Latest / Talking Dairy / Will your pastures thrive in the future? | Ep. 132

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Will your pastures thrive in the future? | Ep. 132 · Talking Dairy

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Ki ora and welcome to Talking Dairy.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Jack McGowan from DairyNZ.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: Today we're talking about the Resilient Pastures Program, a research program looking at how pasture can perform better and last longer in a changing climate.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: Across the Upper North Island, changing weather patterns are making pasture productivity and persistence harder to manage.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: That affects feed supply, planning, and confidence on farm.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: The program brings farmers, researchers and industry partners together to test pasture species and management options across different regions and farm systems.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: The goal is to build better guidance for farmers making pasture decisions now and in the future.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm joined by Dr.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: Elena Manet, Dr.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: Lydia Farrell, and Northland farmer Alistair McCann to talk about what's been learnt so far and what comes next.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: Let's get into it.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: We will start with quick intros.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: Alistair, you're the newest person on the podcast.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us about yourself.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a Northland farmer, clearly.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: The family have been in the area for 70 odd years.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: My wife and I have operated on this farm for 35 years, and uh family are joining us in the business.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Lydia.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Lydia Farrell.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a scientist at DairyNZ, and I'm in the farm systems and modelling team.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I did actually grow up on an Offland dairy farm.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Alina.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Alina Minet.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a senior scientist at DairyNZ, and I work in the forage team and manage the Resilient Pastures program.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you three for joining us.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: Alistair, we'll come to you first.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: You helped push for this work early on.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: What were you seeing on Farm that made you think a program like Resilient Pastures was needed?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I probably got four main points around this.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: There was a feeling of a breach of trust of being directed to failing solutions.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there were many examples of if you try this, you should expect this outcome.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't happening in the wider community.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: The science was clear around ryegrass collapse, and it occurs when ryegrass experiences three or more compounding stresses.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing that's permanent, really, with a northern Kaiku type pasture is the fact that it's transitioning.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: The variable is over what time frame and whether it's six months or six years.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: You mean transitioning to Kaikuyu?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Transitioning from one phase to another phase.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a Kaikuyu pasture in the summer, we have a ryegrass pasture type pasture in the winter.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And a resilient type pasture affords us the opportunity to choose what time frame.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So whether we're operating on a six-year or a six-month transition phase.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess my other point would be we've got an overwhelming evidence base of being from the Diversified Pastures, Diversified Foragers Project around ryegrass persistence.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: We've got evidence around climate change projections and the need for farmers to adapt, but needing to understand what we need to adapt to, which leads on to decision support.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess that leads you to the feeling of wishing to be part of the solution as opposed to being part of the problem.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it sounds like you were noticing that ryegrass wasn't performing well in your farm system.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: You needed new options, especially with the climate changing.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: Alina, for those who aren't familiar with this research, what is the Resilient Pastures Program trying to achieve?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, as Alistair pointed out, well, this research program really came about from farmers telling us that maintaining productive and persistent pastures were becoming increasingly challenging in a changing environment.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: So the Resilient Pastures Program was set up to address this challenge by bringing together farmers, researchers, advisors to develop solutions together.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're looking to achieve through a greater understanding of how climate variability is affecting our pasture systems, and then provide farmers with credible, relevant information on what pasture species are suited to what environments, develop practical decision support and management strategies, and ultimately improve the confidence that farmers have that pastures will continue to support profitable farm systems into the future.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: Lydia, your work in the project looks at climate projections and what farmers may need to adapt to.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us a bit about that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, as Elena has mentioned, there's increasingly variable conditions that farmers operating in in terms of weather.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so this is challenging pasture persistence and productivity.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: So the first project of the program, the one that I work in, investigates how climate variability is projected to change over the coming decades.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: So it helps us understand what conditions farmers may need to adapt to.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: So we have used publicly available climate projection data from the Ministry for the Environment to represent possible future climate conditions across New Zealand.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: So we're exploring how seasonal patterns of rainfall and temperature may change.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: And these climate data are then used in a ryegrass pasture model to predict impacts on soil moisture, pasture growth, and persistence.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: And then we'll input these pasture growth curves into a farm systems model to understand what these changes could mean for farm businesses.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: The aspects of climate variability we're focusing on were identified in workshops with farmers in Upper North Island earlier this year.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: So they highlighted specific weather conditions and times of year that are challenging to pasture and farm resilience.