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INDUSTRY NEWS
04 Building on a successful referendum… growers still have the biggest say
06 Diversity is a double-edged sword
08 Online seed royalty payment system launched
09 Funding for more study on fall armyworm control announced
10 Fresh faces at FAR
10 The heat is on – finding wheat that can cope
12 Proponents of ‘crazy’ idea honoured for safeguarding food plants
14 Global crisis opens doors for New Zealand supplier
15 Plant protein expertise from Canterbury in demand
16 Boost for breeding disease resistant crops
18 Ahead of its time, now past its prime – end of an era for ProductionWise
19 Long journey to safety for new oat genetics
SEEDS
20 Seed growing has potential to reap rewards for CHB
22 Seed crop isolation distances for optimal seed production in NZ
23 Successful harvest results open the door for autumn sowing of linseed SUSTAINABILITY
26 Adding value with legumes
28 Surprise findings on honey bee health from new research
30 Capturing the benefits of catch crops
31 Taking the long view on future arable systems
33 Herbicide resistance – where do we go from here?
CEREALS
36 ‘Instant payback’, strong response see combine workshops return this season
39 Years of accurate, low-cost drilling with Allen P-D Series
40 Maintaining wheat yields possible over many years
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41 Reduce input costs without increasing crop risks
43 The kernel of truth: Can grain analysis reveal better understanding of crop nutrients?
44 Strong demand picked for new feed barley
45 Future profitability lies in supporting R&D pipeline
MAIZE
46 Maize research drives yields
49 Harvest update and new hybrid releases
50 HSR brings new maize seed hybrids to the market
CONTRIBUTORS
52 Heed the warning signs – your future self will be grateful
53 Unveil hidden nitrogen with the PMN test and N mineralisation calculator
54 Leading supplier leans in to a very different type of chemistry
56 Get more out than you put in
58 Safeguarding crop value for a positive future
61 The hidden power behind the best spray programmes
62 Reducing seed return is the key to ryegrass control
63 Spring sowing options – get orders in now
64 The value of membership: How we advocate for growers
65 New active ingredient to protect barley crops
66 Stirring up better returns from money invested in grain storage
67 Label extension good news for barley growers
69 Small bags scheme makes a big impact
70 More focussed and flexible foliar disease control
73 Reflecting on the past to look to the future
74 Get in early with wild oat control
75 Machinery specialist looks to the future
76 New late season PGR available
76 Adding value to Southland oats
79 COMPANY LISTINGS
90 FIELD CONTACTS
100 SEED CERTIFICATION
EDITOR
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Building on a successful referendum… growers still have the biggest say
FAR was established as a levy organisation in 1995 with the goal of supporting arable growers by providing agronomic and research support.
WORDS: STEVEN BIERMA, CHAIR, FOUNDATION FOR ARABLE RESEARCH
Our focus remains unchanged; our key focus is on delivering research aimed at enhancing the sustainability and profitability of the levy payers’ arable businesses.
FAR now has three levy orders covering arable crops, maize, and Cereal silage, and by law, every six years we are required to ask our growers if the three levy orders should stay or not.
Referenda are a real test for the organisation and the results signal whether the research and extension carried in the previous six years have contributed positively to farm performance.
Thank you to those who voted in the referendum last year.
The positive result, for all three levy orders, is a clear indication that the majority of voters’ support what FAR is doing.
But the referendum is not the only way you get to tell us what you want or think.
FAR’s governance structure recognises seven FAR regions, four in the South Island and three in the North Island.
Each of these regions is represented
by an Arable Research Group (ARG), a committee of growers, who, along with a few industry reps, meets with FAR staff three or four times a year to discuss the wants, needs and concerns of growers in their region.
ARGs are FAR’s eyes and ears, and they should be your first port of call if you have any concerns about what FAR is, or isn’t, doing.
ARGs also supply growers to FAR’s Research Development and Advisory Committee (RDAC) and the Members’ Council; as such they play an important role in providing grower input to FAR management and FAR governance.
However, we know that many of you aren’t aware of who is on your ARG or how they got there. With this in mind, we are currently reviewing the ARG election process.
You can expect some more news on this later in the year.
Cultivate Ventures, the arable focused agri-tech and agri-food investment fund, is up and running, and has made its first investments.
This is still at an early stage and proof
of success will come over time.
However, the board is pleased with the way Northington Partners are managing the fund to date. I am convinced that to be successful, arable growers must invest in our own future - not wait for others to come up with innovations on our behalf.
In the meantime, we are still waiting to learn more about what environmental regulations will look like, and what prices our crops will receive in the future.
We can’t control these factors, but we can do our best to use good practice, optimise productivity and minimise costs. Those things are not always easy to achieve, but they are essential for our businesses.
FAR is here to help as much as possible.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Alison Stewart and the FAR team for last year’s positive referendum result.
All of FAR’s research is done for our levy payers and a positive referendum outcome confirms we are on the right track.
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CEO’S REPORT
Diversity is a double-edged sword
Grain growing overseas is typically exemplified by large scale monoculture in a limited rotation of two to three other crops.
WORDS: ALISON STEWART, CEO, FOUNDATION FOR ARABLE RESEARCH
Think corn/soybean/cotton in the Midwest of the USA and wheat/ barley/canola in Australia. Profitability is driven by efficiencies of scale with low input costs per hectare and the ability to access substantive domestic and international markets.
This is not the situation in New Zealand.
We do not have the same large land areas available for grain production and the land that we do have is equally suitable for other uses which in many cases are more profitable, intensive dairy being the obvious example.
Viable grain and seed production in NZ relies on the development of small scale, highly diversified farm systems where profitability is driven by maximising productivity per hectare.
This business model has sustained the arable sector for more than a century.
It is not uncommon for an arable farm system to include multiple grain and seed crops, as well as fresh and processed vegetables and some form of livestock (for winter grazing and/or finishing off).
However, with that diversity comes many challenges.
Developing a sustainable five-year rotation that can effectively respond to and manage market demands, fluctuating contract prices, and environmental variables is not an easy task and requires a high standard of agronomic and business skills.
NZ’s favourable soils and climatic conditions certainly provide crop yield enhancing opportunities but they also create major weed, pest and disease challenges.
By adopting the latest research and technology innovations and optimising inputs, over the past two decades, arable growers have been able to deliver sufficient annual yield gains to keep them ahead of the game.
But this is no longer the case.
Although there are still opportunities for yield optimisation, these will be constrained by environmental compliance requirements, particularly around fertiliser use, and the challenges associated with increasing pesticide resistance and lack of availability of new crop protection products.
Add to this increasing interest rates and inputs cost (fuel, machinery, fertilisers, agrichemicals), and it is clear that most arable farm businesses can expect facing challenging times ahead.
We repeatedly hear that diversification is the solution to NZ’s agricultural problems but it is hard to see how that relates to arable which is already a highly diversified farm system.
Of course, there will be opportunities for new crops, whether they be for plantbased milk or protein or nutraceutical products.
But each one is likely to be at niche scale, restricted to specific growing regions and may, or may not, provide any added value to the grower over and above current crops.
Trying to predict what those new crops and new markets may be is a high risk activity for any levy organization and while FAR does invest in some value add projects, its main focus has to be on optimizing the value from current crops.
So where does this leave the industry and how can FAR support its growers to maintain farm profitability?
One initiative that we began last year, in collaboration with Federated Farmers Arable Section and United Wheat Growers, was to identify and address the key challenges and blockages that prevent the arable industry from taking advantage of existing and new market opportunities.
Supported by Scott Champion and Kelvin Hall from Primary Purpose, we interviewed a wide range of stakeholders across the industry and identified five key focus areas that we felt would sup-
port the growth of the industry.
These were capturing more value, enabling infrastructure, farm business resilience, livestock feed innovation and ensuring social and environmental license.
We have three priority areas of work for the coming year.
The first is to find ways to help growers improve their on and off-farm business skills so they can improve farm business performance and have the confidence and know-how to explore value add business opportunities for themselves.
The second is to develop a system to verify the sustainability of arable production systems (particularly in light of Fonterra’s Scope 3 emissions targets) and third, exploring gaps in arable transport, storage and processing infrastructure which could facilitate more cost-effective farm management and supply chain options.
All of these activities will position the industry for growth, whatever those growth opportunities may look like.
Diversification will look different for different regions in NZ, and even within regions, individual farm diversification will differ.
Some growers will expand into horticulture and vegetable cropping, others will increase their livestock integration, while others will explore moving up the supply chain into processing capability or create a direct to consumer value chain that they can control.
Some of these will succeed and some will fail, but the overall picture will be of an industry that is not afraid to change and adapt and explore new ways of doing things.
The arable industry is certainly not for the faint hearted but it has been and continues to be a core component of NZ agriculture, underpinning the multi-billion-dollar livestock sectors through the provision of quality seed, animal feed and grain for human consumption.
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THE POWER OF INNOVATION
Online seed royalty payment system launched
A new online portal will make it easier for farmers to meet their seed royalty obligations, the New Zealand Plant Breeding and Research Association says.
The launch of the Farm Saved Seed Royalties Payment Portal follows extensive consultation and will enable growers to record the amount of seed saved and reused during the production year.
Growers will log on to a user-friendly web portal, record the quantity of seed saved by variety, complete their details and make secure online payment to the collection entity, PBRA general manager Thomas Chin says.
Under the provisions of the recently enacted Plant
Varieties Rights Act (2022), breeders of plant varieties are enabled to receive royalties from farmers who save and reuse protected seed varieties.
To facilitate this process growers will be asked to voluntarily declare their usage of protected varieties and make corresponding payments.
For the current year a flat rate royalty payment applies — for barley seed the rate will be $150 per tonne, and for wheat seed $300 per tonne.
These rates will be reviewed annually and pub-
lished for transparency.
Funds remitted through voluntary declarations are passed on to the relevant plant breeder or rights holder.
These royalties in turn incentivise the research and development of improved cultivars to enhance farm productivity, profitability and sustainability.
“Plant breeding delivers traits such as improved disease resistance, enhanced yield and greater tolerance to drought and insects,” Thomas says.
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“The law recognises that farmers can continue to freely use non-PVR protected or common varieties without paying royalties.”
Similar farm-saved seed royalty systems operate worldwide, including in markets New Zealand often competes in such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and France.
For more information on farm saved seed royalties, contact royalties@seedindustry.co.nz or visit www. farmsavedseed.co.nz.
RUBIN 12 NOW STOCKIN
Funding for more study on fall armyworm control announced
Fall armyworm (FAW) research has received a boost thanks to MPI’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFFF).
Anew project, led by FAR and supported by Vegetables NZ, will cover a range of topics including identifying economic thresholds for chemical control for maize silage, maize grain and sweetcorn and investigating opportunities for integrated pest management.
Project leader, FAR biosecurity officer Ash Mills, says the economic threshold work is important, as the impact of FAW feeding damage varies between crop types.
“In maize silage, you can get massive FAW infestations, but not a lot of economic damage. In contrast, virtually any FAW feeding damage will impact on sweetcorn profits.
“So, depending on their crop, some growers may be able to get through a season without needing to use insecticides, while others will not.”
Current control options for FAW in New Zealand are limited to one insecticide (Sparta, active ingredient spinetoram) and a range of beneficial insects, with the Cotesia parasitoid wasp being the most active.
Cotesia was introduced in the 1970s as a biocontrol for cosmopolitan armyworm and has already been found to attack FAW.
But, says Ash, when growers use older chemistry, like synthetic pyrethroids, they also take out Cotesia and repeat insecticide use is likely to lead to the FAW developing resistance to it.
Genetic work overseas already indicates resistance is likely present in NZ populations. Managing this problem is where the economic threshold and Cotesia work intersects.
“We want to understand how much impact Cotesia is having on FAW as well as its relationship with other pest species and will use that information, alongside improved understanding of economic damage thresholds for the different crops, to develop an integrated pest management (IPM) programme for fall armyworm.
“The aim is to provide all the data that growers need to make decisions around when insecticides might be required and when to hold off and let the biocontrol agent do its thing. “This IPM
Ash Mills.
approach would maximise the impact of the biological agent and extend the useful life of the insecticide for those who really need it.”
What’s happening in Australia?
For the first three years after FAW was detected there, it was mainly found in maize, sweetcorn and sorghum and was controlled by cultural practices and insecticides targeting larvae.
However, by year four, large continuous generations in many regions were putting immense pressure on crops, including other grass hosts such as winter barley, winter oats, Italian ryegrass and crops such as sugar cane, cotton, ginger, capsicums and strawberries.
The issues are greater in the north of Australia and reduce the further south you travel.
But numbers can still be substantial and, in many cases, it is not what is breeding locally, but flying in from neighboring regions.
Permanent overwintering is occurring as far south as some parts of New
South Wales, with seasonal populations from moth flights reaching Tasmania.
However, says Ash, NZ’s cooler climate has resulted in significantly lower populations to date, so while this Australian development is worrying, it doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing will happen here.
“The Australian situation simply shows us that we should prepare for a future season where a larger more damaging population could create issues in maize and spill-over into other crops grown in affected regions.”
At the end of April fall army worm researchers from Australia and NZ met to share notes at meetings in both countries.
Ash, along with AgResearch researcher Dr Scott Hardwick, attended a FAW research symposium in Brisbane in April where they heard first-hand about FAW’s rapid spread in Australia.
On their return, they attended a similar day-long FAW workshop at Lincoln University joining other researchers intent on linking a raft of NZ FAW research projects.
Fresh faces at FAR
Jax Straathof and Emmanuel Chakwizira have joined the team at FAR, specialising in cereal and environmental research respectively.
Jax focuses on developing management programmes to deliver profitable barley crops, leading a project called Optimising agronomic management of autumn and spring sown barley.
The project aims to identify the sweet spot between nitrogen rate and PGR management to reduce lodging and brackling without compromising grain quality and identify key parameters that influence the profitability of barley production to further develop region-specific barley management strategies.
In the 2023/24 year, this involved five trials throughout Canterbury; irrigated and non-irrigated autumn sown trials at the Chertsey Arable Site, a spring barley trial at Lincoln and one autumn and one spring barley log trial at the Kowhai Arable Site in Lincoln.
Results are still being processed.
Jax moved to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 2018, and worked for AsureQuality before joining FAR last year.
Emmanuel joined the FAR Environmental Research team in 2023, having previously worked on crop physiology at Plant & Food Research.
His work at FAR focuses on nutrient use efficiency, particularly the Nitrogen use efficiency indicators for the arable sector project.
This project aims to develop a simple method for growers to identify where N management needs to be improved, and focus their efforts on what actions could be taken to reduce environmental impacts.
Originally from, Zimbabwe, Emmanuel moved to New Zealand in 2001 and gained a Masters and PhD from Lincoln University.
The heat is on – finding wheat that can cope
The Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) has partnered with the Australian National University (ANU) and industry partners to invest in research to accelerate the development of climate-resilient crops.
The three-year $1.9 million investment will focus on development of heat tolerant wheat genetics, as well as determining what makes a wheat crop able to survive, grow and produce yields under high-temperature conditions.
Director of the Agrifood Innovation Institute at ANU, Professor Owen Atkin, says rising global temperatures were already having an impact on crop yields in critical food-producing regions in both Australia and overseas.
“In recent years we have seen an increase in heat waves induced by global warming, which have impacted wheat production across Australia and the world.
“Every one-degree increase in global mean temperature is predicted to result in a six to 10 per cent decrease in wheat yields.
“This is extremely concerning given the pressing need to increase Australia’s crop productivity in line with a growing global population.”
GRDC genetic technologies manager Prameela Vanambathina says while breeders were doing a good job of producing wheat germplasm that is more heat tolerant, there are still unanswered questions about leaf carbon exchange that could fast-track outcomes.
“Leaf carbon exchange refers to the
combination of two key processes: photosynthesis (taking in carbon dioxide from the air and using sunlight to turn it into food for the plant), and respiration (using that food to support plant growth while also releasing carbon dioxide back out into the atmosphere),” she says.
“We know high temperatures accelerate the development of wheat, inhibit flower development, and reduce the efficiency of photosynthesis, stunting a plant’s growth and reducing yields.
“But we don’t yet understand what processes are responsible for the variation in heat tolerance of Australian germplasm – which limits the breeders’ ability to introduce and develop heat tolerance into modern crops.”
The research being undertaken by the ANU-led team – in partnership with University of Sydney, University of New England, University of Western Australia, InterGrain and overseas partners – will aim to understand the genetic basis for heat tolerance in wheat crops so that, ultimately, producers will have access to more heat-resistant varieties.
Emmanuel Chakwizira.
Jax Straathof.
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Proponents of ‘crazy’ idea honoured for safeguarding food plants
Two scientists who were instrumental in creating a back-up vault of the world’s crop seeds to protect global food security have been named the 2024 World Food Prize Laureates.
Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin
OBE, founding director and executive board member at the Global Crop Diversity Trust, and Dr. Cary Fowler, currently the U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security, played key roles in establishing the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
Today it holds 1.25 million seed samples of more than 6000 plant species in an underground facility in the Arctic Circle.
Often referred to as the ‘Doomsday Vault’, Svalbard opened in 2008 and stands as the last line of defense against threats to global food security, including pandemics and climate catastrophes.
Drs. Fowler and Hawtin also played pivotal roles in the development of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, or Plant Treaty, which was adopted in 2001, to facilitate the global movement of plant genetic resources.
By codifying international agreements and mechanisms for the sharing of seeds, the treaty laid the foundations for the Svalbard seed vault.
The vault was the brainchild of Cary Fowler, who wrote to Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask them to consider establishing such a facility during his time at CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly funded agricultural research organization.
He was later invited to chair a committee to assess the feasibility of such a project and served as the first Chair of the Vault’s International Advisory Council.
Meanwhile, Geoffrey Hawtin served as a member of the original study team,
scoping the viability of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and drew up its technical specifications.
In 2004, he created the Global Crop Diversity Trust, or Crop Trust, which now finances the vault alongside the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center, NordGen.
“While creating a global seed vault might seem logical now, people told me at the time that the idea was crazy,” says Cary, who began his career in 1978 as program director at the National Sharecroppers Fund in North Carolina.
“We’ve since managed to collect and preserve the diversity of all of the major crops, including, for example, 150,000 types of wheat now in storage.
“But we need more collections, particularly of indigenous crops from regions such as Africa, because the diversity of these hardy crops is the raw material for plant breeding improvements.
“I’m hoping the World Food Prize will inspire investments in this kind of transformational R&D which is going to be necessary for food and nutrition security for 10 billion people by 2050.”
Geoffrey spent much of his early career and risked his life collecting, preserving and protecting species of legumes such as chickpeas and faba beans from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
These collections helped
Cary Fowler –150,000 types of wheat are now in storage.
to establish the genebank managed by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). When civil war broke out in 1975, he was responsible for moving collections of plant genetic material six times, across a mined road and under weapons fire, from Lebanon to Syria.
“The genetic diversity of crops and their relatives is as important to biodiversity as it is to food security, and much of it is as endangered as pandas and rhinos.
“In receiving this honour, I would like to make a call
to arms for urgent and sustained funding for the more than 1700 genebanks around the world that are working tirelessly to make sure the material that farmers and plant breeders need is conserved and remains available. The work of crop genebanks underpins our ability to feed the world today and will do so long into the future.”
The World Food Prize, often likened to a Nobel Prize for food and agriculture, celebrates individuals who have made exceptional contributions to addressing hunger and malnutrition.
Cary Fowler, left and Geoffrey Hawtin, at Svalbard.
Global crisis opens doors for New Zealand supplier
Demand for cold pressed rapeseed and sunflower seed oil grown in Canterbury is out the gate as European olive oil producers grapple with drought, wildfires and disease in their groves.
Pure Oil NZ says sales of its extra virgin Good Oil are growing massively this year because New Zealand shoppers are trying to find alternative culinary oils to replace imported brands they either can no longer afford or find on the shelves.
“We are hearing the olive oil crisis is likely to continue for some time and prices are going to continue increasing for the limited olive oil stock that will be available,” says Pure Oil managing director Nick Murney.
This season’s harvest for high oleic rapeseed was a good one for the company’s growers, with high quality oil produced.
Early-harvested sunflower seed also looked outstanding.
“We are hiring more staff and invest-
ing in additional processing equipment at the factory in Rolleston.”
Both Foodstuffs and Woolworths have increased supermarket shelf space for seeded cold-pressed oils.
Nick says according to the European Commission, global olive oil prices hit a 26-year high last year, tripling in cost since 2021.
The European olive harvest was reportedly reduced by 40-50 per cent this season leaving the global market short of olive oil, with some countries banning oil exports and organised crime gangs in Spain stealing it for profit.
Local suppliers have worked hard to protect NZ from the pinch by stocking up ahead of time and sourcing direct from Europe, but the continued supply shortage from the past 12+ months is now hit-
ting home, Nick says.
European olive oil manufacturers are blending commodity oils such as refined canola oil with extra virgin olive oil to bolster supply and meet demand.
NZ does produce a small amount of homegrown olive oil, but supply is well short of domestic demand.
Nick says Good Oil sales into the local hospitality market increased 300% in 2023 and the start of 2024 as restaurant managers look for ways to reduce their food inflation burden while retaining quality ingredients.
The company’s oils provide unique flavours, ‘gorgeous’ colour, a high smoke point, and significant cost savings for both restaurants and home cooks.
Local production also ensures fresh oil is at its best, and far less distance to travel from paddock to plate.
Nick Murney.
Plant protein expertise from Canterbury in demand
American agriculture technology firm GreenVenus has partnered with Canterbury-based Plant Research (NZ) to develop climate-resilient field peas that would provide clean protein solutions for the human nutrition and pet food markets.
Together, the companies aim to develop novel field pea varieties devoid of undesirable attributes, like indigestibility, while also enhancing their climate resiliency to ensure global cultivation.
Although soybeans currently dominate the plant protein market, accounting for over 60% of total plant protein sales, the demand for pea proteins is experiencing exponential growth worldwide, the companies say.
This surge is attributed to their superior amino acid compositions, bioactive peptides, fiber profile, and allergen-free nature compared to other plant protein sources.
“Despite offering superior dietary benefits, field pea varieties still face challenges in achieving maximum yields and demonstrating resilience to changing climatic conditions. Breeding efforts have introduced several modern cultivars that tolerate common diseases, but they have
proven insufficient in controlling high disease and extreme climatic pressures during unfavourable years.”
GreenVenus says its cutting-edge Primavera gene editing technology and gene discovery tool, integrated with state-of-the-art machine learning, are poised to accelerate the creation of next-generation cultivars.
“These cultivars are expected to swiftly adapt to climate fluctuations and showcase sought-after traits that align with the industry's requirements for clean, tasteneutral proteins," says Dr. Shiv Tiwari, CEO of GreenVenus.
Adrian Russell is managing director of Plant Research (NZ).
He founded the com-
Plant Research researcher William Hay deploying molecular marker testing resources in Templeton.
Senior research associate Patrick Canlas, left, and research associate Noah Kaplan, both from GreenVenus, inspecting gene edited pea seedlings at the company’s California facility.
to GreenVenus's research.
“This collaboration is primed to expedite the development of groundbreaking, high-yield varieties, consequently enhancing grower profitability and offering superior protein options for consumers and the animal feed sector."
Plant Research has been in discussion with GreenVenus for 12 months, Adrian says.
pany in 2000 in conjunction with Ashburton-based Cates Grain and Seed after 24 years as a plant breeder with Crop & Food Research.
"Plant Research (NZ) Ltd brings competitive elite pea lines and breeding expertise
“It allows our team to collaborate with a world leader in new genetic technologies (NGTs). By combining our expertise in plant genetics with Green Venus expertise in the use of NGT’s we are well placed to deliver exciting new varieties for a world looking for alternative proteins and for the emerging challenges from a changing climate.
“We look forward to a change in legislation in NZ around the use of these tech-
Boost for breeding disease resistant crops
Decades of research in synthetic biology, genetics and molecular plant pathology have yielded a major breakthrough in molecular plant pathology, marking a technological leap forward for breeding durable disease-resistant crops.
That’s according to scientists at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.
Plant pathogens – organisms which cause plant diseases – greatly reduce agricultural productivity and are a persistent threat to global food security.
Annually, rust pathogens lead to crop losses of US$1 billion worldwide.
The scientists developed a novel rapid gene-screening platform which can identify new avirulence (Avr) effector genes in plant pathogens, building on decades of CSIRO research in synthetic biology, genetics and molecular plant pathology.
CSIRO’s Dr Peter Dodds, co-lead of the project, says the new method will have a
huge impact on future pathogen-resistant crop development.
“Our advanced screening technology represents a technological leap forward in our ability to study the processes that give plants enduring resistance to disease, enabling new genetic strategies to safeguard crop production and disease management in Australia and abroad,” he says.
"This method enables high-throughput screening of complex genetic libraries in a plant’s cellular environment at an unprecedented speed.
“This enhances the ability to select more disease-resistant crops and aids efforts in pathogen surveillance.
“This technology posi-
tions CSIRO to tackle important biosecurity challenges as climate change increases risks for disease outbreaks.
“We have been able to identify several new fungal Avr effector genes in the wheat stem rust pathogen, reducing the time from years or even decades to mere months."
Effector genes in plant pathogens, like rust fungus, encode proteins that suppress plant immune responses.
However, if the plant rec-
ognises these pathogen proteins, they can activate plant defence mechanisms and stop widespread infection.
Dr Thomas Vanhercke, who also co-led the project explained that while this study examined Avr genes in a rust fungus which affects wheat, the same technique can be applied to other crops and pathogens.
Their paper ‘Pooled effector library screening in protoplasts rapidly identifies novel Avr genes’ was published in Nature Plants.
nologies that will allow these new plant products to be utilised and developed within NZ.
“Many of our trading partners including the United Kingdom and Europe are or have already introduced legislation to allow their use, and NZ remains well behind in positioning itself to adopt them.”
Plant Research’s core business is plant breeding arable species for a range of global clients.
It has six FTE Christchurch-based staff, and hires up to 20 casuals during summer. It also has breeding nodes in the UK and North America.
Since its inception the company has released new varieties in seven arable species throughout the world, among them forage oats; milling oats for dry and beverage products; triticale for winter nutrient management and forage; and radish for nutrient management, nematode and club root control.
“We are also looking at soy and other grain legumes,” Adrian says.
Its range of dry and vegetable peas includes successful field pea varieties in North America, Australia, NZ and more recently South America.
In the Pacific Northwest region of the USA, Plant Re-
search works with Progene to deliver field pea genetics that dominates this region, Adrian says.
“Varieties such as Aragorn, Banner, Ariel and Cruiser were bred through this network and these varieties are recognised as the best genetics available.”
