Explore our past research on pasture management, catch crops, grazeable shrubs, and soil protection, and discover practical solutions for building environmental resilience on your farm.
Past environmental resilience research
Pasture management in a volatile world
The objectives of this project were to quantify the benefits of deferred grazing, and establish criteria to help farmers identify when deferred grazing is appropriate in their farm system.
Catch crops for sediment control
This project will evaluate a range of catch crop species and establishment techniques to reduce sediment and surface flow losses following the winter grazing of forage crops. Trials will be carried out on hill country in the Hawkes Bay and Horizons regions, but the systems developed will provide spill-over benefits to all farming regions and terrains nationally.
Catch crops for reduced nitrate leaching
Previous research has shown that sowing a catch crop can reduce nitrate leaching losses by as much as 40%, as well as improving nitrogen use efficiency and farmers’ profitability. This project aimed to upscale this previous applied research into working winter crop rotations in Canterbury and Southland and adapt it to the various soil and climatic conditions.
Grazeable shrubs for hill country
This project aimed to understand how to better manage tagasaste (commonly known as tree lucerne) on-farm in the Hawkes’ Bay region and Taupō.
Protecting our soils
The main findings from this project showed that helicropping can be undertaken and utilised in a way that minimises environment risks.