Testing a lower footprint while retaining profit | Ep. 38

Talking Dairy

A lower stocking rate, less nitrogen fertiliser and less imported feed – those are the characteristics of a ‘future farm’ being tested down at Dairy Trust Taranaki. Researchers are into their third season comparing a successful current farm system with a farm system that’s designed to meet the regulations and emissions pricing coming at dairy farmers. So, have they been able to make the future farm system work at a similar profitability to the current farm? And what’s happened with greenhouse gas emissions and nitrate leaching reductions? To talk us through this exciting research are Jason Rolfe, general manager at Dairy Trust Taranaki, and DairyNZ farm systems specialist Chris Glassey.
Chapters
01:11 – The purpose of Dairy Trust Taranaki (DTT)
04:15 – DairyNZ’s relationship with DTT
05:15 – The DTT trial to reduce emissions while increase profit
06:22 – What does the research look like?
08:45 – The partner farm network
10:04 – Challenges along the way
11:10 – What have we learnt from the trial so far?
16:52 – Nitrate leaching across the farms
20:03 – The biggest surprises from the trial
20:58 – Weather effects on the trial
25:05 – How to follow what DTT is doing