Plant proteins are poised to play a significant role in carbon offsetting by substituting carbon-intensive animal protein sources in human diets and animal feed.
Overcoming hurdles such as beany flavour and indigestibility marks a crucial step in facilitating widespread adoption and contrib-
uting to a more sustainable future, the companies say.
Some of these traits could be solved using mutation breeding, but that approach is slow and can create potentially thousands of non target mutations for which the breeder cannot quantify in relation to negative downstream affects on important metabolic pathways, Adrian says.
“NGTs employed in this project in conjunction with advanced AI breeding systems are highly targeted and non-GMO, so can result in single mutations that target the gene or genes of interest only.”
Cheryl Blundell isolating wheat protoplasts at CSIRO.
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Ahead of its time, now past its prime – end of an era for ProductionWise
Cast your mind back to 2012/13.
Chances are you’re probably not growing all the same cultivars today, nor are you still using all the same crop inputs and growing techniques.
Your phone is now your computer, and the software you used on your computer 12 years ago wouldn’t even work on today’s systems.
You’ve changed many things because they reached their natural use-by date, and been superseded by new genetics, new chemistry and/or new technology and thinking.
The same thing has now happened with ProductionWise, whose owners, Regrow, have made a commercially-based decision to discontinue the platform
First deployed through FAR in 2012, the highly customised, arable-specific online farm management package has this month come to the end of its life, not least because making it compatible with the computer language of today (and tomorrow) would be expensive and timeconsuming.
But does that mean it was a waste of resources in the first place?
ProductionWise was already among FAR’s grower support tools when Alison Stewart took over as CEO in 2018.
She wasn’t part of the team that initially chose to support it. But she has signed off on continued funding to keep the platform freely available and supported for FAR members in the intervening years.
While she and the FAR board hoped that Regrow would upgrade it and perhaps set it up as a user-pays service rather than discontinue it, that does not mean that FAR sees this as a failure, she says.
In fact, those who do find themselves having to move away from it now have a chance to make sure the system they migrate to is coded for inter-operability and as much longevity as possible in the fast-changing world of technology.
“It is disappointing that ProductionWise has been discontinued, and we appreciate changing systems will be disruptive for existing users.
“But backing it was the right thing to do at the time, and it was a good investment,” Alison says.
“There was no other suitable platform available 10-12 years ago, and it has been a valuable resource for our growers not just in terms of financial management, but compliance and monitoring as well.
“For many, it was an opportunity to start recording a wide range of inputs before regulations around land, water and nutrient use came into effect, and they were able to respond quickly to those new requirements as a result.
“I know some people have suggested this is a case of FAR dropping the ball, but I don’t see it that way. We invested in a system that was freely available to our growers for more than a decade, and many software companies would see a platform that lasted 10 years as a resounding success!
“There was always going to come a time when ProductionWise was no longer fit for purpose, and would need to be completely re-configured or discontinued.”
As other farm management systems have become available, and reliable mobile capability in particular has become essential, ProductionWise user numbers have steadily dropped, Alison says.
Paying an annual subscription to make it freely available to FAR members has accordingly become difficult for the board to justify, and system owner Regrow chose not to supply it to growers as a user-pays service.
Regrow’s focus has evolved over the past five years away from bespoke crop management systems to more generic platforms, like satellite imagery and sustainability reporting.
This made investment into a major ProductionWise upgrade, required to achieve interoperability with modern software and systems, less attractive.
Couldn’t FAR itself continue the programme for growers?
“In the original agreement with Re-
grow, we had first right of refusal if they wanted to sell it. They didn’t actually offer it up for sale, but if they had, we would not have used levy money to purchase the platform.
“As a not-for-profit, we cannot legally run commercial ventures, and we also could not justify the level of investment required to enhance its functionality, improve its interoperability and maintain technical support services.”
Instead, FAR has provided users as much information on other farm management software packages as it can.
None of the identified platforms is a perfect replacement for ProductionWise, because in many cases they were developed for horticulture or livestock production.
But a handful have a good fit, and, critically, are from established companies that can provide good technical support.
“We can’t recommend one over another; that’s not our role.
“What we have done is support ProductionWise users in extracting their data before the deadline of 30 June, and encouraged them to look carefully for a second or third generation system that provides the relevant functions, has a user-friendly phone app and good interoperability with other software platforms.”
Long journey to safety for new oat genetics
Over three years of effort has seen dozens of small paper bags of oat seeds arrive in New Zealand from Bosnia recently to help protect oat genetic diversity for the future.
It’s been a long collaboration between Adrian Russell from Plant Research (NZ); the James Hutton Institute in Scotland; NZ agricultural engineer and former aid worker Dr John Steven and Balkan researchers.
Adrian says if they hadn’t acted, the collection would have been permanently lost and with it genetics that could bring new and improved oat cultivars.
One new local commercial variety has already been released in Bosnia and Serbia from this genetic base, he says.
“It’s an untapped resource that may contain important traits that will help to improve the competitiveness of NZ grown oats.
“For example, we may find new sources of disease resistance that reduce growers’ reliance on agrichemicals, or new traits that improve processing yield or quality for commercial products like porridge and oat milk.
“We also hope there will be new sources of early maturity as well as cold tolerance needed to mitigate climate change globally, because of their expected wide adaptation.
“We don’t yet know what’s there and what’s not, but if it was lost, it would be lost forever, not only for NZ breeding programmes but also future breeding.”
Adrian says the first priority is to grow out the advanced Balkan seed lines in
Briar and Ebony Kinney from Plant Research (NZ) harvesting oat breeding material in Central Otago. New genetics from Bosnia will be tested here, too. Research at this site is supported by the Otis Oat Milk 1% R&D Fund. Photo: Adrian Russell
set up and run an emergency seed programme, and subsequently became involved philanthropically in oat breeding there in the early 2020s, including oat genetics donated by Plant Research (NZ).
“The researchers at the Banja Luka Institute were very concerned their oat collection would be permanently lost – they’d already lost about 25% - and the priority was to get it out of the Balkans,” Adrian says.
“We couldn’t import it directly, because of our biosecurity regulations. The only way to get it here was to get it to a third party, in this case the James Hutton Institute, so they could grow it out, at their expense, and have it approved for NZ biosecurity clearance.”
NZ to bulk up the quantity of each one for safe long-term storage.
“We could only afford to bring in 10 grams of seed for each line, which is about 1000 seeds, so we need to refresh those straight away.”
Remaining seed is in safe storage in Scotland at the James Hutton Institute.
When funding ran out to pay for maintaining the oat germplasm collection at the Banja Luka Institute of Genetic Resources in Bosnia, researchers there contacted Dr John Stevens in NZ, kicking off what Adrian says was a "huge process" to get it out of the Balkans and save it.
John Stevens had worked in the region during the Balkan war and earlier, helping
Ultimately, he says, the goal is to get the Balkan oat lines into a more permanent collection in NZ like the Margo Forde Genebank, as well as backed up in Europe and the UK.
But for now, he’s happy that they have a more secure future than they did in Bosnia and that he can mentor their progress intergenerationally, taking over from John Stevens after 36 years.
“As a plant breeder, genetic diversity is the life blood of a breeding programme and a successful programme always needs to look for new traits.
“Diversity can improve the competitiveness of new varieties and potentially provide new options for a changing climate.”
Seed growing has potential to reap rewards for CHB
An increased capacity, state-of-the-art seed dryer has been installed in Central Hawke’s Bay thanks to a partnership with the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council that gained Crown investment funding for wider regional economic impact.
Funding from Kānoa, the government’s Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit, supported the construction, purchase and installation of the seed dryer.
The RSPF funding was managed by the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council (CHBDC) on behalf of Kaikora Enterprises, a seed company based in Otāne.
Simon White of Kaikora Enterprises says the new infrastructure allows the harvesting of four different crops within a couple of days.
“The benefit of operating at this kind of speed is that it eliminates the risk of losing a crop to moisture,” he says.
"Farmers then have more control over when they harvest for optimal germination, as well as being able to ensure a long shelf life of the resulting dried seeds.
“Of course, we will need growers to be increasing the supply.”
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council economic development manager Sasha D’Ath says the development of the
Kaikora Enterprises facility means CHBDC has the perfect opportunity to promote interest in new and emerging high-value seed crops among other landowners across the whole district.
Further afield
“This funding wasn’t about buying a piece of kit to support only a few. It also gives us means to go further afield and ensure the whole district and the region can profit from the facility, spreading the potential economic growth benefits widely,” she says.
“To support this, we’re developing resources encouraging the expansion of seedgrowing networks in Central Hawke’s Bay, as well as to give people ideas for land diversification and facility use.
“Put together, we’re developing a ‘provenance’ brand identity.
“That’s why we’re seeking further funding for three trials of new seed varieties.
“We think this is fantastic for people who are looking for ways to diversify their land use. It’s a win-win.
“Most of the funding will
be used for the ongoing contract and project management for the next three harvest cycles from 2024.”
The specialist infrastructure of the development at Kaikora Enterprises supports the production of vegetable and cereal crop seeds destined for Asian and European markets.
“We’re part of a wider group of farmers and growers diversifying into highvalue cropping across Central Hawke’s Bay, where we have an excellent climate and a low risk of contamination by wild-growing species,” says Simon.
He notes the environmental benefits of seed growing and the importance of water sustainability.
Water big deal
“Water is a big deal for land use in this district, so water efficiency is a very big positive,” he says.
Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker agrees.
The addition of improved water security in Central Hawke’s Bay will, in time, add to the long-term value propo-
sition for these kinds of crops as well as many others, she says, adding that the investment by Kānoa fits well with Central Hawke’s Bay’s economic vision of diverse, highvalue land use.
“There is an excellent opportunity for Central Hawke’s Bay now Kaikora have moved into operation.
“We encourage landowners to take advantage of this new seed-drying facility, and consider land diversification to make the move into highvalue crops.”
The mayor points to the significant concentration of highly productive soils in the district as ripe opportunity for new types of food production.
Growing seed for crops is sustainable, they thrive here and produce few emissions, she says. Added advantages include reduced shipping costs, with a local drying facility able to upscale to meet demand.
“On top of that, this is a great example of central and local government partnering with local business to grow our regional economy.”
The new equipment installed by Kaikora Enterprises means they can meet an increase in supply and local growers who diversify land use into commercial seed growing can expect alternative revenue sources from their land.
A memorandum of understanding with Kaikora will open the way for other farmers in the district to move into the seed crop market, where there is international demand for New Zealand crops.
The Central Hawke’s Bay District Council encourages landowners who share an interest in this field to learn more by contacting Sasha D’Ath at sasha.dath@chbdc. govt.nz.
New drying facility ‘perfect opportunity’ for growers to expand seed production.
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Seed crop isolation distances for optimal seed production in NZ
Seed crop isolation distances play a pivotal role in seed production in New Zealand.
WORDS: RICHARD VAN GARDEREN, CHAIR, SEED CROP ISOLATION DISTANCE INDUSTRY WORKING GROUP
These critical measures ensure the genetic purity of seeds and contribute to successful crop yields.
In 2005, the seed industry introduced the voluntary web-based framework known as a Seed Crop Isolation Distance (SCID) tool.
Designed to assist growers and seed companies, the tool helps prevent cross-pollination between different crop varieties.
Essentially, the SCID tool automatically checks crop placements and issues alerts if a crop may fall within the isolation distance of another cross-pollinating crop.
This early warning system
allows parties to address potential conflicts promptly.
Proper separation between crops ensures that seeds remain true to type and maintain their genetic integrity.
For high-value vegetable seeds like hybrid radish, carrot, red beet, swiss chard, spinach, cabbage, and various Asian brassica cultivars including bok choy, tatsoi, choy sum, gailan, and mizuna, maintaining appropriate isolation distances is crucial to prevent unwanted hybridization or the crossing of different species.
Isolation distances are also a critical component of the seed certification process.
Growers must adhere to
specific isolation requirements to produce breeders, basic seed, and first-generation seed.
These distances vary based on the crop type and level of generation being produced.
Other sources of cross-pollination can be from forage crops that have been allowed to go to flower or vegetables that have been left to flower in local gardens and market gardens.
Field reps try to keep an eagle eye on fields in surrounding areas, however it is also prudent that forage and vegetable producers also prevent or remove flowering plants.
If a forage crop is to be
Chinese cabbage is one of many high-value vegetable seed crops that require specific isolation distances to ensure purity.
carried through to seed production, it is advisable that the crop is entered into SCID prior to making that decision.
The SCID system has been a very useful tool and decreased the level of outcrossing in seed crops.
To further lessen any outcrossing events the seed industry would like to make other farmers and the wider public aware of the risk volunteer plants present and ask for their cooperation in removing any potential volunteer plants from fields and other crops.
With the spring sowing season approaching some important tips for growers and seed companies include understanding the specific isolation requirements for the crop that is being produced.
In summary, seed isolation distances safeguard genetic purity, support certification, and contribute to successful seed production.
Growers and seed companies should follow the guidelines meticulously to produce high-quality seeds that benefits NZ agriculture.
Autumn sowing means harvesting could be brought forward.
Successful harvest results open the door for autumn sowing of linseed
Linseed yielding 5 tonnes/ha? Sounds unlikely on the face of it, but it might not be such a stretch if results from last year’s collaborative trials on autumn sowing are any guide.
Imported European varieties bred specifically for autumn sowing reached 3.8-3.9 tonnes of seed/ha on one trial site in South Canterbury, despite lower than desired plant populations at establishment and some vulpia pressure.
FAR researcher Owen Gibson says this was a great outcome, proving the concept of autumn sowing is viable.
He managed the project in conjunction with Daryl Prebble of Bio Oils New Zealand, processor and exporter of linseed.
“With traditional spring sowing, 3-3.5 tonnes/ha is a good yield, and 4 tonnes/ha would be considered excellent. Now I think with a bit of tweaking there is potential for autumn-sown linseed to reach 5 tonnes/ha.”
The high yields for 2024 autumn sown linseed came from a paddock length trial on Hurst Farms’ property at Makikihi.
European varieties Merinos, Angora and Atilla were sown there late April 2023, along with the standard springsown variety already grown in NZ, Bilton, which Bio Oils work has shown
The moment of truth –harvesting autumn sown linseed late January 2024.
potential for higher yield with autumn sowing.
Further trials
In early May, two further trials were sown at FAR’s Chertsey arable research site, comparing the same varieties under dryland vs irrigated conditions.
Makikihi linseed was harvested 31 January 2024, and Chertsey, 10 January 2024.
Owen says the Chertsey half of the project did not perform as well as Hurst Farms, with a later sowing date, high weed pressure and grass grub compounding the effect of a low plant population at establishment.
“It was a game of two halves. Chertsey never really recovered, and the weeds got ahead of us there. Yields were mediocre – 2-3 tonnes/ha for our irrigated autumn-sown linseed, and 1.5-2 tonnes/ha for dryland.
“We were targeting a plant population of 400 plants per square metre at both sites, but the average was more like 250-280 plants. Both seedbeds were cloddy – Chertsey after min tilling and Makikihi after ploughing and cultivating – and that may have affected the plant population result.”
Sowing rates were the same for both sites, calculated on the basis of 1000 grain weight for each variety, but equivalent to 28 kg/ha, Owen says.
He’s just sown a follow-up small plot trial at Chertsey, using the two best performing varieties from 2023 (Merinos and Attila), and a range of different sowing rates from 20 to 50 kg/ha to achieve a broad range of plant populations.
More establishment data
FAR’s doing this work for itself, to generate more data on establishment.
Last season’s work shows changing from traditional spring sowing to
autumn is definitely viable for South Canterbury growers, putting linseed on a par with oil seed rape as an autumn cash crop , he says.
Linseed is a small, niche crop in New Zealand, producing 3000 to 3500 tonnes of seed a year.
But it offers agronomic benefits including providing an alternative break crop from grass-type crops, increased diversity in the rotation and the opportunity to address soil health and hard to control weeds.
“Often spring sown linseed doesn’t fit into the rotation. Being able to sow in autumn would be helpful for growers on heavy soils, where you can’t always get on the ground in spring to drill crops.”
Linseed is also a high-end export, with NZ renowned for high omega 3 levels in its edible linseed oil, known as flax seed oil.
South Canterbury grower Colin Hurst helped initiate the 2023 trial after
previously gaining yield benefits from switching from spring to autumn-sown oil seed rape.
“I could see the potential there and it brought the harvest forward considerably."
Heavier soils
“South Canterbury tends to have heavier clay soils and we don’t normally have irrigation, so it suits our system to sow crops in the autumn. It also avoids wet springs when there can be delays getting crops in.”
Bio Oils owner Daryl Prebble had previously worked with linseed plant breeders and suppliers in Europe, exploring true autumn varieties to trial here in NZ.
As a result, Bio Oils NZ imported three autumn varieties which were trialed at Hurst Farms and the FAR site.
Bio Oils has been processing linseed since 1987, working with Canterbury
SEEDS
NZ produces seed with some of the highest alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) levels in the world.
growers since its inception.
The focus for the company is ensuring linseed is a viable crop for growers through new varieties and improved crop management, which led Bio Oils to explore autumn sown options.
Bio Oils’ core business is producing high quality, cold pressed flax seed oil for domestic and export markets.
It also has its own retail brands, Totally Kiwi and Waihi Bush Organics, also sold in NZ and overseas.
Linseed is a low input crop which is prone to lodging if it receives too much early nitrogen.
“It needs all its nutrients available before flowering and the longer it flowers the better the yield result.”
Earlier harvest
Spring-sown linseed tends to be a crop that is left until last to be harvested, in March and April, when conditions may be more difficult.
Autumn sowing means harvesting could be brought forward to January.
As the seed is usually fit before the straw, it is easier to harvest when the straw is slightly green, and Daryl recommends windrowing as an option if the weather or cutting becomes an issue.
Overseas, autumn-sown varieties have shown improved yields, and crops could benefit from the longer growing period and reduced weed competition.
New varieties are being bred for disease resistance, but it is important they have good Omega 3 and oil content to meet market requirements.
NZ produces seed with some of the highest alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) levels in the world, he says, and the crop is ideal for Canterbury.
“Canterbury is the best region in NZ for growing linseed due to the soils, climate, day to night temperature variations and growers’ management skills."
Linseed is a niche crop in NZ, but France and the United Kingdom both grow more than 50,000 hectares.
For more detail visit www.far.org.nz or bio-oils.co.nz.
Bio Oils has been processing linseed since 1987, working with Canterbury growers since its inception.
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Adding value with legumes
As nitrogen fertilisers are a substantial expense on arable farms, growers are looking for alternative nitrogen sources.
One option is to incorporate shortterm cover crops and legumes as a way to provide an alternative home-grown nitrogen source to the usual bagged supply.
A farmer group in Canterbury is working with FAR to quantify how much nitrogen that legumes contribute to cereal rotations.
This has been approached in two ways: using legumes as part of the cereal crop rotation (short-term catch crops between the main cereal crops) or legumes intercropped with the cereal crops and either sprayed out in early spring or left to grow until harvest.
Including short-term cover crops in the rotation, where previously there may have been a fallow period between crops, can have many benefits including ‘mopping’ up residual nitrogen and improving soil quality, FAR environment researchers Abie Horrocks and Emmanuel Chakwizira say.
Even short-term cover crops of nine to 13 weeks can provide improvements in soil condition, FAR research has shown.
However, Abie and Emmanuel point out that the additional nitrogen from legume crops is only ‘free’ if farmers factor it in, measure it in the soil and include this in their nitrogen application decisions.
They cite one example when 100 kg of N/ha went un-utilised in a farmer’s au-
tumn wheat after clover, because the soil available nitrogen was not included in fertiliser calculations.
As well as losing the potential to save money on fertiliser by not utilising the soil nitrogen, the farmer also created a greater environmental risk of nitrate leaching.
The amount of nitrogen that can be added by a legume will vary, so it is important to test the soil to make sure that benefits are utilised, they say.
Then it’s a case of putting FAR’s Soil Nitrogen Supply Calculator to work.
“Once you have your soil test results back, plugging them into this calculator will turn them from a lab result into something you can use to make informed fertiliser decisions,” Abie says.
“Not only does the calculator do the heavy lifting to determine how much mineralisable N you can expect to become available over the growing season, in kg/ha, it will also factor in mineral N tests you have from the lab, or quick N results you have done yourself.
“It uses soil N supply to calculate how much fertiliser N (kg/ha) should be applied to reach your expected yields, based on an estimate of total N required to reach those yields.”
Farmers are integrating legumes into intensive crop rotations across different crops, including cereals.
Faba beans grown as a short-term cover crop between cereals.
In a recent trial carried out by FAR, over-drilling ryegrass regrowth after seed harvest with a legume resulted in greater biomass and improved feed quality, compared to regrowth without a legume.
Further work is underway to quantify soil quality, N supply and economic impact of extending the ryegrass seed crop by adding legumes and using the regrowth as the basis for winter feed instead of terminating it.
Current work is also being carried out by FAR looking at legumes supplying N in a maize system.
The 2023 results from the farmer group in Canterbury working with FAR showed that faba beans grown as a shortterm cover crop and incorporated into the soil in autumn before sowing barley crops resulted in increased grain yields and nitrogen content, compared with a control of no faba bean and no nitrogen fertiliser treatments.
The benefits of intercropping and the timing of legume termination were inconclusive but suggest that wheat yields were compromised when intercropped with faba beans.
Further research is needed to explore intercropping opportunities and integration into New Zealand systems, e.g. in some other countries faba beans are also harvested to increase total yield.
For more detail contact Abie Horrocks Abie.Horrocks@far.org.nz.
Faba bean root nodules where symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria fix atmospheric N and convert it to plant usable form.
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Surprise findings on honey bee health from new research
It's not a single pesticide or virus stressing honey bees, and affecting their health, but exposure to a complex web of multiple interacting stressors encountered while at work pollinating crops, Canadian researchers from York University have found.
Scientists have been unable to explain increasing colony mortality, even after decades of research examining the role of specific pesticides, parasitic mites, viruses or genetics.
This led the research team to wonder if previous studies were missing something by focussing on one stressor at a time.
"Our study is the first to apply systems level or network analyses to honey bee stressors at a massive scale.
“I think this represents a paradigm shift in the field because we have been so focussed on finding the one big thing, the smoking gun," says corresponding author of the new paper, York Faculty of Science Professor Amro Zayed, York Research Chair in Genomics.
"But we are finding that bees are exposed to a very complicated network of stressors that change quickly over time and space. It's a
level of complexity that we haven't thought about before.
“To me, that's the big surprise of this study."
Broader look
The paper, Honey bee stressor networks are complex and dependent on crop and region, published in Current Biology, takes a much broader look at the interplay of stressors and their effects.
The study team also included researchers from the University of British Columbia, Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, the University of Victoria, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Manitoba, l'Université Laval, the University of Guelph, and the Ontario Beekeepers' Association.
Not all stressors are the same, however.
Some stressors are more influential than others - what researchers call the social media influencers of the bee world - having an outsized
impact on the architecture of a highly complex network and their co-stressors.
They also found that most of these influencer stressors are viruses and pesticides that regularly show up in combination with specific other stressors, compounding the negative effects through their interactions.
"Understanding which stressors co-occur and are likely to interact is profoundly important to unravelling how they are impacting the health and mortality of honey bee colonies," says lead author, York Postdoctoral Fellow Sarah French of the Faculty of Science.
"There have been a lot of studies about major pesticides, but in this research, we also saw a lot of minor pesticides that we don't usually think about or study.
Other viruses
“We also found a lot of viruses that beekeepers don't typically test for or manage.
“Seeing the influencer stressors interact with all these other stressors, whether it be mites, other pesticides or viruses, was not only interesting, but surprising."
Sarah says the way influencer stressors co-occur with other stressors is similar to the way humans experience co-morbidities, such as when someone is diagnosed with heart disease.
They are more likely to
also have diabetes or high blood pressure or both, and each one impacts the other.
"That's similar to the way we examine bee colonies. We look at everything that's going on in the colony and then compare or amalgamate all the colonies together to look at the broader patterns of what is happening and how everything is related.
“Two or multiple stressors can really synergize off each other leading to a much greater effect on bee health."
From Québec to British Columbia, honey bee colonies were given the job of pollinating some of Canada's most valuable crops - apples, canola oil and seed, highbush and lowbush blueberry, soybean, cranberry and corn.
The study covered multiple time scales, providing numerous snapshots, rather than the usual single snapshot in time.
23 stressors
The research team found that honey bees were exposed to an average of 23 stressors at once that combined to create 307 interactions.
Honey bees are a billion dollar industry in Canada.
In 2021, honey bees contributed some $7 billion in economic value by pollinating orchards, vegetables, berries and oil seeds like canola, and produced 75 to 90 million pounds of honey.
Figuring which stressors
Honey bees are a billion dollar industry in Canada.
Farming, The Biggest Job On Ear th
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Malcom and Plant & Food Research intern Lisa Fritz (Photo Wara Bullôt).
Capturing the benefits of catch crops
Catch crops sown after winter forage crops have been grazed to give farmers the ability to turn residual soil nitrogen (N) into high quality dry matter while reducing the risk of nitrate leaching.
The recent Catch Crops for Cleaner Freshwater project, funded primarily through MPI’s Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change – Freshwater Mitigation programme, has highlighted the value of these crops for their ability to capture large amounts of N that might otherwise have been lost to the environment.
They can also help maximise the quantity of dry matter grown in a paddock over a 12-month period.
Given that catch crops in these systems are typically sown at the coldest time of the year, the best sowing options are winter active crops such as Intimidator oats, ryecorn, triticale and Italian ryegrasses which can be sown with a cereal such as oats.
Luisetti Seeds agronomists can advise on the best options for specific environments and farm systems.
Plant & Food senior soil scientist Dr Brendon Malcolm led the Catch Crops for Cleaner Freshwater project which trialled catch crops at both plot and farm scale.
He says it is important to get the catch
would provide the most benefit if managed would go a long way toward developing the right tools to tackle them, something beekeepers are often lacking.
The research is part of the ‘BeeCSI: Omic tools for assessing bee health’ project funded by the Canadian government in 2018 to use genomic tools to develop a new health assessment and diagnosis platform powered by stressor-specific markers.
More research is needed to unravel
crops into the ground as soon as practicable after the paddock has been grazed, when soil temperatures are four degrees and above.
Timing is critical with catch crops and research has shown that sowing oats immediately after grazing has the greatest impact on reducing N losses.
With every month that sowing is delayed, there is a notable reduction in effectiveness.
Brendon says while July-sown oats can be very slow to come away, they are still capturing a significant amount of N through their root system during the high-risk period, despite the small amount of above ground foliage.
