Savings of around $20,000 a year
Ngakuru dairy farmers Scott and Larissa Anderson have spent the last 7 years making significant environmental improvements on their 186 ha split calving operation.
Keen to quantify their efforts and identify further opportunities for improvement, they reached out to the Farm Sustainability team to utilise its MitAgator tool, and develop a farm environment plan (that would also meet freshwater farm plan requirements).
Our consultants met with Scott on the property, to better understand their goals, priorities and the work he'd already done. Together they identified risks to fresh water, and built a plan of clear, measurable and prioritised actions to avoid, remedy or mitigate the risks.
MitAgator risk maps were used to support this by removing the guesswork, using advanced geospatial analysis to highlight critical source areas, and model a range of science-based mitigations including plantation forestry, spaced poplar pole planting, low solubility phosphorus (P) fertiliser use, and optimum Olsen P levels.
With all modelled mitigations applied, P loss reduced by 21 per cent and sediment loss by 2.6per cent. When a further mitigation, low rate effluent application, was modelled P loss reduced by 42 per cent and N loss by 1.9 per cent.
These results helped the couple put some evidence behind the work they had done, and create a clear plan for the future. In working through this, Scott and the team were also able to identify that, with their previous effluent system expansion, they could cut back on their fertiliser expenditure.
“The service was a one-off cost of $5000 but is saving us about $20,000 a year, and confirmed our efforts were providing further benefits,” says Scott.
Interested in finding out more?
Our dedicated team is here to support you on your journey, get in touch with our Farm Sustainability team today. Find out more about our full range of services here.
Email: farm.sustainability@ballance.co.nz
Phone: 0800 222 090
