Climate change project contracts 2008/09

Sustainable dairying is about balancing profitability with environmental responsibility. This is the thinking guiding DairyNZ's efforts in our work with farmers and industry partners to find environmental solutions that are practical and work on-farm, while reducing farmers' costs, and improving their efficiency and productivity.

Below is a summary of projects carried out during the 2008/09 season in the climate change area.

Project	Project Number	Description	DairyNZ Funding $'000's (excl. GST)	Parties
Environmental monitoring on Lincoln University Dairy Farm	EN628	This project monitors nitrogen losses from Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) and uses this information to help guide farm, industry and policy responses and develop environmentally robust management practices for use on irrigated dairy farms in the South Island.	85	Lincoln University
Adapting to a drier environment by improving irrigation practices	EN634	The main objective is to increase the uptake of already developed and available irrigation practices and tools by dairy farmers, particularly in areas where irrigation restrictions occur.	36	The Agribusiness DevelopmentGroup NZ Ltd
Grazing strategies and stand-off use to minimise nitrogen emissions from dairy farms	EN641	To develop knowledge and guidelines for the use of stand-off facilities to mitigate nitrogen-derived emissions on dairy farms by manipulating grazing and standoff to maximising urine capture without affecting farm performance and cow welfare.	76	DairyNZ Ltd
Delivering environmental solutions for sustainable productivity outcomes for New Zealand's pastoral industries	Pastoral 21	Reducing N, P, sediment and feacal indicator objects to waterways from New Zealand pastoral industries is central to this project.	1,133	AgResearch Ltd
Reducing ruminant methane emission	PGgRC	Goals of the Reducing Ruminant Methane Emission Research Strategy are to: Identify, establish and develop on-farm technologies to improve production efficiency for ruminants Identify, establish and develop on-farm technologies for sheep, dairy and beef cattle and deer, which lower methane emissions and nitrous oxide output Exploit commercial opportunities arising from the science and technologies in a global market.	468	PPGR Consortia Ltd