Ideally the paddock should only be minimally cultivated, just enough to ensure good soil to seed contact, but pugged soils may require more cultivation.
Brendon says a high plant population is best to capture the N and maximise dry matter production and he recommends a sowing rate of 110-120 kg seeds/ha for oats to target an optimal plant population of 300 plants per square metre.
how the stressors are interacting and impacting honey bee mortality and colony health going forward, says Sarah.
"It's really teasing apart which of these compounds might have that relationship and how we can build off this to study those specific relationships."
It can't come soon enough, as honey bees are currently facing poor health, colony loss, parasites, pathogens and heightened stressors worldwide.
Some beekeepers in Canada and the
Weed control is also important and again, Luisetti Seeds agronomists can provide advice on the best weed control for the crop and paddock.
While catch crops don’t initially require N, as they capture the residual N in the soil, when they start to come away more rapidly in late October and November, typically when leaching has ceased, they may require a dressing of 40-50 kg N/ha to help maximise yield and quality.
For catch crops grown for green-chop silage, the timing of harvest is important. Ideally, the crop should be harvested when the oats just start to go reproductive. Quality can quickly decline after this stage.
A typical yield of a green-chop silage crop sown after winter grazing is 6-10 t DM/ha with a feed value of around 11 MJME/kg DM.
While catch crops offer significant benefits, they are not suitable for every farm system. Taking an oat catch crop through to green-chop silage can delay the sowing of subsequent winter forage crops.
This is particularly the case with two-year fodder beet rotations as the optimum harvest time of the catch crop is past the essential sowing window for fodder beet.
However, research has shown that when balanced out over a 12-month period, a paddock will grow more feed in total when a catch crop grown for greenchop silage follows a winter forage crop such as kale.
A particularly wet spring may also make it difficult to establish catch crops in time to fully capture their benefits.
The Catch Crops for Cleaner Freshwater was a joint project between Plant & Food Research, Ministry for Primary Industries, AgResearch, DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Foundation for Arable Research, Southern Dairy Hub, Environment Canterbury and Environment Southland.
United States face a loss over winter of up to 60% of their colonies.
"Our study suggests some combinations are occurring very frequently," adds Amro, "and that is relevant because we see them again and again, but we don't know how these combinations affect bee health.
“It helps to prioritize which experiments we can now take back to the lab and establish how these interactions affect bees."
Brendon
Taking the long view on future arable systems
Planting a second cash crop in the future farm demonstration at Chertsey has FAR researcher Owen Gibson anticipating an increase in gross margins to the future farm trial despite the potential drawbacks from delayed planting of the autumn wheat.
Buckwheat direct drilled 8 January and harvested 29 April yielded just above average at 3 tonnes/ ha and returned a profit of $3500/ha, he says.
It was only the second ‘crop’ in what will be six more years of comparing best practice conventional arable farming side by side with a more experimental future focussed approach.
And the whole FAR-funded project is much more about
systems and grower collaboration than individual plant species.
Even so, he says, it was an interesting result for a naturally gluten-free crop that several growers are already producing for speciality human food ingredients as well as for seed multiplication.
“We were happy with how it went this season. Buckwheat was sown on both the conventional and future sides of the trial, and the only dif-
Pretty profitable: Buckwheat yielded well with very few inputs.
ference between the two was that residue from the preceding pea crop was baled on the conventional side and retained on the future side.
Very low input
“For us, the benefits of buckwheat in this context is that it is a very low input crop. All we did was apply glyphosate as a knock down herbicide after the process peas. And that was it until harvest!
“We irrigated once after sowing, to increase establishment, and once more at the start of flowering. Where we left the pea residue on top of the soil, it retained the moisture better.”
Autumn wheat was sown after buckwheat on both sides of the trial early May, rather than mid-April as planned, but that’s just part of the compromise involved in getting an extra cash crop
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into the rotation, he says.
Unlike the buckwheat, the approach to autumn wheat is quite different between the two sides of the trial.
The conventional side was drilled in straight Graham wheat, while the future side was sown in a three-way mix of Graham, Voltron and Defiant with both sides receiving Firebird as a pre-emergent herbicide
“Work overseas has shown there are synergies in planting three or more varieties together, in terms of increased disease resistance.
Widely grown
“Graham is one of the most widely grown wheats varieties in New Zealand, and it has intermediate Zymoseptoria tritici resistance but we want to see what happens when it’s combined with others of different levels (SY Defiant) of resistance,” Owen says.
Trichoderma seed treatment has also been applied to the future wheat, as it was to
the future process peas sown last spring when the project started.
Both autumn wheat plantings will be managed the same until spring, then different technologies will probably be used to make decisions about water and nitrogen management.
With its comparatively large scale, long-term focus and grower leadership, the Future Farm Systems project is a first for FAR, and Owen’s excited about how it might play out.
The project is assessing the financial costs and returns, environmental effects and impact on soil and crop structure of the two systems.
Retired Canterbury grower and LandWISE chair John Evans, who leads the committee that decides how both halves of the Chertsey trial are managed, says because they are each 0.8 ha in size, it’s easier for farmers to assess the viability of different options for their own businesses.
“If something looks feasible in a small plot trial, and still looks feasible over nearly 1 ha, then it becomes a bit more realistic as an option that’s worth looking at commercially.”
Push the envelope
It’s also a good way to demonstrate what happens when the envelope is pushed on all sorts of different crops, without individual growers having to take that risk upon themselves.
While future crops have so far produced higher yields, the proof will be in the pudding, he says.
“After three and four years we might start seeing some real differences. It’s early days, and the results so far are interesting and exciting, but you’ve got to look at the long term outcome as well.
“Some things might not work out as well as we hoped in the short term, but maybe they’ll pay us back over a whole rotation.”
John says the Chertsey project shares some of the characteristics of another long-term comparative cropping trial started by LandWISE last February, called Carbon Positive.
This is a six-year project to assess the economic and environmental impacts of adopting regenerative farming within a typical NZ process cropping system, in particular studying the effects in degraded soils.
Carbon Positive is funded by Ministry for Primary Industries, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Charitable Trust, Kraft-Heinz-Watties NZ, McCain Foods, BASF, Hawke’s Bay Vegetable Growers Group, Hills Laboratories and others.
Full arable rotation
Owen says the seven-year Chertsey Future Farms Systems project is a demonstration site and conversation starter for growers, showcas-
ing some exciting new techniques and technologies as it progresses.
Being long-term, it is able to encompass a full arable rotation, and is an opportunity for growers to evaluate practices such as direct drilling into a green crop, and alternative crop protection, at field scale and within the context of a rotation.
“Response from growers has been really positive,” Owen says.
“They like it because it’s large scale, we’re using farm size machinery, and we’re doing things they can’t do because they can’t afford to take the risk.”
In arable systems crops are not grown in isolation but are part of a wider rotation which often includes livestock. A crop and how it is managed can have an impact on a following crop and this project will evaluate this, he says.
“I would like to see how new technology can help farmers grow crops more efficiently with less inputs, while maintaining or enhancing yield. We would like to see how far some current technology can help address issues such as herbicide resistance already seen on many NZ arable farms.”
In spring 2023, when the project started, the paddock was in oats. While both blocks were then sown in process peas for Talley’s, management of each differed.
The conventional side was grazed by R1 dairy heifers before being ploughed, disced and rolled for process peas and planted in early September 2023.
The future farm block retained the oat residue before direct drilling peas to provide a thatch cover to decrease moisture loss and suppress weed germination, resulting in reduced herbicide, machinery passes and increased soil structure.
For more detail contact Owen Gibson owen.gibson@ far.org.nz.
Both sides of the trial were direct drilled with buckwheat after process peas early January.
Herbicide resistance
– where do we go from here?
Glyphosate (MOA Group 9) resistance may not have shown its face in five years of regional arable herbicide surveys recently concluded by AgResearch and FAR, but that doesn’t mean your fencelines are safe.
FAR senior field officer
Ben Harvey says not finding glyphosate resistance was a surprise, and follow-up work planned for this season will probably include a fenceline spraying demonstration trial at Chertsey as a result.
“We know a lot of glyphosate is used on fencelines, and we also know using it over and over again on the same patch of ground is a high risk factor for developing resistance, so we want to
include that in our focus going forward.
“We’re also investigating mechanical tine weeding as a crop management option, and we want to look at other tools like increasing crop competition to combat weeds, and novel spring crops to break the cycle of weed resistance.”
Ben’s hoping to do some trials on novel herbicides as well, but stresses that these are not going to save the day, even if they do become avail-
able here in New Zealand.
“In Australia, they have been some use, but the level of herbicide resistance there is worse than ours, and in some cases they’ve just shifted resistance from one MOA group to another."
Outside the box
“We can’t rely on novel
herbicides. Getting such products into NZ is problematic; the market here is very small and some of the chemical companies are baulking at the long delays in achieving registration so we need to look outside the box for our own solutions.”
Integrated Weed Management (IWM) principles are a
FAR senior field officer Ben Harvey.
big part of this message, he says, and while the concept may sound complicated, lots of resources are available, many of which can be readily incorporated piece by piece without entailing an all or nothing approach.
“Even a small thing like shifting away from autumn sowing can help. For example, if all your crops are autumn sown, and you know you have a paddock where herbicide resistance is an issue, maybe shift that to a cover or break crop sown in autumn, followed by the main crop in spring.”
This can have financial implications for growers, but the financial implications of not making changes to tackle known herbicide resistant weeds are worse, he says.
The last thing he’s advocating is growers doing away with herbicide MOA groups known to have developed resistance on their farms.
“We’re not saying don’t use them. We still need growers to be using robust herbicide programmes with MOA Groups 1 and 2, especially where resistance is known to be limited to pockets on certain paddocks.”
Use them properly
Rather it’s a case of making sure they’re used properly – applied at full recommended rates, in combination with other MOA groups as appropriate, via effective spray nozzles to achieve good plant coverage.
While the news was not encouraging from the five year herbicide resistance survey project, funded by MBIE, Ben says so far he hasn’t seen any infestations that are so bad growers can’t endeavour to get rid of them.
“Some of them might have bad patches, where they can see the weeds are resistant, and they will take that part of the crop off before harvest for balage, to stop the weeds from going to seed. It’s costing them money, obviously, but they’re still able to try and
Map showing the percentage of farms where at least one herbicide-resistant weed was found during random surveys between 2019 and 2023. Numbers in brackets indicate data from a separate 2021-22 AgResearch survey of maize crops. Gray areas were not surveyed.
control those plants.
“What we want to do is convince growers who aren’t yet affected to take steps to stop resistance becoming a problem for them too.”
As well as not finding resistance to glyphosate, the surveys didn’t find any resistance in Vulpia hair grass, which he says was very good news.
One population of field pansy was found that might have been resistant to herbicide, but this could not be confirmed.
Some of the other problem weeds that people talk about, like wireweed and mallow, they’re a problem because of their physiology and the way they grow, not because they resist herbicides, he adds.
Five regions
The project surveyed farms in five arable regions from 2019 to 2023 – Selwyn district; South Canterbury; South Otago and Southland; Wairarapa, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay; and Mid Canterbury.
Thirty of the collected species were tested with 21 different herbicide active ingredients, across eight different MOA groups.
South Canterbury recorded the highest levels of herbicide resistance, with 71% of farms surveyed recording at least one instance of a herbicide resistant weed.
Regional differences
In comparison, in the eastern North Island, herbicide resistant weeds were only found on 11% per cent of farms.
Of Mid Canterbury farms surveyed, 60% recorded herbicide resistance, in Selwyn district 54% and Southland 59%.
Regional differences are suspected to relate to differences in farming systems, as areas where crop rotation options are limited tend to have higher levels of resistance, says Ben.
Farms were randomly selected, with the aim of visiting 20-30% of all arable farms in each region.
Surveys were carried out in January, just before harvest, when weeds that had survived herbicide application were most likely to have produced viable seed.
On each farm, two suitable paddocks were sampled (usually a cereal crop). Growers also provided input if they suspected herbicide resistance was present on the property.
Seed was collected from any weeds that appeared to have survived normal herbicide application, with focus on grass species that had known resistance overseas.
Seeds were then sent to AgResearch to be grown out and the resulting plants tested for resistance to a range of appropriate herbicides.
Almost 4000 individual plant-herbicide interactions were tested in total, with 63 different species of weed collected across 168 farms.
Other factors include: whether or not pasture is commonly included in rotations, the prevalence of grass seed crops, particularly ryegrass, in the rotation, and whether or not spring crops, which can disrupt weed life cycles, are commonly included in rotations.
Ryegrass, both annual and perennial, is the main offender, with resistance to Group 1 and 2 herbicides.
“Resistance seems to be everywhere, but especially in South Canterbury.”
Imported ryegrass seed lots have provided a pathway for introducing herbicide resistance onto NZ farms. In addition, rare individual plants can gain resistanceconferring mutations.
Ben says while it was not discovered during the surveys, reports from industry that resistance may be emerging in some other herbicide groups, most notably Group 15 pre-emergence herbicides, are concerning.
For more detail contact Ben Harvey ben.harvey@far. org.nz.
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‘Instant payback’, strong response see combine workshops return this season
Good news for anyone who missed out on last season’s hugely popular combine set-up workshops – FAR not only plans to run them again this season, but to increase the number of events, and extend them to the North Island too.
FAR technology manager Chris Smith, who organised the three pilot workshops and subsequent in-paddock follow up during the 2023 harvest, says he was startled by the response in more ways than one.
“The turnout was a bit of a surprise. This sort of thing has never been done in New Zealand, although it has been successful in Australia. We really didn’t know how many would turn up, and in the end we were oversubscribed, with 210 people
across the three events.
“It was also quite surprising afterwards how many farmers were willing to get the angle grinder out and start making alterations to their combines!”
Himself a machinery enthusiast from way back, he believes growers immediately latched onto this very nuts and bolts approach to improving their business performance because “they saw an instant payback,” often from adjustments they could make themselves.
And in several cases that payback was significant.
Big savings
“We had one grower who reduced his combine fuel consumption by 30% after attending the workshop, simply by utilising the machine to its full potential. Another estimates he trimmed 70 hours off his harvest, at a value of $1000 per hour.
“We got one grower to increase his combine speed by 50% from 3 kph to 4.5 kph, with no change in losses, and a lot of growers went from harvesting 40 tonnes per hour to 50 or 55 tonnes, which really improved their output.
“We even had one grower who wanted to have one of the overseas specialists on
farm during harvest for a whole day.
“We couldn’t do that, because we had so many others to visit, but the fact he was willing to pay for that person to monitor combine performance for several hours shows the value he placed on the whole exercise.”
This year, three more workshops are planned in in the South Island, plus two in the North Island.
Dates for these have yet to be set but are likely to be in early December, Chris says.
“It needs to be close enough to harvest that it sticks in people’s minds.”
Experts to return
Like last season, FAR will bring machinery experts in from overseas to guide growers through the intricacies of their respective combines, and again during harvest itself.
Combine losses with extensions on the reel in the top drop pan vs normal losses without in the bottom.
In 2023, this in-field follow up saw the specialist team from Primary Sales Australia provide hands-on expertise for about 50 dif-
Taking the flite extensions off the front of the header, to get a more even feed of crop into the machine.
The Southland workshop included a discussion about front losses off a conventional Claas front and a MacDon front.
ferent combine set-ups in South, Mid and North Canterbury and Southland during a 10 day visit in January.
Each of the three specialists concentrated on particular brands with Kassie van der Westhuizen advising on John Deere, Brett Asphar on Case and Claas and Murray Skayman on New Holland and Case.
Chris Smith says the aim at harvest this season is to do more monitoring of actual losses, to build a better picture of how much difference combine fine-tuning can make in New Zealand conditions.
He’s already started gathering specific feedback from
growers who attended the 2023/24 events to help create a database of combine settings for NZ growers.
“This season we’ve also been talking to the seed industry about the implications of reducing field losses at harvest in terms of overall seed quality, and more efficient cleaning and processing. There could well be ben-
efits across the whole value chain.”
Wide range
All types of combines featured in last year’s pilot, including straw walkers, rotary machines and big and small rotors.
Machines were set up for a range of crops including grass seed, cocksfoot, barley and wheat.
Approximately a third of the combines were manufactured by Claas. Case IH comprised another third; New Holland just over 20% and John Deere 10%.
Chris says technicalities are specific to each brand, but some common factors prevail regardless.
“One of the key takeaways
• Leading spring barley in FAR CPT trials with great yields and consistency.
• Suited to all sowing times and conditions in both spring and autumn.
• Good all-round disease resistance profile especially powdery mildew and net blotch.
was that growers need to accurately and regularly measure losses from their combines so adjustments can be made.
“You don’t have to use a purchased drop tray system, but you do need a way to accurately measure what is coming out the back of the
Overseas Case specialist Brett Asphar, right, in-field during harvest follow up visits.
combine, and the value that this equates to.”
One grower who attended last season’s workshops didn’t know he was getting losses until these were measured at 3% during harvest.
He was able to cut this to 0.5% with some changes to his set-up.
Primary Sales Australia chief executive Peter Broley, who participated in the visits last season, says NZ conditions are different to those in Australia, but setting up a combine for optimum performance and efficiency involves the same principles both sides of the Tasman.
Halve losses?
“Machinery and front loss-
es are things we can change, in contrast to losses from a weather event like rain or wind. If we measure, we can halve our losses, which is what happened in Australia.”
A Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) study of arable farms in Western Australia showed $320 million of grain and seed was probably left in paddocks in 2021 from front and other machine losses. This equates to a loss of $80,000 per grower.
If you attended last season’s pilot workshops and haven’t yet shared your combine changes and results, Chris Smith is keen to hear from you.
You can email or text him a screenshot of your combine setting screen, plus details about the crop, region and make and model of the machine. Your personal information will not be shared.
For more detail contact chris.smith@far.org.nz.
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Years of accurate, low-cost drilling with Allen P-D Series
Today’s farmers and contractors are driven to achieve efficiency, and Ashburton-based Allen Custom Drills says its seed drills can help them achieve it.
The Allen range includes the P-D Series, known as their Packer Drill.
P-D drills are minimum tillage arable drills with a full-width tyre packer.
P-D drills are very effective in cultivated ground and can be specified with optional opening discs for direct drilling as well. In either case, the tyre packer consolidates the ground and prepares a firm seedbed, which improves plant establishment.
David Clark of Valetta Farms in Mayfield, Canterbury replaced his American drill in 2012 after 17 years of use.
He says he was looking for a robust, simple 6 metre drill that would give accurate seed placement and low long-term running costs.
“The Allen Packer Drill ticked all those boxes for
us. Craig and Deb Allen and their team were awesome to work with during the design and build process to manufacture exactly what we were looking for in a drill,” David says.
“After 11 years, we feel this drill gives us low running costs due to its robust and simple design. Our crops germinate evenly across the field. This drill has been a very good investment for us.”
P-D Series drills are available in working widths of 4 m to 12 m, with row spacing options of either 5” (125 mm) or 6.5” (166 mm).
They deliver running costs as low as $5/ha.
The largest packer drill in the series is the P-D 12000, which is 12m wide and hydraulically folding.
As the name of the company suggests, Allen Custom Drills is happy to make any addition to a drill that will
make it work better for a particular operation.
Some optional extras for the P-D Series include ISOBUS, small seed boxes, slug bait spreader, levelling paddle tines (up to 8 m), seed blockage sensor kits, and more.
Other models in the Allen range are the Ergonomic drill (E-D Series), Contour drill (C-D Series), Tyne drill (T-D Series), and Heavy-Duty drill (H-D Series).
Company directors Deb and Craig Allen are passionate about what they do and appreciate that their product is an asset to farming and contracting operations around New Zealand and Australia.
Their vision is to be the leaders in design and manufacturing of air seeder drills that exceed their customers’ expectations.
They thrive off the re-
lationships they have with those they work with in the industry.
Allen drills are designed and built to deliver simplicity, efficiency, and durability.
This means they are reliable for hectares on end and provide accurate results each time.
Minimal maintenance is required for Allen Drills, but if anything is required, the company has hard-wearing parts available on the shelf.
They can deliver them locally or send them out on an overnight courier.
For more detail visit allencustomdrills.co.nz or call 03 308 4094.
Allen P-D drills have a tyre packer that consolidates the ground in front of the seed coulters.
Maintaining wheat yields possible over many years
The long-running Broadbalk field experiment at Rothamsted in the United Kingdom shows it is possible to maintain or increase yields of wheat over nearly 200 years with either inorganic fertilisers or organic manure, according to a review published in the journal Advances in Agronomy.
However, to achieve this, changes in management to parts of the experiment have been needed to ensure that soil acidity, weeds and diseases are controlled.
“Long-term experiments (LTEs) are a vital source of information for assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems,” says Paul Poulton, the lead author on the paper.
“This review clearly demonstrates that headlines suggesting that we have only a limited number of harvests left are not true in a general sense and that even modest inputs of fertiliser and agrochemicals can maintain crop yields.”
The Broadbalk Wheat Experiment started in 1843 and is the oldest continuing LTE in the world.
The site is divided into 20 strips.
Several of these have had differing treatments of nitro-
gen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) applied.
One strip has had nothing applied since the experiment began and acts as a control. Adjacent to it is a strip that has had cattle-based farmyard manure added to it since the start.
This was originally done as a comparison with chemical applications and predated the organic movement by nearly a century.
In 1968, and later, major modifications were made to the experiment to reflect contemporary innovations in agriculture.
These included the introduction of short-straw winter wheat varieties, growing wheat in rotation with other crops, and testing higher rates of N fertiliser (up to 288 kg N per hectare).
Other changes included the use of herbicides and other agrichemicals, except on selected sections.
Regular liming continued to maintain a neutral soil pH.
The new review reports crop yields and soil changes since 1968 and summarizes other studies including the incidence of weeds, pests and crop diseases, effects of treatments on nitrate and phosphate movement to drainage water, greenhouse gas fluxes, measurements of N and sulphur (S) inputs from the atmosphere, and many other factors.
The change to short-straw wheat varieties led to a doubling of grain yields.
On average, yields of continuous wheat tended to increase at N rates up to 240 or 288 kg per hectare while the first wheat in rotation after a two-year break often needed less nitrogen to reach maximum yield.
Best yields now exceed 12 tonne per hectare in some years.
However, where manures
have been applied for many years or where the largest amounts of nitrogenous fertiliser have been added, the risk of losses of nitrogenous compounds into the drainage system is high.
Such an observation was possible as the experiment has a facility to collect drainage water from one section of treatments.
On a soil that had probably been in arable cropping for centuries before the experiment began, soil organic carbon (SOC) is relatively low at around 1%.
Adding manures for many years to some plots increased stocks of carbon by about threefold.
Increasing amounts of nitrogen fertiliser resulted in larger crops and more stubble.
Roots were ploughed-in, leading to increases in soil carbon. Soil organic matter in some treatments has been in equilibrium for many years.
“The experiment and the data from it, together with the archive of crop and soil samples, continue to provide scientists with a valuable resource to increase our fundamental understanding of agricultural systems as well as providing a sound basis for practical management strategies for improving sustainability,” says Paul.
Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843, and its research has been credited with preventing crop failures across the globe.
Reduce input costs without increasing crop risks
If that autumn cereal you used to find easy to grow now seems to need more love and money to keep it clean and healthy, you’re not imagining it, and you’re not alone.
Over the past three to five years, there’s been a shift in susceptibility to pathogens like Zymoseptoria tritici and Puccinia tritici which cause the diseases Septoria tritici blotch and leaf rust, says FAR senior cereals researcher Jo Drummond.
And that’s not because the cultivars have somehow become less genetically able to shrug off disease, but rather because the disease pathogen populations are adapting.
“Growers are reporting this to us, and we’re picking it up through the Cultivar Performance Trials as well, where disease ratings are changing,” Jo says.
That’s not abnormal in itself, given nature’s ability to adapt, but it does highlight the risk of not looking after cultivars as well as existing crop protection mode of action families.
“It takes a very long time to develop a new cultivar, and once it’s developed, it doesn’t change. But the disease landscape around it does. And that means over time, the tolerance those cultivars have can end up being not enough.
“So, our stewardship of cultivars is just as important for future arable produc-
Jo Drummond.
FAR’s ‘wagon wheel’ trial, demonstrating how cereal cultivars and disease management have changed since the 1970s.
tion as our stewardship of chemistry.”
This is but one element of A Lighter Touch as it relates to arable systems.
Showcase series
And along with all FAR’s other observations and findings recorded to date during the massive seven-year cross-sector project, cultivar stewardship will be shared during a special series of events for growers this winter.
The showcase for A Lighter Touch will run from 6 to 15 August, encompasses Mid and South Canterbury as well as Southland and the North Island, and is not to be missed, Jo says.
Aimed at industry, suppliers and agronomists as well as producers, the showcase workshops are timed to help all who attend prepare for the 2024/25 season.
Among the highlights will be a rare chance to hear direct from one of the world’s leading experts in integrated pest management (IPM) for broadacre crops.
Molecular plant pathologist Dr Aoife
Aoife O’Driscoll.
O’Driscoll is a senior specialist in crop protection and IPM at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) at Cambridge in the United Kingdom and this is her first visit to New Zealand.
Jo says she has been instrumental in developing IPM strategies for arable and horticultural producers in the UK and has a strong cereals background.
“The thing I really like about Aoife’s work is that she is very grower centric and practical rather than abstract.”
Money matters
“Making money is a strong focus for her, and that’s our driver too – making sure you can continue to be profitable by incorporating agro-ecological practices that keep the crop at the centre of your decision making.”
The showcase series marks a ramp-up in sharing new knowledge and insights with arable growers, Jo says.
“We’ve never brought all the research pillars together and reported on the whole project like this. Typically we up-
Dr
date growers about ALT during our autumn roundups and spring field events.
“But now, after three to four years’ work, we’ve reached the stage where we’re getting a significant body of results, across a range of different seasons and levels of disease and pest pressure.
“So we have robust data that supports ALT approaches that we can share with growers to help them with their decision making.”
And the current macro environment couldn’t make this more topical, she says.
When grain prices are high, it can become very tempting for growers to max out inputs.
But when grain prices fall, the profitability of ALT approaches to crop management start to make real financial sense as a way of maintaining yields while still making savings within the system.
Growers might be surprised by the relevance of work presented at the showcase events.
Bigger, broader
“There’s perhaps been a perception in the past that ALT means taking on an unacceptable level of risk, or doing noth-
ing, or using just biologicals. But it’s a much bigger, broader piece of work that encompasses everything from genetics and resistance management to new crop protection technologies and classical IPM techniques.”
One recent advance, with support from chemical companies, has been formation of an industry wide fungicide resistance initiative and development of clear, concise guidelines for growers.
