Getting to Carbon Positive

Wednesday 21 – Thursday 22 May
Havelock North Function Centre

In 2025 we’re delighted to bring you a conference with focuses on regenerative crop production, carbon footprinting, and electrification. We’ll have new technologies to think about and see, we have speakers with proven track records, and we’re looking forward to catching up with old friends and new.

Do we know the footprint of our activities? How do international markets assess them and what will we need to report? We are proud to present Associate Professor Dr Pii-Tuulia Nikula to open the managing our footprints conversation. We’ve done the numbers on our Carbon Positive cropping treatments, and we’ve others talking about what they are doing to address their footprints too.

If we are going to get to Carbon Zero (or better) we need to think about both inputs and outputs from our systems. Can we soak up more than we lose? Which inputs have the greatest impact?

We will report on progress and lessons from another year of our regenerative cropping research and present some new tools for growers to assess nitrate levels and soil stability. We’ll have examples for viewing at the Horizons Regional Council Field Session. Others will update us about new technologies for pest and disease control and reintroducing insects to cyclone impacted orchards and discuss the use of bio-strips and insectaries to encourage beneficial insects.

We’ll need energy, of course, but how much can we generate on-site? Is electrification realistic now? Where to in the short to medium term? We are delighted to have Mike Casey of the Electric Cherry Orchard and CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa opening the discussion on electrification and alternative energy case studies. We’ll have electric vehicles for perusal.

Thanks to our Sponsors!

We look forward to seeing many of you again in 2025.

The post LandWISE Conference 2025 appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Havelock North Function Centre at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, 21 May

Agenda

• Apologies
• Minutes of 2024 meeting
• Chair’s report
• Financial report
• Manager’s report
• Outcome of SGM on Constitution changes
• Board elections
• Subscriptions
• General business

If you have any items you would like discussed, please contact Dan

Downloads (for Financial members)

LandWISE 2024 Annual General Meeting Minutes

LandWISE 2025 Special General Meeting Minutes

The post LandWISE 2025 AGM appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

LandWISE 2025 Getting to Carbon Positive

Doing what we can to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions is not about meeting regulations, it is about meeting the expectations of our markets and others in our supply chains (and ourselves and the planet!). Most large companies must report on their own emissions and those of their suppliers and clients. We are part of their emissions profiles, and they want us to do our part.

What is it all about? What emissions are we talking about? Who is implementing changes to lower their impact? How do we start?

At LandWISE 2025: Getting to Carbon Positive, you’ll get these answers and more. You’ll hear and see examples, and hear that people are reaping benefits, because it isn’t all about adding costs, it can save money. And in another session, you’ll hear how it can even provide an alternative income stream.

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol applies the measurement of emissions across three scopes. These are Scope 1, which includes the direct emissions from sources that the organisation owns or controls, such as fuel use for farm-owned vehicles, natural gas used for heating buildings and greenhouses, fertilizer use, leaks in refrigeration and cooling processes, as well as emissions from soil management. Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from purchased energy. Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions in the organisation’s value chain, such as emissions from freight/transportation of products, business travel, waste, and emissions from purchased goods and services.

Pii-Tuulia Nikula (PhD)

Greenhouse Gas Accounting: Scopes Solutions Target Setting

Pii-Tuulia Nikula is an Associate Professor in the School of Business at the Eastern Institute of Technology (Hawke’s Bay), where she teaches courses on Sustainable Organisations and Research Methods. Her research has explored emission trajectories and climate disclosures of New Zealand businesses. Pii-Tuulia will cover key questions that apply to the application of the GHG Protocol, such as common issues and challenges with data collection and practical solutions available for emissions reduction across all three scopes. Finally, she will discuss how organisations can use their emissions baseline to start thinking about their emissions reduction targets. 

Uttam Singh Floray

Reporting for primary producers, processors and exporters

Uttam Singh Floray is a seasoned Sustainability Consultant with extensive expertise in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks, carbon accounting, and compliance solutions. As Team Lead – Account management (Government) at Toitū Envirocare, he has headed the implementation of the Carbon Neutral Government Programme and guided organisations toward achieving emissions compliance and sustainable development goals. Uttam has a lead role with Electrify Hawke’s Bay, a regional Rewiring Aotearoa group promoting adoption of low carbon alternative energy sources.

Ron McFetridge

Minimising emissions at WaterForce

One of three founders, Ron McFetridge is the Managing Director at WaterForce. Established in 2002, WaterForce has operations throughout New Zealand, with a large concentration on the South Island, and about 250 staff. Ron is working to reduce the emissions footprint of the company through careful management of energy including establishing rooftop solar and electrifying the vehicle fleet. He is speaking about the process, seeking suitable equipment and changing culture in an organisation.

