We need to bring farmers to the table and take them off the menu, when it comes to fostering sustainable practices in the agriculture sector. 2023 Nuffield Scholar Kylie Leonard says trailing environmentally focused practices must be voluntary to succeed.

Having spent time overseas for this report, she says the best uptake she’s witnessed is where farmers have had the choice to change, and lead by example within their community. Regulations drive the lowest common denominator behaviour, she says.

Backing farmers so they don’t get burdened with the capital risk of trialing sustainable practices, and resourcing them as needed, is vital.

Guests include:

1. Kylie Leonard - 2023 Nuffield Scholar & Taupō-based dairy farmer

Hosts:

1. Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media

Read Kylie's full Nuffield Report “Boots on the ground are part of the solution.”

This episode is a special bonus episode through CountryWide Media’s partnership with Rural Leaders and the New Zealand Nuffield Farming Scholarship.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Dairy Exporter’s Sheryl Haitana and Anne Lee attended the 25th South Island Dairy Expo (SIDE) this week, to catch up on the latest dairy innovations. They chatted to the keynote speakers about resilience and wellbeing, rural bank lending, and the impact new proteins will have on dairy products, and how they can coexist alongside each other.

Guests include:

1. Jonathan Hoets, Chair of SIDE
2. Dr Dan Pronk, Author & Doctor
3. Cameron Bagrie, Independent Economist, Bagrie Economics
4. Dr Jeremy Hill, Chief Science & Technology Officer, Fonterra

Hosts:

1. Sheryl Haitana, Editor, Dairy Exporter
2. Anne Lee, Deputy Editor, Dairy Exporter

Jonathan Hoets tells Sheryl about his time as the Chair of SIDE for its 25th anniversary. He says one thing he’s really taken away from this year’s conference is that the core opportunities and challenges for dairy farmers have stayed very similar over SIDE’s lifetime, but dairy farmers have continued to evolve to meet them, and do better year-on-year.

Former Australian SAS Doctor and author Dan Pronk was a keynote speaker at the 2024 SIDE Conference, and spoke to the stress experienced by dairy farmers, and how to build resilience while experiencing long-term stress. He tells Anne about the research he’s done into managing chronic stress, such as meditation, mindfulness, and sleep, and practising these regularly rather than doing extreme resets.

Economist Cameron Bagrie shares his insights into where dairy currently fits into New Zealand’s economy, and says that while 2024 and 2025 will be tough, he expects we’ll bounce back due to the strong potential of our economy. He also discusses rural lending, and issues around farm mortgages being so much bigger than housing ones, and where succession fits into this. He questions whether banks are behaving in the right way to foster economic prosperity, particularly within the primary industries.

Jeremy Hill talks about the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative, alternative proteins and precision fermentation and the challenges those technologies face in terms of economy of scale. He says it will be complimentary, not disruptive to dairy.

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With extreme weather events becoming more common, hot days in the sun are bad enough for people – so what are we doing for our livestock? Heat stress is a concerning issue for cows, but what are some cost-effective, practical solutions? And is it part of a broader conversation about farm-system resilience?

Hear from three experts in this field: Kyle Wills on a practical farm try-out; Annabel Davies on what Pāmu have implemented; and Dr Helen Beattie on practical solutions from an animal welfare perspective.

Guests include:

1. Kyle Wills, Primary Industries Consultant, WSP
2. Annabel Davies, Chief Sustainability and Risk Officer, Pāmu
3. Dr Helen Beattie, Veterinarian, Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa

Hosts:

1. Sheryl Haitana, Editor, Dairy Exporter
2. Delwyn Dickey, Journalist, Dairy Exporter

Kyle Wills from WSP has been part of a study looking into the benefits of agroforestry systems on the Canterbury Plains. The study looked at both the benefits to animals, but also the financial gain for the farmer, from integrating forestry onfarm.

He says a lot of people assume this means planting pine trees, but in reality there was a lot of native planting integration based on a farm-by-farm basis. They found that having an agroforestry system can also benefit pasture growth onfarm, due to nitrogen availability and soil moisture conservation. Read the full report here.

Annabel Davies from Pāmu says the biggest barrier for farmers is the real or perceived cost of implementing long-term shelter solutions.

She says Pāmu have approached it on a farm-by-farm basis, to come up with unique solutions for each of their farms across the country. Part of this has been looking at how they can make best use of existing hectares on each farm. This could look like agroforestry and biodiversity planting, to build resilience onfarm.

Veterinarian Dr Helen Beattie says shelter and shade systems for animals are just one piece of the puzzle, when it comes to making our overall farm systems more resilient. She says getting to that point isn’t easy, and will be a matter of decades of work, not years, but is something we should be working towards.

