The aim of the symposium was to address helping farmers successfully manage productivity in the next few decades, including directing future research, technology development and pasture management techniques.
"Northland farmers face different issues to farmers in the south. We don't tend to have as many frosts and we can continue to grow grass through the winter. Temperature extremes can be a challenge. Ryegrass stops growing when the temperature is over 24C and kikuyu dies back with frosts.
"Feed supplements like palm kernel have become much more expensive so farmers will have to be more reliant on home-grown food.
"Grass is still the lowest-cost feed and it makes sense to do everything to look after it,'' he said.
Northland Seed and Supplies works with farmers to put together pasture mixes specifically for soil types in each farm.
"Every soil type is different and we have been active in trialling other species to try and replace ryegrass where it struggles with persistence,'' Hawkins said.
Grass species like cocksfoot and fescue can handle heat better.
"All the different grasses have pros and cons and every farm is different. We work with farmers to find the best pasture mix for their farm system,'' he said.
In Northland a significant amount of pastoral land features kikuyu grass. The native of the highlands of East Africa is fast spreading and aggressive, forming a dense mat to the exclusion of other species. It was introduced to Northland in the 1920s and has become a dominant grass species.
However, its frost tenderness can catch farmers out, leaving them with no grass in some years of particularly cold winters.
"Northland farmers are experts in farming kikuyu.
"Farmers are direct drilling Italian or annual ryegrasses into the kikuyu pasture so it will be there for the winter and spring before being smothered by the kikuyu over the summer. They have to keep replacing it every year."
The nitrogen-fixing and feed quality components of clover are desirable, but these legumes are challenging to maintain in Northland pasture.
"We have white, red and annual clover and other legumes, and it's great to have it but it is subject to a lot of insect pressure and it needs to be grazed carefully to survive in the pasture.
"We always put it in the mix,'' he said.
Northland's subtropical climate makes weediness a constant challenge and some are toxic to stock.
Pasture weeds include thistles, dock, ragwort, buttercup, pennyroyal, gravel groundsel and parsley dropwort, which is also known as carrot weed.
Aquatic weeds like alligator weed can climb out of waterways to invade pasture.
Hawkins said a pressing issue for Northland farmers was sediment loss, and farmers were trying new techniques to minimise cultivation effects on the land.
"Rather than hoeing up the ground and damaging the soil structure, there is more emphasis within the industry to look at better techniques to establish crops and pasture.
"One of the techniques being looked at is strip tillage where GPS is used to accurately drill seed down the cultivated strips.
"This helps maintain soil quality and conserve moisture in the soil. They are trying to limit the potential for runoff, which helps with water quality as well,'' he said.
With the wet of a Northland winter, minimising pugging is also a constant challenge as pastures can take a long time to recover.
Modern grass cultivars ideally would last between eight and 10 years, and some hybrid ryegrasses would last three to five years before having to be resown.
"Good management is a combination of good fertiliser, good grass species and good grazing management,'' he said.
