Agriculture

Latest news

Bridging the forecasting gap

15 December 2022

Improvements in data and climate science mean forecasters are able to predict patterns much further ahead and in far greater detail. Melissa Bray looks at what this may mean for farmers.

Irrigation Insight is a joint industry programme funded by MBIE to examine, on working farms, the ease and effectiveness of using high-resolution weather forecasting, production potential, and drainage estimations for on-farm water management.

Fieldays - farming for the future

Feature story

10 October 2018

Farmers visiting Fieldays at Mystery Creek in June could not have missed the take-home message: that science and innovation are key to their continued success.

Community project inspires scientists

Media Release

6 August 2018

A project to restore a stream catchment in Kaikōura—damaged in the 2016 earthquake—is being described as inspirational by NIWA scientists.

Latest videos

NIWA Irrimet

NIWA has developed new tools that can help farmers decide when to irrigate or fertilise. But it needs farmers to test out the tools to ensure they are as practical and easy to use as possible.

The first new tool is called NIWA IrriMet and will be demonstrated at the NIWA stand in the main pavilion at this year’s National Agricultural Fieldays. IrriMet follows the successful launch of FarmMet at last year’s Fieldays.

FarmMet is a tailored weather forecasting tool that provides accurate up-to-date forecasts specific to individual properties. It works by capturing data from climate stations closest to an individual farm and using that to tailor a forecast to farmers delivered straight to their computer.

IrriMet also taps into this same data which is fed in real time to NIWA’s supercomputer, combined with high-resolution weather forecasting and soil information to generate a six-day forecast of soil moisture and leaching potential.

It tells farmers when and how much to irrigate, what the leaching potential is and how overall growth is tracking.

Further information

Restoration of aquatic ecosystems

This project aims to increase our knowledge of aquatic ecosystems and their restoration, and apply this to degraded streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries.

Building back wetlands

This new 3-hectare wetland has been constructed from scratch on a former dairy property near Maketu.

Using algae for nutrient pollution mitigation

NIWA is working with farming enterprises on a novel pollution mitigation technology to remove nutrients from agricultural runoff.

The principles of effective riparian buffer design

Nutrients, sediment, and microbial contaminants are mobilized from urban and agricultural landscapes and enter streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries.

Bridging the forecasting gap

Feature story

15 December 2022

Improvements in data and climate science mean forecasters are able to predict patterns much further ahead and in far greater detail. Melissa Bray looks at what this may mean for farmers.

Riparian Buffer Design Guide

This guide discusses design principles and provides high-level information about the likely performance of riparian buffers.

Better outcomes for downstream water quality

The finishing touches have just been made on a NIWA-led project which aims to prove the performance of constructed wetlands on New Zealand farms.

IrriSET - Irrigation Strategy Evaluation Tool

IrriSET helps farmers to understand the economic viability and environmental efficiency of various irrigation strategies and prioritise their irrigation investments.

Effective mitigation systems to manage contaminant losses

Nutrients, sediment, and microbial contaminants are mobilized from urban and agricultural landscapes and enter streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries. These contaminants can degrade water quality, ecological health, and cultural values.

Freshwater Update 87, June 2022

Freshwater Update 87 features research on using algae to remove nutrients from agricultural runoff, improving the water quality of Lake Hayes and optimising aquatic alligator weed management.

Quantifying and reducing agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases

Almost half of Aotearoa New Zealand’s CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. This is a much higher proportion than most other countries – globally, agricultural emissions average around 7.5% of a country’s total emissions.

Irrigation Insight

Feature story

30 August 2021

Diquat use for submerged weeds

Diquat is a herbicide (chemical) that has been used in New Zealand for many decades for submerged (underwater) weed control and also on agricultural crops. It is registered for freshwater use in New Zealand.

Secrets brought to light

Buried treasure isn’t always gold or silver. NIWA scientists Brandon Goeller and John-Mark Woolley are trialling a range of cutting-edge technologies to uncover hidden contaminant flow paths under agricultural land.

NIWA’s Estuarine Trophic Index

Constructed wetlands, detention bunds, woodchip denitrification filters and planted riparian buffers are examples of a growing suite of edge-of-field and farm-scale mitigation systems that are being trialled across rural New Zealand to reduce the impact of diffuse pollution on freshwater quality

Climate change and agriculture

Helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school and community, can and will make a difference.

Environmental report calls attention to the need for more research on water quality

The quality of New Zealand’s waterways features prominently in a newly released report on the state of our environment - an opinion editorial by NIWA Chief Scientist of Freshwater and Estuaries, Scott Larned.

Community project inspires scientists

A project to restore a stream catchment in Kaikōura—damaged in the 2016 earthquake—is being described as inspirational by NIWA scientists.

Water storage solutions for irrigation schemes

The issue

Fieldays - farming for the future

Feature story

10 October 2018

Farmers visiting Fieldays at Mystery Creek in June could not have missed the take-home message: that science and innovation are key to their continued success.

Community project inspires scientists

Media Release

6 August 2018

A project to restore a stream catchment in Kaikōura—damaged in the 2016 earthquake—is being described as inspirational by NIWA scientists.

Irrigation Insight

The Irrigation Insight programme is focussed on developing knowledge, tools and the confidence of dairy farmers in better managing irrigation, precisely applying the water needed—where, when and how much.

Beating drought

Feature story

10 April 2018

How a regional climate history helped save a farm and cure depression

Our land and water and NIWA's role

Our Land and Water is the science challenge that addresses conflicts and tradeoffs between the needs for agricultural productivity and environmental health and protection. NIWA plays a big role in Our Land and Water, particularly in biophysical science and tool development.

Dairy turns the corner

Feature story

11 June 2017

NIWA's Freshwater and Estuaries Chief Scientist Dr John Quinn believes the dairy industry has been responsive in the tools it has adopted to reduce its impact on waterways.

Agriculture

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