Summary of SLURI Presentation

Quarterly Update: September 2006
Other Documents: Project Summary
Updated: 16 November 2006

A summary of the work that SLURI undertakes was presented by three scientists:

  • Alex McKay of AgResearch,
  • Glyn Francis of Crop & Food Research
  • Brent Clothier of HortResearch

The presentation covered how SLURI was formed, the aims of the Initiative, research to be carried out in the next two years and the following general areas of research that SLURI will contribute to:

1. Market Access

2. Resilience of our soils

3. Natural Capital

4. Managing Land use

  • Sustaining soil health
  • Soil quality indicators
  • Nitrogen use – Positives and negatives
  • Organic carbon
  • Macroporosity
  • Erosion
  • Trade offs between financial and environmental risks

For a copy of the presentation go to www.sluri.org.nz. Once you’ve entered the site go to the right hand side and click on members, and register. Fill in your details, and you will have access to all the published papers and workshop write-ups including the above presentation. Registration is free.

After the presentation attendees broke into groups, they were asked a series of questions:

Summary Questions & Answers:

1. What are the management issues we will face in the next ten years for soil sustainability and agricultural production?

  1. Land use and land use change:

Question: How can the research protect the livelihood of farmers where policy decisions have economic and social impacts?

Answer

SLURI aims to provide scientific information on the effects of land use on soil and the receiving environments. SLURI consults with its end users through meetings such as this one, and through its Advocacy Group to ensure that its research is addressing relevant issues. SLURI’s science plan is developed in conjunction with end-users, and is signed-off by its Governance Council.

The results that come from SLURI’s research will be used for informing regional and national policy. Scientific information alone will not be used for setting policy and debates need to be held to develop acceptable policies. SLURI is not responsible for these debates, but is committed to providing evidence-based knowledge and objective information to them. Many policies currently use a precautionary approach as information on land use effects is lacking. Our research aims to provide a better understanding of these effects, and as a result, policies may become less restrictive in the future.

Question: Do we know the costs of trade offs for land use change at national and regional levels?

Answer

SLURI has begun to answer this query, but at this stage, our work is at the enterprise level. A copy of Dake et al. on the financial and environmental trade-offs at the farm level is available from the SLURI website. Through work now getting underway in Theme 5, via case study in the Rangitikei/Manawatu Districts, we will begin to upscale this trade-off modelling

Question: How much research is going into mitigation strategies for effects of land use?

Answer

There is very little research into mitigation strategies in the core SLURI programme. However, a considerable amount of research is taking place in the science programmes that will become part of SLURI in the future. Crop & Food Research are developing best management practices for maintaining soil quality under existing land uses and following intensification or a change in land uses. They are also looking at best management practices for minimising nitrate leaching losses from arable soils. Under Theme 3, HortResearch, AgResearch and Landcare Research are conducting a trial at Ballantrae in the Manawatu on the increased resilience of soil on unstable slopes through the planting of poplar trees.

  1. Are environmental issues being addressed? Eg Environmental indicators

Answer

The work on soil indicators aims to provide optimum ranges and thresholds from both production and environmental viewpoints. Through our work to date, we have identified that there is very little available information that relates any soil indicator to any environmental impact. We are addressing this as part of our work plan in the next 2 years.

  1. Nitrogen: Why is this important and what work is being done on the N Cycle?

 What is the projected effect of N inhibitors on nitrogen leaching?

Answer

Nitrogen is the major limiting nutrient to plant growth. NZ was traditionally reliant on N fixation of atmospheric N (by white clover in pastures) to provide the N required by plants. In the last 20 years, this reliance has been reduced through the increased use of N fertiliser, resulting in greater yields. One of the priority research areas of SLURI is to increase our understanding of N cycling. We currently have no projected work looking at the effect of nitrification inhibitors on nitrate leaching.

Separately, the SLURI team carried out commercial work on a Technology for Business Growth project with a fertiliser company on the impact of urease and nitrification inhibitors on the leaching of N from urine spots, and the change in pasture growth. This work is presently being written up.

  1. Water: What research is going into sustaining water and how to optimise its use?

Answer

There is no research on this topic in the core SLURI programme. Crop & Food Research are developing strategies for the optimal use of irrigation water for a range of crops and pastures as part of their research that will become part of the SLURI programme in 2 years time. Outside of the SLURI programme, HortResearch is working with Regional Councils to refine irrigation allocation policies so that only appropriate consents are granted, and that through evidence based knowledge, irrigation practices use only the minimum amount of irrigation water.

2. Have you identified problems with your soil that affect your production?

  1. Soil Structure:
    1. Cropping and its effects on soil structure and sustainability, how do we maintain economics? (eg rotation length under grass)
    2. Compaction: How do farmers handle compaction with increasing numbers?
  1.  Erosion:
    1. Tillage resulting in soil loss
    2. Hill country erosion, could we be water harvesting?
  1. Soil Quality
    1. Lack of information on small scale detail
    2. Lack of information on soil quality
    3. Lack of information on how best to use the soil a farmer has
  1. Enough research has been carried out, where are the solutions?
    1. Manual on environmental issues. E.g. number of trees to offset methane from 500 cows. Nitrogen leaching
    2. Outcomes/knowledge from the data collected

3. What do you see as being the issues in the next 10 years for soil sustainability and agricultural production?

  1. Education of issues around soil sustainability:

a. What are the facts not perceptions

b. As the cost of economic trade-offs increase, how do we continue to promote environmental change

  1. Energy:

a. Cost of energy

b. Overseas markets (i.e. oil price increases)

c. Electricity cost increases

d. Mapping of energy resources to consumption to predict future use requirements (i.e. electricity consumption).

Organics

a. Understanding the power-house of the soil Humus, Organic Carbon, microbal activity working in the soil – better structure, all leading to better soil moisture holding capacity. Understanding the role of calcium in the soil.

b. Need for more Biological Research of soils

c. Need for trials comparing – traditional v organic forms of farming. 

d. Need research into the concept of “tall-grazing” to allow composting back into soil systems.

  1. More work needed on No-tillage to answering questions that main-stream farmers have of no-tillage. Need answers to questions over long term effect of roundup and answers to pests like slugs. USA, Australia, Canada are well ahead of NZ research.
  1. Need to consider and research electro-magnetic properties of soil.
  1. Urban vs Rural:
  • Agriculture is pushed onto marginal land (urban sprawl).
  • Big picture issues, e.g. population growth policies – what can we sustain?
  1. Advocacy and adoption of best practice to the majority i.e. not just the top farmers – noting best practice is always changing.
  1. Limits on landuse should be based on effects on environment not inputs. Therefore accurate data is captured and methodologies are indisputable.
  1. Economic sustainability.

4. Where do you see the gaps in science relating to soils and agricultural production?

 1. Mitigation – show we have a problem and solutions to overcome problem.

2. Research into how to make market drivers work for environmental outcomes.

3. Nutrient budgeting on a regional as well as national scale.

4. Increased resourcing and more issue based focus of research.

5. Prioritising key issues.

6. More robust processes around decision-making.

7. Predicting other scenarios e.g. price/market changes, social changes.

8. Carbon measurement relating to Kyoto. Effect of agricultural practices on carbon sequestration.

9. Effects of changing farm systems on environmental impacts.

10. Natural ways, less waste, less chemicals.

11. Reliable science on water needs to guide allocation.

12. Endocrine disrupters.

13. Soil microbes.