30,287 copies distributed monthly – to every rural mailbox in Canterbury and the West Coast
January 2022 Edition
INSIDE
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Future talk: Hinds dairy farmer and Climate Change ambassador Phill Everest talks nitrogen loss reduction to other local farmers as part of DairynZ’s Meeting a Sustainable Future project.
Canterbury farmers taking action to reduce nitrogen Selwyn and Hinds dairy farmers are successfully taking steps to reduce farm nitrogen loss.
❚ by Kent Caddick That’s according to a recent DairyNZ survey. DairyNZ surveyed 235 of 450 Selwyn and Hinds dairy farms, with all reporting positive environmental changes on-farm including improved irrigation efficiency, fertiliser use and new technologies. To achieve the reduction the survey showed that 81% percent of farmers improved irrigation systems or management, more than 50% changed fertiliser use and
improved effluent management, while some farmers have also changed stocking rate, using the grazing herb plantain which reduces nitrogen loss, or have made other changes to benefit the environment. Under Environment Canterbury rules, Selwyn dairy farmers must reduce nitrogen losses by 30% by 2022, compared to their baseline figure from 2009-2013. A farm’s baseline is its average annual nitrogen loss over those four years. In Hinds, farmers have to reduce nitrogen
losses by 15 percent by 2025, 25 percent by 2030 and 36 percent by 2035. One of many local farming families working hard to reduce nitrogen loss is the Everest family of Ashburton. Phill and Jos Everest farm 750 dairy cows with their son Paul and his partner Sarah, and they work together as a family to meet their environmental goals and stay ahead of regulations.
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