Reflections on the Tour Experience The New Zealand Perspective Keri Johnston, director, irricon resource solutions + irrigationnz board of directors
Nebraska is a state where every person accepts and acknowledges that agriculture underpins their economy. There is also a clear acknowledgment that farming equals food. Because of that, the Nebraskan approach to managing environmental issues is different. I was also really impressed to see the effort put into research and education, with a focus on how to feed a growing population whilst ensuring that the environment is looked after. Education is also something that they are passionate about, and this extends to youth education as well. Grant Ludemann, egl pastoral We were struck by the way agriculture was appreciated and valued in Colorado and Nebraska. We had heard so much about the Midwest, and it was great to see the role of the Corn Belt in producing food for the world and to gain a better appreciation of the importance of agriculture in the U.S. economy. We had heard a lot about the Dust Bowl of the past and were very impressed by how irrigation and noor low-tillage methods had transformed the countryside into productive land. Ele Ludemann, egl pastoral While there are a lot of differences between there and here, we still came home with lots of ideas and also a very real appreciation of the warmth of the people we met. One comment made on the first day—that we shouldn’t call center pivots irrigators, but applicators that can apply water, fertilizer, and other chemicals, wherever, whenever and in whichever quantities needed—has both financial and environmental benefits. I was very impressed with the way the natural resources districts had spent more than $80 million to buy land and then had retired the water right and sowed native grasses. I was also impressed by the power of philanthropy and the work done by the Water for Food Institute. The prevalence and acceptance of GMO was also notable. Science and history are losing the debate with emotion and politics here in New Zealand, and it is illegal to use genetic modification. Jon Williamson, managing director, williamson water advisory Nebraska has a different stance on sustainability than New Zealand. Protection of social and economic interests seemed to be the first priority, but at the same time, the natural resources managers were looking for and working towards solutions for improving environmental outcomes. For example, in the Upper Republican Natural Resources District, the aim was to increase application efficiency IRRIGATION LEADER
so as to reduce the rate of groundwater drawdown; a beneficial byproduct of this is decreasing nutrient losses. In New Zealand, sustainability means limiting abstraction to a safe level while meeting agreed values for the water resource (e.g., instream flow and nutrient concentration limits for aquatic ecosystem health, maintenance of minimum groundwater pressures at the coast to prevent saline intrusion, neighboring bore interference effects, etc.). Managing water and nutrient allocation within the Ogallala aquifer, which covers portions of eight states, is extremely challenging given, first, the sheer size of the aquifer, making groundwater modeling of the aquifer at a scale appropriate for local decisionmaking nearly impossible with current modeling technology, and second, the fact that water management is controlled the district level with some state and federal oversight. In contrast to New Zealand’s riparian gravel aquifers where the throughflow rate is high, the Ogallala aquifer has very low throughflow rates (a few meters per day) due to the very flat hydraulic gradients (0.0013 m/m), even though the aquifer permeabilities and bore yields for large irrigation wells are similarly large. The implication of this is that the flushing of nutrients is much slower, and consequently, in some places like the Central Platte District, nitrate-N levels were around 45 mg/L. Finally, New Zealand has much better coffee than Nebraska. Ben Donaldson, manager, Irrigation Services Southern Spending time with others from our industry and seeing a different part of the world was just as beneficial as the information I gained around water, farming, and irrigation. For me, the greatest learning was around nitrate levels in water, the education of children with regard to agriculture, and how the use of fertigation ties all of this together. It impressed me to see the resources put into education. The flow-on effect of this is that younger generations understand the need for agriculture and understand where their food comes from, even if they live in cities. Although cities create their own problems with the pollution of waterways, these generally aren’t highlighted in our media, and as our farmers are an easy target, they seem to be the ones who are always in the spotlight. I see the use of fertigation in applying fertilizers to plants little and often as something farmers can instigate for a relatively low cost and very quickly. This will become a tool to assist with the reduction of nitrate levels within their properties and regions. Nitrates in our ground and surface water are becoming a hot topic in our country; our dairy farmers in particular are under the microscope.
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