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: And some examples of where we're focusing include hot and dry conditions in February and March that really impact pasture persistence.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Some cold and wet conditions during winter that delay the spring pasture growth that farmers rely on, and variability in autumn rainfall, which impacts the ability to build feed reserves for the following year.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we're assessing how the frequency and severity of these conditions may change in the future.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so far we're already seeing some differences and similarities in this across the sites and the upper North Island that we've been looking into.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: So we're currently bringing those results together so we can communicate them.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Lydia.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: Alina, the program spans Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_03: Why is it only the North Island?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's focused on the North Island because that's really where some of the challenges around extreme weather is being felt the keenest.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it's important for us to be testing in that region so that we can develop solutions that are fit for that region.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: The main reason that we're testing across those regions is that pasture performance is highly dependent on the environment and the farm system with which it's growing.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Different regions, you know, experience different climates, have different soil types, and different management challenges.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: So a species that performs well in one region will not necessarily perform as well in another region.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And at the moment, we don't have credible, robust data on that for farmers to make informed decisions about what pastures to use on their farm.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: And also through the program by testing these on real farms and seeing how they perform under real conditions, drawing directly from farmer feedback and practical experience.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we believe that this is an approach where we can provide advice that's credible, that's practical, that's regionally relevant, rather than assuming one size fits all.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us about the farms that you're working with.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're working with 15 different farms across the region.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: So nine of those are in Northland, and the others spread across Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Two of those are sheep and beef farms, and the rest are on dairy.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so each of those farms is trialling different pasture mixes.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: We'll monitor those for five years to gather data on how they're producing, the quality, and how long they're persisting.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And again, that's a great way of getting farmer feedback about how fitting those different pastures works in the system and the challenges or opportunities of those different feed types.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, thank you.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Alistair, you're one of the 15 farms involved.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: What do farmers like you bring to research like this?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably three things that stand out.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was it feels like we're the collision between the science, the farming, and management, and actually back to the plant breeders and sending the right signals.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we bring scale and we bring practicality of implementation and how the plants actually interact with the animals, which is very difficult to do or achieve at a plot level, but it provides another layer of evidence when making decisions.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: Alina, you talked about how important farmer feedback is to the program.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: Can you give us an example of how farmers have helped shape the research priorities or the way that the work has been carried out?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Farmers have shaped the program right from the outset.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, farmers like Alistair and others were heavily involved in developing, I guess, the key challenges and research questions that this program needed to address.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And as we've gone through and established the program, we've continued to engage with farmers, you know, working directly with that network of farmers, conducting surveys, workshops, interviews to ensure that we have a really good understanding of what farmers want to see from this program and building that into the research plan, the design, and even shaping what the outputs will be when we deliver those.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Alistair, I just want to circle back to you.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: What does being a partner farm in this project involve?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: What do you have to do differently, if anything?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's probably three parts.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: There needs to be a consistency of treatment for the project to develop an evidence base.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we are planting three to five different treatments on farm, and then we're measuring those with plate meters, which link back to Elena.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we're generating the data that's going to sit in the background.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: But probably the main commitment is to measure these paddocks pre- and post-graze, which is standard operating procedure.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: But still, I think quite a significant gift to the industry, that extra time and and effort.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Probably includes planting some treatments that we may not ordinarily plant with the knowledge that we have.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: Taking on a little bit of risk as well.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we appreciate that because I think it's also really important to understand what doesn't work where, and maybe understand why.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's sort of mitigating that risk for other farmers.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: So certainly appreciate the contribution that farmers have to this program.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's really important.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: For the farmers participating, there's a feeling that they are holding the line, if you like.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're not trying new and innovative treatments because largely they've already tried these.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're trying things that they're familiar with and probably expanding across a range of soil types.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we do have farmers in that network.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is across the spectrum.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: We've got farmers that are really successfully farming different pasture species and doing it well.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that provides a great learning opportunity for the other farmers in regions like Waikato where it's less common to grow things like tall fescue.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're sort of capturing both the feedback from the experts that know these things really well, but also the people at the start of that learning journey.