Friday, March 29, 2024

Planting plans made easy

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A Riparian Planner website, running since late autumn, is already being used by farmers and consultants.
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The planner, on the DairyNZ website under Environment, allows planting plans to be made for specific areas onfarm.

Users identify their farm by either entering their dairy company supply number or finding it on a map on the site.

Waterways and wetland areas can then be identified and measured, planting schemes chosen and costed out, and timeframes allocated.

DairyNZ senior developer Matt Highway told a workshop at SIDE in Invercargill in June all dairy farms in New Zealand that have waterways greater than a metre wide and deeper than 30cm would need a riparian management plan by 2020, with the actions included in it to be done by 2030.

“Under the Sustainable Dairy Water Accord all dairy farms with accord-defined waterways need to have a plan soon,” Highway said.

“That means about 8500 farms need, in the next four years, a detailed breakdown of Water Accord water goals, actions and timeframes for stock exclusion, planting and maintenance.”

The Riparian Planner has been funded through dairy farmers’ DairyNZ levy, the Ministry for Primary Industries and Landcare Research.

The website is free and information entered on it by farmers is not available to anyone else.

“The sign-up and login is hosted through a third-party security service and users can link it to their Gmail or Facebook accounts or enter it by using an email address and password.”

Plans made on the website can be downloaded and printed but also remain on the website so they can be changed and updated.

“We want farmers to use it on the web as a living document – that once an area has been planted they can say that and move on to what riparian area they have decided to do next.”

The website also includes videos on how to plant waterways, user guides for the planner and links to technical notes on waterway management. DairyNZ can be contacted for help and further information.

Highway said after excluding stock from waterways a management plan was needed to look after the area, but that didn’t mean expensive plantings.

“Just grass is a great option, especially for narrow drains.”

A recent study of Southland soils showed grass that wasn’t grazed slowed runoff velocity by 71% compared with grazed grass, he said.

Highway said farmers should think about their objectives for an area when deciding on plantings.

“Is it to stop bank erosion or is it to shade the water for fish habitat, do you want more bees and birds, or is it to look nice and so increase the value of your farm?”

The Riparian Planner lists plants ideal for each region as well as plants suitable for upper and lower banks. It includes natives and exotics.

Highway said farmers who had started planting riparian areas had come across problems such as rabbits and hares eating new plants and rat numbers increasing along waterway banks.

“You might need to start putting in some bait stations for rats and other vermin because they will live in these areas.

“Plant guards can help to stop plants being eaten by rabbits and hares and also protect young plants from the weather.

“Keeping grass long around young plants can also keep rabbits away.”

He said farmers could choose plants that would survive weed sprays, which would help stop riparian areas becoming infested with gorse and broom. Planting only one side of a waterway still enabled drain cleaning.

“There are lots of options and there is lots of information out there about what to plant where and how to look after riparian areas after they have been planted.”

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