She discusses the impact consumer pressure is likely to have on expectations for shade and shelter onfarm, and also the pressure of overseas markets to make sure our animals aren’t at risk of heat stress.

Read Delwyn’s report in the Dairy Exporter Magazine here.

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There is a global race happening to reduce emissions from dairy farming with more solutions potentially becoming available to housed-cow systems. So where does that position New Zealand’s pastoral model?

A big part of the emissions conversation is also around regenerative agriculture. Global companies such as Nestlé, Danone and Mars have all set targets to source more products from regenerative agriculture so what does that mean and how do New Zealand farmers fit into this definition of regenerative agriculture?

Hear from three different agribusinesses about how the dairy industry is working to meet emissions targets.

Guests include:

1. Margaret Stuart, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Nestlé Oceania
2. Charlotte Rutherford, Director of Sustainability, Fonterra
3. Wayne McNee, CEO, AgriZero

Hosts:

1. Sheryl Haitana, Editor, Dairy Exporter
2. Anne Lee, Deputy Editor, Dairy Exporter

Nestlé Oceania’s Margaret Stuart says they have both a business and moral imperative to find ways of reducing the impacts of climate change. Dairy makes up 21% of their emissions, and they’ve put a focus on ensuring any changes are fair to the farmer, including by providing incentive payments and funding research.

She says at the moment New Zealand farmers have the advantage of a pasture based system, but this shouldn’t make them complacent.

Fonterra’s Charlotte Rutherford says regenerative agriculture is rising in popularity globally and for Fonterra, it is a massive opportunity. New Zealand farmers are already doing really well on the likes of Nestlé’s scorecard when it comes to regenerative practices because of our pastoral systems.

Charlotte says the NZ dairy industry is amongst the lowest emission producers and the cooperative is absolutely on track to reduce onfarm emissions by 30% by 2030, but NZ has to work hard to keep up with the leading pack in the emissions race.

AgriZero is a joint venture between the private sector and the government, focusing on reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock. Unlike similar projects globally, they are focusing on finding solutions for farmers in pastoral systems.

CEO Wayne McNee says the 2030 targets are ambitious, and go beyond the targets set by the government, but it’s given them a really good push to find ways for farmers to significantly reduce their emissions. He says they’ve done this to meet standards being set by both their overseas customers but also overseas governments.

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Having a methane breeding value would see a 5-15% reduction in methane output from the New Zealand national dairy herd by 2050. But one Waikato dairy farmer shares how he has already been on this journey to build a more efficient herd, lowering his greenhouse gas profile for a decade.

Guests include:

1. David Chin, Chief executive of LIC
2. James Smallwood, Chief executive of CRV Ambreed
3. George Moss, Waikato dairy farmer
4. Suzanne Rowe, AgResearch senior scientist

Hosts:

1. Sheryl Haitana, Editor, Dairy Exporter
2. Anne Lee, Deputy Editor, Dairy Exporter
3. Delwyn Dickey, Journalist, Dairy Exporter

Waikato dairy farmer George Moss shares his journey to build a more efficient herd for a decade. A herd which has lowered his farm’s greenhouse gases and improved his profitability. The herd has moved from the 50% percentile to the top 3% nationally and he has more efficient cows milking on a shorter lactation.

He is passionate about lowering the environmental footprint and has found some good results through focussing on breeding more efficient cows.

LIC and CRV have collaborated on a methane research programme which has found a variation in bulls that have a lower methane emission.

Both David Chin, chief executive of LIC and James Smallwood, chief executive of CRV Ambreed discuss the methane research programme and the steps that need to be taken to deliver a methane breeding value to New Zealand dairy farmers by 2026.

They chat about how a methane trait has to be part of the other key selection criteria for farmers and how the research has to be robust for NZ to stand behind the claims that our cows are lower methane emitters.

The pair also talk about the importance of collaboration between industry competitors in NZ and globally to try and tackle some of the bigger challenges the industry faces.

AgResearch senior scientist Suzanne Rowe tells journalist Delwyn Dickey about the progress NZ is making in methane research and how they are working with the Government to recognise the ranking of lower methane animals.

She also discusses the prospect of testing methane from milk samples, with promising results from their research with sheep with good predictors, and how that can cross over to dairy cows.

Read more about methane breeding here

https://dairyexporter.co.nz/is-breeding-the-answer/

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We have a mountain to climb to shift a narrative with society of farming as well as a determined effort by political leaders to develop the best stable of agricultural policies in the world - but first we must draw on what is happening globally as New Zealand is but isn't unique.

