We continue to have solid engagement with our farming communities in Levin and Gisborne.  At this stage our project plan had us monitoring the effectiveness of a bioreactor to manage nitrogen leaving the field, but we have not been able to find a regular flow of nutrient rich water that we can treat. Further drain flow monitor through Levin has continued to show little nitrogen in the drains flowing past the cropping blocks so any nitrate losses are assumed to be via groundwater, possibly reappearing in the Arawahata Stream between the cropped areas and Lake Horowhenua.

We are working with growers to ensure that they are applying the correct rate of fertiliser in the right place so that they do not lose excess nutrients from the field.

As part of the suite of tools to help farmers, we have created LandWISE Nutrient Budget templates and updated the FertSpread web-calculator for broadcast spreader calibrations to include Fertplace for placement equipment such as planters and side-dressers.

The three main tools we are using in our work with growers are:

• The LandWISE Nutrient Budget: used in the crop planning stage to ensure planned fertiliser practice follows industry good practice.
• The Nitrate Quick Test soil test: used as an active management tool during the crop to check the fertiliser plan and to validate additional fertiliser applications where the grower expects that extra fertiliser is required on top of what was originally planned.
• The calibration tools, FertSpread and FertPlace: used to ensure that the fertiliser application equipment is evenly applying the fertiliser at the target rate where it is required.

In the coming season we have started two large, replicated trials in Gisborne focusing on nitrogen application rates to tomato and sweetcorn crops. Late winter soil testing to 90cm has shown a large range of soil nitrate levels (60-257 kg N/ha) in paddocks across Gisborne. Planned nitrogen fertiliser applications across these blocks were the grower standard rate.

Further work we are completing is turning the LandWISE Nitrogen Budget template into an online app for growers to use. The aim is a mobile-friendly tool that growers can use in the field. By making the information available on the technology growers always have with them, they will be able to simply validate their planned fertiliser plan against industry good practice and make more informed fertiliser decisions.

For queries, contact us here

Many thanks to our project funders, and the growers and industry folk who are putting so much time and effort into being the best they can be.