Dan Bloomer (PhD)

Carbon Positive progress – relative footprints

Dan Bloomer is the LandWISE Manager and an independent consultant. He brings a diverse set of interests and extensive experience in field trials and extension to his role overseeing the LandWISE research portfolio. Together with Olivia Webster, he will present a study comparing the emissions from the three farm systems that form the Carbon Positive trial. What are the main drivers of emissions in an intensive process cropping scenraio?

Of course, knowing our emissions is only a starting point. We also want to know how we can minimise them. And that is the subject of the Electrification and Alternative energy case studies sessions!

The post Managing our footprint appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

At LandWISE 2025 you’ll hear about regenerative cropping systems (however they be defined, or not), soil carbon and sequestration, and the use of cover crops in vegetable and arable systems. Add in the role of biology and ecology in pest and disease management, and some new systems and gadgets to monitor crop pests, soil nitrates and soil health, and the programme has much to offer!

Havelock North Function Centre
21 – 22 May 2025

We will update delegates on our Carbon Positive regenerative intensive process cropping project. Matthew Norris will describe the research completed and take-away knowledge from the Leaderbrand Regenerative Cropping project, with fascinating insights around the use of composts. And Angus Mckenzie will describe his own farming approach and that of others in Canterbury seeking to apply regenerative principles in day-to-day management. A common factor with all projects is the focus on lifting soil carbon levels, a topic that will be drilled into by Sam McNally.

Our Carbon Positive Operations Group has learnt some hard lessons with cover crops over the last three years, but we think we are now much better informed and positioned. We will present a list of questions! Also, with support from Te Ahikawariki/VICE, we’ve begun a small study of cover cropping with interviews of farmers who do and don’t use cover crops. We hope to have some preliminary findings by the conference. Charles (Merf) Merfield, one of the team interviewing will discuss cover cropping, an area he has researched and implemented for many years.

Drawing from “A Lighter Touch” research, Jeff Smith will discuss the use of bio-strips and insectaries to encourage beneficial insects to aid in pest management. Daniel Sutton will report on research using “Smart Traps” to automate collection of pest presence data. From Plant and Food Research, Asha Chhagan will talk about new technologies for pest and disease control and Bethan Shaw will discuss work reintroducing beneficial insects to orchards impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Rounding out New Tools, Olivia Webster will present LandWISE work using a new soil slaking measurement app and a device to more precisely determine soil nitrate levels when using Quick Test strips.

The post Regenerative Cropping and Biological Factors appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Why are we dedicating half a day to electrification at LandWISE 2025?

Part of the answer, of course, is in the conference title – “Getting to Carbon Positive”. If we want to get our emissions to zero, we need to stop using fossil fuels. But that is only part of it as Uttam Singh Floray, Community Lead at Electrify Hawke’s Bay will explain.

Solar electricity is now the cheapest form of energy and it is getting cheaper. The cost to generate a kWh ranges from about 4c from a farm-scale system to perhaps 12c for a home system. If you generate it on-site, there are virtually no transmission losses. If you have excess, you can store some to use when the sun isn’t shining. Or you can sell it and have another income stream. Or both. The price you get depends on the agreement you reach and possibly on spot-prices.

In “Unlocking the potential of farm solar and storage”, Rewiring Aotearoa reports that a Federated Farmers’ survey of 1,000 farmers showed that 70% of respondents would consider installing solar panels and the enthusiasm was evenly spread across different age groups, genders and farm types. Going electric is a clear win on the numbers, both at home and on the farm, but it can be complicated in practice. Our keynote speaker, Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey from Forest Lodge Orchard, is well versed in all this.

Lincoln University is establishing an electric research farm, a 1.5 MW solar installation that will comprise around 2800 photovoltaic (PV) panels, generating about 2.3 GWh of renewable energy per year. This will be described by Pieter-Willem Hendriks.

Another farmer with personal experience they are willing to share is Becks Smith. With her farm already set up, she now engaged in “Farmers supporting energy solutions on farm”.

One of the main issues facing those wanting to install solar at present is navigating the legal processes and regulatory requirements. Hopefully this will be quickly simplified, but electrical, building, resource management and utility requirements must all be met. Another is sizing the optimum system and allowing for future needs. We will use the MicroFarm solar system as a case study with Freenergy’s Aaron Duncan leading us through the various options modelled for economic optimisation, and the process of ticking boxes so our excess can be exported.

