Resources for Agronomists
Tools, insights, and resources to support your conversations.
Welcome, Agronomists
A central place for tools and information to support your expertise, and drive dairy farming success - on farm, every day.
Your go to tools and resources
You're at the heart of productive farming systems, connecting farmers, rural professionals, and the wider agricultural sector. As an agronomist, your expertise helps shape resilient, profitable, and sustainable land use. To support your work, we offer tools and resources designed to help you assess, plan, and guide farmers with confidence, or whether you’re advising on pasture renewal or crop rotations to soil health.
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Pest, weeds and diseases
On this page, you’ll find information about various pests, weeds, and diseases that affect New Zealand pastures and brassicas.
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Pasture renewal guide
This resource supports you in advising farmers on species selection, sowing techniques and ongoing pasture performance.
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Catch crops gross margin calculator
This is a financial tool that estimates the relative profitability of different catch crop options.
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Endophytes
Sowing treated seeds in insect-prone areas: On this page, how to select endophytes for protection against pest and to avoid animal health issues.
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Ryegrass
Explore the ryegrass selection guide: covering variety types, endophytes, ploidy, heading dates, and sugar content.
Latest research: Resilent Pastures
The Resilient Pastures programme is a seven-year initiative led by DairyNZ with MPI through the Primary Sector Growth Fund and industry partners Beef + Lamb New Zealand. It focuses on enhancing pasture performance and persistence on dairy, sheep and beef farms across the upper North Island.
Explore hidden gems in DairyNZ’s toolkit
These resources are designed to help you deliver clear, data-driven support that empowers farmers to make informed decisions. Use them to strengthen your impact and support sustainable farm success.
Maximise pasture performance with practical feed management tools
Help farmers get the most from their pastures with tools that support better grazing decisions and feed budgeting. These resources cover key areas like managing new pasture and grazing perennial ryegrass effectively. Use these tools to guide conversations around feed planning, pasture utilisation, and system resilience.
Discover what's driving better feed solutions: explore the latest research
Stay informed with DairyNZ’s research designed to support rural professionals in delivering high-quality, reliable advice alongside farmers. Access the knowledge you need to build more resilient farming systems. The best advice starts with this great research:
Support for confident crop feeding starts here: swedes, fodder, and more
Equip farmers with practical, evidence-based tools to manage feed choices and reduce risk. Provide resources that support decision-making around feeding swedes and fodder beet to dairy cows, with a focus on nutrition, transition, and animal health. Use the links below to access tools that help farmers build more resilient, productive systems:
See on-farm success in action with these case studies
A real-life example on how to grow plantain as part of the dairy farm
Using plantain has resulted in a 5% reduction in N-loss for the Passey’s so far, as modelled in Overseer and based on an average of 10% plantain in the pasture sward.
Read more about Aaron and Jo Passey
Broadcasting seed with fertiliser: A guide to incorporate plantain into pastures
Steve and Paula Holdem operate a 265 effective hectare dairy farm on the Mamaku plateau, overlooking Lake Rotorua. The Holdems have successfully incorporated plantain across most of their farm by broadcasting seed with their fertiliser and reduced the farms' environmental footprint.
Podcasts
Uncover insights shaping feed and crop production with these podcasts
If you're looking for insights and perspectives to support your work with farmers, these podcast episodes are a valuable resource. We've curated a selection we think you'll find both relevant and thought-provoking for your role.
Looking for something else?
Explore the links below to return to the Rural Professional Hub, contact your local area manager, explore current research, or sign up for updates on upcoming events, resources, and insights to support your work with farmers.