2023 Nuffield scholar and Gisborne sheep & beef farmer, Kerry Worsnop says, we need better leadership that's prepared to elevate the importance of the primary sector to the New Zealand public both environmentally and economically even if it's at the expense of political wins.

Guests include:

1. Kerry Worsnop - 2023 Nuffield Scholar and Gisborne sheep & beef farmer.

Hosts:

1. Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media

Read Kerry's full Nuffield Report "Designing agricultural policy for a future in farming"

This episode is a special bonus episode through CountryWide Media’s partnership with Rural Leaders and the New Zealand Nuffield Farming Scholarship.

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What we do in winter has a fundamental impact on the productivity of our pastures, from a persistence perspective, a soil health perspective, and from a production yield perspective. But where do you start?

Farmers Will Grayling and Will Green discuss their two dairy farm businesses. The pair both focus on profitable pasture-based systems and share their top tips on hitting pasture cover targets. Barenbrug’s Graham Kerr also chats about getting the most out of your pasture crops, when to start having conversations, making strategies, and communicating them.

Guests include:

1. Will Grayling, Singletree Dairies Limited
2. Will Green, Greener Grazing Limited & Dairy Holdings
3. Graham Kerr, pasture systems manager, Barenbrug

Hosts:

1. Sheryl Haitana, Editor, Dairy Exporter
2. Anne Lee, Deputy Editor, Dairy Exporter
3. Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director of CountryWide Media

Will Grayling and Will Green hosted the 2023 Spring Pasture Summit in Ashburton, and while their approach to supplement use is vastly different, their end goal is the same: pasture is king. Anne gets into the nuts and bolts of their individual systems, and how they’re faring in the current business landscape.

Will Green is in his fourth season sharemilking for Dairy Holdings, and uses minimum bought-in supplement (<80kg drymatter per cow). Will Green has been in an equity partnership for the last decade with the van der Poels, and uses 900-1100kg of drymatter per cow.

Barenbrug’s Graham Kerr says when it comes to pastures farmers need to know what their strategy is. Once you have the plan you communicate it to everyone involved.

He talks about the research behind the impacts of pugging in crops, and encourages farmers to be thinking about managing it, if they aren’t already.

Read more of Graham’s tips here.

Check out Barenbrug’s Better Pastures Together podcast here.

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It’s no secret that as prices continue to increase across the board, fertiliser has famously gotten more expensive. With the introduction of a wholesale fertiliser company, the market is about to change.

But in the meantime, farmers are looking for ways to manage their fertiliser costs and nutrient footprint - and what are the best ways to do this without breaking the bank? Sheryl Haitana talks to those who have managed to do this successfully, including using variable rate fertiliser applications, and annual soil testing.

Guests include:

1. Leonie Guiney, Fairlie dairy farmer
2. Patrick Davis, CEO, Catalyst Ag
3. Matthew Richards, CEO, Fortuna Group

Hosts:

1. Sheryl Haitana, Editor, Dairy Exporter
2. Anne Lee, Deputy Editor, Dairy Exporter
3. Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director of CountryWide Media

Fairlie farmer Leonie Guiney keeps on top of fertiliser costs by soil testing every winter. She uses this data to monitor each paddock's individual soil situation to get optimum pasture growth. The benefit of testing in the winter is to reduce the impact of any recent fertiliser applications.

Leonie operates a pasture-based dairy system in Fairlie and says the beauty of the system is it’s simple to run, but it has been a matter of necessity rather than choice.

Australian fertiliser company Marnco is scheduled for arrival in New Zealand early next year. Catalyst Ag CEO Patrick Davis says Marnco’s entry into the market will provide a much-needed dose of competition, which will hopefully make the established companies think about what value they’re providing to their customers.

At the moment there are only two fertiliser companies and Marnco could be a good opportunity to break up the duopoly they hold on the market. Sarah Perriam-Lampp talks to Patrick about what the wholesale model could mean for the existing cooperatives.

Matthew Richards from Southland farm collective Fortuna Groups says nutrient placement is the key to being cost-effective with fertiliser. While Fortuna’s philosophy of variable rate fertiliser didn’t come from a cost-cutting mindset, it has certainly helped maintain a consistent price-point for almost a decade.

Part of their system is monitoring their paddocks, including all paddock soil testing every four years. He says sometimes when times are tough it’s better to invest in testing rather than product, so you don’t spend money on unnecessary product and guessing how much your paddock needs. He says by doing this they’ve made 10-20% savings on fertiliser costs.

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