Feeding the world’s growing population

New Zealand’s reputation as a quality food producer is growing.

Optimising food production

Over the next 50 years farmers around the world will need to produce more food than has been grown over the past 10,000 years.

Best use from a limited resource

Fertiliser helps farmers produce food efficiently by replenishing the soil. But fertiliser needs to be used responsibly.

Responsible and sustainable nutrient management

The Fertiliser Association invests in research and tools to ensure farm profitability while minimising nutrient losses to the environment.

The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand promotes and encourages responsible and scientifically-based nutrient management.

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Research

Ongoing scientific research is critical to New Zealand agriculture. The Fertiliser Association of New Zealand allocates more than one million dollars annually for research. Areas of focus include environmental mitigation, precision agriculture, management tools, data collection and reporting, managing contaminants and agronomic performance.

We aim to:

  • facilitate major beneficial changes in nutrient management practices
  • drive significant innovation in systems and tools for nutrient management
  • deliver direct benefits for farmers – financial, environmental and technological.

As well as funding research, we develop New Zealand capability by supporting PhD research on nutrient management. We also support Overseer, an agricultural management tool that encourages better decision making.

Research Projects

Phil Journeaux, Journeaux Economics

Completed: February 2024

Colin Gray, Val Snow, Chandra Ghimire 

Completed April 2023

 Jeffrey Morton, MortonAg

Completed October 2022

 Jeff Morton, MortonAg; Jim Moir; and Derrick Moot

Completed May 2023

N Schon, S Shi, S Mansfield, C Grey, A Mackay & M O'Callaghan, AgResearch; B Stevenson, J Cavanagh & K Orwin, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research; P Fraser, C Anderson & R Simpson, Lincoln; G Lear, University of Auckland. May 2023.

Phil Journeaux, AgFirst Waikato; John-Paul Praat and Peter Handford, Groundtruth Ltd; Garry McDonald, Market Economics. 

Completed September 2022

Sam Carrick, Linda Lilburne, Gerard Grealish, Pierre Roudier, Veronica Penny, Nadia Laubscher - Landcare Research
Completed June 2020

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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.

Find out more

12 February 2025

Arable growers are being invited to supply samples of their harvested crops as part of a Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) project, which will help determine how well they are managing their biggest input - fertiliser.

3 July 2024

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.

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