Resources for Agronomists
Topics
2 min read
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. This page brings together tools, guides and research to support agronomists working alongside dairy farmers. Use these resources to inform conversations on farm, helping farmers make confident, practical decisions that support productive and resilient farming businesses.
Your go-to tools and resources are here
If you are short on time, start with these quick links to the most used resources.
-
Pest, weeds and diseases
On this page, you’ll find information about various pests, weeds, and diseases that affect New Zealand pastures and brassicas.
-
Catch crops gross margin calculator
Compare catch crop options to support confident, farm‑specific profitability conversations with farmers.
-
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.
-
Perennial Ryegrass Grazing Guide
An in-paddock pocket guide to assessing post-grazing residuals, pre-grazing yields and leaf stage of perennial ryegrass.
-
Pasture renewal guide
This resource supports you in advising farmers on species selection, sowing techniques and ongoing pasture performance.
-
Ryegrass
Explore the ryegrass selection guide: covering variety types, endophytes, ploidy, heading dates, and sugar content.
What's new
Latest research: Resilent Pastures Programme
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.
What's timely
Turn wintering best practice into a practical on-farm plan
A successful winter is much easier when everyone has a clear, shared plan. Looking to achieve the following outcomes with farmers?
- Planning for how cows will cope in wet conditions.
- Improving cow lying time, grazing movement, and access to shelter and water, to prevent issues before they arise.
- Identifying risks such as critical source areas and areas prone to pugging early.
- Supporting paddock layouts and grazing approaches that protect soils and waterways while maintaining cow comfort.
- Gradually transitioning cows onto crop and using practical grazing strategies to reduce both animal and environmental stress as conditions tighten.
The winter grazing plan helps turn the following conversations into a practical plan that everyone can work from.
Explore more tools to strengthen your advice and support farmers
Help farmers get the most from their pastures with tools that support better grazing decisions
Use these tools to sense-check grazing decisions, lift pasture use, and support more resilient systems.
Back up your conversations with independent tools that lift pasture performance
Check how pasture is tracking and where you can lift it. Use this tool to sense-check what’s happening on farm and guide practical steps to improve pasture use.
Support for confident crop feeding starts here
Find 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:
Discover what's driving better feed solutions through the latest research
These insights can back up your advice on why certain approaches improve performance, persistence, and resilience over time.
Uncover insights shaping feed and crop production with these podcasts
A curated selection you'll find both relevant and thought-provoking for your role.
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.
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.