Further to that, on-going monitoring of the sensitivity shifts in Group 3 triazoles and Group 7 SDHIs has reinforced the need to think about cross resistance as well as resistance, Jo says.
Cross resistance is when there is resistance to different active ingredients within the same MOA Group.
“We have a better understanding of sensitivity shifts in our key chemical MOAs. Nothing has fallen off the cliff in terms of efficacy, but triazoles in particular are having to work a lot harder.
“They remain the backbone of our fungicide programmes, supplemented by other modes of action, but when we mix and match, we need to make sure we’re mixing and matching the right things, because due to cross resistance,
some active ingredients are better mixing partners than others.”
Complexity helps
For the past five decades, growers have had access to a new MOA Group or a new active ingredient every 10 years, each one bringing a step wise improvement on what has gone before.
However, that’s no longer the case, and stewardship is the only way forward.
Thus for both triazoles and SDHIs the rule of thumb now is to alternate active ingredients within and between seasons, and to apply each group in mixtures that contain a least one other fungicide from an alternative MOA group that has comparable efficacy against the target pathogen.
“It makes our disease programmes more complex, but complexity is what we need to slow the development of resistance. The more obstacles we can put in the way of the pathogen, the better.
“The days of cheap ‘insurance’ applications of fungicide are over. Resistance management comes with a cost, but the reward is yield stability and continued access to essential chemistry in the future.”
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The kernel of truth: Can grain analysis reveal better understanding of crop nutrients?
Cereal growers from Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury and Southland are finding out this month what they got right (and maybe not so right) with crop nutrition last harvest, thanks to a fast-track FAR pilot project on grain analysis.
More than 120 samples from 50 New Zealand growers were sent to the United Kingdom in autumn for testing and benchmarking by the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN).
Growers Leading Change facilitator Donna Lill says that was more than twice the number of samples needed to establish a reasonable data set for NZ crops.
And the response shows how many growers are interested in the potential of grain micro-nutrient analysis to improve crop management and performance.
“More growers wanted to be involved, but were for one reason or another un
know if understanding and managing micro-nutrients is the next step towards improving nitrogen use efficiency in their crops.”
Wider benefits
“Depending on how useful the results from the pilot project are, this may be something that can benefit all growers.”
YEN began in 2013 in the UK to get better data on crop yields and for benchmarking.
In 2020, a YEN nutrition programme was started, analysing the nutritional status of growers’ crops to identify fertiliser over-use, show potential savings
Roger Sylvester-Bradley says in the UK 80% of crops show a deficiency in at least one nutrient.
the webinar on 10 January, and by the end of the month we’d confirmed we had enough interest from growers who were keen to send samples to the UK from the 2024 harvest.
“Initially I thought we might get 20 samples. Roger wanted 60 to get a good data base, so to get over 100 is great.”
She’s now meeting with those involved to discuss their results, and decide whether YEN can add value to NZ arable businesses in tailoring nutrient management, as it has done in the UK, Europe and North America.
Two YEN Nutrition reports were generated for each sample – one detailing specific crop nutrient offtake, and one benchmarking crop yield and nutrient status against the wider group.
Each sample cost $150, which covered lab analysis and two YEN Nutrition reports, one detailing specific crop nutrient offtake, and one benchmarking crop yield and nutrient status against
“That gives us a nice data set for NZ as a whole, as well as giving growers a sense of where they sit compared to
The samples were tested for all 12 essential nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron and molybdenum.
Roger believes grain analysis is more important than soil or leaf analysis, because it represents the final results of all decisions made in growing a crop.
“It is easy to do, costs a bit more than soil analysis, but is well worth it.
“Nutrient concentrations at harvest show whether crops captured insufficient, adequate or excess of each nutrient. Without measures at harvest, nutrient management is guesswork and this prevents improvement.”
In the UK, critical levels have been determined for eight of the 12 essential nutrients, below which a crop is deficient to a degree which impacts on yield.
Strong demand picked for new feed barley
From the programme that brought growers SY Transformer and SY Silhouette spring barleys, Cropmark Seeds is excited to launch another spring cultivar to the New Zealand market this season.
SY Dolomite is a new feed barley variety from Syngenta’s world leading United Kingdom barley breeding programme.
Developed in NZ in conjunction with Cropmark Seeds as head licensee, SY Dolomite started life in the UK as one ear selected out of 20,000 back in 2014.
It is a cross between Laureate and Piper, and has been in 42 replicated trials all over NZ, numerous full paddock evaluations and seed production paddocks prior to its commercialisation, Cropmark says.
With medium height, medium maturity, and moderate-stiff straw, SY Dolomite was selected for its ease of man-
Donna says one question many NZ growers have asked is whether these critical levels will be relevant to NZ crops.
“The answer from researchers here and overseas is yes, they will be a very good starting point for us.”
Highly variable
UK YEN data shows that more than 50% of crops are deficient in more than one nutrient and 20% receive excess nitrogen, and there’s a lot of variation between farms, with some growers being too cautious in providing good nutrition while others are too generous.
The biggest deficiency is of phosphorus, but nitrogen, magnesium and sulphur deficiencies are common.
A quarter of UK paddocks have deficiencies costing more than $610 a hectare. Differences in wheat protein can be as much as 4% below, or more than 2% above, the optimum level.
agement and reliable yield across all environments.
“It has the genetic ability to yield over 12 tonnes/ha in high yield potential environments by taking advantage of good growing conditions.
“However, it can also produce reliable yields, good grain size and test weights when yield potential is reduced due to dry weather,” Cropmark says.
SY Dolomite will produce a reliable high yield at any sowing time and can be sown from May through to early November, with plant growth regulator and fungicide inputs tailored to the different sowing times.
While being an excellent option for
“So, 25% of sampled UK crops were mismanaged as far as nitrogen is concerned and the financial implications are quite big,” Roger says.
YEN UK analyses cereals, oilseeds and pulses and has built a large database which could be very valuable going forward, Donna says.
“We concentrated on cereals for the pilot project so we could get a representative data set for NZ, but there’s no reason in the future this couldn’t be expanded if it proves to be something that will help our growers.”
She says NZ labs will analyse grain for same 12 essential nutrients as YEN, and she knows a small number of growers have had this done.
“This will give you your crop values. But there’s no benchmarking, so you don’t know where you sit. One of the good things about the YEN network is that it brings that information to you and generates very grower friendly reports.”
grain production, it is also well suited as a whole crop silage variety.
“High quality silage is achievable due to its high grain yield, good straw production and good resistance to most diseases including scald and mildew.”
The new cultivar has performed well in all Cereal Performance Trials (CPT) to date, which have been independently run on commercial arable farms throughout NZ under the organisation of the CPT committee.
Cropmark says the data from these trials, which is published by FAR, represents trial sites across a range of both irrigated and dryland areas throughout Southland, Canterbury, and Manawatu in the North Island over an average of four years.
The trials are sown amongst commercial crops and are treated with the same management inputs and subject to the same climatic conditions.
This gives end-users confidence that varieties that perform at the top of these trials have been rigorously tested and evaluated for yield, grain quality and tolerance to disease throughout a wide range of farm environments.
“We are anticipating high demand for sowing seed of the new variety this spring.”
SY Dolomite is available in either 500 kg or 25 kg bags and can be treated with Poncho and/or Kinto Duo seed treatments.
For more detail talk to your agronomist.
All NZ grower samples were sub-sampled before dispatch to the UK.
Future profitability lies in supporting R&D pipeline
Some crops sown on a certain Methven farm every year will never contribute to the bank account in the normal way.
Yet still land, water, time and other resources are allocated to them, as they have been for decades.
That’s because these crops are valued (highly) for something other than direct financial return.
They were already entrenched in the system when Bevan Lill returned home to start taking over the family business 16 years ago, after finishing his Master of Science at Otago University.
And as far as he’s concerned, without them, and what they represent, “you might as well put up the for sale sign.”
He’s talking about both the Cultivar Performance Trials his father Graeme hosted from the very early days of FAR, and the new cereal cultivar evaluations run by PGG Wrightson Grain on the farm for many years, as well as the company’s internal fungicide trials.
“We’ve always been interested in the pipeline of new cultivars. That’s where our future profitability lies, in new material that gives us incremental gains in yield, and other attributes like improved disease resistance to help us control costs,” Bevan says.
Permanent increase
“Every yield increase is a permanent increase in farm income. So yes, we need that pipeline for the future. Without that breeding and R&D we’re in real trouble as an industry.”
The cumulative gains of such progress cannot be underestimated, he says.
When he started on the home farm, it was growing dryland Conquest wheat at an average of 7 tonnes/ha, and Saracen at the time might have just pushed 8 tonnes/ha.
Then the first Barrhill Chertsey Irrigation water came on stream in 2010, and Conquest started averaging 9 tonnes/ha, with Saracen at 10 tonnes/ha.
“Fast forward to today, we would average 11.5 tonnes/ha for Duchess, and for the feed wheats, we’d probably be doing 13.5 tonnes/ha,” Bevan says.
“That’s the type of maths you’re talking about with breeding advances. If we can achieve that as an industry every decade, that’s phenomenal.”
Even so, wouldn’t it be easier just to wait until the best and brightest new cultivars are released to market, without having to juggle blocks of land and rotations for them for years before?
“It’s still worth doing!
“The advantage it provides me is I have seen those cultivars for a number of years, before they hit the market, under my management, on my farm.”
Evidence, security
“That gives me an incredible amount of security as to how they will perform here.
“In the fungicide trials here this season, for example, we have the upcoming PGGW Grain premium milling wheat (KMW2206). Watching that work throughout the season will provide the
Bevan Lill, left, with cereal agronomist Ashley Harrison and Nick Brooks from PGW Grain as another trial goes in the ground.
evidence I need with the challenges on this farm to fine tune my own fungicide programme.”
Plus there is the steady flow of visitors, including plant breeders and agronomists, and their expertise and perspective can be valuable in themselves, Bevan says, “Those conversations often lead you in certain directions in your own onfarm management.”
With 400 ha, plus a further 40 ha lease block, he favours a fairly traditional system of 100% crop with 6000 lambs finished every winter.
Forage and turf ryegrass seed is a major part of the rotation, as are mostly autumn-sown feed and milling wheat. Spring-sown crops include linseed, radish, lentils and barley, which follows winter crops of oats and rape. One paddock is also leased annually to a potato grower.
“It is an old model, but when I look around I can’t see any other system that would work much better for us. We have plenty of variables – the balance between turn and forage ryegrass changes, depending on the market, as does the balance between feed and milling wheat.”
Vital role
Nick Brooks, PGG Wrightson Grain product development manager, says it’s extremely important growers like Bevan make land available on their farms for breeding, cultivar evaluation and agronomy trials.
“We need to select for yield and quality in a range of geographic locations where cereals are grown.”
Nick likens it to stretching the cultivars far and wide so they get a better understanding of not only their strengths but also any weaknesses.
“We ideally want cultivars to be consistent across a range of environments so that they not only have a high overall performance but also deliver to this high standard wherever they are grown and reliably from year to year.
“We do ask the growers a lot to host these trials as they can be large areas (0.5-1 ha) which they need to accommodate as part of their day to day operations i.e. spraying, fertilising and irrigation.”
In addition to having three trial sites in the Methven area, PGW Grain runs trials in Wakanui, Barhill, Greendale and Lincoln (Kimihia Research Farm).
Maize research drives yields
Years of breeding, research, testing and data analysis come together each season to bring local growers a proven, high-yielding Pioneer® brand maize hybrid range.
WORDS: GENETIC TECHNOLOGIES
The hybrid advancement process starts with Pioneer maize breeders around the world, progresses to Pioneer brand seeds New Zealand research team and reaches completion with the commercial release of a limited number of new hybrids every season.
Thousands of new hybrids are developed and tested by Pioneer around the world each year but less than 0.01% of seeds survive to make it into a Pioneer bag.
In this article we outline the development and trialling process that a hybrid goes through to make it to market in NZ.
Global breeding process
Pioneer has built one of the largest global maize genetics libraries in the world.
It can trace the genetics of each maize hybrid back 90 years to the beginning of the Pioneer brand.
Impeccable pedigree records allow breeders to quickly select parent lines with the most potential to address agronomic challenges and increase yield.
Computer simulation
Scientists use advanced breeding technologies, unique characterisation and predictive breeding tools to simulate and predict the best performing genetic combinations across hundreds of thou-
sands of environments before they are field tested.
Petabytes of data (1M GB each) feed into computers, running millions of simulations to predict performance of different genetic combinations.
Advanced breeding technologies
Over the past decade, the application of advanced breeding technologies has effectively increased Pioneer’s breeding pipeline twenty-fold while reducing hybrid development time by 30%.
They allow rigorous testing of far more hybrid options which creates increased opportunities to find the best hybrid for an individual growing environment.
Field trials, hybrid advancement
Now, the testing gets exponentially tougher.
At Pioneer’s global research plots, maize hybrids that have made it this far undergo rigorous stress tests including:
Wind: The Boreas mobile wind machine simulates high winds to test stalk and root strength at critical points in the growing season.
Drought: Pioneer tests in dedicated managed stress environments and water-limited environments to develop new hybrids that make the most of every drop of water.
Disease: They breed for disease tolerance, achieving greater resistance to threats like Northern Leaf Blight and Eyespot.
NZ hybrid selection
With around 160 grain and 160 silage trials planted around the country each year, growers don’t have to travel far to find a Pioneer maize trial.
There are three key steps to the local Pioneer maize trialling programme.
Hybrid identification and trial planning
Pioneer brand seeds NZ maize product manager Barry McCarter works with Pioneer maize breeders around the world to identify the best experimental Pioneer maize hybrids to include in the NZ grain and silage testing programmes.
Identifying and sourcing hybrids to test and coordinating the research program is a massive job which requires careful planning and attention to detail.
All trials are planted according to strict ISO 9001:2015 protocols.
IMPACTTM trials
The first stage of local trialling is the IMPACT (Intensively Managed Product Advancement, Characterisation and Training) trial program.
These replicated small plot trials are planted using a precision research planter.
Up to 100 hybrids are tested in a single location and every trial is monitored intensively through the growing season.
IMPACT silage trials are harvested using a small plot forage harvester which has the capacity to measure hybrid feed value on-the-go using proprietary Near Infra-Red (NIR) spectroscopy technology.
IMPACT grain trials are harvested using a small plot combine.
Product Advancement Trials
The handful of grain and silage hybrids which possess promising agronomic, yield and quality characteristics move to the Product Advancement Trials (PAT) stage of testing.
Here they are planted in strips alongside commercially available hybrids in growers’ paddocks.
Silage PAT trials are hand harvested
An aerial view of the Waikato IMPACT trials.
while grain PAT trials are harvested by the grower or local contractor and weighed on one of Pioneer’s certified weigh wagons.
Data analysis and publication
After harvest each season, multi-year hybrid performance information collected from both IMPACT and PAT trials is collated and statistically analysed by the research team using customised statistical analysis software.
If you’ve read one of the Pioneer brand seeds Hybrid Performance publications, you will note all hybrid comparisons include statistical significance ratings (or stars).
This statistical analysis helps quantify whether the reported yield differences are due to genetic yield differences and not merely chance.
Why does Pioneer brand seeds invest so much resource into its local hybrid trialling program?
Barry says there are two main reasons.
“First, even though the NZ maize market is very small on a global scale, we use a variety of crop management practices to grow a wide range of hybrid maturities for a range of end uses.
An
“Growers plant maize across an array of latitudes, soil types, and climatic conditions. A hybrid which performs well on a high fertility paddock on peat soil in Waikato may not be suitable for an irrigated paddock in Canterbury.
“We need a lot of trials to test hybrids under local growing conditions to be sure of relative hybrid performance.
“Second, our maize growing seasons
are extremely variable. We can’t predict what the weather conditions might be during the next growing season but by planting trials at many locations over several years, we can be sure our hybrids have been tested under a wide range of conditions.”
To see the recently released Pioneer brand maize seed catalogues and research publications visit pioneer.co.nz.
Grain bagging is an economic, standalone grain storage system that increases harvesting efficiency, in addition to marketing and logistic flexibility. The system can store grains (maize, cereals) from 12-20% moisture over different time periods.
The world leading, new generation Akron 10ft baggers are the highest capacity in the world, allowing for 1400 tonne per hour into the bag.
The new hydraulic lifting system allows for easy, one person bag setup.
The new 10ft Akron extractor has a huge 380 tonne per hour extraction capacity, allowing for fast unloading and turnaround times. Akron is available through Dave Mitchell.
IMPACT small plot planter at Gordonton, Waikato.
Global roots, local focus
Being backed by ADAMA’s global leadership in crop protection delivers access to world leading research and formulation technology across our product range of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and growth regulators. Being locally based also means ADAMA New Zealand is fast, flexible and focused. We’re agile and respond quickly to industry changes, and are closely engaged with our distributors, farmers and growers allowing us to provide the support you need.
Harvest update and new hybrid releases
The maize grain harvest has progressed well this season in the North Island.
WORDS: CORSON MAIZE
Although temperatures have been lower than normal and wetter conditions have prevailed in the upper North Island, drying down of grain, although slow, has not been restrictive to harvesting times.
However, the lower North Island has been slower with cooler weather.
Growers who have chosen very long maturities are waiting longer periods until being able to harvest their crops.
Higher yields than normal have been occurring, and in some instances record yields have been harvested in the Waikato.
Corson Maize yields in excess of 17, 18 and 19 tonnes/ha have been achieved.
One crop of PAC 314 in the Otorohanga district reported over 19.4 t/ha on 50 ha with 10 of the hectares recording over 22 t/ha.
In the lower North Island impressive yields have also been achieved with PAC
An aerial view of the Corson Maize plant population trial at Newstead in the Waikato.
of Marton, achieved between 16-17 t/ha over 27 ha and John Ridd in the Manawatu reported over 17 t/ha on 27 ha also with PAC 314.
Corson Maize hybrids have stood up well to all environmental and climate conditions experienced this season.
Notable is the resilience and exceptional performance of hybrids across a range of conditions and regions.
Whether it be dry, wet, or significant humidity causing leaf disease, Corson Maize hybrids have performed extremely well.
Again this year the company has been very active with on-farm and product development trials around New Zealand.
performance and potential of hybrids in the current portfolio and new hybrids being considered for release.
On-farm trials focus on hybrid performance and observations of plant characteristics which improve yield and resilience, plant health and disease tolerance.
Product development trials focus on yield stability and performance, plant health and disease tolerance, standability and staygreen.
Corson Maize is also carrying out detailed population studies on their hybrids.
The hypothesis is that yield can be maintained and plant health, quality and
HSR brings new maize seed hybrids to the market
HSR Maize Seed, a leading provider of hybrid maize seed in New Zealand, is introducing three new maize seed hybrids to the market for the upcoming growing season.
Triton, MaxTwo, and Spartacus have undergone extensive research and development, including selective breeding and on-farm trials, to ensure their performance and adaptability to NZ's diverse climates.
They are now available to farmers and growers nationwide.
HSR maize specialist Guy Mason says the hybrids are built for various environmental conditions, including the shorter seasons in the South Island and the warmer conditions found in the North Island.
"It’s exciting to be able to provide farmers with more choice,” Guy says.
“Each HSR Maize hybrid has unique strengths that make them suitable for different situations and ensure high-quality grain or silage," he adds.
Building on generations of research, trials and experience in Australia, HSR introduced its first hybrid maize seed varieties in NZ over a decade ago.
Since then, the company has continued to innovate and develop its hybrids to capitalise on genetic improvements, enhancing NZ’s reputation for growing quality produce to feed the world.
HSR works closely with genetic plant-breeding partners worldwide to source new genetic material for the development of new and exclusive hybrids with superior traits to those currently on the market.
Triton (78 CRM) is a grain or silage hybrid with an excellent yield package and root structure.
With the bonus of excellent leaf blight tolerance, Triton is perfect for northern areas.
MaxTwo (100 CRM) is a mid-maturity hybrid that delivers high starch levels for quality silage.
It is a perfect option for mid-season from Taupo northwards, as well as a full season in the lower North Island regions.
“With MaxTwo’s versatility and dual-purpose attributes, it is an appealing
Current findings support the hypothesis that lower populations for selected hybrids can increase plant health, yield, quality and robustness.
Ongoing work breaking down all aspects of the maize plant to isolate population effects is underway.
This data will help optimise plant populations and ensure unnecessary overplanting doesn’t occur.
Following extensive on-farm and product development research, Corson
solution for NZ farmers,” explains.
Spartacus (102 CRM) is a hybrid maize seed that offers a new level of grain yield potential to its maturity group.
Spartacus is an ideal choice for grain growers looking for an excellent return on investment with its resilience to diseases and
Maize is pleased to present three exciting new products to the market in 2024: PAC 492, PAC 298 and PAC 287.
PAC 492 is a food-grade hybrid with strong agronomic traits, filling a niche in the Corson Maize portfolio and providing an excellent solution for grain growers.
PAC 298 is a reliable and robust hybrid well-suited for the North Island silage and grain markets.
It has demonstrated great yield stabil-
strong root structure.
Triton, MaxTwo, and Spartacus showcase HSR’s dedication to innovation by providing farmers with the latest genetic advancements to create superior seed varieties that optimise results.
You can find out more about the hybrids at www. nutrinza.com/hsr/.
ity, even in the most challenging environments and, when paired with a strong ear flex, PAC 298 produces impressive yields for its maturity.
PAC 287 brings adaptability through impressive stature and staygreen with excellent silage yield potential and strong grain yield potential.
It’s a smart choice for those who want to keep their options open.
For more detail visit corsonmaize. co.nz.
of
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Heed the warning signs – your future self will be grateful
If your existing cereal fungicides are working as they should, and you’re not yet convinced you need to take action to manage resistance, maybe it’s time to look at what chemistry cereal growers use – or can no longer use – overseas.
“We’re starting to see greater awareness about resistance as a whole in the New Zealand arable sector, and that’s great,” says Glen Surgenor, national marketing manager for Corteva Agriscience.
“But what we’re not seeing is growers taking the next step and adopting programmes that are really going to help protect our existing fungicide chemistry.
“Some are probably still looking at this in terms of cost only, and others may not realise the full extent of the risk because they’re using a fair bit of chemistry that still works.
“No-one gets too worried when their sprays are still effective, but in fact that’s actually the critical time to review your current programme and make the changes necessary to ensure it remains sustainable in future years.”
Failure of any chemical group to fully control target pathogens because of resistance happens quickly, Glen says, “All you have to do is compare today’s cereal fungicide programmes in the UK and Europe to the programmes those growers were using five years ago.”
Strategic approach
It’s all about taking a strategic approach, informed by up-to-date trends
observed in NZ.
“We’re starting to see a shift in Septoria sensitivity to existing chemistry so the industry needs to incorporate new modes of action into those programmes before full resistance develops, and good chemistry is lost.”
“SDHI’s (Group 7) have been a market standard for the past decade, and we can’t afford to break them.”
He’s referring to ongoing Foundation for Arable Research monitoring, supported by all major crop protection suppliers, which tracks the sensitivity of NZ Septoria strains to fungicides with different modes of action.
Most recent testing suggests small sensitivity shifts in the SDHI fungicides, although they currently remain effective.
FAR data identify the biggest sensitivity shifts are in DMI (Group 3) fungicides, including significant changes for epoxiconazole and prothioconazole.
Glen says the value of such monitoring lies in giving NZ growers early warning of what might be coming.
“Unlike in the United Kingdom, for example, where they no longer have access to some SDHI technology because of resistance, we have time to protect what we have. But to do so, we can’t just keep doing the same thing we’ve always done.”
Different target site
Cue Questar, with its unique active ingredient Inatreq. This is the first member of a new class of cereal fungicides, the picolinamides (Group 21), which have a different target site to all other fungicides currently applied for Septoria control in wheat.
Questar is the first naturally derived fungicide brought to market by Corteva Agriscience. Inatreq is produced by fermentation of a naturally-occurring soil bacterium first discovered at Osaka University in Japan.
It’s been winning support since Corteva launched it three years ago, but should be strategically integrated into more programmes as a critical circuit breaker to protect existing chemistry, Glen says.
It has no cross resistance to existing fungicides in the wheat market, and is
QUESTAR – KEY POINTS
• Innovative resistance management tool – different MOA against a new target site in Septoria
• Natural origin – derived from a soil microbe
• Residual protectant, and curative activity
• Flexible application timing – up to T3
• Advanced formulation technology – improved retention and redistribution across plant surface as well as local plant mobility
• Favourable toxological profile
– low mammalian toxicity, low persistence in the environment
highly efficacious, making it invaluable for resistance management strategies.
It’s also flexible in terms of application timing - up to T3 – although most applications will be at T1 or T2 which are the most important fungicide timings for Septoria control.
But again, it must also be used with care.
“We’re strongly recommending only one Questar application per season, which will help protect Questar from the development of resistance, and also make the most of this new MOA in slowing resistance to other fungicide groups,” Glen says.
“We very much want to be part of a responsible resistance management strategy for all fungicides for Septoria and other cereal disease control.”
Maintaining the efficacy of current fungicides requires careful management, which includes using different modes of action like Questar, applying the correct rates at the right time and growing Septoria tolerant wheat.
Questar is registered in NZ for both conventional ground and aerial application, and is available in a 7.5 L pack.
For more information, contact your agronomist or rural merchant, or visit www.corteva.co.nz.
Questar-treated wheat.
Unveil hidden nitrogen with the PMN test and N mineralisation calculator
You can imagine a picturesque morning scene on just about any New Zealand farm.
WORDS: WILL TALBOT, RAVENSDOWN SCIENTIFIC OFFICER
As the sun rises over the fertile fields, the soil awakens.
Beneath the surface, a hidden world of nutrients and microorganisms provide essential sustenance to sustain life above ground.
Among these essential players, nitrogen takes centre stage.
As all farmers and growers know, nitrogen plays a vital role in crop growth and development. It’s the choreographer behind the scenes, allowing plants to grow tall, leaves to unfurl, and sunlight to be captured.
But how do farmers, growers and advisors ensure that this nutrient is available in the right amounts?
Enter the Potentially Mineralisable Nitrogen (PMN) test and the nitrogen
mineralisation calculator - innovative tools aimed at enhancing farmers’ and advisors’ understanding of soil nitrogen supply.
Let’s take a closer look.
The PMN Test: Revealing soil nitrogen supply
Potentially Mineralisable Nitrogen (PMN) is the nitrogen hidden within the soil, stored in organic matter, ready to be released.
Unlike the mineral N test, which measures immediately available nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate), the PMN test looks ahead.
It predicts how much nitrogen will gradually be released from organic matter throughout the growing season.
Why does PMN matter?
