Dry weather classification expands to North Island
The dry weather in some parts of the North Island has received medium-scale adverse event classification from the Government.
Irish scientists are working on breeding grasses and cereal crops able to better handle wet conditions.
Ireland is (sometimes incorrectly) judged as having high rainfall – much as NZ’s West Coast. Ireland is like the West Coast in that the westerly winds bring rain and dump it in quantity on the ‘emerald isle’.
This year all Irish farmers have been hit by the rain: it has ruined tillage farmers’ crops, and sheep, beef and dairy farmers have also been hit, causing a drop in prices.
John Spink, the head of crop science at Ireland’s Teagasc Research Institute at Carlow, says Ireland’s high rainfall and climate change is causing the loss of a fair proportion of winter sown cereals due to waterlogging.
To try to mitigate this problem they are doing genetic research, seeking to create new species of crops and grasses with improved waterlogging resistance. They are trying to deal with wet and cold, Spink says.
“We are at the early stages of the research. We have done some screening in the glasshouse and we are starting this autumn in the field and will be irrigating during the winter. That will be to look at genetic material and see how much variation there is in available genetic material.
“Another strand is working with people at Maynooth University, near Dublin, who have been working on Arabidopsis; they have found pathways which bestow waterlogging tolerance. They are seeking the same thing in grasses.”
Spink says waterlogging has a similar outcome to drought because it has long term impacts. Waterlogging of ryegrass over the winter, while it won’t kill the plant, will limit the size of the grass canopy.
“That delays spring growth, so it’s not really about being able to graze over the winter but being able to get better shoulder growth in spring – more early season growth, which is very valuable grass obviously.”
Spink says Ireland seems to be experiencing more extremes of weather: in the past 30 years the mean weather data has shown an increase of 90mm of rainfall.
While Ireland doesn’t have some of the heavy clay soils found in NZ, it has another problem also much talked about – lack of sunshine.
“The water use of our crops in summer would only be about 3mm, compared to places such as NZ where you get 9mm. We require a lot less water for crop growth because we don’t have the high intensity of radiation or the winds you get that dry out the ground.”
The Commerce Commission says connectivity options for rural New Zealanders are front-of-mind as it begins a formal investigation into the future of the copper network.
Grand Finalists have been selected, all regional finals have concluded, and the journey towards the FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final is underway.
Hopes of NZ sheepmeat prices picking up anytime soon in the country's key export market of China looks highly unlikely.
Regional councils are welcoming the certainty for councils in today’s Resource Management Act (RMA) announcement by the Government.
ASB says the decision to sign on to the AgriZeroNZ joint venture came out of a wish to be a part of the solution.
Federated Farmers says changes announced to the Resource Management Act today mark the end of the war on farming.
OPINION: Talking about plant-based food: “Chicken-free chicken” start-up Sunfed has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird…
OPINION: Synlait's financial woes won’t be going away anytime soon.