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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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1:00 – 2:00 pm Tuesday 13 May at the MicroFarm

Centre for Land and Water, 21 Ruahapia Rd

A chance to see the emerging winter cover crops and discuss last season and preview plans for summer 2025-2026

Please register (free)

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Our process green bean crop was harvested on the 13th of March and yields were excellent – above the level agreed in fact, and we got a reduced payout for the excess. All good though!

The cover crops were direct-drilled by Mike Kettle contractors on the 7th of April. There was good moisture, but hot dry winds rapidly dried the soil out. Annual ryegrass was drilled in all treatments. The Hybrid plots also had two clovers added, and the Regenerative plots had two clovers and vetch.

After planting, the plots were aerated and rolled by Patrick Nicolle, and we aim to stay off them until October, prior to planting butternuts for Heinz-Wattie’s.

After 28 mm of rain and a few days of warm temperatures, the cover crops began emerging on the 18th of April. Both the annual ryegrass and vetch were well out after a few days, although the clover is slower. We drilled slug bait with the seed, and will apply a surface dose by quadbike after the rain and now emergence is underway. The amount of surface residue is apparent in the images below, and we suffered damage in such conditions with previous crops.

We expect the cover crops will be at a good stage for viewing at the LandWISE 2025 Conference Horizons Regional Council Field Session on 22 May.

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As part of my Te Ahikawariki/Vegetable Industry Centre of Excellence (VICE) internship I have been helping Dan run workshops in Pukekohe, Palmerston North/Levin and Gisborne. As apart of these workshops we have been demonstrating how to use a Nitrachek device.

The Nitrachek device produces a nitrate parts per million (ppm) result based on the colour of a nitrate test strip. The Nitrachek is designed to use the MQuant Nitrate test strips to produce an accurate reading.

There is an international shortage of MQuant nitrate test strips at present, so we wanted to know if Quantofix test strips can be used instead.

The Quantofix test strips were compared to the MQuant test strips in the Nitrachek (set to lot 5) using nitrate solutions with different concentrations: 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.63, and 7.81 ppm.

The Quantofix Nitrachek readings were much lower than the MQuant Nitrachek readings.

Quantofix vs MQuant Nitrachek readings on lot 5.

Conclusion

Based on the trend line equation, it was determined the Quantofix test strips can be used in the Nitrachek device on lot 5 and can be corrected by multiplying the Nitrachek ppm reading by 2.2. This will produce a similar result to a Nitrachek reading on lot 5 with a MQuant nitrate test strip.

Download file

– Olivia

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Date of Notice 30 March 2025

To adopt a new Constitution for LandWISE Incorporated

There will be an on-line Special General Meeting held at 4:30 pm on Thursday 1st May 2025

Full Members (currently registered financial members) have been sent an on-line meeting invitation and links to more information and an on-line ballot form directly.

Background

The Incorporated Societies Act 2022 (the 2022 Act) came into effect on 5 October 2023. To reregister, our society must provide a constitution that is compliant with the 2022 Act, which sets out what we must include in our constitution.

Details of changes to legislation are viewable at
https://is-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz/law-changes-for-societies/key-changes/

The New Zealand Companies Office is responsible for Incorporated Societies. It provides an on-line Constitution Builder that sets our mandatory, strongly recommended and optional components for a constitution to meet the requirements of the new Act.

The LandWISE Board has met frequently to review our old constitution and draft a replacement that meets the new requirements. The Board considers the attached draft Constitution suitably describes our Purposes and Rules for operation. It asks that members approve this draft as the LandWISE Constitution 2025. With membership approval, the Constitution will be submitted to Incorporated Societies and to Charities for their acceptance.

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