With Parliament’s Environment Select Committee hearing views on the viability and fairness of agricultural greenhouse gas reduction targets in the Zero Carbon Bill and debate building on how best to move towards on-farm emission charging, what’s been missed is the work already done by farmers.
However, Ball and others are making incremental changes to reduce their emissions while keeping their eye on the bottom line.
Ball and wife Pauline, who were recently named national ambassadors for sustainable farming and growing and won the Gordon Stephenson Trophy, awarded as part of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards, have their eye on a long-term sustainable future.
The couple, who run a dairy and beef operation, have a low-input, light-footprint focus with a business tagline of creating value inside the farmgate.
“It’s a lot of little things really,” Ball said of his approach to reducing emissions, adding it’s important to know where those emissions are coming from before trying to reduce them.
Part of that is reducing, as much as possible, the amount of off-farm feed needed.
“The key is trying to produce every bit of supplementary feed ourselves. That controls the intensity of what you do but it also reduces the risk.”
A result has been a move away from palm kernel, with more reliance on fodder crops like legumes, lucerne and maize silage grown on-farm.
There has also been a big focus on de-intensifying the farming operation, with cow numbers dropping from 4.2/ha to 2.8/ha.
At the same time the farm’s greenhouse gas emissions have almost halved.
Nitrous oxide emissions can be connected to nitrogen losses so that was another area addressed.
Ball’s approach includes considering whether fertiliser can be used more efficiently. As part of that every paddock is soil tested while better use of data has helped him decide whether it is better used on small, strategic locations.
Improving the farm’s sustainability is a work in progress and every part of the operation is considered.
“We found that some of the things we were doing, there was not really much economic benefit but they had a big impact on the environment so we stopped them.”
South Taranaki farmer Damian Roper is another who has adopted the approach of taking multiple small steps to help reduce his greenhouse gas emissions.
Roper, who earlier this year picked up the John Wilson Trophy, the Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award, farms 150ha near Patea with his wife Jane.
They’ve cut cow numbers from a peak of about 510 to now milk about 425 but in that time production per cow has gone up almost 30%.
One of the keys to that is cows are being fed better and their in-calf rate has also improved, which means fewer replacements are needed. It’s also resulted in improved animal health, reducing another cost.
Every year they undersow about 30ha in plantain, a forage Roper said works well in their pasture sward and is relatively inexpensive but reduces methane emissions.
The couple focus on breeding and keeping stock that are the most efficient feed converters.
Those changes have lifted milksolids from about 385kg a cow to 580kg.
And the lower cow numbers reduce pressure on the grazing area.
They have also pushed their calving date back about five days to align more with natural pasture growth patterns, meaning less need for nitrogen on paddocks.
One of the keys is looking at how their peers farm and making sure everything is geared to ensuring it is as efficient as possible.
“We’ve said all along it’s not making radical changes but that the small things mount up to make the big difference.
“The hardest part is making a start and knowing where to make a start.”
