The quarter of a billion in grants is supporting 69 multi-year projects.
They include 19 related directly to agriculture and food production, including an $11.4 million NIWA project to help better understand New Zealand’s carbon emissions and uptake.
The NIWA research picks up from a pilot project that used atmospheric data to determine how much carbon is absorbed by NZ’s indigenous forests. The multi-year trial aims to fill the knowledge gap about how planted forests, pastures and urban ecosystems perform.
A GNS groundwater project has received $9.5m over five years to develop and show the source-flow patterns in NZ’s 200 known aquifers and large river catchments.
Researchers maintain the inability to relate aquifer sources and use will continue to limit the country’s ability to manage the resource sustainably.
More than $7m has been given to a Lincoln Agritech team aiming to better understand nitrogen pathways to waterways.
NIWA also receives another $8 million to explore new technologies aiming to double the effectiveness of on-farm pollution mitigation.
A milk project valued at $11.2m at Massey University aims to increase the understanding of the potential for ruminant milk.
Federated Farmers science and innovation spokesman Andrew Hoggard said the nitrogen pathways project is a particular priority for farmers.
“NZ farmers pride themselves on being world leaders in production and sustainability.
“We need the best science and research data available to step up our game even more.”
