Written by Dr Will Talbot, Ravensdown Scientific Officer

N-Vision NZ, a new $22m innovation to help farmers reduce nitrogen (N) loss, is Ravensdown’s largest single investment in research and development. Established in partnership with the Government’s Sustainable Food and Fibres Future (SFFF) initiative, N-Vision NZ seeks to develop new N-based technologies that support farmers to reduce their N losses, while maintaining production and profitability.

The ‘N-Vision’

Ravensdown, alongside partners Lincoln University and Plant & Food Research (PFR), will develop innovative science in the areas of biological technology, nutrient management and precision agriculture, bringing practical applications to help farmers optimise environmental performance without compromising productivity. Over the next seven years Ravensdown has committed $11m in cash to N-Vision NZ, with MPI contributing $7.3m in cash to co-fund the innovation as part of the SFFF.

Why nitrogen?

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant and animal growth. Estimates indicate that N fertiliser supports approximately half the global population’s food supply. However, in pastoral farming systems N is deposited in urine patches at much higher rates than plants can immediately utilise, with the excess N at risk of being lost to the environment through N leaching or nitrous oxide emissions. At present, some of the most effective methods to mitigate pastoral farming’s environmental impacts and N loss are substantial land-use change, reducing livestock numbers or afforestation. Each of these methods may come at a cost to export income. Science-led innovations are therefore needed to create better N management tools, providing alternatives that, unlike the existing mitigation methods, do not compromise the capability of New Zealand farmers to provide food and fibre to global and local markets.

The science

Three complementary projects will explore and develop technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and N leaching. This programme promises to enhance the country’s economic potential, while helping guide agriculture towards a future with lower carbon emissions and better freshwater health, therefore making New Zealand’s pasture-based story even more compelling.

N-Test

Helping pastoral farmers capitalise on the N already present in labile soil organic matter

In partnership with PFR, Ravensdown has developed the N mineralisation calculator, which interprets the lab Potentially Mineralisable N (PMN) test results for cropping soils, providing cropping farmers with typical N mineralisation values (kg N/ha/ month). This allows farmers to amend their fertiliser N practices by amending the amount they would have applied by using a proportion of the N that will become available from soil organic matter mineralisation. This project aims to increase the utility of the PMN test.

The PMN test is a simple, reliable and cost-effective method to measure soil N that the microbiology may make plant available. It combines principles of precision agriculture with emerging knowledge of previously under utilised natural systems. As this innovation reaches the point where it can be applied on farm, farmers will have access to a tool enabling greater understanding of the organic N cycling in their soils, and how this understanding can help them better use the N they apply, therefore saving on N fertiliser cost and potentially reducing N losses to the environment.

N-Retain

Inhibiting the soil enzymes that lead to nitrous oxide emission and N leaching.

In partnership with Lincoln University, Ravensdown is researching next-generation Nitrification Inhibitors (NI). These NIs have the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of New Zealand’s grazed pasture systems, specifically by lowering nitrous oxide emissions and N leaching, which in turn will make the production system more sustainable without compromising productivity. The development of on-farm tools such as NIs will better equip New Zealand’s agriculture sector to reduce GHG emissions, as well enabling farmers to adhere to increasingly stringent water quality standards on nitrate.

N-Bio Boost

Harnessing the power of soil fungi to boost plant N-use efficiency and drought resilience.

Lincoln University researchers have discovered natural strains of fungi that when applied to soil as either a prill or seed coating will reduce the activity of specific N-transforming microbes. By promoting the fungi, which occurs naturally in pasture at a relatively low level, farmers will be able to better manage the microbes that accelerate transformations in the N-cycle, therefore reducing GHG emissions and the leaching of nitrates to waterways. This research offers a practical method to reduce GHG emissions and N contamination of waterways, while increasing plant resilience in water and pathogen-stressed environments.

Farmers face considerable challenges around the environmental impact of their land use. Most specifically, these challenges focus on GHG emissions and N leaching, manifested in current and emerging government regulation intending to address these environmental impacts. N-Vision NZ seeks to apply leading edge science and technology to create or develop tools that farmers can use on farm. These tools will provide farmers with important options to maintain profitability while minimising the environmental impact of their land use.