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, sometimes it's remembering, you know, actually that's a huge amount of knowledge that's gained when you're trying something different.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that's useful for us to capture both sides.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you both for that discussion.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: Lydia, I'll come back to you.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: Once the climate project is complete, how will that information be used across the wider program?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: So the climate project identifies the future conditions that the novel species and management practices evaluated in the program will need to withstand in order for them to support a resilient feed base on farm.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: So our pasture modeling provides a ryegrass baseline against which alternative species can be assessed, particularly for those desired improvements in persistence and reduced variability in feed supply.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: We've also used the climate projection data to identify other regions of New Zealand that may face conditions in the future similar to those currently experienced in the field trial and partner farm locations.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: So this will help farmers understand which lessons and tools from the program could be useful in their area.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: And we call those climate analogues.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: And our findings suggest that the conditions currently experienced in the Upper North Island are likely to occur further inland at higher elevations and further south in the future, with rising temperatures being the main driver of this shift.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: So can I just check the partner farms at the moment are in areas where we're already seeing the impact of climate changes?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: And then you're using modelling to kind of extend that.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: Alina, can you give us an update on the forage options project?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: What is that and what has happened so far?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Within the forage project, so we have the 15 network farms that have been set up and are trialling various pasture mixes of species that we're relatively familiar with, things like torfescu, cocksfoot, also ryegrass is our thing that we're comparing everything to.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Through the course of establishing or setting up those 15 farms and sowing those pastures, farmers were telling us that there was not clear guidelines on how they should be managing species like torfescu.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we reached out to the farmers in the network that are very experienced in torfescu and found that if you were trialling or using implementing different management practices to improve the productivity and persistence of their torfescu.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we've established a grazing study at the Scott Farm Dairy and Zed Research Farm, where we're testing some of those novel approaches that farmers are using just to quantify the benefit and see how they are improving persistence, but also help us understand how different practices really affect the plant and how we can build on that to improve guidelines for managing these other species.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: The other work stream that's progressing is our research partners, BSI, are looking at what subtropical species might be suitable for farming in the Upper North Island.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: So investigating, you know, what could potentially grow and how that could fit into our system.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And a short list of some of the species is going to be enrolled in a small plot study starting this spring.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Alongside all of this, again, we're going to continue to engage with farmers and help us inform the next phase of the research.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: So what trials are needed, what other research knowledge gaps there are to help us inform what trials we establish next autumn.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: So it sounds like that is how the sort of, you know, Alistair talked about some pastures being a little bit too risky, perhaps, to plant at scale.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: Is that how you move an option from just an idea to actually being viable on farm?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: So sort of looking around at the literature, you know, what could potentially grow, looking globally.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: So what is growing in similar climates, either now or in the future globally, that we could potentially grow here.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Talking with farmers and researchers in those regions to see is it in fact feasible?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll start by testing that at much smaller scale.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: So our network farms have established things at a full paddock.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's more novel things being a bit more risky.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: We'll start off with small plot trials and anything that's looking particularly promising, we'll uh progress that through into animal grazing trials to see how they perform under grazing, looking at animal production and really trying to understand how they can fit into a farm system.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Alistair, from what you've seen on your farm so far, and acknowledging that you've been using alternative pastures for a while, what are some of your observations or surprises about working with alternative pasture species?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: My pet hate is alternative pastures.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, I've been set up.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: What what do you call them, Alistair?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Resilient.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: Resilient.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's around projecting a message.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And frankly, the tag names mean a lot.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: You've got different names for different things.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I feel strongly about resilient.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's the name of the project.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: It outlines the objective for the whole thing.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Alternative, you can take what you like from that.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: You don't want them to be seen as alternative, right?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, this is heading towards mainstream thinking as opposed to being alternative thinking.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: We've been alternative, now we want to be mainstream thing.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: The names and the message.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if the message is we're building resilience in our community, to me that's healthy.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas the other is a little bit more divisive.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: Let's reframe that.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: You have been looking for resilient pastures in your farm system for a while.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: What are some of your observations or surprises about working with resilient pasture species or looking for them?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So the first part I'm going to say is the benefits are cumulative.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a one-off.