Friday, March 29, 2024

$1 billion/decade boost from plantain programme

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A new seven-year research programme on nitrate leaching and plantain could save farmers big dollars in the future.
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A new seven-year research programme on nitrate leaching and plantain could save farmers big dollars in the future.

A new programme designed to reduce nitrate leaching, boost regional economies and provide an alternative to costly infrastructure will potentially save farmers more than $1 billion per decade.

The new $22 million Plantain Potency and Practice programme aims to help dairy farmers improve freshwater quality through using plantain pastures, a low-cost forage solution to nitrate leaching.

“There are currently about 4200 dairy farms in nitrogen-sensitive catchments in New Zealand,” DairyNZ senior project manager Kate Fransen says.

“Modelling by DairyNZ forecasts that plantain pastures will reduce nitrate leaching by 15,000 tonnes/year on these farms by 2035, a 37% reduction from current levels.”

Plantain is usually used as part of a pasture species mixture that most commonly includes perennial ryegrass and white clover. However, it can also be sown by itself in a few paddocks as a special-purpose feed for animals, often performing considerably better than ryegrass in summer dry.

Previous research has shown plantain reduces nitrate leaching by reducing the concentration of nitrogen in urine and by improving the efficiency of nitrogen uptake by pastures via soil nitrogen/carbon processes.

The new programme is a partnership between DairyNZ, PGG Wrightson Seeds, Fonterra and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

It will use Agricom’s Ecotain environmental plantain, as it already has proven effectiveness. An evaluation system will be developed to assess the environmental benefits of other plantain cultivars.

Fransen says the programme will build on existing research and extension projects, including Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching, the Greener Pastures Project and the Tararua Plantain Project – and is expected to demonstrate plantain’s efficacy at scale so farmers are confident to invest in pasture and practice change.

The programme will incorporate several aspects, with farm trials held at both Massey and Lincoln universities, measuring nitrate leaching under plantain pasture compared to perennial ryegrass, capturing any changes in farm profit between the systems and confirming the proportion of plantain required in the pasture to achieve nitrogen-loss reductions.

Six field trials held in regions throughout the country will be used to develop management strategies to enable persistence of plantain pastures under different soil and climate conditions.

Research will also aim to identify the effect of plantain on milk and meat. Dairy cow health and welfare will also be monitored to determine any effects of including plantain in the diet.

Finally, the programme will support farmers to integrate plantain into their farm system.

“The programme is extremely well-rounded in its approach and with multi-sector involvement, we believe it is set up for success,” she says.

A significant reduction in nitrate leaching is not the only benefit being examined in the programme: plantain use is also predicted to lead to flow-on benefits to national and regional economies.

This is due to farmers spending less on other nitrate leaching solutions, therefore having more money to spend on goods and services.

“Plantain is a low-cost option; it is inexpensive to plant and manage and will not reduce farm profitability,” she says.

“By comparison, alternative solutions to nitrate leaching, such as barn and stand-off infrastructure, are more costly.

“Using plantain to achieve similar benefits will save farmers a lot of money and the flow-on benefits to rural communities will be quite significant.”

Overall, economic modelling forecasts on-farm savings of more than $1b per decade.

“This programme is very exciting and is geared at delivering many positive outcomes for farmers, the environment and New Zealand’s economy,” DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says.

“Plantain offers the sector real potential to deliver a new effective option for farmers. This research is a platform to see what it can really do for farming and our waterways. 

“Dairy farmers have a long history of innovation on-farm. This is a great example of government, farmers and organisations working together to refine our practices and technologies.”

Programme partners DairyNZ, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Fonterra are collectively investing $10.47m in cash and $2.8m in kind, with an additional grant of $8.98m from MPI’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund.

Additional delivery partners in the Plantain Potency and Practice programme are Lincoln University, Massey University, Lincoln Agritech, AgResearch, Plant & Food Research and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research.

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