The audited nutrient management project seeks to develop a system whereby milk supply companies can measure and monitor a farms nitrogen use efficiency and/or nitrogen loss. It is part of a wider programme entitled "Primary Growth Partnership" (PGP) - a 7 year, 170 million dollar programme aiming to transform the dairy value chain through investment in new people, capability and knowledge.
The PGP Audited Nutrient Management Project aims to create a set of protocols for the collection, analysis and audit of farm data that will enable milk supply companies to measure and monitor the efficiency with which nitrogen is utilised on dairy farms. This is then reported back to farmers with a comparison to the relevant benchmarks for their region and farm system type. The project is looking at two methods of analysing this data. The first method is to simply calculate the nitrogen use efficiency using the input and output data of the farm. The second method utilises the OVERSEER model to calculate nitrogen conversion efficiency along with nitrogen leaching.
The system provides:
- Information to the farmer about their nitrogen use efficiency and/or losses;
- Improved information for developing nutrient management plans;
- A tool to enable milk supply companies drive uptake of good management practices’;
- A record of nitrogen use and losses to satisfy regulatory and market requirements where this is required; and
- Ability for the industry to demonstrate increasing efficiency over time.
As a first step, the scheme will be piloted in three catchments in New Zealand over the 2011/2012 season. A visit will be made to the farm early in the season (post calving) to explain how the process will work and what information will be required at the season’s end. Information will also be collected for the 2010/2011 season at this time where it is available. A follow up visit at the end of the year will collect the information and the target is to have all individual reports back to farmers by the 1st August 2012.
