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An interest in farm sustainability and sustainable fertiliser management was the key driver behind Massey University student Theané de Klerk’s decision to focus her Master’s degree on New Zealand’s agricultural phosphorus budget. Theané is one of three students that the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand is currently supporting.

The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand have updated our Fertiliser Use on New Zealand Sheep and Beef Farms booklet.

The booklet provides clear and concise information on key aspects of soil fertility and nutrient management for productive drystock farming. 

FANZ places great value on developing New Zealand’s agricultural research capability. One way we do this is through supporting PhD students. Among the students we are currently supporting is Kaitlin Watson, a Lincoln University student whose PhD looks at phosphorus and nitrogen cycling in dryland pastures under conventional and regenerative agriculture management.

FANZ is dedicated to funding research and developing New Zealand’s agricultural research capability by supporting PhD research such as the work of Massey University student Nicola Wilson who is undertaking research on ‘What Hot Water Extractable Carbon and Nitrogen can tell us about changes in labile soil Carbon and Nitrogen.’

The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand recently updated its Fertiliser Use on New Zealand Dairy Farms booklet to ensure farmers get the best value from fertiliser applied and to align the advice with the Code of Practice for Fertiliser Nutrient Management.

Dairy farmers milking cows on a farm area of more than 20 hectares are required to record synthetic nitrogen use on their dairy platform land, including a zero-kg record if no synthetic nitrogen is used. The regulations require data to be submitted by 31 July each year for the preceding year ended 30 June. 

The New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research has published a paper titled Nitrogen fertiliser use in grazed pasture-based systems in New Zealand. The research paper was commissioned by the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand and written by AgReserch senior scientist Colin Gray.

Commercial fertilisers have long been critical to viable economic production in New Zealand’s agriculture and horticulture sectors – starting in 1867 with the import of 459 tonnes of phosphorus-rich Pacific Island bird and bat dung. The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand marks its 75th anniversary in 2023. This article looks back the history of fertiliser use in New Zealand.

The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand has published a revised and updated Code of Practice for fertiliser nutrient management, replacing the previous version published in 2013.

The Code was launched in Wellington in March 2023, by the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor.