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 Kead 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.

If you want to set up a totally off-grid system, some things will be easier. Electrical regulations must still be met, of course! Marc Dresser will discuss how simple a system can be, based on a lifestyle property. A remote building or electrical equipment could follow similar principles.

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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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 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’ll report on progress and lessons from another year of our regenerative cropping research and on cover cropping and bio-strips. We will present some new tools for growers to assess nitrate levels, soil stability and insect pressure and have examples for viewing at the Horizons Regional Council Field Session.

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 that discussion. 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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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!

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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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The Carbon Positive programme continues. Our McCain Foods green bean crop has been successfully harvested and yield and quality data captured. Post-harvest, Alex and Oliva completed VSA tests in all the plots, and those and other data are being collated and processed.

All treatments achieved good yields, but we found significant differences between them. We harvested 1 m2 of crop from each of four sub-plots in each of our 12 plots. That gave us lots of beans which were then removed by hand, weighed and graded. We also got factory results from the different treatments. The box plot graph below shows the average yield (the Xs) and variability in each treatment as determined from our hand harvest plots.

The biggest cause of down-grading at the factory was pod damage associated with harvesting and transport. Other than that, we had a very clean crop.

So why the differences?

The regenerative plots had the biggest plants. This was seen throughout the season with the canopy ground cover always being ahead in the regenerative plots. Towards harvest, we found the conventional plots had two weeks when their growth appeared to be checked. We know it wasn’t soil moisture or nitrogen availability, but we can’t put a finger on a cause.

Both the conventional and hybrid areas were planted in process peas at the end of August. The soil was cold and wet and we noticed compaction from cultivation and machinery passes. The conventional plots were ploughed and disced, and the hybrid plots direct-drilled before the cover crop was mulched. The regenerative plots were kept in cover crop, which was mechanically terminated before a period of fallow.

All the plots were disc-ripped about three weeks before planting, then sprayed with glyphosate to achieve a stale seedbed before bean planting on 28 December. Both the conventional and hybrid plots received nitrogen fertiliser broadcast near full canopy. The regenerative plots did not receive solid fertiliser, but did get a foliar application as part of spraying for disease and caterpillars. The spray programmes were different from the pre-emergence herbicides through the crop protection programme.

We can’t say what made the differences to the yields that were achieved, because our trial is not set up that way. We are comparing the results of overall management policy over six years rather than assessing the effect of any single input.

So, we can’t say why. Maybe there was less disease pressure by missing peas? Maybe the better soil physical state by avoiding early cultivation and planting in the wet made a difference? Maybe the cover crop biomass was feeding the soil microbes or releasing nutrients?  Maybe all of these? Maybe something else…

The VSA assessments appear to show differences developing in the different treatments. We need to keep monitoring and see a longer-term trend, but for now, the regenerative plots are starting to score a little better. The soil appears somewhat darker, suggesting it may be building soil carbon levels (we’ll be lab-testing soon so keep an eye out for that) and it has fewer large soil lumps (in our case mainly showing compaction damage). It does suggest that working the soil and driving over it when cold and wet in August had impact.

We expect to drill the winter cover crops in the first week of April. With continuing dryness, we have applied irrigation to make the soil moist enough for drilling. Our intention is to aerate after drilling to avoid compacting the soil again. Then we’ll leave everything alone until spring to allow the soil to breathe, microbes to do their thing, and roots and earthworms to explore as easily as possible.

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LandWISE has three pilot projects being run with Te Ahikawariki, the Vegetable Industry Centre of Excellence based in Pukekohe. The projects include cover cropping, soil stability testing and use of a device to read nitrate test strips more accurately.

Te Ahikawariki/VICE is a government-funded project that is setting up a cutting-edge vegetable research farm in Pukekohe. The project is a collaboration between mana whenua and vegetable growers that aims to create a central location for research to support the entire vegetable industry and protect the land.

Cover crop options for vegetable growers – preliminary scoping study

Over the last few years, we have been posting reports of trials and tribulations with our cover cropping activities at the MicroFarm. Growing a cover crop is easy. Growing a cover crop that ticks boxes for maximum species diversity, non-herbicide termination, and allows the land to be ready for a crop on a certain date specified by processing companies is quite another thing. Our discussions with growers in Tairawhiti and Canterbury confirm we are not alone!

The Te Ahikawariki project involves us and regional contacts interviewing leading growers and industry people with experience in or desire to introduce cover cropping in vegetable production systems. By including five regions, Hastings, Pukekohe, Levin, Gisborne, and Canterbury, we are seeking to compile findings to give a national overview that identifies regional and sector specifics.

A summary from interviews, a resource inventory and literature review will identify where suitable information is available and where key gaps lie. This will provide a base on which to develop a longer-term research strategy and work programme for VICE. 