As someone who has driven a fully electric car for well over two years, I’m well aware of the questions I get most frequently. They are about range (I can get over 500km on a charge, weather and terrain depending), charging times (technically 350 km in 18 minutes on a fast charger or 50 km/h at home), cost of electricity (~12c/km on the most expensive charger, 0c/km at home), towing ability (my car has an 1,800 kg braked rating), and do I like it (YES!)

In Cyclone Gabrielle we plugged key home essentials – fridge, internet, electric jug – into extension cords from the car’s 230V vehicle to load (V2L) plugs. After about four days we had barely dropped the battery reserve.

Is it a 4WD ute suitable for hard farm work? (No)

But there are electric and hybrid ute options now. Some, like my car, have built-in 230V power outlets, very handy for using power tools a long way from home.

It might be a while before all farm machinery has electric options. In the meantime, it is possible to transplant an electric motor and power-pack into internal combustion engine (ICE) machines. You can see an example master-minded for Mountain Bike Rotorua by Ra Cleave from Ripple Tech. And because it isn’t just solar that enables on-farm electricity generation, Boyn Benton will outline some of the micro-hydro options available too.

We are setting up some physical displays at the Horizons Regional Council Field Session, so come along and learn about options for farm or home, car or machine, and whether electricity could be another income stream. And cut costs, emissions and your footprint at the same time.

The post Electrification appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

LandWISE Events

LandWISE AGM

2:30 pm 21st May at Havelock North Function Centre

LandWISE 2025: Getting to Carbon Positive

21-22 May at Havelock North Function Centre

Other’s Events

 2025 Summerfruit NZ Conference

25-26 June, Marlborough Events Centre

FAR Conference Show me the money

30 June-1 July Lincoln University

NZAPI EXPO 2025 – New Zealand Apples & Pears

30 July – 1 August – Nelson

2025 NZPPS Symposium – “Resistance Management – Today’s Tools for Tomorrow”

11 August, Christchurch

NZPPS Conference 2025

12-14 August, Christchurch

Potatoes NZ Conference

12-13 August 2025, Christchurch

New Zealand Horticulture Conferences 2025

26-27 August, Wellington

NZARM 2025 Changing Landscapes

11 – 13 November – Blenheim Marlborough

The post Events of Interest appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Many thanks to everybody involved in our 2024 Annual Conference! All up we had 99 registrants who heard from 23 amazing presenters and saw 9 different practical demonstrations. Our special thanks to everyone who contributed by sharing their knowledge and experiences, and to delegates for their active interaction. Thanks to Pure Catering and our hosts at the Havelock North Function Centre and at the Centre for Land and Water which hosts our MicroFarm and the demonstrations.

Many thanks also to our conference sponsors and supporters. These organisations support us through the year as well as for the conference and we are very grateful. They are the most loyal of partners we could hope for.

Ka mau te wehi!

The post Rebuilding Our Soils – Successful Conference appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

In a special event after the LandWISE Conference “Rebuilding Our Soils”, we hosted a wānanga/workshop led by Erina Wehi-Barton, Taonui Campbell and Clare Bradley. Clare introduced the Our Land and Water project “Revitalise Te Taiao” at the conference, and it attracted considerable interest. They have been integrating Matauranga Maori, farming, and scientific knowledge to promote soil health in the Rere Ki Uta Rere Ki Tai project. 

We were delighted to join with regenerative agriculture and cropping research colleagues from Massey University’s “Whenua Haumanu – nurturing the land through exploring pastoral farming“, Leaderbrand’s “Farming for a Healthy Future“, On-Farm Research’s “Evaluating Regen Ag and developing farmer resilience on a dryland demonstration farm” and our own team from LandWISE and HB Future Farming Trust with “Carbon Positive – regenerative intensive process cropping“.

Each of the projects has commitment to mātauranga Māori and as largely pakeha researchers trained in Western science, we can feel somewhat lost. Taonui and Erina provided a structure to explore the threads of mātauranga and the commonalities and differences between the Māori and Western knowledge systems. There are many parallels and overlaps.

Te Taiao is a Māori concept that refers to the natural world, including land, water, climate, and living beings, and their inter-relationships. These are all elements in farm and orchard management and in agricultural and horticultural research, so are familiar to those trained in agricultural or environmental science. Perhaps though, our tendency to focus in closer and closer when using reductionist methodologies puts us at risk of forgetting the context within which we work. A farm input decision is based partly on agronomic research but always includes economic oversight. Increasingly we are conscious that application takes place in a regulatory and social licence context, and within limits set or expected by markets and by importers’ regulations. At another level, we know but can lose sight of the fact, that adjusting one factor is very likely to affect how other factors respond.