Imagine your soil as an underground room. Microbes stir, preparing for their day’s work. They feast on organic matter, recycling some of its essential nutrients especially nitrogen.
The soil’s contribution is no small feat. It can supply significant amounts of mineralisable nitrogen - 40 to 300 kg N/ha - during the growing season which translates into substantial input per hectare. Considering that nitrogen fertilisers cost around $2 per kg of nitrogen, that represents a good financial saving.
The PMN test helps quantify this hidden reserve.
Partnership and precision
In 2021 Plant & Food Research, in collaboration with Ravensdown, conducted
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Will Talbot.
Leading supplier leans in to a very different type of chemistry
What do cutting-edge biotechnology companies from Spain and the United States have in common with one of New Zealand’s leading crop protection suppliers?
Much more than you might initially expect, says Corteva Agriscience NZ marketing manager Glen Surgenor.
And that’s good news all round as the world turns increasingly towards biological plant health inputs for commercial, environmental and consumer reasons.
In fact, if all goes to plan, this year could see the first of a completely new type of Corteva product released here as a result of the company’s significant global investment in a very different type of chemistry.
It’s now been over 12 months since Corteva acquired two innovative developers of what’s shaping up as the next generation of inputs for farmers and growers.
Symborg, based in Spain, specialises in microbiological technologies, and Stoller, based in the US, is one of the largest independent biological companies in the world.
Glen Surgenor says now that they’ve both been integrated into Corteva globally, the local team is eyeing up promising opportunities for potential deployment of these new technologies in NZ.
a series of in-field mineralisation trials across the country to help interpret the PMN test by developing a N mineralisation calculator.
The PMN test is faster and more accurate than its predecessors. The N mineralisation calculator complements the PMN test. Think of it as the translator between laboratory result and farmer or advisor.
It takes the PMN value, local longterm average climate data, and soil specifics weaving them into a month-bymonth prediction of nitrogen release.
“Globally, biologicals are the next big growth area in plant health and crop protection.
“They are forecast to increase in market value from about $9 billion today, to $30-$35 billion by 2035, and our strategic direction as a company is to develop and launch solutions that support this transition.”
Several drivers are influencing this trend, he says.
“It’s becoming much more challenging to register and maintain registrations of traditional crop protection products both globally, and here in NZ. So it’s harder to bring new products to the market.
“And discovery of new molecules is slowing down. It’s still happening, but not nearly as fast as it was 20 years ago.
“Meantime on the market and consumer side of things, everyone’s looking for the softer touch, a more natural approach to producing the food they’re purchasing.”
Corteva is not new to natural products, he points out.
“We have over 20 years’ experience in research and discovery of these compounds, starting with Entrust Natu-
Biologicals are the next big growth area in plant health and crop protection.
It predicts when and how much mineralisable nitrogen your soil will supply, based on more and better information backed by science.
Benefits for farmers and growers
Quite simply, the test supports increased productivity and profitability and enhanced environmental stewardship.
More precise nitrogen information allows you to meet crop demands and optimise fertiliser use, while also reducing nitrogen losses.
ralyte, which is an organically certified, naturally derived insecticide.
“And of course Questar fungicide with Inatreq active is also derived from a natural compound.”
As a complement to synthetic crop chemistry, biological products are already being implemented into commercial food production systems here and overseas, Glen says, with rising awareness and interest in this product category among NZ producers.
“It’s likely to be a slow burn in the initial stages. You can’t completely replace current products all at once.
“But the role played by biologicals in our existing crop protection and plant health programmes will increase over time. We see them as highly complementary.”
With an insider’s perspective, he’s excited about products and technology that Corteva has now folded into its global business as a result of acquiring Symborg and Stoller.
“There is some very cool stuff coming! It will probably be 18 months before we can roll out new technology from the Symborg and Stoller portfolios, but we are working hard to identify the best pathways into our market for these.”
Of particular interest is Symborg technology already deployed on farms overseas, which uses a natural bacterium to enhance plants’ nitrogen use efficiency.
Meantime, Corteva is progressing its plan to launch a different type of biological to the NZ market in the second half of this year, namely a product developed to mitigate the negative effects of stress on plant health.
If you want to understand your soil’s potential supply (is it a gentle drizzle or a downpour of nitrogen?) talk to your local Ravensdown Agri Manager about the PMN test and the N mineralisation calculator
Armed with insights, you can adjust your fertiliser strategy to ensure your crops neither thirst for nor drown in nitrogen.
So, next time you admire a flourishing field, remember the soil’s silent artistry and nitrogen - the essential element, that helps feed the world.
PERFECT PARTNER PASTURE’S
Get more out than you put in
Everyone is watching their input costs.
But as ADAMA NZ portfolio manager, Hamish Mulcock says, when it comes to high-value crops like fodder beet, scrimping on weed control is a false economy.
“You’re not going to get the return fodder beet has the potential to deliver.”
High input and high yield, Hamish says fodder beet is a demanding crop but will repay investment many times over, if you get it right.
He says while correct paddock selection (ideally with low weed burden and high fertility) and the right cultivation are essential, they’re not enough to guarantee success.
“At ADAMA we take a 360-degree approach.
“Our fodder beet herbicide portfolio is based around a robust pre-emergent programme maximising upfront weed control with follow-up post-emergent herbicide applications as required.”
Hamish says combined with the company’s specialised insecticide and fungicide solutions everything is covered.
Building blocks
The building blocks of ADAMA’S pre-emergent herbicide programme are Ethosat herbicide (ethofumesate, MOA Group 15) and Goltix Gold (metamitron, MOA Group 5).
Hamish says Ethosat herbicide provides pre-emergent control of a wide range of broad-leaf weeds and selected grass weeds including poa, chickweed, cleavers, fumitory and redroot, all of which can smother vulnerable beet seedlings and compete with them for moisture and nutrients.
Goltix Gold should be tank-mixed with Ethosat herbicide to further boost control of problem hard-to-control weeds including fathen, and wireweed, along with nightshade and willow weed.
“A robust pre-emergent herbicide program not only increases initial weed control but also buys more time for the crop to get established. That gives flexibility before the first post-emergent herbicide needs to be applied if spraying is delayed by an adverse weather event, for example.”
Weed-free, pest-free, high-yielding fodder beet repays investment in crop protection many times over.
To maximise performance of the preemergent herbicides, Hamish recommends applying Ethosat herbicide and Goltix Gold to a fine, even seedbed with no large clods or large amounts of previous crop residue.
Adequate soil moisture and light rain or irrigation following application will enhance herbicide performance.
Post-emergence options
Following a robust pre-emergence herbicide program, Ethosat and Goltix Gold can also be used as post-emergence herbicides.
At this stage, Rifle (desmedipham + phenmedipham, MOA Group 5) can also be tank mixed with Ethosat and Goltix Gold to control weeds that have evaded the pre-emergence herbicide spray programme.
Hamish says contact herbicide Rifle’s unique suspo-emulsion formulation allows earlier on-label application – at the point when fodder beet seedlings have reached the fully expanded cotyledon growth stage.
“Rifle contains an equal blend of two closely-related, beet-selective phenylcarbamate herbicides.
“Many other desmedipham and phenmedipham co-formulations can only be applied from the second true leaf growth stage. When it comes to control, getting in early can be the difference between success and failure.
“The key to successful post-emergent herbicide applications is targeting weed seedlings at their smallest, ideally before they reach two true leaves.
“The longer weeds are left uncontrolled the further they develop. That means you’ve got a much tougher job. In a worst-case scenario, weeds may get beyond the point of control.”
Once a crop is well established, priority shifts to keeping it healthy.
Custodia (MOA Group 3 + Group 11) is a fungicide for foliar beet diseases such as Cercospora leaf spot, powdery mildew and rust.
Leaf retention, palatability
Hamish says using Custodia improves leaf retention and palatability, with increased green leaf area and better DM yields.
“You’ve also got greater grazing flexibility, thanks to Custodia’s 28 day withholding period. That’s a bonus when feed can be tight through the autumn months.”
Another sustainable, and essential, beet input is Mavrik Aquaflow insecticide (MOA Group 3), which ADAMA launched to the beet market in 2021.
Unlike organophosphates (OPs) or other synthetic pyrethroids (SPs), Mavrik offers effective control of major beet pests Nysius and cutworm while having low toxicity to beneficial insects.
Mavrik is also safer for those using it, something Hamish says contractors and growers are increasingly aware of.
“Standards and expectations are continuously rising and our goal is to keep at the forefront. We want our products to be the gold standard in efficacy and safety.”
Mavrik should be applied at the first sign of Nysius or cutworm, ensuring good coverage of plants and surrounding soil.
The product is crop safe when applied to beet seedlings at cotyledon stage in a tank-mixture with ADAMA beet herbicides and other commonly used pesticides.
Talk to your ADAMA commercial manager to find out more on how to get a weed-free and pest-free, high-yielding beet crop.
Safeguarding crop value for a positive future
After much collaboration and consultation with growers and industry, Potatoes
New Zealand launched Strategy 2028 in February 2024.
WORDS: POTATOES NEW ZEALAND.
With a vision of ‘End to end value creation for potatoes in NZ’ and the purpose ‘Listen, enable and promote better outcomes for the NZ potato industry’, there is much work to do to drive the potato industry towards more positive and better outcomes.
The four strategic priorities for the potato industry are set at:
• Leadership in the field
• United industry voice
• Growing great people
• Working together.
Since the potato industry has a complex value chain with diverse needs in all parts of the sector, Potatoes NZ must work as a trusted partner and leader, promoting initiatives and innovation to add to the value chain as well as continuously seeking improvements for the industry.
Potatoes NZ is now working to implement Strategy 2028 over the next few years through various business plan activities and programmes.
Two significant programmes of work include the Sustainable Vegetable Systems programme and the NZ Certified Seed Potato Scheme.
Sustainable Vegetable Systems (SVS) programme
The SVS programme aims to improve tools and guidelines for the NZ vegetable sector’s nitrogen management.
Funded by Ministry for Primary Industries, led and co-funded by Potatoes NZ in collaboration with the Vegetable Research & Innovation Board and Horticulture NZ, it is a $7.5 million-dollar national project.
SVS started in 2021, and project funding finishes June 2024.
Programme outputs include providing analysed trial results and subsequent modelling of the vegetable nitrogen system, and this is presented as nitrogen budgets.
As part of the programme, Plant and Food Research (PFR) has conducted the field, laboratory and modelling research.
There is also significant social science conducted by PFR and social science company, FOLKL, to ascertain the level of problem recognition within the industry and to engage growers in collaboratiion with the tool development.
Overall the SVS programme aims to:
• Maintain vegetable and potato industries’ social license to operate.
• Protect the ability to grow, process and sell, while meeting environmental standards.
• Ensure industry access to land, water and nutrients through national, regional and farm programmes in order to achieve industry growth.
Sustainable Vegetable Systems is a successful collaboration between NZ
vegetable growers, agronomists and scientists.
Potatoes NZ is excited to enable a more sustainable approach to vegetable growing with positive impacts on environmental, economic and social outcomes.
SVS enables vegetable growers to scientifically prove that their growing practices are able to achieve sustainable levels in environmental, economic and social outcomes.
The Sustainable Vegetable Systems nitrogen budgeting tool, which models the environment to project nitrogen requirements for vegetable crops, will be officially launched this year.
NZ certified seed potato scheme
MPI has an agreement with Scientific Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), allowing potato varieties in tissue culture to be imported into NZ with preentry quarantine.
This facilitates the introduction of new varieties by seed potato companies, a process that can take over six years and involves significant investment.
Once imported, these varieties are multiplied in accredited tissue culture laboratories and then supplied to Accredited Minituber Production Facilities for entry into the NZ Certified Seed Production Programme.
The NZ Certified Seed Potato Scheme, managed by Potatoes NZ, is overseen by the Seed Authority Committee of industry representatives.
This committee sets the rules and oversees the seed potato certification process.
The scheme aligns with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Seed Certification standards, which are internationally recognized.
NZ, a member since 2014, has contributed to these standards.
The UNECE Seed Potato Committee addresses global issues like pest and disease outbreaks and is working on new rules for emerging technologies like True Potato Seed (TPS).
Potatoes NZ collaborates with key stakeholders to maintain a robust framework for seed potato varieties, ensuring the industry's ongoing success and sustainability.
For more detail visit www.potatoesnz. co.nz.
Cyril Hickman, NZ Potato Seed Scheme manager, inspecting a crop.
The hidden power behind the best spray programmes
Helping sprays get ‘to, on, and in’ is the secret to optimising programmes according to UPL NZ’s adjuvant product manager, David Lingan.
“Adjuvants don’t have an ‘active’ but what they do bring to a spray programme is control, accountability, reduced waste, and quantifiable savings on fuel and labour.”
He says on top of that, there are environmental benefits - increasingly important to farmers, growers, and contractors.
“Basically, adjuvants help you do the job better. Budgets are tight and people are looking for more effective ways to control pests and weeds.
“Adjuvants wring every last cent of value out of herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. They provide a great return on investment.”
UPL is the expert in this very specialised field.
As Elliott Chemicals (later known as Etec Crop Solutions), it began work on adjuvants in this country more than two decades ago.
Today, it is an industry leader with over twenty proven adjuvant products – each with its own particular job to do.
Probably the best known, and most widely used, is super spreader Du-Wett.
“Water doesn’t give you real spread or coverage. Adding a spreader will enhance the product’s performance,” says David.
There are other financial benefits too.
“Du-Wett has a significant impact in terms of time and cost-savings as it can be used to greatly reduce the necessary water volume. Spraying is completed faster, tank filling and travelling times are reduced, and diesel and labour expenses are decreased.”
David says adjuvants’ contribution begins even before crop establishment by ensuring spray gear hygiene is maintained.
“All Clear 2X tank cleaner and decontaminant will remove even notoriously ‘sticky’ products. This reduces the risk of cross contamination, and it makes certain all the nozzles and lines are working to peak efficiency.”
The critical spray-out stage of paddock preparation can be make or break for the success of the next crop.
Traditionally, non-selective herbicides - glyphosates and glufosinates - are applied pre-planting.
David says using an adjuvant makes the process more effective.
“If you’re spraying out with non-selective herbicides, Unison delivers drift control. That reduces environmental risk and avoids impacting adjacent crops and
This slows up-take and reduces active solubility.
David recommends water conditioner and ion scavenger X-Change to optimise spray performance where hard water is present.
“X-Change is ideal for use with all glyphosate, phenoxy, FOP and DIM products, picloram, and clopyralid. It’s all about putting a bit extra in to get a lot more out.
“People often tell me that 3 litres of glyphosate ‘just isn’t working’. What they then usually do is increase the amount of glyphosate. But actually ‘hard’ water is the issue.”
plants. It also gives enhanced deposition, retention, and penetration.”
David says the low foaming, non-petroleum-based product is a unique patented formulation - a blend of soybean oil ethoxylate and extract from pine tree stumps.
“Unison works on the active ingredient, delivering quicker uptake and penetration due to its patented molecular structure, and small particle size.
“This unique Prozorb technology provides better efficacy and is excellent for reducing the need to re-spray due to regrowth or partial kill, so you don’t lose time and hold up cultivation. And there’s no re-sowing and associated additional costs.”
Spray programme efficacy can also be negatively impacted by ‘hard’ water which, David says, is surprisingly common through much of New Zealand.
“What people often forget is that water is an active chemical. Some chemicals, including glyphosate, are very susceptible to the effect of ‘hard’ water.”
In 'hard water', positively charged cations including calcium, magnesium, and iron bind to the negatively charged glyphosate molecule.
He says adjuvants can also provide visibility and accountability.
“If you’re having to spray broom, gorse or thistles in a hard to access area – it’s backbreaking work. With an adjuvant like the spray marker dye Trakka, you can see where you’ve been, saving spray, time, and a lot of frustration.”
Trakka Red biodegradable marker is easy to see against green vegetation, is effective at low dose rates, and has low mammalian toxicity.
That ecological and userfriendliness is a common thread in how adjuvants work and deliver value.
On brush weeds overall, using the right adjuvant is critical.
High quality organosilicones such as Slikka and Satur8 are preferred when used with herbicides such as sulfonylureas and picloram.
David says being a good, responsible farmer or grower isn’t easy.
“Aside from the need to be sustainable and get a decent return, you also need to minimise impact on the environment, take care of workers’ health and safety, avoid waste, and be a considerate neighbour. Adjuvants can help with all that.”
For more information on adjuvants contact David Lingan at UPL New Zealand or visit www.upl-ltd.com/nz.
Reducing seed return is the key to ryegrass control
Controlling ryegrass is all about reducing seed return and there are several strategies you can adopt to do this.
WORDS: NEIL WADDINGHAM, BRAND MANAGER – ARABLE, BAYER CROP SCIENCE
While each of these will effectively reduce seed return, individually none is likely to be sufficient so the trick is to stack strategies together to achieve a sufficient reduction in seed return to start reducing the seed bank in your paddocks.
Ryegrass is a very competitive weed with low populations economically reducing yield.
Work by FAR and in the UK has demonstrated the devasting impact ryegrass can have, with just 5 plants/ m 2 capable of reducing yield by 5%.
If this wasn’t enough, ryegrass germinates over a prolonged period, is a prolific seeder, and it tends to develop resistance to herbicides.
It could be the perfect weed!
Recent surveys have shown ryegrass resistance to MOA Group 1 and 2 herbicides occurs throughout New Zealand and so wherever you farm there is a risk you have herbicide ryegrass resistance on your farm.
Importantly, while it is normal to think about ryegrass control starting in the autumn, you can dive into your ryegrass control
programme at any time of the growing season.
We are moving into spring, so the actions below are those that you can take in the coming months to reduce ryegrass seed return.
1. Ryegrass germinates readily in the spring and so now is the time to walk paddocks and look for ryegrass emergence. While many farmers applied Sakura® (MOA Group K3) to their wheat crops (not durum wheat) at planting, and this will have given excellent control of ryegrass through the winter, a further application of Othello® OD (MOA Group 12 + Group 2) is likely to be necessary now.
2. Ensure you vary the herbicide modes of action you apply in any season, either in mixture or in herbicide programmes. Aim for a varied crop rotation to allow other modes of action to be applied in subsequent years. This is an important strategy to delay herbicide resistance developing in your paddocks.
3. Make sure you keep a record of paddocks, or parts of the paddock, where grassweed control isn’t as expected. While herbicide resistance could be the reason, there can be many causes for poor control and these need to be eliminated before thinking it is resistance. But if you think this is the cause
Dr Peter Boutsalis, Plant Science Consulting, explaining the mechanisms of ryegrass herbicide resistance and ways to manage it
then seek advice from your agronomist.
4. Ryegrass escapes are inevitable. If possible, control these to prevent seed set. Depending on numbers and pressure this can include rogueing and cutting weedy areas such as headlands for hay.
Moving into the autumn then there are key actions to adopt.
1. Plant on time to ensure vigorous crop competition. Crop competition from both wheat and barley very effectively controls the growth of ryegrass, and it can be more effective than delaying planting to create a stale seedbed.
2. Keep the seed within the top few centimeters of the seedbed. This encourages a more complete germination of weeds and allows preemergent herbicides to reach the roots of the germinating weed seeds, resulting in a greater level of weed control.
3. Produce a moist, firm, clod free seedbed to enable herbicides to work effectively and to aid rapid, even crop germination. Clods can physically shield soil from receiving herbicide and can also break down during the winter and release seed at a time residual herbicides are losing efficacy.
4. Understand that for effective ryegrass control a herbicide programme is likely to be required. For wheat crops (not durum wheat) apply Sakura as the start of the new season's ryegrass control programme and expect to follow later in the late winter with Othello OD.
Please remember controlling ryegrass is challenging and it doesn’t go right every season.
The important thing to remember is that any reduction in seed return is beneficial.
For more detail talk to your agronomist or Bayer Crop Science regional business manager.
Spring sowing options – get orders in now
Farmers looking to replenish depleted reserves of supplementary feed could consider planting a crop of Max forage peas and either Intimidator oats or Fortitude or Buttress barley this coming spring
South Canterbury-based Luisetti Seeds agronomist Stephen Booth says given the dry conditions, everyone will be short of feed coming out of winter and will be looking to fill up balage supplies and silage pits.
He says sown at a ratio of 60:40 peas and either oats or barley, the resulting crop will be both high in protein and dry matter.
Stephen recommends a sowing rate of 140 kg/ha of peas and 60 kg/ha of barley or oats. Climbing Vetch can also be included in the mix, as this will lift protein levels
even higher.
The mix is an ideal catch crop, sown in the wake of winter forage crops, as it will capture and use the nitrogen left in the soil after grazing (see catch crop article p.30).
For farmers looking to establish a cereal crop this spring, Stephen says Reliance is ideal, because as the name suggests, it is reliable.
It is a very versatile and extremely reliable wheat and just about always hits mill protein targets.
It’s another great option to follow winter forage crops, says Stephen.
With spring around the corner, Stephen advises growers to order their seed for next year’s winter forage crops.
Corsa giant kale is a great option for cattle as it has a high leaf to stem ratio.
For sheep, Kestral kale is a good option, but Coleor kale is ideal for snow prone areas.
Stephen says Luisetti Seeds offers several fodder beet options including low dry matter varieties such as
Feldherr and mid dry matter beets such as Kokomo.
Kokomo is a new variety out of France. It is versatile fodder beet which sits proudly out of the ground. It features a very big leaf to help provide that all important protein.
For further information regarding Max Forage peas and Intimidator oats, please talk to your Luisetti Seeds agronomist www.luisettiseeds.co.nz.
The all-new Continental Farm Tyre range has extra grip to help lower fuel costs and get the job done faster. Then there’s N-Flex resilience for extra damage resistance and a longer lasting, more comfortable ride. All backed by a 10-year manufacturer's warranty.
Technology that’s ahead of its field. So you can stay ahead in yours.
Intimidator oats
The value of membership: How we advocate for growers
IrrigationNZ's dedicated advocacy in areas vital to growers makes us a pivotal organisation for the arable sector.
WORDS: IRRIGATIONNZ
We offer specialised, dedicated advocacy in key areas impacting growers directly.
For instance, our advocacy efforts are concentrated on promoting water storage, simplifying dam safety regulations, and supporting initiatives that enhance water capture and storage projects.
These efforts are designed to ensure that growers have the tools and resources they need to thrive, regardless of the challenges they face.
Promoting water storage and resilience
Water storage is a critical issue for growers, directly impacting their ability to manage water resources effectively.
At IrrigationNZ, we are championing the cause to encourage water storage pro-
jects that benefit both growers and the community.
This initiative is not just about regulatory change; it’s about ensuring that growers have the flexibility to optimise their water usage, especially during dry spells.
By advocating for more storage and capture projects, we aim to provide growers with the resilience they need to maintain productivity and profitability in the face of climate variability.
Simplifying dam safety regulations
Another significant area of our advocacy is the simplification of dam safety regulations.
We recently made great progress through our advocacy work to align dam regulations with building consent requirements and now a dam
will only be classifiable and subject to the regulations with a height of 4 metres and over.
A great result for our advocacy with the government and a significant reduction in costs and compliance for dam owners.
We are actively addressing the impact of the updated regulations on dam owners, providing guidance to help them navigate these complex policies.
Supporting longer consent horizons
In addition to these efforts, IrrigationNZ is advocating for longer consent horizons.
Longer consents provide growers with the certainty and stability needed to make long-term investments in their operations.
By pushing for extended consent periods, we aim to remove the uncertainty that often plagues the agricultural sector, allowing growers to plan with confidence.
Practical solutions for realworld challenges
What truly sets IrrigationNZ apart is our focus on delivering practical solutions tailored to the real-world challenges faced by growers.
IrrigationNZ’s approach is hands-on and grounded in the everyday realities of farming.
We understand that advocacy is not just about lobbying for change; it’s about providing tangible benefits that growers can see and feel in their daily operations.
For example, our efforts to support water storage and capture projects are not just theoretical; they translate into real-world resilience
for growers.
By enhancing water security, we help growers manage their resources more effectively, ensuring that they can weather both dry periods and times of excess rainfall.
This kind of support is invaluable, offering growers peace of mind and the ability to focus on what they do best - producing high-quality crops.
Join us - strength in numbers
The value of IrrigationNZ membership extends beyond individual benefits; it’s about being part of a collective effort to drive positive change in the agricultural sector.
By joining IrrigationNZ, growers become part of a community that is dedicated to advocating for their needs and interests.
Our collective voice is stronger and more influential, enabling us to achieve significant victories that might be impossible for individual growers to accomplish alone.
Our focused advocacy efforts, practical solutions, and commitment to promoting resilience through enhanced water storage and simplified regulations make us a unique partner for the cropping industry.
As we look to the future, we invite growers to join us, harness the power of collective advocacy, and secure the tools and resources needed to thrive in an ever-changing agricultural landscape.
Together, we can ensure a resilient and prosperous future for New Zealand’s cropping sector.
Find out more at www.irrigationnz.co.nz.
New active ingredient to protect barley crops
MIRAVIS Flexi is a fourth generation SDHI fungicide (Group 7) from Syngenta and is powered by the active ingredient ADEPIDYN Technology.
“It is a new active ingredient for barley growers offering powerful activity and long-lasting control of these key diseases” says Paul Hassan, technical services lead for Syngenta New Zealand.
“Barley growers understand that ramularia leaf spot and scald can both cause significant yield losses if not properly controlled, so they’ll be pleased to know that, based on seven years of pre-release trials by Syngenta and our industry partners, MIRAVIS Flexi provides marketleading control of ramularia.
“Multiple trials have demonstrated significantly higher levels of control of this disease compared to older generation SDHI fungicides.”
After applying MIRAVIS Flexi preventatively, a reservoir of ADEPIDYN technology is formed within the waxy layers of the leaf.
From here, the active ingredient moves acropetally, from base to tip, and into the leaf tissue over an extended period, delivering very long-lasting disease control.
“When MIRAVIS Flexi is sprayed onto the leaf, it moves steadily towards the tip via the xylem protecting the whole leaf.
“The yield-building leaves are protected from the damaging effects of disease for longer, keeping the canopy green and driving yield.
“MIRAVIS Flexi is a solo-active formulation, which means growers have the flexibility to add the most suitable tankmix partner to control the spectrum of diseases that present a threat at the time.
“It has been thoroughly tested with
other products and has shown excellent compatibility with a wide range of other fungicides, insecticide and plant growth regulators that may be used in a tank mixture with it.”
MIRAVIS Flexi is best used at T2 – typically GS 39-49 – to take best advantage of its high efficacy on ramularia.
