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Reducing N fertiliser without losing performance
News
Ravensdown has been involved in a DairyNZ project in Canterbury, looking into ways farmers can reduce N-loss and N inputs without sacrificing on-farm performance. Ravensdown Environmental Principal Consultant Arron Hutton and DairyNZ Farm Systems Developer Phillipa Hedley discuss some of their observations from the project.
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Getting the best response from N
News
Between 2013 and 2018, around 25% of dairy farms used more than an average 190kg N/ha with even greater proportions of dairy farmers in Canterbury and Southland exceeding this amount. Dr Ants Roberts discusses some options for getting the best responses out of nitrogen (N) fertiliser ahead of the 190kg N/ha ‘N-Cap’ due to come into effect on 1 July 2021.
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The environmental challenge for farmers
News
When I started my career many years ago as a farm advisor on the West Coast, government policy was directed at increasing agricultural production, with significant financial incentives to do so.
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Making pasture variables work for you
News
Getting the best out of our pastures has been and still is New Zealand farmers’ competitive advantage. Throughout the previous editions of this magazine we have updated you on our work to transform farmers’ capability in this area with our Primary Growth Partnership Programme (PGP) – Pioneering to Precision. Before we tell you what the programme has achieved to date, we should first revisit the PGP's basic premise.
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N-loss precision drives Waikato dairy operation’s vision
News
For Waikato dairy farm consultant Paul Lawrey, precision is a word he circles back to often in conversation, particularly when it comes to on-farm nutrient use.
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N Protect – Smarter Farming
News
Sharemilker Adam Williamson recently switched to N-Protect as part of meeting his commitments in Synlait’s Lead with Pride programme. The programme’s four pillars of best practice cover environment, milk quality, animal health and social responsibility, with a recent addition of emissions reductions, which has been a key driver in Adam’s decision to switch from urea to N-Protect in the shoulder seasons.
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Elementary essentials #2: Phosphorus (P)
News
The non-metallic element phosphorus (P) is the 15th element in the periodic table and is one of the 19 elements essential for life in all higher plants and animals on planet Earth. Phosphorus makes up about 1% of the body weight of mammals and is the second most abundant mineral in the body.
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Farm Environment Plans haven’t gone away
News
The avalanche of environmental regulation coming farmers’ way has continued to gain momentum, evidenced by the Minister for the Environment’s Action for Healthy Waterways announcement on 28th May. Although the Covid-19 lockdown caused a number of statutory processes to be delayed, a State of National Emergency, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, does not affect requirements under the Resource Management Act (1991). This is because the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act (2002) does not affect the function of any other law.
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Winter Maintenance important for quality and persistence of Lucerne
News
Lucerne is a high-quality feed that can be grazed, cut for baleage/silage or taken as hay several times over the season. With its deep root system, it has proven itself as a more drought tolerant feed source in the drier regions of New Zealand.
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Environmental services still available
News
With consenting processes and environmental plans usually requiring a farm visit and face-to-face time going over farm maps, Ravensdown’s environmental team have had to innovate to get the job done.
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Farming through COVID – sheep and beef
News
Being geographically remote in South Otago, not a lot has changed for shareholder Nigel Woodhead during the COVID-19 lockdown, though he says he has to be a bit more organised to make sure he’s got the right products and services to keep his farm running.
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Nitrogen key weapon in drought recovery
News
Yet another dry summer has hit many parts of New Zealand and while we have not had enough rain in the drier areas to alleviate the effects, the climate has moved from a hot dry summer to autumnal conditions reasonably rapidly.
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Fodder focus
News
We sit down with Ravensdown Agronomist Chris Lowe to get the breakdown on what it takes to get the best out of your fodder beet crop.
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NPS: creating a win-win-win
News
Hawke’s Bay farmer Will Foley has had a bit of experience with environmental regulation. Recently elected to the Hawke's Bay Regional Council and a past Federated Farmers provincial president for Hawke's Bay, he talks about how the National Policy Statement (NPS) for Freshwater Management consultation document has been received in his neck of the woods.
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Elementary essentials #1: Nitrogen (N)
News
In our elementary essentials series, Ravensdown Chief Scientific Officer Dr Ants Roberts delivers the ‘skinny’ on the crucial nutrients that feed our farming systems so we can feed discerning consumers wanting safe, efficiently produced, quality foods.
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Effective collaboration for environmental gains
News
My Nuffield research looked to better understand what effective collaboration is and why we always talk about it in relation to environmental management. If collaboration is done correctly, a more durable and effective relationship is established.
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Farewell furrows: the benefits of no-till
News
For millennia, farming has meant cultivating the soil, digging up the earth in order to plant seeds. But these days, no-till systems are starting to catch on and nowhere more than in Northland. We talk to Dargaville’s David Wordsworth about direct drilling.
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Cycling and protection of soil carbon
News
Globally, soils contain more carbon than all terrestrial plants, animals, micro-organisms and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere combined. Therefore small changes in soil carbon stocks can increase or decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming.
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What’s happening under the hood?
News
Farmers considering climate mitigation strategies for their farms need to “know their number” to make an informed decision. Dr Tony van der Weerden explains the main sources of greenhouse gases from livestock farms.
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What's good for the goose is good for the gander
News
It’s the question on the tip of every dairy farmer’s tongue: How can we reduce our greenhouse gas footprint?
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