NZ Catchment Groups Thrive with ‘Source to Sea’ Approach

That's the view of the Government's chief science advisor Dr John Roche who was a keynote speaker at Massey University's Farmed Landscapes Research Centres (FLRC) conference.

The theme of the conference was catchments and saw a range of scientists and rural professionals present papers on a wide variety of topics relating to the management of catchments. These included detainment bunds, woodchip bioreactors and the use of grass species to reduce nitrogen leaching.

But the topic of particular interest to farmers was hearing about the successes of farmer-led catchment groups around the country.

Roche says these are critical because they are run by farmers and farmers learn best from farmers. He says the results from such groups, which are suppported by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the Ministry for the Environment (MfE), are fantastic.

"One of the key things we need to do with catchments is to collectivise our efforts so that the actions taken meet the needs of all the farmers in the catchment. The key is ensuring that these groups are farmer led and that they are a part of the solution and we have brilliant examples of how farmers drive solutions," he says.

Roche says all farmers in a catchment have a part to play, whether they are high up in the hills at the source of streams or down on the lower reaches. He says you have different types of farms and multiple land uses and the needs of all must be taken into account.

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"If you look at the big catchment collectives around the country, be they in Southland or the Rangitikei, they are all focused on taking measurements right up the catchments from source to sea," he says.

Roche says while sheep have a lower impact than beef cattle, and they less than dairy cows, there's a need for all disciplines of farming to collaborate to get the best outcome for their catchment. He says the catchment groups are an integral part of the rural communtiy and there are great examples in the Rangitikei district where farmer-led groups are identifying priority water bodies and putting mitigations in place.

A key point raised at the FLRC conference was the importance of farmers and scientists working together. Since the disestablishment of MAF and the demise of farm advisors who had direct access to scientists, the gap between the two widened. Now MPI with its On Farm Support Team and Massey with its frequent field days is helping to close this gap.

Roche says NZ farmers and scientists have a proud tradition of working together and farmers seeking out the right expert to deal with a problem or future opportunity.

"But I still see the need to encourage more of that and get our science graduates and scientists to actively engage with the end user of the science," he says.