“We are now taking that data and overlaying it with good management practices to determine what the nitrogen and phosphate losses look like.”
This information will be used to develop a matrix which farmers will need to use when applying for a resource consent.
The idea behind developing the matrix is to help farmers find out what and where their nitrogen and phosphate losses are likely to be, taking account of their soil, crops and management systems.
“The matrix will reflect the complexity of different farming systems,” Williams says.
This information gives farmers numbers against which they can benchmark themselves while providing the regional council with improved information to estimate the nutrient loadings within a specific catchment.
The Matrix of Good Management portal will be available on Environment Canterbury’s website from September.
Baseline figures
Ken Taylor, Environment Canterbury’s director of investigations and monitoring, says farmers will be able to upload their Overseer files to the regional council’s website using The Matrix of Good Management portal. The GMP information will be overlaid with the Overseer files and the matrix of GMP will calculate the expected nitrogen and phosphate losses and provide farmers with GMP baseline numbers.
Taylor says by providing a single portal that combines Overseer data with GMP information, Environment Canterbury is trying to make compliance around nutrient management as simple as possible.
Williams says the matrix will grow over time as people go to the portal, upload their Overseer budgets and have their nutrient loss estimates under good management practice calculated. This will give farmers and the regional council sound information on nutrient management in the region.
