Feeding the world’s growing population
New Zealand’s reputation as a quality food producer is growing.
The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand promotes and encourages responsible and scientifically-based nutrient management.
Fertilisers support the replenishment of nutrients, making them available for productive plant growth and maintaining soil fertility. This must be managed carefully, to ensure good yields while minimising any environmental impacts. Good farming practice includes creating and maintaining a nutrient budget and testing the soil regularly.
A nutrient budget tells you about the balance between nutrient inputs and outputs.
It compares inputs such as:
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with outputs such as:
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A nutrient budget helps to determine what is required to maintain soil fertility and use nutrients efficiently. It enables you to generate a nutrient plan to optimise production while minimising losses to the environment.
Soil testing gives information on the nutrient status and the chemical/physical status of soil. It can be used to inform farm management decisions. By testing soil, farmers know which nutrients – and how much – to apply. If too little is added, crops will not produce as expected. If too much is applied or is applied incorrectly, for example, at the wrong time or in the wrong manner, excess nutrients may run off the fields and pollute streams and groundwater. So, while fertilisers serve an important purpose, farmers must be careful to use the right product and the right amount, at the right rate and right time (the 4R approach).
Well managed nutrient applications can achieve increased production and increased farmer profitability, while maintaining environmental protection and improved sustainability.
This means following the 4R Nutrient approach:
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The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand and Dairy NZ funded development of the Nutrient Management Adviser Certification Programme (NMACP). This industry-wide certification aims to ensure that advisers have the learning, experience and capability to give sound nutrient advice.
7 September 2022
The 2022 AgriTechNZ Baseline of Digital Adoption in Primary Industries report was released in August.
Created as part of a study by AgriTechNZ and insights partner Research First, the report was co-designed with partners The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand, Zespri, The Foundation of Arable Research and DairyNZ. It was also supported by the Ministry for Primary Industries as part of the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures initiative (SFFF).
The 60-page report looks at digital adoption, including key drivers and barriers across the dairy, horticulture, arable and beef/sheep sectors.
You can download the report here.
6 July 2022
The paper was written by Driss Touhami of the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University. Touhami is also a member of the AgrioBioSciences Program, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guerir, Morocco.
The paper, titled "Effects of long-term phosphorus fertilizer inputs and seasonal conditions on organic soil phosphorus cycling under grazed pasture", was co-authored by Leo Condron Richard McDowell and Ray Moss. The report can be viewed here.
Read more about the long-running Winchmore trial on the FANZ website here.
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