MIRAVIS Flexi should always be applied preventatively and at a rate of 1.2 L per hectare in mixture with another approved, non-cross resistant fungi-
Grain Storage Solutions
Stirring up better returns from money invested in grain storage
Efficiency top of mind this season? You’re not alone, says long-established arable supplier REL Group.
And one sure fire way to get more out of your existing infrastructure – if you aren’t already – is to incorporate stirring technology into your storage system.
This is particularly relevant for growers with drying sheds, says REL Group’s Hayden Kuyf.
“Stirrers are quite common in grain silos, and we have installed hundreds of Sukup machines on New Zealand arable farms over the years.
“But the benefits of stirring are not limited to silos.”
REL Group is NZ’s only Schmelzer distributor, and Hayden says the German manufacturer’s robust stirring system for flat storage drying sheds takes efficiency to a new level.
“Stirrers increase your drying capacity by allowing you to increase the depth of stored grain or seed. It’s like giving yourself more drying space without having to invest in another building.
“The maximum depth on a concrete/ metal drying floor without a stirring system is two metres; add a Schmelzer stirrer and you can go to 4.5 metres, plus you get a more even dry throughout the whole volume.”
The Schmelzer stirring system for flat shed storage is notable for its robust eight-inch mixing screw, significantly larger than the more commonly available three to four-inch size screw.
It’s mounted on a big H beam and is deliberately basic in design, Hayden says.
“Stirring systems of this type haven’t been super common on farms in NZ, mostly because historically they haven’t been very reliable. But this one is differ-
ent – much stronger, with a bigger auger and fewer moving parts.”
As with the Sukut stirrers for silos, which can cut more than a third off the drying time required without stirring, the Schmelzer moves grain and seed up through the stack in the process of drying it, so that the product is constantly churned for a faster, more consistent dry.
For grass seed in particular, this continual movement prevents crusting or matting, so dry air is distributed evenly through all the product being stored.
In addition to shortening the time needed for drying, growers who opt for this technology can lower fuel consumption and costs too, Hayden says.
“It makes the whole arable system more efficient too, because reliable drying helps ensure you can get crops off the paddock without undue delays, even if the weather is not co-operating.
“Having crops in the ground for an extra week or two in summer, while you wait for them to get down to the right moisture level for harvest, can cost a month’s worth of winter feed yield, simply because you’ve missed those optimal autumn sowing conditions.”
As with any infrastructure, maintenance and servicing is critical regardless of your type of storage and drying system, he adds.
“We’ve seen one silo collapse in NZ this year, which is a timely reminder that it pays to be vigilant. It’s really important to inspect the bolts on your silo, especially at the top and bottom.”
Be on the lookout for any signs of rust, or water ingress, he advises.
“If there’s any leakage, or water can
Schmelzer stirrers for flat shed storage are notable for strong, simple design.
get in, grain can build up unevenly inside the structure and the sheets can concertina.”
Likewise, cleaning is paramount.
For growers with hard wood drying sheds, REL Group is now stocking the Mole attachment for Big Brute industrial vacuum cleaners, which enables fast, easy and cost effective cleaning underneath without having to lift the floors, Hayden says.
“Most commercial grain facilities in NZ use these, because they are recognised as the best available.”
Based at Rakaia in mid Canterbury, with offices throughout NZ, REL Group is a privately owned company founded in 1987 to fill a void in the New Zealand market for steel sheet fabricated silos.
Today it has over 40 team members involved in production, sales, service, installation and delivery of a wide range of grain storage and handling systems; meal feeding systems; dairy sheds and wintering barns; effluent and water tanks; and machinery.
For more detail visit www.relgroup. co.nz or call 03 3027 305.
cide recommended for the control of the same target disease.
The addition of an approved triazole fungicide is recommended.
Make no more than two applications per season or any foliar sprays containing a Group 7 fungicide.
“Syngenta has a long history of providing high-quality fungicide solutions to the cereal market including AMISTAR and ELATUS Plus,” Paul concludes.
“MIRAVIS Flexi is the third product from the MIRAVIS fungicide family to be launched in New Zealand following the
introduction of MIRAVIS 200SC for potatoes and MIRAVIS Prime for grapes.”
Purchases of MIRAVIS Flexi help growers qualify for free nozzles along with any other Syngenta products purchased. For more detail, contact your local Syngenta technical sales manager.
Label extension good news for barley growers
Growers of both autumn and spring sown barley will be able to take advantage of a new option for minimising the risk of lodging and neck break in their crops this season.
Stabilan 750SL plant growth regulator is now approved for use in barley, as well as wheat, oats and perennial ryegrass seed.
Sonja Vreugdenhil, Nufarm technical specialist, says the label extension comes in time for autumn sown crops that will start to become reproductive in early spring, as well as those go
GS30 and GS32.
Correct timing is imperative, she says. Applications at or after GS32 will have little to no impact, so it’s important that fast-growing crops are walked frequently to assess growth stage.
“Spring sown barley crops tend to grow very quickly. If you don’t walk these crops for a week, you can easily
or neck break and lodging, lead to more uniform crop development with less straw put through the header, and reduce susceptibility to eyespot.
Instead of having to limit fertiliser to reduce the risk of lodging, growers of intensive crops can use Stabilan 750SL to optimise nitrogen inputs for yield.
“It can promote root growth and the number of fertile tillers, which may
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Small bags scheme makes a big impact
Agrecovery’s Small Bags Product Stewardship Scheme is making significant strides in providing a free and sustainable solution for recycling plastic bags commonly used for seed, feed, and fertiliser (25kg and under in size).
The scheme began with LDPE bag recycling in 2022, with founding brands BASF and Yara, and expanded in July last year to also include Woven PP plastic bag recycling.
It offers New Zealand farmers and growers a practical solution, says national scheme manager Felicity Mitchell.
“It promotes a circular economy, ensuring these materials are recycled rather than ending up in landfills or being burnt.”
The scheme has received strong engagement from the agricultural community, exceeding expectations in many areas.
It has surpassed its target for the number of brands voluntarily participating in the scheme and has already achieved 90% of its liner distribution
goal to farmers and growers.
With 96% of the target number of programme users reached and 17% of liners returned, the scheme is close to fulfilling its objectives for the financial year.
Success can be partially attributed to a rapid nationwide rollout through over 200 collection sites.
Felicity says this is a testament to support from merchant partners Farmlands, Farm Source, and PGG Wrightson, as well as regional councils.
“The success of our voluntary scheme can also be attributed to the leadership of our founding brands. Their commitment has inspired other brands to join, enhancing the scheme’s effectiveness.”
Despite these successes, the scheme has faced challenges.
Establishing the programme amidst
a variety of plastic types, bag types, and brands has been demanding.
While many large brands have joined, a significant number of smaller brands, have yet to participate.
“These free riders create a real risk for the recyclability of the scheme,” Felicity says.
“Without knowing what other plastics are in the market, these plastics could enter our scheme and seriously hinder our ability to continue to recycle these small bags.”
More focussed and flexible foliar disease control
Recent trial work has shown that Revylution® fungicide from BASF provides superior and more robust control of speckled leaf blotch (SLB or Septoria tritici blotch) and leaf rust in wheat than the previous industry standards.
WORDS: BASF
The word of mouth after its first use in commercial crops is equally positive. Revylution also provides effective control of stripe rust.
The very high current global demand for wheat makes that extra level of protection against yield loss to fungal blights especially valuable. When using the right tool, it can be achieved with a single application.
The most efficient use of Revylution is all about appreciating the strengths and vulnerabilities of the various Group 3 fungicides – more commonly known as DMIs or triazoles – now available, and using each of them to best advantage.
Revylution is powered by a ground-breaking Group 3 active ingredient, mefentrifluconazole, that BASF launched in New Zealand in 2020 as part of the co-formulation Revystar®.
Mefentrifluconazole has a unique ‘isopropanol-azole’ molecule with a flexible triazole head that can mould its shape to fit the ‘pocket’ of the target fungal enzyme.
Figure 1: The fall in prothioconazole efficacy on SLB compared to Revylution from 2017/18 to 2022/23. The results shown are the mean disease control on the top 3–4 leaves across 3 sites in each period.
That flexibility allows it to adapt to mutations in the target pathogens and control strains of the target diseases that are less susceptible to other DMIs.
Revystar has multiple registrations in both wheat and barley and quickly established itself as the preferred solution for Ramularia in barley – a very welcome big step forward in the control of a notoriously challenging disease.
Now Revylution means farmers have a more targeted tool for controlling some of the most damaging diseases in wheat and managing the
broader challenge of fungicide resistance.
Older DMIs have been losing their efficacy year after year. Farmers generally apply DMIs in tank-mixes that can disguise the fact that they are no longer having as much effect as the products they’re mixed with.
BASF has conducted trials where the various active ingredients have been used as solo sprays to get a clearer picture of their standalone performance.
Those trials provided substantial evidence that both prothioconazole and epoxiconazole have lost, to varying
degrees, a lot of their potency as the target diseases have mutated in response to years of use.
The graph shows that prothioconazole and Revylution were providing equally good control in 2017/18, but – in these trials at least – prothioconazole had become 25 per cent less effective just five years later.
The Revylution label allows multiple applications in each crop, but a single, well timed, application will deliver the greatest value in each season and for the longer term. The older DMIs can still be used in supporting roles.
The T2 application timing – from when the flag leaf is fully emerged (GS 39) through to booting (GS 45) – is the key one for targeting SLB and leaf rust.
So the recommendation is to use Revylution at that optimal timing. Using it at least once a year should knock out SLB while also ensuring that Revylution keeps working for plenty of seasons to come.
Bearing in mind both costs and the threat of resistance, the following is ideal in-crop disease-control programme for wheat: Revylution at T2, possibly in a tank-mix with SDHIs like Elatus® Plus or Vimoy Iblon®, with robust tank-mixes of prothioconazole and/or epoxiconazolebased solutions both before and after that (at T1 and T3).
That sequence will extend the disease coverage, provide rotation between the various actives within the triazole group, and target the various disease threats with appropriate fungicides.
A single application of the best solution to target the most potentially costly disease will be money well spent.
The yield losses from poorly controlled SLB could be as high as four or five tonnes a hectare. That means a fungicide programme with a total cost, of at most, a few hundred dollars has the potential to save thousands.
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Reflecting on the past to look to the future
As analytical testing company Hill Labs celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, managing director Jonno Hill credits its success today to the legacy of the strong cultural values that his parents founded the company upon four decades ago.
Started in 1984 by Dr Roger and Anne Hill, Hill Labs has grown to become New Zealand’s largest privately owned analytical laboratory.
It uses the latest technologies to supply a broad range of laboratory tests to domestic and international markets in the agricultural, environmental and food industries.
Jonno Hill has spent his entire career working in the business, but neither he nor his parents really saw him coming to join it when he was younger.
“It was not until I was six months before finishing my PhD that I even considered it, to be honest. It seems crazy in hindsight because it's gone so well,” he reflects.
Taking on the managing director role in 2018, he says it’s been a wonderful exercise in experiencing intergenerational family business and the persistence of culture.
“Company culture and values accrue around the folks who are leading the business.
“Hill Labs was my parents' business, and so the culture and the values reflect the things that they cared about. Of course, growing up I was also strongly influenced by those same values held by my folks, and so I think that's maybe why the company just feels like it fits so well.”
This sentiment is also shared by many employees.
Senior technician Gina McNamara has been with the company nearly 23 years and says during that time, she and her colleagues have formed a
real community.
“There’s quite a few of us still here now that have been there since the beginning of my career. Together we’ve been through weddings, births, and all sorts of milestones that you would celebrate with your close friends and family. There’s certainly a sense that we’re working together for something special, and that’s one of the best parts about working for Hill Labs.”
Because Hill Labs’ culture and values are so deeply ingrained, it can be easy to overlook their significance.
Jonno believes it’s important for leadership to be attentive and intentional in recognising and articulating these foundational elements and shaping the company’s ethos into words and actions.
“When we’re recruiting, particularly towards senior roles, we’re really explicit about our company values because it helps us attract the kind of people whose personal values match with ours.”
A good fit for the business means having people join the team who are there for the long run and who know the value of taking a customercentric approach.
Senior client service manager for key accounts, Graham Corban, has been with the team for 30 years and says there’s immense satisfaction in the company still being around and being stronger than ever.
“One thing that I really appreciate about Hill Labs’ leadership is that they have the
courage to expand, grow and take risks, and as a business, we’ve deliberately chosen to focus on providing value to our clients,” he says.
Customer value is one of the key drivers that keep Hill Labs innovating now and will continue to do so in the future.
It all comes down to what people really care about, Jonno Hill says.
“We know it's turnaround time, quality, and customer service. And that leads us to think about how we manage our operations so that we can deliver those things.
“For us, operational excellence means having really good, streamlined processes, leveraging scale where we have it. And a really important ingredient for us - and one of the benefits of being privately owned - is that we invest heavily back into the business.”
Looking to the future, he is really energised by change
and the myriad challenges that NZ and various markets are facing.
This gives way to huge opportunities for innovation in primary industries and environmental work.
Some innovations will be driven by technology; others will come from being clever in established areas by finding new ways to work with partners and customers.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how our business will change over time, and I'm open minded as to who we could be, and what we could be doing. That will be led by knowing what our customers need from us in the future, and where we believe we can be market leaders as our organisational capability continues to evolve.”
Creating and delivering new solutions is what will see the company continue to grow into the future, confirms Jonno, who says that the company’s growth aspirations
Jonno and Roger Hill –proud legacy.
Get in early with wild oat control
Pre-emergence herbicide application for wild oats in wheat and barley has two key advantages.
It controls an aggressive, potentially costly competitor before it can affect crop yields; and it provides another mode of action (MOA) to help manage weed resistance to commonly used post-emergence herbicides.
Some populations of wild oats in New Zealand are known to be resistant to Group 1 Fop and Dim/Den herbicides, and at least one was found to be resistant to Group 2 (SU) herbicide in recent surveys by FAR.
Nufarm territory manager Mike Cox says it’s never been more important to build resistance management strategies into cereal spray programmes.
And he believes that’s one reason more growers are using Avadex Xtra in autumn sown cereals this year.
Avadex Xtra is a residual thiocarbamate (Group 15)
pre-plant incorporated preemergence herbicide which has been used for selective wild oat control in NZ for many years.
Mike says even though it’s an ‘old’ product, it now offers an MOA rotation option to the post-emergence herbicide MOAs commonly used for wild oat control in cereals.
“Use of multiple MOA groups in weed control programmes is recognised best practice to minimise development of resistant populations, and prolong the effective life of existing chemistry.
“Avadex Xtra is already playing a key role in this effort.”
That’s on top of the inherent yield benefits with pre-emergence control of a weed that suppresses cereal yields right from the time that wheat and barley crops germinate.
“Potential yield loss from wild oats can be absolutely phenomenal, up to 75-90%.
The beauty of a pre-emergence herbicide like Avadex Xtra is that you’re cutting that risk of yield penalty before it can even take effect, as opposed to relying solely on spraying post-emergence, and effectively waiting until wild oats have already impacted your yields.”
Avadex Xtra will not control germinated or emerged oat seedlings, or oat seeds
will see them continue to take measured risks, though never with quality.
“We want to do a good job and stick around for decades to come because we really care about the important work that our customers do. We're all raising our
sitting on the soil surface.
Correctly applied, however, it can significantly reduce wild oat pressure in wheat and barley, with a further benefit being that oat plants which survive treatment may be sensitised to subsequent herbicide application. Application technique and timing is very important.
It should be applied to soil just prior to, or up to three weeks, before drilling wheat or barley.
After application, it must be immediately incorporated to a depth of 5 cm, using light harrows.
When this is done, Avadex Xtra creates a vapour layer below the soil surface.
“As the germinating wild oat seedling grows through this layer, the vapour is taken up by the elongating oat shoot, and it interferes with cell division and elongation.”
Mike says without proper incorporation – which entails two passes over the paddock – results will be disappointing at best.
“If it’s not incorporated, the herbicide just sits on top of the surface of the soil. The vapour created when Avadex
families here in NZ and we want to be able to swim in our rivers and streams while also seeing our primary industries and broader economy thriving, and we want our future generations to be able to enjoy all that too.
Xtra comes into contact with moisture disappears into the atmosphere.”
If applied to very dry soils, Avadex Xtra remains inactive until rain or irrigation is applied. Avadex Xtra should not be applied to soils that are too wet to achieve good incorporation.
Wheat or barley seed needs to be drilled below the depth of incorporation, to prevent potential injury to shallow planted crops, and growers are advised to drill seed at right angles to incorporation.
Wild oats resistant to Group 1 herbicides were found in four of five regions surveyed between 2019 and 2023 by FAR in conjunction with AgResearch, with the highest percentage of resistance recorded in Mid Canterbury.
A single farm surveyed had wild oats resistant to both Group 1 and Group 2 herbicides.
The survey was funded by Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
For more detail visit www. nufarm.com or www.far.org. nz, or talk to your agronomist.
“The key to our continued success will be staying true to our values and focusing on our core purpose of helping our customers to protect the environment, to keep people safe, and to produce worldclass food.”
Mike Cox – potential yield loss from wild oats can be phenomenal.
Machinery specialist looks to the future
Landpower has opened the doors to its new state-of-the-art agricultural retail hub in Christchurch.
The new Yaldhurst building reflects the developing world of agricultural technology and comes as Landpower heads into their fiftieth year in business in 2025.
“It’s bringing the best of a family-owned New Zealand business and the latest agricultural machinery together in a world-class facility designed to help support our local customers”, says Landpower CEO, Richard Wilson.
The purpose-built facility has become home to three former sites across Canterbury – the Templeton retail store, parts distribution centre, and Landpower’s support office.
“This confirms our commitment to a strong agricultural future in the Canterbury region, one that creates efficiencies and ultimately allows Landpower to deliver a better product, customer experience and service to local farmers and contractors.”
At a time where some businesses are conserving funds and making some tough decisions, Landpower owner Herby Whyte has kept his founding philosophy.
Herby has consistently invested back into his company since his days farming in Southland.
This new building represents the next phase of his investment.
“I have always had a longterm view and this building is our base for the future. We will be bringing more staff into the region for training and career progression, and showing our commitment to Canterbury agriculture,” says Herby.
Two additional features of the new building are the reserved area for equipment demonstrations, where
farmers, contractors and growers can view and test out equipment first-hand; and the dedicated training facility on-site, that will allow the company to deliver a higher standard of training to its technical team, Richard says.
The site also features six retail service workshop bays, two advanced training bays, and a parts distribution cen-
Herby Whyte and Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser.
New late season PGR available
Launch of a second plant growth regulator for cereals this spring complements Nufarm’s existing Stabilan 750SL, and further builds on its strong suite of arable products, the company says.
Upright shortens and stiffens straw of barley, ryecorn and triticale crops, improving resistance to lodging and preventing straw and neck break to maximise harvestable yield.
Mike Cox, South Island sales and territory manager, says this new product will be welcomed particularly by barley growers, who are also now able to use Stabilan 750SL as a stem shortener early in the season for barley.
“The timing for Upright is later in the growing season – from Zadoks GS37-49 for autumn barley, ryecorn and triticale; from GS39-49 for spring barley and at GS49 on Triumph barley to prevent neck break.
“We’ve been wanting to provide a
plant growth regulator for those later applications for some time, and it’s great to be able to do so this season.
“Stabilan 750SL has earned a solid reputation over the years, and the release of Upright completes our offering.”
Upright comprises the active ingredients mepiquat chloride and chlorethephon, and is formulated as suspension concentrate.
It comes in a user friendly 20 litre drum for more convenient handling and less packaging to dispose of, and is compatible with commonly used fungicides and insecticides.
Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) trials have proven the benefit of applications of PGRs in barley, Mike says.
Trials have shown applying the same active ingredients as Upright to winter sown barley shortened plant height by up to 20% and increased harvested yield by 1 tonne/ha.
“More upright crops also make harvest easier.”
For more details visit www.nufarm. com or talk to your agronomist or rural retailer.
Adding value to Southland oats
As New Zealand’s only remaining commercial oat miller, Harraway and Sons Limited is very skilled at creating great tasting, healthy breakfast foods with Southland farmed, premium rolled oats at the core.
WORDS: PETER COX, MARKETING AND NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, HARRAWAYS
Still privately owned and operating from the original mill created in 1867 in Green Island, Dunedin, Harraways is the clear market leader in the burgeoning $29.8 million retail sales, bulk oats market in NZ.
A consumer segment within this NZ oat market, and experiencing strong growth and interest is convenient, flavoured/fortified, value added oat mixes.
To continue to offer exciting, convenient breakfast
alternatives in this space, Harraways is launching to consumers tasty, great priced, value-added oat mixes (e.g. flavoured and/or health fortified) for breakfast – in bags and convenient, sachets.
A good example here is the new, fortified, Fibre Rich Creamy Oat Sachet mix, launched to supermarkets in 2024.
Available at participating New World and PNS stores nationwide, shoppers can pick up a box of seven serv-
tre that holds in excess of 30,000 part lines.
“With everything under one roof, this creates a huge amount of synergy.”
To mark the occasion, Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser, chairperson of the Claas Group, joined Richard and Herby
ings from around $3.50 per box, or 50 cents per 45g sachet serving.
Thats terrific value in these times of high inflation and household cost pressures.
High fibre foods are of real interest to people these days – as more and more people are understanding that a healthy gut equals a healthy body.
It has been rewarding (too) for this new product to be recently recognised
for the official opening ceremony.
This is her first visit to NZ and she spent time meeting customers and visiting farms throughout the South Island.
“We are delighted to have Cathrina here from Germany to mark this day with us. We have proudly represented
Guide Winner. Here is a link to our win: https://specialdiet.healthyfood.com/ winners/#heart-healthy.
This featured oat mix can be enjoyed as a warming porridge over winter, or it is great for incorporating into tasty, baked oat dishes.
For more detail, visit www. harraways.co.nz, or connect with us via Facebook, Instagram or Tik Tok.
Claas since 1987 and our long-term relationship has allowed us to provide the world’s leading machinery to our New Zealand customers,” Richard says.
The new building was officially opened by Nicola Grigg, Associate Minister of Agriculture.
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With every product suitable for ground or aerial application, our suite of herbicides and insecticides provides local farmers with everything they need to win the war on pests and weeds. Visit corteva.co.nz to view our range of online brassica resources.
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Certificate Who should do it?
Basic
Prerequisite:
None
Standard
Prerequisite:
Growsafe Basic (or equivalent knowledge) plus one season’s spraying
Growsafe recommends that all staff using agrichemicals attend a Growsafe Basic course and at least one person from each workplace hold a Growsafe Standard certificate.
• First time agrichemical users
• Those operating under supervision
• Agrichemical users working with little or no supervision
• Those with responsibility for a workplace where agrichemicals are used
• Those managing or supervising agrichemical users
Higher level specialist certificates:
Prerequisite: Growsafe Standard (or equivalent knowledge and experience)
Advanced Managers, team leaders and decision makers who are managing large scale or higher risk operations
RCA Spraying contractors who spray for hire or reward
Calibrator Those who calibrate agrichemical spray equipment for hire or reward
Supplier Rural retail staff with responsibility for bulk storage or selling agrichemicals
What does it cover?
Practical, task-related knowledge and skills with a focus on personal safety
Safe and responsible use of agrichemicals, risk management and an understanding of regulatory and market requirements
Can be used as evidence towards WorkSafe’s Certified Handler certificate (only required for products classed as Acute toxicity category 1 or 2)
Specialised knowledge to meet market and regulatory requirements in the specific roles
COMPANY LISTINGS
An alphabetical listing of companies supplying a wide range of products and services to New Zealand Arable growers and industry.
Products & Services: A comprehensive range of Cultivation, tillage & seeding equipment, including primary offset discs, grubbers, soil looseners, pre-rippers, rolling aerators, power-harrows, disc/ripper combinations, multi-discs, stubble cultivators, folding cambridge rollers, direct drills, roller-drills, air seeders, cultivation drills, strip-till units, precision planters, fert distribution systems, land levelers, Hardox Trailers for silage or rock work, mulching & topping mowers, cultivation wear parts. Specialist advice for the best machine to suit your requirements.
Products & Services: As NZ's only authorised Topcon Agriculture distributor, we offer a full season of solutions to enhance efficiency & productivity to your farming operation with GPS & Guidance Systems. From basic guidance to full auto-steer & RTK signal, we can
supply control systems for sprayers, drills & spreaders including variable rate control
AG PARTS NZ
42 Thames Street, Morrinsville 3300
Phone: 07 889 7107
Email: steve@agparts.nz www.agparts.nz
Contact: Steve Elgar Mobile: 021 070 7081
Products & Services: Late model tractor dismantler.
AGCO NZ LTD
840 Arthur Porter Drive, Burbush, Hamilton PO Box 764, Waikato Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240
Products & Services: Through our nationwide network of locally owned dealerships, AGCO offers a complete range of agricultural machinery including tractors, hay, harvesting & materials handling equipment from world-renowned brands such as Massey Ferguson, Fendt & Valtra. High performing & quality machinery ideally suited to New Zealand farmers that are supported up by a professional & highly skilled dealer network.
AGRECOVERY
111 The Terrace, Wellington Central, Wellington PO Box 25642, Wellington 6140
Products & Services: Agrecovery is NZ's solution for the disposal of unwanted agrichemicals, & the recycling of empty containers, drums, IBCs & small seed, feed & fertiliser bags. Supported by over 100 brands of agrichemicals, dairy hygiene & animal health products, the Agrecovery programme is available to all farmers & growers at over 160 sites nationwide. Our focus is on providing sustainable options for more farm plastics & achieving better environmental outcomes for rural communities.
AGRICOM NEW ZEALAND
1375 Springs Road, Lincoln PO Box 69168, Lincoln 7640
Freephone: 0800 183 358
Email: info@agricom.co.nz
www.agricom.co.nz
Contact: Mark Brown
Products & Services: Agricom researches, develops & markets a wide range of proprietary pasture & forage crop seeds to the agricultural industry.
AGRIMM TECHNOLOGIES LTD
487 Tancreds Road, Lincoln PO Box 69035, Lincoln 7640
Phone: 03 325 3311
Fax: 03 325 6117
Email: a.pullin@agrimm.co.nz
www.agrimm.co.nz
Products & Services: Agrimm develops & manufactures biological plant protection products based on the beneficial fungus Trichoderma. Agrimm provides safe, environmentally sustainable plant health & protection products for vineyards, orchards, glass house & field crops. A range of ACVM registered & BioGro certified products available.
AGRIQUIP
30 Hurlstone Drive, Waiwhakaiho, New Plymouth PO Box 578, New Plymouth 4340
Products & Services: Aitchison manufacture an extensive range of seed drills, fertiliser spreaders & accessories. The Grassfarmer, Seedmatic & Airpro seed drill models are available with the coulter disc & T-Boot tine openers or Concave Disc openers.
