Diverse pastures and relevance to New Zealand dairy farming
Project start: 28 February 2022
Project length: 7 years
MPI funding: $2,286,371
Industry funding: $1,027,210
Industry partner: Dairy Trust Taranaki and DairyNZ
Region: Taranaki
This project will assess the economic and environmental impacts of adopting regenerative diverse pastures in a Taranaki dairy farming system. It will develop an evidence base to prove any links between diverse pastures and reduced nutrient loss, improved milk macro and micronutrients, increased soil water retention, soil carbon sequestration, and increased production and profits.
Advancing soil health on-farm and understanding impacts on dairy farm economic and environmental performance
Project start: 1 September 2021
Project length: 5 years
MPI funding: $2,815,500
Industry funding: $1,040,400
Industry partner: Synlait Milk Ltd, Danone Nutricia NZ Ltd
Region: Canterbury, Southland/Otago, Waikato
Synlait and Danone are partnering with AgResearch to benchmark and optimise soil health across 10 of their supplier farms. Regenerative practices such as hyper diverse pastures and limits on synthetic N fertilisers will be compared with conventional practices to build evidence on the impact of regenerative farming on soil health in New Zealand. The farms wider financial and environmental performance will also be evaluated.
Regenerative agriculture research receives Government boost – Beehive.govt.nz
RegenHort - Boosting NZ horticulture through regenerative practices (Stage 1 - Opportunity Discovery)
Project start: 17 August 2021
Project length: 1 year
MPI funding: $100,000
Industry funding: $100,000
Industry partner: Zespri International, Turners & Growers Global, Plant & Food Research
Region: Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay
This project is the first stage of a proposed six-year partnership, which aims to define, validate and implement regenerative horticultural practices that are valued by consumers in New Zealand and overseas. The project aims to improve environmental and social performance of New Zealand kiwifruit, apples, and berries growers while maintaining high production.
Biodiversity for beneficial insects; delivering benefits to farmers from designed native plantings
Project start: 13 August 2021
Project length: 5 years
MPI funding: $2,209,030
Industry funding: $1,002,420
Industry partner: Plant & Food Research, Foundation of Arable Research, Synlait, Southern Pastures, Pāmu Landcorp, Beef + Lamb NZ, Brailsfords Ltd, Selwyn District Council and Ecan, some retired arable farmers
Region: Canterbury
This project will research the optimal mix of plant species, planting areas, and planting landscapes to maximise the number of insects providing pollination and predation behaviour without creating refuges for insect pests. It aims to produce guidance for farmers on how to design native plantings on their farms to target insects that will be both environmentally and economically beneficial.
Regenerative agriculture research receives Government boost - Beehive.govt.nz
Evaluating regenerative farming principles and developing farmer resilience on a dryland demonstration farm
Project start: 22 June 2021
Project length: 4.5 years
MPI funding: $1,530,000
Industry funding: $550,000
Industry partner: On-Farm Research, AgFirst, Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Barenburg New Zealand, Poukawa Research Foundation
Region: Hawke's Bay
This project will scientifically test and incorporate new forage management practices and principles of regenerative farming into a dryland sheep and cattle farming system. Practices like utilising compost, diverse seed mixtures, longer feed residuals, and deferred grazing will be compared against conventional farming practices within a dryland system. The project will also focus on improving farmer resilience and decision making.
