Environmental project gets funding

FARMER INCLUDING Waipa dairy farms will be studied and lessons offered to all farmers, writes Ali Tocker. Funding grants

A Waipa research project to help farmers reduce their environmental footprint, while maintaining or improving profitability and productivity, has received a funding boost from the Sustainable Farm Fund.

The Ministry for Primary Industries has allocated $150,625 over three years in SFF funding to the project, which will take place on 25 Waipa hill country dairy farms.

The project – Waipa Dairy Collective: managing risk and building resilient businesses – is being co-ordinated by agricultural consultancy Headlands. The project is being co-funded by industry partners including Hamilton-based Dairynz, Livestock Improvement and Ballance, with support from councils.

Headlands consultants Alison Dewes, Jesse Bolt and Sam Williams (Waikato’s finalist in the 2012 Young Farmer competition) will work closely with local farmers on the project.

Dewes said the aim of the project was to identify the lowestfootprint, highest-profit dairy farms in the region, and share the lessons with other farmers. It mirrors a similar project Headlands is co-ordinating in upper Waikato, which is in its first year. Each project involves 25 farms.

‘‘Over a three-year period, we do full farm assessments and environmental footprint assessments. At the end of each year, we pick the top farmers and do a learning experience for the wider community on the best farms – in terms of being resilient, profitable and having the lowest impact on the environment.’’

Dewes said the project had good buy-in from farmers, who could see the benefits of getting on board with environmental sustainability.

Bolt said the Waipa project would focus on hill country dairy land. About 130,000 hectares in the Waikato district is vulnerable to erosion due to its steepness.

‘‘The key initiative is to explore novel systems in operation in Waipa – systems that allow really good profitability, production efficiency, animal welfare practices and environmental sustainability.

‘‘By the end of the three-year project, we’ll have benchmarks that potential and existing hill country farmers can use. The lessons will be applicable to hill country dairy farms throughout the country.’’

Twelve Waipa farmers have expressed interest in taking part, and the team is seeking 13 more. The dairy sector that drives the Waikato and national economies is the main winner in the latest round of the Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF), announced by the Ministry of Primary Industries.

The dairy sector is receiving about $2 million of the $8m SFF funding allocated to 61 projects over three years.

Other sectors receiving SFF funding include aquaculture ($1.2m), arable ($1.1m) and horticulture (about $700,000).