increase font size
The Fertiliser Quality Council (FQC) is really pleased with the response to the webcast launching the program New Zealand Needs Fertiliser and Plants Need Food. It is a short, sharp educational programme aimed at correcting the myths over fertiliser use.
FQC chair Neil Barton says the immediate response of 361 full views, plus a few on Facebook, was great news for the fertiliser industry. In addition the vast majority watched the programme right through.
"For too long we have had the self-styled environmental disciples perpetuating myths about fertiliser and its use," Barton says. "We now have a science-based programme refuting that. The fact that almost 400 New Zealanders decided to watch the launch of the programme, including a motivational address by Prof Rowarth from the University of Waikato Business School, is most heartening.
"Using a webcast also allows us to communicate better with the younger, more technically inclined farmers and council planners who may be unaware of the substantial impact of fertiliser on farming and the economy. The effect that superphosphate has had on pastoral farming post World War 11 is huge. It has enabled soil that can barely support brown top to produce high quality ryegrass, clover pastures.
"New Zealand soils are not naturally fertile and without fertiliser our economy, as we know it, is doomed. Responsible fertiliser use and application has a huge economic benefit and a small environmental footprint.
"The fact that we chose a webcast to launch the initiative also shows our willingness to get a key message across while creating a minimal environmental footprint," Barton says.
OPINION: For many Kiwi farmers, the nutrients our farmers need simply arrive when they are needed, get applied when conditions suit, and are largely viewed as one part of the rhythm of the farming year.
QU Dongyu, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has issued a warning saying that global fertiliser scarcity caused by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz will lead to lower yields and tightening food supplies into 2027.
OPINION: Since the escalation of tensions involving Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, farmers have seen diesel prices pushing closer to $4 per litre.
Some arable farmers are getting out of arable and converting to dairy in the faced of soaring fuel and fertiliser prices on top of a very poor growing season.
New research suggests Aotearoa New Zealand farmers are broadly matching phosphorus fertiliser use to the needs of their soils, helping maintain relatively stable nutrient levels across the country’s agricultural land.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