ALLEN CUSTOM DRILLS
13 Range Street, Ashburton PO Box 71, Ashburton 7740
Products & Services: ARL provides a comprehensive range of soil, plant, feed, water & waste tests for the agriculture & horticulture industries. Our credentials in this area are demonstrated through accreditation by IANZ to the ISO 17025 standard & participation & creditable performance in a wide range of inter-laboratory comparative programmes. ARL offers a 10% discount to all Ravensdown Shareholders for soil, water, plant & feed analysis.
Products & Services: Research, development & manufacture of agrichemical products & the distribution of Headland foliar fertilisers, for the agricultural & horticultural industries including:
Products & Services: A comprehensive range of plant disease diagnostic services including seed health testing, potato virus testing & seed endophyte testing, plant export verification services, plant health surveys.
PALMERSTON NORTH:
PO Box 609, Palmerston North Central, Palmerston North 4440
Products & Services: Cambridge rollers & roller drills from 2.5 to 9m.
BBA PUMPS & SPRAYERS
89 Hautapu Road, Cambridge PO Box 5272, Hamilton 3242
Freephone: 0800 833 538
Email: orders@bapsnz.com
www.bapumpsandsprayers.co.nz
Contact: Paul France
Products & Services: BA Pumps & Sprayers (formerly Bertolini Australasia) are a local manufacturer of a full range of specialist linkage, trailed & deck mounted sprayers for the agriculture, horticulture & viticulture industries. NZ distributor of Bertolini pumps, TeeJet agricultural spraying accessories, TeeJet Midtech GPS guidance systems, Arag componentry & Shurflo pumps. All BA Pumps & Sprayers products are available nationwide through our specialist dealer network.
BALLANCE AGRI-NUTRIENTS LTD
Private Bag 12503, Tauranga Mail Centre, Tauranga 3143
Products & Services: Ballance Agri-Nutrients is a NZ farmer owned co-operative that helps customers farm more productively, profitably & sustainably. From our core business of fertiliser manufacturing, supply & advice, we have grown to offer a full range of science-backed nutrient products & services. This enables us to help farmers & growers achieve soil nutrition, animal nutrition & productivity with a minimal environmental footprint. Our agrinutrient advice is complemented by awardwinning web-based farm systems software, which enables farmers to explore a wealth of information & make the best management decisions for their business. Key arable products include SustaiN, YaraMila Complex, YaraMila 8-11-20, YaraMila Actyva S & the Cropzeal range.
Suite 4, 33A Anzac Street, Takapuna, Auckland 0622
Freephone: 0800 274 524
Email: info@biostart.co.nz www.biostart.co.nz
Products & Services: A leading manufacturer of biological products for use in the agricultural & horticultural industries. NZ owned & operated & has been developing products specifically for NZ farmers & growers over the past 29 years. Products include forage preservatives (SilageKing, HayKing & MaizeKing), soil biostimulants (Mycorrcin, Digester & ThatchBusta), the BioStart N biofertiliser & a range of crop protection products (TripleX & Karbyon).
Products & Services: Producers & exporters of grain, seeds & pulses. Specialist producer of vining/garden pea seed & multipliers of overseas cultivars & vegetable seeds for re-export. Procurement, marketing & sales of feed & milling cereals as well as cereal seed suppliers.
2 Kermode Street, Ashburton PO Box 337, Ashburton 7740
Phone: 03 308 7166
Fax: 03 308 9398
Email: info@cates.co.nz www.cates.co.nz
Contact: Stuart Begg
Products & Services: Grain, seed & agrichemical merchants including small seeds, cereals, brassica & pulses for both domestic & international markets.
C-DAX LTD
PO Box 1010, Palmerston North Central, Palmerston North 4440
Freephone: 0800 230 230
Email: sales@c-dax.co.nz www.c-dax.co.nz
Products & Services: Experience outstanding C-Dax customer service for all spraying, spreading & pasture measure requirements. C-Dax products are renowned for unique design, innovation, technology & uncompromising quality. Manufacturing a wide range of products to suit every farming application, C-Dax products are designed & backed by people who understand your farming needs.
CENTRAL GRAIN & PRODUCE SOUTHLAND LTD
Dunearn, RD 3, Winton
Phone: 03 236 1040
Email: central.grain@xtra.co.nz
Contact: Robert Saunders
Products & Services: Grain, seed & produce merchants.
CLARKES SEED & FEED LTD
55 Annan Street, West Invercargill, Invercargill 9810
Products & Services: Wholesalers & retailers of top-quality ryegrass & clovers (including annual clover). Mixes to suit all pasture requirements. Cleaning specialists.
CROPLANDS
1422 Omahu Road, Twyford, Hastings 4175
Freephone: 0800 106 898
Fax: 0800 117 711
www.croplands.com/nz/
Contact: Rob Marshall - NZ Regional Manager / South Island
Vic Barlow - Lower North Island and Gisborne
Ashley Robinson - Upper North Island and Taranaki
Products & Services: Manufacturer & importers of all types of agricultural & horticultural spraying equipment. Stockists of leading brands of components & parts, including spray controllers, pumps, tanks, Raven GPS technology, nozzles, fittings & selfpropelled sprayers.
CROPMARK SEEDS LTD
PO Box 16574, Hornby, Christchurch 8441
Freephone: 0800 4 CROPMARK (0800 427 676)
Phone: 03 347 7950
Fax: 03 347 7951
www.cropmarkseeds.com
Contact: Callum Davidson
Products & Services: The breeding, marketing & sale of a range of forage grasses, clovers & brassicas into global markets; forage endophyte research & development; specialist crop seed multiplication & nursery work.
Products & Services: Manufacturers, leading adjuvant technology for broadacre, horticulture, viticulture, forestry. Specialising in environmentally responsible adjuvants for agricultural & aquatic situations.
DONAGHYS CROP LTD
PO Box 1075, Christchurch 8140
Phone: 03 338 6509
Email: Sales@donaghyscrop.co.nz
www.donaghyscrop.co.nz
Contact: Customer Service
Products & Services: Bale wrap, Balenet, silage covers, bale twine, silage tubes & bags plus horticultural twines. Let us know if you have any crop packaging requirements & our nationwide team will assist you.
EEURO AGRI
239 Alford Forest Road, Allenton, Ashburton 7700
Phone: 03 307 7445
Email: info@euroagri.co.nz www.euroagri.co.nz
Contact: James McCloy, Eliot Schofield, Mark Smitheram
Products & Services: Exclusive NZ importers & service agents for Househam sprayers, Bredal spreaders, HEVA cultivation & drilling equipment, Mzuri striptillage, Billericay spray nozzles & Agreto agricultural electronics. In addition, we are the dealers & service agents for Lemken cultivation & drilling equipment, McConnel, & Ag Leader precision farming technology.
FFAR
Foundation for Arable Research
PO Box 23133, Hornby, Christchurch 8441
Phone: 03 345 5783
Email: far@far.org.nz www.far.org.nz
Contact: Alison Stewart
Products & Services: Responsible for the investment of grower levy funds & other grants & industry investments for research & information transfer to provide benefits to NZ arable growers.
FARMCHIEF MACHINERY LTD
INVERCARGILL BRANCH:
51 North Road, Prestonville, Invercargill PO Box 619, Invercargill 9840
Freephone: 0800 327 624
Phone: 03 215 7750
Email: ben@farmchief.co.nz www.farmchief.co.nz
Contact: Ben Abernethy
GORE DEPOT:
231 Main Street, Gore 9710
Freephone: 0800 327 624
CHRISTCHURCH BRANCH:
10 Curraghs Road, Rolleston PO Box 16069, Hornby, Christchurch 8441
Phone: 03 349 4450
Email: todd@farmchief.co.nz
Contact: Todd Murray
PALMERTSON NORTH BRANCH:
6 Noel Rodgers Place, Milson, Palmerston North 4414
Phone: 06 354 6404
Email: matt@farmchief.co.nz
Contact: Matt McKillop
WAIKATO BRANCH:
Freephone: 0800 327 624
Email: alano@farmchief.co.nz
Contact: Alan Ogden
FARMGARD LTD
21 Andrew Baxter Drive, Mangere, Auckland PO Box 107110, Auckland Airport, Auckland 2150
Phone: 09 275 5555
Fax: 09 256 2220
Email: sales@farmgard.co.nz www.farmgard.co.nz
Contact: Scott Capper
Products & Services: Celli rotary hoes, power harrows, spikes rotors & spaders. Berti stubble mulchers, gorse mulchers, forestry mulchers, digger mounted mulchers, orchard mulchers/mowers, park mowers & toppers. Farmgard grader blades & pre rippers. Stanhay precision planters. RZ RANGE Discs, multi discs, rippers, rollers, cultivators, Min Till equipment. Overum ploughs. ABBEY muck spreaders, slurry tankers, Grainstor grain storage equipment.
FARMLANDS CO-OPERATIVE
535 Wairakei Road, Burnside, Christchurch PO Box 271, Christchurch 8140
Freephone: 0800 200 600
Email: ask@farmlands.co.nz www.farmlands.co.nz
Products & Services: Supplier of agricultural, horticultural and nutritional products to rural, lifestyle & commercial customers.
FMG House, 284-292 Church Street, Palmerston North
PO Box 1943, Palmerston North Central, Palmerston North 4440
Freephone: 0800 366 466
Fax: 0800 366 455
Email: contact@fmg.co.nz www.fmg.co.nz
Products & Services: FMG is NZ's leading rural advice & insurance specialist. 100% Kiwi owned & operated. They offer a range of Life & Health, property, liability, vehicle & crop cover options for arable farmers. Seasonal cover, including fire only cover is available for a variety of crops - maize, barley, wheat, fodder crops, seed crops & vegetables - as well as top-up cover for the United Wheat Growers Scheme.
FONTERRA FARM SOURCE
Level 1, 17 Home Straight, Te Rapa, Hamilton PO Box 9045, Waikato Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240
Twister Silos: Hopper and flat bottom, full size range. ìNever Spill Spoutî: Auger-mounted full silo alarm.
Cestari: Grain Carts/Chaser Bins.
Grain Air Tubes: Non-powered silo aeration. Richiger Grain Bagging Equipment: Grain bag loaders, grain bag unloaders, grain bags. Laumetris: Grain Trailers.
GPS CONTROL SYSTEMS LTD
PO Box 16228, Bethlehem, Tauranga 3147
Freephone: 0800 Trimble (0800 874 625)
Email: gpscsl@icloud.com
Contact: John Ahearn
Products & Services: RTK Correction SignalWe operate a GNSS reference station network that broadcasts RTK correction signals to the farming regions in NZ. Customers pay a yearly subscription for access to the signal & this also includes free technical support. The RTK correction signal can be used by Trimble, Topcon & Leica GPS systems, John Deere, Fendt, Massey, CAT, Claas, New Holland & Case factory installed RTK systems.
23B Manuka Street, Hokowhitu, Palmerston North 4410
Phone: 06 354 1030
www.grevilliaag.com.au
Products & Services: Rapid Plus, spray adjuvant will enhance the effectiveness of certain herbicides, insecticides & defoliants. Si-Lac silage inoculants. Pro-mark Foam Marker, heavy duty foam blob marker pink & white. ON-Target, water modifier to reduce droplet bounce & drift for better chemical deposition & retention. Pro-Max, an Advanced high specification spray adjuvant especially designed for use in hard water. Pro-Kleen Granular, an all-in-one pesticide decontaminant. Pro-Dye Red, a non-toxic vegetable-based marker dye.
HH&T AGRONOMICS
69 Kawakawa Road, Feilding PO Box 321, Feilding 4740
Phone: 06 323 5091
Email: info@hnt.co.nz www.hnt.co.nz
Contact: Maria Walters
Products & Services: Retail & wholesale
pastoral & arable seed, crop protection & seed applied technologies. Nationwide agronomy team providing crop planning, management & inputs. Research, development & distribution of seed applied technologies to New Zealand & overseas markets.
HARDI AUSTRALIA
Phone: 027 672 7727
Email: ross.dickson@hardi.com www.hardi.net.nz
Contact: Ross Dickson - NZ Territory Manager Products & Services: All sprayer parts & services. We have a sprayer to suit any market or application you need. Self-propelled sprayers, Trailer sprayers, Linkages sprayers, Engine drive sprayers, 12volt & hand sprayers, Trailer mistblowers, Linkage mistblowers.
HARRAWAY & SONS LTD
165 Main South Road, Green Island, Dunedin PO Box 13040, Green Island, Dunedin 9052
Phone: 03 488 3073
Email: info@harraways.co.nz www.harraways.co.nz
Contact: Henry Hawkins - CEO Products & Services: Finest quality, NZ grown & milled oat breakfast cereal products.
Products & Services: Market leading farm equipment that is innovative, easy to use, & built to last. Bale handlers, bale feeders, Combi feed wagons, silage wagons, mounted boom sprayers, tip trailers, loader attachments & more. Accredited dealers nationwide.
Contact: Vanessa Winning Products & Services: IrrigationNZ is a voluntary-membership, not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to create an environment for the responsible use of water for food and fibre production.
Products & Services: Full range of John Deere products including tractors, loaders, combines, planters, seeders, windrowers, forage harvesters, sprayers, round & square balers, mower conditioners, scrapers & precision ag equipment. John Deere Financial.
JP MARSHALL ENGINEERING
Bristol Place, Te Rapa, Hamilton PO Box 10306, Te Rapa, Hamilton 3241 Phone: 07 849 2982 www.jpmarshallgrain.co.nz
Contact: Mike McMillan
Mobile: 021 823 729
Email: mikem@jpmarshall.co.nz
Contact: Gary Collins - South Island Mobile: 0274 394 201
Contact: Andre Visser - General Manager Products & Services: Suppliers of specialty agrichemicals & hardware for horticulture, agriculture & industrial pest control.
Products & Services: NZ distributors for CLAAS Tractors, Combine Harvesters, Forage Harvesters, Grass Harvesting Equipment and Balers, AMAZONE Spreaders, Sprayers, Cultivators and Seeding Technology, JCB Tractors, Telehandlers and Wheel Loaders through the CLAAS Harvest Centre network, and distributors of GRIMME, SPUDNIK and ASA-LIFT Potato, Beet and Vegetable Handling, Planting and Harvesting Equipment through Landpower Vegetable Centre.
Products & Services: Independent arable research & advice.
NEW ZEALAND GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE (NZGAP)
PO Box 10232, Wellington 6140
Phone: 04 470 5867
Email: info@nzgap.co.nz www.nzgap.co.nz
Products & Services: NZGAP certification provides a traceable, accountable assurance system from crop to customer for the production of fruit, vegetables, arable crops & flowers. Certification provides assurance that best practices are in place for the production, packaging & distribution of NZ produce & it reduces the risk of worker health, food safety & environmental issues.
Spring Farm, 361 Hinds Highway, RD 5, Ashburton 7775
Phone: 03 308 7910 www.nzt.nz
Contact: Grant Reith Products & Services: Importer/retailer of Dewulf vegetable planting, harvesting, and handling equipment, Downs Crop Vision optical sorting equipment. Garford precision guided hoes and sprayers. Zurn trial plot combines and agricultural research equipment. Zurn direct cut forager fronts. Richard Western trailers and muck spreaders. Gregoire Besson ploughs and cultivation equipment. Grizzly discs . Ryetec subsoilers, weight boxes and work boxes. Evers folding rollers. Scotts precision vegetable handling equipment. New tyres and row crop assemblies for agriculture. Simplicity air seeders. Genuine and aftermarket parts for cultivation, sowing and vegetable machinery. South Island dealer for Lockwood harvesters, Topair onion harvesters. Standen vegetable equipment. Jones vegetable equipment.
Products & Services: OriginAg Ltd is an importing cooperative owned by farm machinery retailers nationwide. Providing a full range of quality farm machinery including Pottinger forage & cultivation equipment, Joskin slurry tankers, muck spreaders & construction trailers, Bogballe fertiliser spreaders, Alpego cultivation equipment, Hatzenbichler air seeders & harrows, & Gascon cultivation equipment.
ORION AGRISCIENCE LTD
PO Box 39071, Harewood, Christchurch 8545
Freephone: 0800 674 6627
Phone: 03 928 2386
Fax: 03 928 2387
www.orionagriscience.co.nz
Contact: Brandon Evans
Products & Services: Marketers of agricultural chemicals including:
Products & Services: pH7 is New Zealand's Leader in Hazchem Safety Solutions. We provide safety equipment for farm workers dealing with hazardous substances including chemical suits, negative pressure & powered respirators, chemical gloves, hazardous goods cabinets, spill pallets & kits. Our products are available through leading rural suppliers nationwide.
Products & Services: At Plant & Food Research, we believe science can create a better future. By finding smarter, greener options today, we're helping secure the world we want to live in tomorrow. With our partners, we use worldleading science to improve the way they grow, fish, harvest & share food. Every day, we have 1000 people working across NZ & the world to help deliver healthy foods from the world's most sustainable systems. New fruits, better grains, smarter use of chemicals, stronger biosecurity, higher yields, exciting foods, great nutrition, reduced waste.
PLANT RESEARCH (NZ) LTD
Innovation Park, 185 Kirk Road, Templeton, Christchurch PO Box 23117, Hornby, Christchurch 8441
Products & Services: Design, supply & installation of all types of grain handling, storage & drying systems inclusive of dairy, pig & poultry feed systems. A fully comprehensive range of seed cleaning equipment.
Products & Services: Farm machinery sales, service & parts 24/7. Deutz Fahr, Kioti, Merlo, Kverneland, McHale, Maschio, Gaspardo, APV, Versatile, Vicon, Howard, Jaylor, Fliegl, Humus, Kramp & JCB Construction. We also have a myriad of other products available through our dealerships.
Products & Services: Precision Farming's farm management information system provides cropping, horticulture, dairy, dry stock & mixed farming businesses with data on which to make informed management decisions. This includes farm mapping, nutrient management, NPK loadings, soil moisture data, safety data, irrigation schedules, effluent data, spray diary, stock diary & more. Precision Farming data can be integrated with fertiliser & lime suppliers for nutrient management, compliance & sustainability, & for farmers applying their own fertiliser, Precision supplies a tablet based self-spreading app for guidance, electronic recording, & aggregation of data with other applied nutrients from commercial contractors, effluent, whey & other sources. Precision Farming provides
Ag Leader Technology for GPS guidance, auto steer, precision planting, granular & spray applications & yield monitoring; software for cropping management includes variable rate application & yield mapping; Precision Solo for farm health & safety; Precision Water for water monitoring, control & reporting & Precision Irrigation for predictive irrigation scheduling.
Products & Services: Manufacture, stock & distribute direct NZ Made Plastic mouldboards for plough brands such as Kverneland, Overum, Kuhn, Lemken & Gregorie Besson. PRF also manufacture to order mouldboards for Klough, Pottinger, Howard, Case & John Deere. We also manufacture custom mouldboards to suit your requirements that fit your plough.
Products & Services: RAGT is a globally respected seed business, with a mission to be the partner of the agricultural world, creating innovative solutions for the challenges of tomorrow.
RAINER IRRIGATION LTD
10 Robinson Street, Ashburton 7700
Phone: 03 307 9049
Email: admin@rainer.co.nz www.rainer.co.nz
Contact: Gavin Briggs, Doug Carrodus, Mike Bowler, Tom Duncan
Products & Services: Manufacturers & distributors of Briggs, Irrigation & effluent boom irrigators, & 2018's award winning Vibra Screen. Suppliers of Zimmatic Pivots & Laterals, Pumps, PVC, Effluent Systems, Angus Irrigation Hose, Irrigation & Effluent System
Design, Flow testing & suppliers of Water meters, Fertigation systems & Data loggers.
of Front-End Loader attachments including silage grabs, bale forks, silage forks, shear grabs, wrapped bale clamps, quick hitches, buckets, pallet forks, log forks, GP buckets, & bulk buckets etc. Rata Offset & Tandem Discs, Vee Rakes. Manufacturer of Vogal ATV & 3PTL Fertiliser Spreaders.
RAVENSDOWN LTD
PO Box 1049, Christchurch 8140
Freephone: 0800 100 123 www.ravensdown.co.nz
Products & Services: As a farmerowned co-operative, we are relentless in our commitment to supporting our customers to achieve their productivity & sustainability goals - because when our customers succeed, we all succeed. We test for, advise, buy, manufacture, ship, store, spread, measure and map foodcreating nutrients and fertiliser in a truly integrated way.
Using technology, science, & smart people, we work in partnership with our farmers to provide the nutrients & agronomic solutions they need, hand-in-hand with innovative environmental products & services. Ravensdown is proud to stand for ëSmarter farming for a better New Zealand.
Products & Services: Grain drying & storage, full range of stock foods.
SOUTH PACIFIC SEEDS (NZ) LTD
PO Box 113, Methven 7745
Phone: 03 302 8115
Email: nzoffice@spsnz.co.nz
www.southpacificseeds.co.nz
Contact: John McKay
Products & Services: Specialists in vegetable seed multiplication.
SOUTHERN SEED TECHNOLOGY LTD
PO Box 42, Leeston 7656
Phone: 03 329 1750
Email: info@sst.co.nz
www.sst.co.nz
Products & Services: Involved with arable nurseries, elite seed production & agronomic trials.
SOUTHLAND GRAIN & SEED LTD
PO Box 7114, South Invercargill, Invercargill 9844
Phone: 03 218 7326
Fax: 03 218 7326
www.southlandgrainandseed.com
Contact: Kevin Kubala
Products & Services: Grain & seed suppliers, seed dressing, in store grain dressing & treating plant.
SPANZ LTD
10 Centrum Lane, Rolleston PO Box 79118, Avonhead, Christchurch 8446 Freephone: 0800 727 8873
Phone: 03 348 5555
Contact: David Percival
Products & Services: Seed production specialist based in Canterbury. SPANZ provides a link between high quality NZ seed growers & major seed companies throughout Asia, Europe & America.
SPECIALTY SEED LTD
10 Centrum Lane, Rolleston PO Box 86043, Rolleston West, Rolleston 7658 Freephone: 0800 727 8873
Phone: 03 348 5555
Email: mail@specseed.co.nz www.specseed.co.nz
Contact: Stephen Finch or David Percival Products & Services: The supply of pasture, brassica, silage crop, fodder beet, maize to farmers throughout NZ. Independent, free & expert pastoral advice.
Products & Services: Tabula's GPS guided proof of application & job management system brings certainty to your operations & your reporting - GPS Guidance & Job Management System provides task allocation, live job sharing, variable rate application & reporting, autoboom section control, rich data collection, new touchscreen technology providing efficient task management & proof of placement.
TAEGE ENGINEERING
West Coast Road, Sheffield 7500
Phone: 03 318 3824
Email: sales@taege.com www.taege.com
Contact: Trevor Goodeve Mobile: 027 222 6050
Products & Services: Manufacturers of Seed Drills, both gravity & air, which span 1.2 to 8 metres for both Direct Drilling & Cultivated ground. Post Drivers from 500lb to 850lb monkey weights, Cultivators Tyre Rollers & other bespoke builds. All General Agricultural Repairs, Maintenance & Services.
TALBOT AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY LTD
Divanvale, 21 Divan Road, RD 5, Timaru 7975
Contact: Jeremy Talbot Mobile: 021 571 893
Contact: Bob Talbot Mobile: 027 290 6973
Products & Services: SAM (Sands) selfpropelled sprayers, KRM drills, Acremaster (NZ) designed & built harrows, cul-tivators & subsoilers + a wide range of new & used equipment from Europe/UK. Sinar grain & seed testing equipment. RADWAG moisture testers.
TEEJET AUSTRALASIA PTY LTD
65 West Fyans Street, Newtown, VIC 3220, Australia
Phone: +61 3 5223 3020
Email: info.australia@teejet.com www.teejet.com
Contact: Peter Alexander, Jake Lanyon Products & Services: TeeJet Australasia Pty Ltd markets the complete range of spraying systems & TeeJet Technologies products. These include spray nozzles, guns, strainers, valves, electronic application controls, direct injection equipment & guidance technology for use in arable, horticultural & turf industries. Available throughout NZ from sprayer manufactures & their dealers, TeeJet products include the latest in spray application technology, drift reduction nozzles as well as precision agriculture systems.
Products & Services: Nationwide branch network providing parts & service support for Cat equipment. New & used Cat equipment sales including excavators, wheel loaders, motor graders, track type tractors, scrapers, compactors, telehandlers & work tools. Power Systems division provides sales & support of Cat generators.
TOWNSEND SEEDS INTERNATIONAL LTD
1153 Springs Road, RD 6, Christchurch 7676
Phone: 03 325 2306
Fax: 03 325 2316
Email: admin@seeds4u.co.nz www.seeds4u.co.nz
Contact: Nikki Bunz
Products & Services: Specialist producers of forage & vegetable seeds.
Products & Services: NZ Leaders in Agricultural tyre & wheel solutions. Specialists in row crop wheel design & manufacture. Distributor of the renowned Snaplok Dual wheel system. NZ home of Trelleborg, Mitas & Cultor agricultural tyre brands.
TULLOCH FARM MACHINES
300 High Street, Solway, Masterton PO Box 200, Masterton 5840
Phone: 06 370 0390
Email: b.faulknor@tulloch.nz www.tulloch.nz
Contact: Brian Faulknor
Products & Services: Importers & distributors of farm machinery:
Einbock: Air seeders, grass management, weeding & cultivation equipment.
Monosem: Precision pneumatic planters, interrow cultivators, front tanks.
Products & Services: Precision Agriculture Specialists. NZ dealers for Trimble precision guidance & steering solutions, corrections services & TAS farm software as well as
providing farm system precision ag services, solutions & expertise to NZ farmers. Vantage NZ also offers soil moisture monitoring & farm telemetry solutions & are industry leaders in EM Soil Surveying & Precision Nutrient Management.
VPMAXX (NZ SEED HOUSES LTD)
PO Box 106298, Auckland City, Auckland 1143
Freephone: 0800 VPMAXX
www.vpmaxx.co.nz
Products & Services: VPMaxx is NZ's newest maize brand, since 2014 VPMaxx have been developing the brand & product offering. All of VPMaxx hybrids have been trialed, tested & proven here with NZ maize growers. Service a range of both maize silage & maize grain hybrids to suit the needs of your farm.
Products & Services: Walterscheid PTO shafts, clutches & components. Computerised static torque bench for cali-brating clutches. Tractor attachment systems (hydraulic top links, weld on hooks, ball bushes etc). Towing systems for agriculture, K80 ball, quick release pin & forced steering. Agmaster, a new mid-range PTO shaft at a competitive price. We service & calibrate (computerized) PTO clutches (cam & radial pin). We deal with all farm machinery dealers from throughout NZ.
