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IrrigationNZ Innovation Award
IrrigationNZ in association with Ballance Agri-Nutrients appreciates the brainpower that goes into creating inventive irrigation tools and techniques, and we want them to be recognised.
After judging, three finalists were selected and meant to be honoured at our 2020 Conference however, because this event was cancelled due to COVID, these prizes were awarded at the recent IrrigationNZ AGM.
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A $2,500 cash prize was awarded for ‘the best innovation, discovery or achievement that makes a positive contribution, impact or benefit to irrigation in New Zealand’.
John Bright of Aqualinc receives the IrrigationNZ ‘Innovation in Irrigation’ award sponsored by Ballance and presented by Ballance Science Extension Officer Jessica Hollever.
1ST: AQUALINC – N-WISE IRRIGATION
A pilot desktop study led by Dr John Bright of Aqualinc has found that changing irrigation scheduling rules can significantly reduce nutrient losses.
Dr Bright has decades of experience when it comes to irrigation management and was approached by the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand to carry out this study.
“The study is prompted by the obvious environmental aspect that needs to be considered in day-to-day farming, particularly the need to reduce nitrogen (N) losses.”
The study was carried out on 12 Canterbury dairy farms. The current practice was to irrigate when soil moisture drops below 50 percent available to the plant and to apply enough water to refill to a target level of 90 percent of the full point, often higher. The study systematically examined the effects on production, drainage and N loss to water of varying the irrigation trigger and target levels.
“We were particularly interested in the effects of reducing the soil moisture trigger level to significantly lower levels than current practice during spring and autumn, and of not refilling the soil profile as much as is usual practice.”
The aim is to increase the soil’s capacity to utilise rainfall to reduce the risk of drainage and N leaching. By allowing the soil to dry out more in spring and autumn and raising soil water content to no more than 80 percent of the full point, nitrogen loss to water was reduced by 27 percent, on average. The range across the case study farms was 4 percent to 58 percent.
Dr Bright said it was about being “smarter about things in spring and autumn … essentially it’s as simple as varying irrigation triggers and targets month by month as set out in a table of values.”
RUNNER UP: MARLBOROUGH DISTRICT COUNCIL – E WATER
Water is Marlborough’s most significant resource. The district relies on adequate supplies of freshwater for a range of sectors. Most water resources in Marlborough are at, or nearing, a state of full allocation. A review of Marlborough’s resource management plans identified that the inability to allocate water beyond these limits would create a significant constraint to future growth. To facilitate this, the Council outlined an approach to Ministry for the Environment using the proposed water framework; this resulted in a partnership project that the parties believed “had potential wide reaching implications for water management in New Zealand.” After a constructive design period eWater was developed.
Marlborough’s rivers and aquifers provide water for more than 1,600 freshwater permits; the system was designed so that permit holders and registered individuals can find out more about water usage so we can all play a role in managing the region’s water supply. Permit holders are required to provide to Council specific water metering data.