Mātauranga can be held by different groupings so exists at Māori level, at iwi, hapū and whānau and even individual level. Just as there is knowledge held by me, shared by my immediate family and with my cousins, among my professional groups and with the population generally. That knowledge is built over time as a result of many observations and understandings and it is everchanging over time and space. Like Western science. Our understanding at one point in time may be revised as new observations are made, lessons learned, and our synthesised understanding evolves. And as agronomists, we understand that knowledge of good agricultural practice that applies in one area or to one crop may not transfer to another.

As farmers and growers and Western science people, we are familiar with bodies of knowledge about physics, biology, chemistry and agronomy, and can extend that to law and finance etc. We know these as subjects we study at school and university. In a 2012 essay, Sir Hirini Moko Mead suggested that tikanga Māori, āhuatanga Māori, kaupapa Māori, manaakitanga, te reo Māori, waiata, tā moko, kapa haka etc. are subjects within mātauranga Māori.

It seems to me that there are many parallels between these knowledge systems – the same, but different.

We are most grateful to Clare and Agrisea NZ Seaweed Ltd for their support, and especially to Taonui and Erina for leading the wānanga. And we also thank the other participants who travelled to be with us and shared their stories, confusions and questions openly in a safe environment. While we had a very informative day, many more lessons await us. We look forward to following this wānanga with others as we grow our knowledge.

Dan

mātauranga: knowledge, wisdom, understanding, skill – sometimes used in the plural. Education – an extension of the original meaning and commonly used in modern Māori with this meaning.

wānanga: to meet and discuss, deliberate, consider. A seminar, conference, forum, educational seminar.

Te Aka Māori Dictionary

The post Revitalise Te Taiao – mātauranga-led, science-informed research appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

LandWISE 2024 – Rebuilding Our Soils

Havelock North – 15-16 May 2024

We are looking forward to our annual conference this week.
We will report on our current work with industry, researchers and growers
seeking out and trialing best ways to rebuild soil.
Our invited speakers will present alternative practices and novel ideas,
some perhaps fringe, but all looking to be mainstream, on a range of topics.

The key topics in 2024 are:

Carbon Positive – Regenerative Cropping
Alternative Pest Management
A year on – Cyclone impacts
Data capture to understanding
New Zealand Agritech
Novel Technologies

We welcome presenters old and new and are most excited by
the breadth and depth of knowledge they offer on many topics.
We also have a great range of practical demonstrations lined up for
viewing at the MicroFarm.

The draft programme is available now, and registrations are open.

Draft Programme

Our Presenters

Registration

We are delighted that Apatu Group is continuing their sponsorship
to allow secondary students free conference attendance, and that
for 2024 they have been joined by Vegetables NZ and Onions NZ
so an even larger cohort can attend.

We view this as a vital element, as such students are indeed the future of our industry,
and feedback from previous years has been very positive.

Discount for our Financial Members = pay for one day, get the other free. See you there!

Thanks to BASF Crop Protection and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council for continuing their Platinum Sponsorships. Both are long-term, loyal supporters and we are most grateful. Our other loyal supporters are also back with us, so please take time to look and give them your support in return.

The post Rebuilding Our Soils appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Mātauranga-led, science-informed research

Revitalise Te Taiao is one of the Our Land and Water projects, involving place-based research to develop evidence-based examples of how agribusinesses and communities can make enduring changes in land use, management, value chains, and market focus to revitalise our natural world, te Taiao. Containing the land, water, climate and living beings, te Taiao refers to the interconnection of people and nature.

If you would like to understand more, come to the LandWISE Conference in Havelock North on 15-16 May 2024 where Clare Bradley will outline the process and lessons from the project. The research involved pilots in three locations, working alongside agribusinesses and communities as they progressed land-use change, worked with value chains and connected with markets to revitalise te Taiao.

• Wānaka-based project Knowledge into Action for Te Taiao, led by WAI Wānaka, had research goals that include expanding traditional farm plans beyond tools of regulation, to enhance the vitality of te Taiao.
• Taranaki-based Te Kāhui Rau, led by Ngāti Tāwhirikura, aimed to revitalise hapū whenua and whānau.
• Based in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato, Rere ki Uta, Rere ki Tai tested farming methods that aim to enhance the mana and mauri of the soil across 10 dairy farms, led by AgriSea New Zealand.

The project involved AgResearch | AgriSea NZ Seaweed | Heather Collins Consulting | Kia Ora Media Marketing & PR | Mārama | Ngāti Tāwhirikura Hapū Trust | Paemi Ltd | Pahemata Ltd | Rautāpatu Ltd | Simon Stokes Consulting | WAI Wānaka

The post Revitalise Te Taiao appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.