river flows are about equally likely to be below normal (40% chance) or near normal (35% chance),” NIWA says.
“We are coming out of a very wet winter, so checking your paddocks are ready and dry enough will be very helpful.”
AGRICULTURAL CONTRACTOR WE SEE YOU THROUGH FROM START TO FINISH
• Direct Drilling • Minimum To Full Tillage Cultivation • Maize Planting & Side Dressing • Pasture & Crop Spraying • Silage Grass, Cereal & Maize • Baleage & Hay • Grain & Seed Harvesting • Grain Drying & Handling • Cartage • Supplementary Feed Trading
For a professional result, call the experienced team at Colton Bros. Ltd 61 Georges Rd, RD3, Martinborough P: 06 306 9168 or M: Rob Gawith 027 454 6982 | Rob Carter 027 449 8023 | E: rob.coltbros@gmail.com
DairyNZ partners in the Tararua project with Agricom, MPI, Fonterra and Nestlé. Delivery partners include AgResearch, Horizons and Massey University. The work is part of broader dairy sector commitments, programmes and on-farm work to reduce footprint. “This game-changing project has community at its heart, with dairy farmers, community members, iwi, DairyNZ and partners working together to reduce environmental footprint in the district,” says DairyNZ sustainable dairy general manager David Burger. “The impact of the Tararua project as a
blueprint for farmers to take up plantain in catchments nationwide cannot be understated. “Research shows Ecotain plantain in pastures can reduce nitrogen leaching from dairy farms by 20 to 60 percent. Plantain also has potential to reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions.” So far through this project, 88 dairy farmers in the Tararua District now have plantain on their farms, and learnings are shared with other farmers. “Farmers care about their local waterways and the Tararua Plantain Project also sees farmers monitor their own streams to understand ecosystem health and where to focus their environmental work,” says Dr Burger. Plantain use is predicted to lead to flowon benefits to national and regional economies, and to save farmers more than $1 billion per decade. The Tararua Plantain Project helped inspire a national DairyNZ-led Plantain Potency and Practice Programme, with industry, government and farmers continuing to work together to research the effects of plantain and support
A dairy cow grazing the nutritious leafy herb plantain, proven to reduce nitrogen loss from dairy farms. farmers to successfully adopt it on farms. The national programme’s farm trial research at Massey University has shown that mixed pastures containing 3050% plantain can achieve reductions in nitrate leaching from dairy farms of 2060%, helping to reduce nitrogen losses to waterways. The programme’s Lincoln University farm trial in Canterbury, on lighter soils under irrigation, shows similar trends. More data is being collected in both trials. The programme will develop and tailor advice for farmers in other areas, including looking at the effects of different soil and climate conditions.
TARARUA PLANTAIN PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS 88 dairy farmers in the Tararua District have plantain on their farms 11 partner farmers have case studies and monitoring of plantain effects carried out on their farms 24 project events held over 2021-23 to share project knowledge with farmers and the community 3,189 hectares plantain planted in mixed pastures. 104 hectares plantain crop More than 560 monthly water quality monitoring samples taken by farmers across 21 sites