WEBBLINE AGRICULTURE LTD
150 Ingram Road, Rukuhia, Hamilton PO Box 136, Te Awamutu 3840
Area Manager Hauraki Plains, Coromandel & Morrinsville East
Matte Kirk 027 222 2403
Area Manager Hamilton, Taupiri & Morrinsville West
Grant Douglas 027 554 3316
Area Manager Matamata & Morrinsville South
Logan Scott 027 471 0116
Area Manager Te Awamutu East & South Waikato
Matt Towers 027 255 3048
Area Manager Te Awamutu West & King Country
Ben Gordon 027 422 7604
Area Manager South Waikato & Central Plateau
BAY OF PLENTY
Craig Maxwell 027 224 0917
Regional Manager Central Waikato & Bay of Plenty
Robin Billett 027 273 0497
Area Manager Eastern Bay of Plenty
TARANAKI
David McDonald 027 276 5439
Regional Manager Taranaki & Rangitikei
Alan Bunning 027 206 0147
Area Manager North Taranaki
Kim Sharpe 027 528 0012
Area Manager South Taranaki
LOWER NORTH ISLAND & EAST COAST
Mark Burke 027 451 3987
Regional Manager Lower North Island
Simon Begley 027 590 8072
Area Manager North Hawke's Bay & East Coast
Fergus McNaught 027 555 9017
Field Officer Lower North Island
Helen France 027 839 1578
Area Manager Hawke's Bay, Tararua & Wairarapa
Richard Templeton 027 239 0279
Area Manager Southern Manawatu & Horowhenua
SOUTH ISLAND
David McDonald 027 276 5439
Regional Manager South Island
Paige Farrell 027 251 1316
Area Manager North Canterbury, Tasman & Marlborough
Duncan Gillanders 027 555 9016
Area Manager Mid Canterbury & West Coast
Rachel Bell 027 839 7657
Area Manager Canterbury
Daryl Moore 027 767 1119
Area Manager South Canterbury & North Otago
Darin Dick 027 546 0005
Area Manager Otago & Southland
KEY ACCOUNT CONTACTS
Matt Dalley 027 508 1719
Farm Systems Manager Lower North Island, Taranaki & South Island
Wade Bell 027 702 7049
Farm Systems Manager Waikato & Northland
Hamish Johnstone 027 886 0217
Grain Account Manager Waikato & Northland
GILTRAP AG
Matt Moodie 021 880 114 New Zealand Sales Manager
GPS CONTROL SYSTEMS LTD
For technical support please contact Vantage NZ
Russell Van De Laak 021 874 622
Upper North Island
Wade Riley 021 874 602
Central North Island
Cam Burmeister 027 261 0708
Central North Island
Shane Blampied 027 380 5332
South Island
James Story 027 627 4605
South Island
GREVILLIA AG LTD
Charles Borthwick 027 284 1400
Southern North Island
Neil Morris 027 521 8991
Northern North Island
Simon
Jared
HH&T AGRONOMICS
Paul
Managing
Craig
Fred Milford-Cottam
Martin
Agronomist
KENSO NEW ZEALAND LTD
Andrew Fulford 027
NZ
South
KEY INDUSTRIES LTD
Peter
Donna Daken 027 242 3140
Technical Sales Representative - Lower North Island
Warren Wright 027 211 8947
Technical Sales Representative - Upper North Island
LLUISETTI SEEDS LTD
AGRONOMISTS
John McCaw 027 280 4082
Production Manager
Jono Young 027 404 0540
Cereal Pulses Manager
Simon Fleetwood 027 466 0030
Grain Trading Manager
Kerry Thomas 027 439 6104
Ellesmere/Methven
Nick Jenkins 027 441 1106 Ellesmere
Andrew Johnston 027 433 4876
Amuri/Cheviot
Jack Harnett 027 807 2854
Central-Mid Canterbury
Michael Stanley 027 569 6967
North Canterbury
Stephen Booth 027 555 8595
South Canterbury/North Otago
Caleb Pomare-Edwards 027 723 1931
Agronomist
Jo Ford 027 223 0695
Agronomist
MMACFARLANE RURAL BUSINESS
LTD (MRB)
Anton Nicholls 0275 860 246 Independent Agronomy
MIDLANDS SEED
Charles Wood 027 403 9278
General Manager
Ross Wilson 027 4399 377
Production Manager
Jo Townsend 027 596 0078
R&D Manager
Steve Williams 027 553 0846
Sales Manager Seed Multiplication
Peter Burton 027 444 5122
Sales Manager Cereal Seed & Grain
Brett Colgan 0276 867 328
Sales Manager Pulses
Michael Syme 027 435 4719
Processing Manager
Michael Davies 027 252 2499
Export and Logistics Manager
Brent Middleton 027 441 2466
Field Consultant
Brad Stara 027 287 6920
Field Consultant
Andrew Doyle 027 559 8200
Field Consultant
Michael Bruce 027 807 4101 Field Consultant
Duncan King 027 433 3352
Midlands Contracting Operations Manager
Matt McCully 027 839 5390
Midlands Bees Operations Manager
NNUFARM NZ
NORTH ISLAND TERRITORY MANAGERS
Richard Bell 0274 949 015
Taranaki/Manawatu & North Island Sales Manager
Joe Heng 0274 949 012
Northland/Auckland
Celese Smit 0274 425 840
East Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne/ Hauraki/Coromandel
Jason Marriott 0274 949 009
West Waikato/King Country
Paul Greenbank 0274 425 835
Hawkes Bay/Wairarapa
Andy Davis 0277 001 792 North Island Technical Specialist
SOUTH ISLAND TERRITORY MANAGERS
Mike Cox 0274 354 271
North Otago/South Canterbury & South Island Sales Manager
Patrick Bissett 0277 000 066 Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast/North Canterbury
Jeff Hurst 0277 008 011
Mid/North Canterbury
Michael Bennet 0274 425 838 Otago/Southland
Sonja Vreugdenhil 0273 444 432
South Island Technical Specialist
OORION AGRISCIENCE LTD
Bruce Sutton 021 337 977
Upper North Island
Tony Polkinghorne 021 671 616
Lower/Eastern North Island
Bruce Sutton 022 375 9977
Gisborne/Marlborough/Nelson
Rosa Miller 021 281 3285
Canterbury/West Coast
Luke Holmes 021 636 654
Otago/Southland
PGG WRIGHTSON GRAIN
Andy Wilson 027 596 3575
Grain Regional Manager - South Island and Lower North Island
Kevin Flaxman 027 266 7077
Grain Regional Manager - Upper North Island
Ian Ormandy 027 593 9536
Cereal Seed Manager
Nick Brooks 027 596 3972
Product Development Manager
PGG WRIGHTSON - RURAL SUPPLIES
NORTH ISLAND
Simon Dodds 027 595 8268
Cambridge (TFR)
Wayne Robinson 027 292 8966
Carterton (TFR)
Mark Bradley 027 335 6282
Dargaville (TFR)
Olivia McKay
Dargaville (TFR)
Kerry Davidson 027 218 1606
Eketahuna (TFR)
Glen Terry 027 296 4899
Fielding (TFR)
Hamish McCallum 027 712 7018
Fielding (TFR)
Wes Pearse
Gisborne (TFR)
Brett Law 027 218 5030
Gisborne (TFR)
Jamie Yates 027 207 1300
Gisborne (TFR)
Michael Hegarty 027 597 5824
Hastings (TFR)
Warren Johnson 027 592 7511
Hastings (TFR)
Paul Holden 027 434 7678
Hastings (TFR)
Belinda Wilson 027 836 1806
Hawera (TFR)
Bradley Stone 027 463 5390
Hawera (TFR)
Sophie Holst 09 412 2711
Helensville (TFR)
Olivia Rhodes 027 556 6606
Hunterville (TFR)
Sharne Purchase 027 704 8806
Huntly (TFR)
Jon Nutt 027 705 6932
Huntly/Te Kauwhata (TFR)
Mike Dyball 027 590 1430
Katikati (TFR)
Kody Boyce 027 448 0725
Marton (TFR)
Bodean McGhie 027 244 9958
Martinborough (TFR)
Jo Balfour 027 294 9680
Martinborough (TFR)
Gavin Harris 027 600 4382
Masterton (TFR)
Mark Enevoldsen 027 590 1435
Matamata/Putaruru (TFR)
Pete Smart 027 407 1438
Matamata (TFR)
Brad Lovell 027 477 4232
Matamata
Max Cumpstone 027 267 9102
Morrinsville (TFR)
Scott Daubney 027 235 6454
Morrinsville (TFR)
Conor Robertson 027 336 5733
Ohakune (TFR)
Neil Dunderdale 027 202 4758
Otorohanga (TFR)
Doug Burnell 027 595 8232
Piopio (TFR)
Steve Thomas 027 238 5462
Pukekohe (TFR)
Gavin Roden Pukekohe (TFR)
Dion Schreiber 027 365 5311
Rotorua (TFR)
Chris Hall 027 406 5770 Stratford (TFR)
Cameron McDonald 027 833 6402 Stratford (TFR)
Jason Bolton 027 302 2664
Stratford (TFR)
Emma Bibby
Taihape (TFR)
Edie Neill 027 702 1025
Taumarunui (TFR)
Darryl Jones 027 230 9237
Taupo (TFR)
Annalise Williams 021 135 9264
Taupo (TFR)
Sarah Wilson
Taupo (TFR)
Mark Bulwer 027 707 9356
Te Awamutu (TFR)
Leigh Falleni 027 403 7027
Te Awamutu (TFR)
Bex Whitehead
Te Awamutu (TFR)
Russell Smith 027 590 4921
Te Kuiti (TFR)
Kyle Parkes 027 213 1818
Te Puke (TFR)
Leon Emery 027 203 8016
Waipapa/Kerikeri (TFR)
James Parsons 027 807 8538
Waipukurau (TFR)
Ollie Wilson 027 225 6462
Waipukurau (TFR)
Anthony Bell 027 811 2866
Wanganui (TFR)
Liam Marshall 027 601 6567
Wanganui (TFR)
Michele Smith 027 675 1188
Wellsford (TFR)
Mark Wootton 027 273 1437
Whakatane (TFR)
Martin Topp 027 226 2901
Whangarei (TFR)
SOUTH ISLAND
Dan Pavey 027 434 4097
Alexandra (TFR)
Mark Grimward 027 601 2085
Alexandra (TFR)
Sarah Mills 022 429 8749
Alexandra (TFR)
Henry Wardell 027 434 4077 Amberley/Hawarden (TFR)
Mark Clyne 027 531 2964 Amberley (TFR)
Sarah Dalzell 027 434 4076 Amberley (TFR)
James Fuller Amberley (TFR)
Phill Bloomfield 027 431 4046 Ashburton (TFR)
Dan Copland 027 477 4046 Ashburton (TFR)
Kadys Grant 027 563 9213 Balclutha (TFR)
Rachael Davis 027 598 1720
Blenheim/Kaikoura (TFR)
Andrew McWhannell 027 672 7008 Cheviot (TFR)
Gerard McCarthy 027 473 0614 Cromwell (TFR)
Kaleb Bolton 027 448 6269 Culverden (TFR)
Hamish Marshall 027 434 4097 Culverden (TFR)
Dylan Benny 027 504 4654 Culverden (TFR)
Gerry O'Neil 027 431 4057 Fairlie (TFR)
Maree Ferriman-Smith 027 591 8420 Fairlie (TFR)
Brent Dalley 027 568 8068 Geraldine (TFR)
Roger Collins 027 435 0740 Gore (TFR)
Paul Henry 027 837 6330 Gore/Tapanui (TFR)
Lester Howden 027 504 1144 Gore (TFR)
Tony Pascoe 027 454 3618 Greymouth (TFR)
John Hellewell 027 253 0851 Heriot (TFR)
Greg McIntyre 027 664 4317
Invercargill (TFR)
JJ (Jonathan) Morgan 027 889 3440 Invercargill (TFR)
Jaimee Elder 027 432 0422
Invercargill/Tuatapere (TFR)
Paul Botha 027 226 3018 Kurow (TFR)
Paul Verdonk 027 235 0051 Kurow (TFR)
Robert Trott 027 591 8437 Leeston (TFR)
Jeff McFarlane 027 598 9947
Lumsden/Te Anau (TFR)
Jason Robson 027 839 9494
Lumsden/Te Anau (TFR)
Mitch Carter 027 225 9194
Methven/Rakaia (TFR)
Sarah Swinbourn 027 563 9213
Milton (TFR)
Annie Stephens 027 242 1077
Milton (TFR)
Andrew Young 027 235 6999
Motueka/Richmond (TFR)
Mark Prosser 027 598 9948
Murchison (TFR)
Robin Jamieson 027 231 2313
Oamaru (TFR)
Allan Carlene 027 212 5707
Otautau (TFR)
Alex Clark 027 406 2038
Otautau (TFR)
Paul Sullivan 027 284 5838
Otautau (TFR)
Luke Turfus 027 265 5427
Outram (TFR)
Dean Harrison 027 459 1005
Palmerston (TFR)
Loryn Robertson 027 273 9790
Ranfurly (TFR)
Tony Sanders 027 839 7081
Roxburgh (TFR)
Todd Anderson
Southland (TFR)
Graeme McCleely 027 590 7502
Takaka (TFR)
Andrew Drummond 027 836 7958
Temuka/Timaru (TFR)
Andrew Brosnahan 027 595 6457
Timaru (TFR)
Josh Dalziel 027 403 4091
Waimate (TFR)
David Wheeley 027 263 3233
Winton (TFR)
Allister Gibson 027 538 8064
Winton (TFR)
Allister Gauldie 027 434 5213
Wyndham (TFR)
PGG WRIGHTSON SEEDS LIMITED
ARABLE BUSINESS UNIT
Graeme Jones 027 431 0840
Arable Business Manager Ashburton
Shane Butler 027 477 4134
Arable Business Team Manager Ashburton
Chris Lock 027 837 7283
Arable Representative Ashburton
Clint Bell 027 595 6470
Arable Representative Ashburton
Campbell Morrow 027 259 4221
Arable Representative Ashburton
Hamish Schmack 027 590 4008
Arable Representative Ashburton
Ben Innes 027 205 5627
Arable Representative Ashburton
Tom Adams 027 222 4829
Arable Representative Methven
Tom Middleton 027 836 5010
Arable Representative Methven
Roger Sheat 027 591 0448
Arable Representative Leeston
Steve Roulston 027 434 4079
Arable Representative Darfield
Justin Inwood 027 590 8065
Arable Representative Darfield
Sean Mulligan 027 432 4026
Arable Representative Rakaia
Ash Pace 027 479 1481
Arable Representative Mayfield
Alice Keir 027 431 4048
Arable Representative Temuka
Mark Currie 027 595 6459
Arable Representative Timaru
Jack Millar 027 233 2691
Arable Representative Timaru
Sam Crossley 027 705 8137
Arable Representative Waimate
Campbell Humphrey 027 546 3184
Arable Representative Otago
Nick Hishon 027 229 6697
Arable Representative Gore
George Roysmith 027 311 5748
Arable Representative Gore
NORTH ISLAND - SALES AND FORAGE AGRONOMISTS
Sam Wiltshire 027 201 4597
Area Sales Agronomist Northland/ Northern Waikato
Greg Zeuren 027 503 0629
Area Sales Agronomist South Waikato/Bay of Plenty
Chelsea Alabaster 027 595 3313
Area Sales Agronomist Eastern North Island
Duncan Phyn 027 595 3314
Area Sales Agronomist Western Lower North Island
SOUTH ISLAND - SALES AND FORAGE AGRONOMISTS
Chris Sanders 027 596 3574
Extension Agronomist Northern South Island
Richard Goldie 027 502 6182
Area Sales Agronomist Central South Island
Mike Fairbairn 027 201 9327
Area Sales Agronomist Southern South Island
Brian Young 027 590 1640
Area Sales Agronomist Southern South Island
Stu Hunter 027 248 6910
Forage Agronomist
Ethan Butcher 027 404 7452
Forage Agronomist Lower South Island
TECHNICAL TEAM
Wayne Nichol 027 596 3975
National Technical Manager
Charlotte Westwood 027 554 4541
Veterinary Nutritionist
PGG WRIGHTSON TURF
Jason Weller 027 596 3974
NZ Sales and Marketing Manager
Ian Garfield 027 487 4002
Greater Auckland
Tom Littlewood 027 344 6439
Auckland/Northland
Julian Holden 027 289 2244
Waikato/BOP/Coromandel
Karen Crake 027 430 2995
Waikato/Taranaki
Kevin Timms 027 210 8572
Lower North Island
Brendon O'Hara 027 332 5644
Canterbury/Tasman/Marlborough/ Gisborne
Andy McWhirter 027 801 0034
Canterbury
Craig Middleton 027 294 9261
Christchurch/South/Mid Canterbury
Ben Finn 027 649 4943
Otago/Southland
Brian Griffiths 027 430 2992
DuraTurf Business Development Manager
Joe Johnson 027 596 3565
DuraVeg Business Development Manager
Customer Service 0800 PGW TURF
Nationwide
PLANT & FOOD RESEARCH
LINCOLN
Maryann Robson 027 229 2006
Cultivar Manager
Sarah Eady 027 476 6137
Business Manager
Antonia Miller 021 571 039 Business Manager
PMR GRAIN SYSTEMS LTD
Tom Burke 027 514 6606
Sales Manager
POPE TEXTILE BAG & PACKAGING LTD
Ross Bruggemann 021 225 8326
Southern Region Sales
Bruce Underwood 027 494 1468
Northern Region Sales
Paul Gleeson 021 819 026 Central Region Sales
POWER FARMING ASHBURTON
Simon Jackson 027 512 7205
Dealer Principal Mid Canterbury
POWER FARMING CANTERBURY
Geoff McCabe 021 220 9544
Dealer Principal Canterbury
Joel Parris 027 435 0884
Sales Canterbury
Jimmy Leigh 027 405 6941
Sales North Canterbury
Angus Handisides 027 234 0630
Sales
POWER FARMING WHOLESALE LTD
CULTIVATION & SEEDING SPECIALISTS
Graeme Leigh 07 902 2280
Machinery Manager Morrinsville
John Chapman 027 703 5364
Product Specialist North Island
Mike Griffiths 027 536 5088
Product Specialist South Island
Leon Jobe 027 313 5510
Product Specialist North Island
PRECISION FARMING LTD
Matthew Stanford 021 483 359
Corporate Farms Manager
Aaron Wilson 021 483 316
Customer Services Manager
PRF MOULDBOARDS LTD
Vaughan Dawson 021 402 013
Managing Director
PRIMARY INSIGHT
Andrew Curtis 027 496 6314
Consultant/Lower South Island
RAGT NEW ZEALAND LTD
James White 027 287 8870
Commercial Manager
Liam Donnelly 027 618 5499
Supply & Technical Manager
Jessica Chapman 027 329 5028
Marketing Lead
Sam Lucas 021 758 079
Forage Systems Manager
Blair Cotching 027 861 7219
South Island Business Sales Manager
Niall Laffan 027 733 3361
Field Solutions Specialist - Central South Island
Charlotte Jones 027 733 3360
Field Solutions Specialist - Lower South Island
Tim Smith 027 498 8093
North Island Business Sales Manager
Shane Brownlie 027 700 9482
Field Solutions Specialist - Lower North Island
RAVENSDOWN
To get in touch with the Ravensdown team call the Customer Centre on 0800 100 123.
REL GROUP
Hayden Kuyf 027 711 3719
Grain Sales Representative
Michael Crew 027 281 1916
Grain Sales Representative
Mark Jessep 027 439 8000
National Feed Systems Specialist
SGS NEW ZEALAND LTD
Peter Ward 027 540 9542
Independent Verification Agency
Bruno Garcia 027 239 5456 Auckland/Pukekohe
Peter Ward 027 540 9542 Napier/BOP
Sue Young 027 541 4475
Nelson/Marlborough
Fay Trezise 027 706 4447
Canterbury
SMITH SEEDS LTD
Grant Smith 027 432 8654
Managing Director
Dayle Jemmett 027 438 0684
General Manager
Steve Forrester 027 241 5973
Production Manager
Wayne McDowell 027 247 4999 Agronomist
Gary Compton 027 620 8351 Agronomist
Brad Quinlan 027 900 0410 Agronomist
Jo Copland 027 336 3932
Agronomist
Logistics 027 274 1772
SOUTH PACIFIC SEEDS (NZ)
LTD
John McKay 027 435 2160
Managing Director
David Harrison 027 201 7566
General Manager Business Development
Richard van Garderen 027 229 6664
General Manager Field Production
Jeremy Johnson 027 269 0400
General Manager Production
Hamish Gilpin 027 438 2140
Field Dept Manager
James Taylor 027 201 7601
Field Manager Lincoln/Southbridge
Shane King 027 209 9885
Field Manager Lincoln/Southbridge
Phil Peek 027 493 4345
Field Manager Ashburton
Jane Fitzpatrick 027 441 1256
Field Manager Methven/Lyndhurst/ Hororata
Steve Dunlop 027 445 1954
Field Manager North Canterbury
Birch Jenkinson 027 807 3547
Field Manager Selwyn
Jonathan Hanrahan 027 438 8690
Field Manager South Canterbury
Chris Cavanagh 027 435 7715
Field Manager Winchmore/Ashburton/Dorie
Mellory Watson 027 436 0770
Field Manager Pendarves/Dorie
Sam Locke 027 871 9836
Field Manager Hawkes Bay
SYNGENTA CROP PROTECTION LTD
Nicola Smith 027 494 9013
NZ Country Manager Auckland
Raeleen Watherston 021 611 664
Customer Marketing Lead Auckland
Ross McCallum 027 494 2662
Territory Sales Manager Ashburton
Maria Quevedo 021 984 079
Territory Sales Manager Ashburton
Dean Perry 021 428 674
Territory Sales Manager Napier
Andrew McIntosh 027 366 5858
Territory Sales Manager Tauranga
TTABULA
Jack Martin 027 560 0675
Upper North Island Sales Manager
Martin Orange 027 489 2120
Lower North Island Sales Manager
Kelly Glover 027 560 1233
Upper South Island Sales Manager
Lauren Stewart 027 560 1237
Central South Island Sales Manager
Georgia Hendrie 027 230 9193
Central Otago & West Coast Sales Manager
Sam Cotterill-Craig 027 474 4615
Lower South Island Sales Manager
TEMUKA SEED (1984) LTD
Greig Bailey 027 449 9062 Manager
TOWNSEND SEEDS INTERNATIONAL LTD
Kym Townsend 027 522 3060
Field Rep
Hayden Argyle 027 534 4534
Field Rep
Tim Dale 027 332 4174
Field Rep
Ryan Ford 027 265 6588
Field Rep
TURNBULL GRAIN & SEED LTD
Murray Duff 027 434 4326
Field Rep Timaru
Hamish Holland 027 434 4569
Field Rep Fairlie
Jess Williams 027 434 4356
Field Rep Waimate
Brittany Talbot 027 249 4751
Field Rep Pleasant Point/Geraldine
Sam Thacker 021 0839 3321
Field Rep Waimate
UPL LTD NEW ZEALAND
David Lingan 021 804 450
Adjuvant Product Manager
Alex Easton 027 578 0016
Regional Manager Northern South Island
Tom McDonald 021 519 772
Regional Manager Southern South Island
Ryan Pierce 027 286 5685
Regional Manager Lower North Island
Pieter van der Westhuizen 021 392 740
Regional Manager Upper North Island
VANTAGE NEW ZEALAND
Jemma Mulvihill 021 796 124
Managing Director
VPMAXX (NZ SEED HOUSES LTD)
Barry Smallridge 027 801 9992
Account Manager Bay of Plenty, Manawatu & East Coast
Alan MacDougall 027 204 4418
Account Manager Waikato, King Country, Taranaki
Alastair McConnachie 027 201 3677
Account Manager Northland, South Auckland
YARA FERTILISERS (NZ) LTD
Glen Baylis 021 555 214
Country Manager
David Spencer 021 471 591
Agronomy & Crop Solutions Manager
Mark Redshaw 021 471 722
North Island Sales Agronomist
Jai Prakash 021 626 740
North Island Sales Agronomist
Tim Brooker 021 537 309
South Island Sales Agronomist
SEED CERTIFICATION
New Zealand MPI Seed Varietal Certification Scheme - Closing Dates
March
June
July
September
First Monday
First Monday
November
First Monday
First Monday
December
First Monday
Beet (spring sown crops)
Kale
Annual Clovers - Legumes
Beet (autumn sown crops)
Fodder Radish (autumn sown crops)
Hybrid Clover
Rape (autumn sown crops)
Raphanobrassica (autumn sown crops)
Strawberry Clover* (change of variety - see below)
Swede
Turnip
White Clover* (change of variety - see below)
Cocksfoot
Pea (sown prior to 1 July)
Red Clover (Autumn sown)
Serradella
Brome Grass (Bromus sp.)
Browntop
Caucasian Clover
Chicory
Dogstail
Fescue (Festuca sp.)
Festulolium
Lentil
Lotus
Lupin
Phalaris
Plantain
Poa
Ryegrass
Strawberry Clover* (see below)
Timothy
White Clover* (see below)
Yorkshire Fog
Barley
Bean
Fodder Radish (spring sown crops)
Linseed
Lucerne
Mustard
Oat
Pea (if sown after 1 July)
Phacelia
Rape (spring sown crops)
Red Clover (spring sown crops)
Ryecorn
Triticale
Wheat
Hemp (Cannabis sativa) by the 20th of December
Maize
I. * White Clover/Strawberry Clover - If sowing is a change of cultivar in Nucleus, Breeders or Basic class, application for certification must be made by the first Monday in June.
II. Where a public holiday falls on a Monday specified, the closing date is extended one day to the Tuesday immediately following.
III. Overseas cultivars of species for which there is a set closing date should, where possible, be entered by that date, otherwise within 14 days of sowing. For other species where there is no set closing date the crop must be entered within 14 days of sowing.
The New Zealand MPI Seed Varietal Certification Scheme is administered by AsureQuality Ltd for The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). www.asurequality.com/our-industries/seeds/new-zealand-seed-business
• Compact and sturdy • Good penetration • Simple adjustment • Long lasting discs
• Perfect cutting angle
• Maintenance-free bearings
KVERNELAND PLOUGHS
• 2-8 furrows
• Robust and reliable construction
• Variomat Vari-width® system for furrow width adjustments that save fuel and time as standard
THE ONE THING ROUNDUP ULTRA®MAX YOU CAN RELY ON.
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