Farmer Friendly Nitrate Testing

Since 2018, we have been using and promoting the Nitrate Quick Test from the University of California Davis (Hartz, 2010). The method was tested for NZ conditions under a previous SFF project through FAR and Plant & Food Research. The Nitrate Quick Test has much potential to help growers identify required nitrogen base and side-dressing rates and to justify applications.

Our Te Ahikawariki project is comparing results from Nitrate Quick Test strips using the current visual concentration assessment and estimate of soil moisture bands with the Nitrachek concentration and moisture determined by microwave drying soil and with commercial laboratory mineral nitrogen tests. A key part of the project is engaging with growers to demonstrate and support valid paddock sampling and correct use of the test methods, thus ensuring the knowledge is held within each regional community.

In parts of Europe, farmers must have approved soil nitrate testing completed before nitrogen fertiliser applications may be made. One accepted European methodology uses the Nitrachek device to read the test strips, removing the human eye variable and providing much more accurate readings. It also includes drying test-soil so there is no need to estimate soil moisture.

SLAKES: a cost-effective measure of soil structural stability

Soils with stable aggregates are usually found to be more productive than soils with poor aggregate stability. They typically have more organic matter present in the soil, which acts as a glue holding aggregates together, retain more moisture and have higher infiltration rates, and plant roots can penetrate deeper into the soil which means crops will be more drought tolerant and have better productivity. During rain events, soils containing unstable aggregates will disperse filling pore spaces and making the soil susceptible to erosion and compaction. Eroded soil will remove nutrients with it reducing soil fertility, compaction can cause aeration reduction, water logging and root disease which will affect crop health.

Many different methods have been used to measure aggregate stability, including Cornell University’s wet aggregate stability, Yoder’s wet sieving and Landcare Research – Manaaki Whenua’s (LRMW) wet sieving. However, these methods are time consuming and costly. The Soil Health Institute recommends testing aggregate stability with a smartphone app called SLAKES which was developed by the University of Sydney (Soil Health Institute, 2024).

Our SLAKES project is comparing results from SLAKES with the LRMW wet-sieve aggregate stability test and looking for correlations with VSA scores, bulk density, and total soil carbon levels. In March and April, we are trialling SLAKES with selected growers in Pukekohe, Gisborne, Hastings, Palmerston North and Levin. This will give us a range of soil and crop types to see how the methods compare in our young New Zealand soils.

We will report on our progress at LandWISE 2025! See you there.

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Since Cyclone Gabrielle hit in February 2023, LandWISE has been capturing data from impacted sites. Our aim has been to increase knowledge of flood and sediment deposition on highly productive land (HPL), particularly the Land Use Capability (LUC) Class 1 – 3 land that dominates the Heretaunga Plains.

The initial project captured data from 110 impacted sites across Hawke’s Bay, Wairoa, Gisborne/Tairawhiti and Northland. The project was extended, and we monitored a small subset of these initial sites in Hawke’s Bay, assessing short-medium term impacts. In 2024 and again in 2025 we have collected soil and crop data (where relevant), and captured management information from growers. We have focused on sites used for vegetable production.

We have been monitoring 14 sites, and now have data from 2023, 2024 and 2025 (still collecting 2025 data). Final reporting is due in June 2025. This data set is also being used by Alex Dickson for her masters thesis focused on soil recovery after Cyclone Gabrielle.

The impact to many growers was devasting. For those significantly impact it was initially anticipated that recovery would take 5+ year to get back to pre-cyclone production. Recovery has been faster than expected for many of the growers we have been working with, some have reported that they feel they are ‘back to normal’ after just 2 years.

There has been a range of other recovery projects completed by other organisation. We are working with these groups on how we can share the combined lessons in recovery. We has been working with Sally Anderson (Market Access Solutionz), Dirk Wallace (FAR), Stephen Trolove and Eduardo Dias de Oliveira (PFR), Alec Mackay (AgResearch), & others, on how to ensure the research completed and knowledge gained after Cyclone Gabrielle is made available, very quickly, next time a community is impacted by a flood of this magnitude.

You’ll find our 2023 baseline sampling report on the LandWISE website. You can hear more from Alex at her recent presentation at the 2024 NZARM conference.

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After a fun couple of years, I am leaving LandWISE.

My partner Mitchell and I are taking a big leap and moving to the Netherlands to start the next chapter of our lives and careers. I spent a year studying in the Netherlands in 2016 and I am very excited to be heading back!

I have enjoyed my time working for LandWISE, particularly on the Carbon Positive and post-Cyclone Gabrielle projects. I am so grateful to the community of clever people who engage with these projects and have helped them succeed. I have had lots of opportunities to share our work at conferences and connect with so many interesting people over the last two years. I have loved learning more about vegetable production, and hope to continue learning and contributing more in the coming years.

Our house is rented, and our flights are booked. My last day with LandWISE will be the 11th of August. If you are driving past the MicroFarm in the next couple of weeks, please call in for a coffee!

I look forward to seeing you sometime in the future.

Bye for now!

Alex

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