Andrew Booth shows riparian planting on his farm at Titoki, Mangakahia. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Farmers are helping to steer each other into more sustainable ways of farming.
DairyNZ is holding nine farmer events called Explore Your Options.
The events are being held in March and April in Whangārei, Cambridge, Whakatāne, Stratford, Dannevirke, Culverden, Taieri, Clydevale and Riversdale.
The Northland event is being held at the dairy farm of Andrew and Vicky Booth near Titoki.
DairyNZ farm performance general manager Sharon Morrell said the events are part of DairyNZ's Step Change project.
"These events help farmers learn from other farmers to improve water quality and reduce emissions, while growing profitably.
"The Explore Your Options events are great for farmers to learn about opportunities and mitigations. This will help deliver a thriving farm business while meeting or exceeding environmental obligations."
Step Change helps farmers understand their position, explore options, create an action plan and implement positive change.
"Profitability is key because it informs farm decisions and enables options. It is critical farmers can financially adapt to environmental commitments and future changes.''
The Booth farm has been chosen for their work in this area, including reducing emissions by reducing stock numbers, using fertiliser more efficiently and retiring land.
Andrew Booth said he had been looking at the conversation around climate change and had got involved with the DairyNZ's Dairy Environment Leaders Programme and the He Waka Eke Noa – Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership, which is a partnership between farmers, industry and the Government.
"Climate change can get political but, in principle, it is good for farmers to think about what measures they can do. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you get bombarded with information so these workshops will help."
Booth said water quality was a good place to start as farmers can see a tangible difference once they fence off waterways and put in more plantings.
"Climate change is such a huge concept that it can seem very daunting but there is a strong correlation between a lot of the work we are doing for water quality and reducing emissions on farm."
Booth said farmers were always changing and evolving their systems.
"We need to continue to evolve, aiming for incremental changes over time. It's always good to be aware of what's going to be required of us moving forward so we can be prepared and start planning.
"There are a lot of guys at the pointy end of farm efficiency who are worried about how much more they can reasonably do."
He Waka Eke Noa comprises 13 partners, led by a steering group and supported by a small programme office. Members include Dairy NZ, Beef and Lamb NZ, Horticulture NZ, Federated Farmers of New Zealand, Meat Industry Association, Ministry for Primary Industries and Ministry for the Environment.
The steering group has set out a five-year programme that aims to equip farmers and growers with the information, tools and support they need to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change.
Tools are being developed so farmers can measure and manage greenhouse gas emissions through farm planning and all farmers will be expected to have developed a plan for managing emissions by 2025.
Booth said more research was needed on many aspects, but in Northland farmers could aim to be more efficient.
"Farmers can be more efficient by utilising all the feed you grow, which comes down to good pasture management.
"Breeding better cows and keeping empty rates down is also important. A lot of it comes back to best-practice tools."
Booth said good breeding could make a huge difference to milk production.
"In recent herd testing, we found a huge difference between our top milker who produced 620kg of milk solids and our bottom cow which produced 310kg. They were the same age and had the same feed. It just comes down to breeding."
The average New Zealand dairy cow churns out 4259 litres of milk containing 381kg of milk solids in a year, according to figures from Dairy NZ and LIC.
The Booths farm 400 Friesian-cross milking cows with 90 rising two-year-old heifers (R2) and 78 rising one-year-old (R1).
The event at the Booth property is being held on March 31 from 10.30am until 1pm.
Topics will include a showcase of examples such as the Northland Agricultural Research Farmlets offering alternatives to buying in stock feed and updated DairyBase baseline for farm system performance, a presentation of new key performance indicators in the Step Change Quadrants format and a look at the Booth family farm and system analysis including changes, mitigation and wetland work.
A barbecue lunch, sponsored by Farm Source, will be provided.