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: The benefits are accumulative.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: We've been in this space for probably 10 years.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think the standout observation for me or for us on farm is that the resilient species allow us to manage our coikua, manage our pastures as opposed to the reverse, which is the coya dictates the time frame of the farm.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's certainly a case that not all pastures are created equally.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And definitely we're not looking for a silver bullet solution.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: We need something that farmers can take on board.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the same stresses are not the same right across the entire farming community.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we we we need a range of solutions that are road tested.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably the standout between where we initiated these, the former projects to this point, is that building that level of understanding in the water community.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: How did you start out looking for a silver bullet, Alistair?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: We originally were looking for solutions that were complementary to our Kaikuya management.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, and that's that's largely around annual or Italian ryegrasses.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: We were looking for an annual legume that was complementary to that system.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: The clunky parts of Kaikuya farming is that you've got a transition in the autumn.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're typically carrying very low feed covers into winter, and then we have another transition into summer where the Italians are falling and we're waiting for the Kaikuya to come away.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we have quite a clunky feed system.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess we were looking for solutions that smooth that curve.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: The underlying message is that you'll not necessarily find a species that will achieve all of their goals, but you will find a range of strategies that smooth the curve.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's probably the headline is that it's not about an individual cultivar or an individual species.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's about a farm system and how that integrates into overall farm profitability because that's what really matters.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: And looking ahead, Alistair, what would success look like for you by the end of the program?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Two standouts.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: One is what should I plant on my farm, whoever you are, what should I plant?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then behind that is the decision support that is based on credible evidence and has been proven and there's proven solutions.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is the standout.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: If we look to the wider how what's happening in Northern informs what happens in the regions to our south, I guess my thought is, you know, when you're ready to accept that change is required, there will be credible, evidence-based, road-tested solutions and decision support available to the wider farming communities.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: You'll not have to reinvent the wheel, but you might change the tread pattern on your tyres.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: You will tailor what we have learned to provide a much broader range of options that are available to farmers.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I made the comment of what should I plant on my farm?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll modify that.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've got to utilize the technology that's coming our way.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: And along that lines, I'd suggest AI will play a part in that.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: What I would envisage is a really stunning outcome is to be able to put my address into Google on my phone and ask it the simple question, what should I plant on my farm?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that I would get a list of recommended species that I would then be able to take on board to my trusted advisors and fine-tune.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: Is that feasible?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Are you promising to do that, Alina?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if we've got Google on board yet.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'll reach out to my network.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but look, it's a great idea.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, that's exactly where we want to go, is that there's a really simple, straightforward, credible decision support tool that is evidence-based for the region?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Alistair said right at the start that it's really important to have knowledge that's coming from the regions to know that it really works and farmers can trust that information.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: And Alina, looking ahead, what are the next big questions the program is trying to answer?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: And what can farmers expect to see from the next phase of the work?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: In the first stage is we're going to continue to really build on that database.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: So continue to be monitoring pastures over different climate years.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then as that uh evidence base grows, we're looking to explore really the potential for these things to fit into the system or how we might be able to structure a farm system to integrate these different approaches.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: So using modeling approaches, um, animal trials, farm system studies to assess, you know, the practical fit of these different solutions and impact on productivity.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And as Alistair touched on before, like looking at the economics of it to make sure we're still having profitable systems.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: For farmers that are really interested in this program, how can they kind of stay up to date with what's happening?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Keep an eye on uh the communications coming from DairyNZ and Beef and Lamb NZ.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have a web page on the DairyNZ website.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you do want to give feedback and feed into the program, there is an opportunity on that webpage to do that.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: But we're looking to, at the latter part of this year, to start holding more on-farm events.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So there'll be advertisements for those around the three regions.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it'd be great to see farmers come along and uh contribute to the program.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: All right, thanks to Alina, Lydia, and Alistair for joining us and sharing your insights with us.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: Still a lot of work to do before the program has clear recommendations to share, but the direction it's heading is exciting.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: We'll understand better what we might need to adapt to and what pasture options and management practices could support future resilient farm systems.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: If you'd like to learn more about the Resilient Pastures program research, visit the Resilient Pastures webpage at dairynz.co.nz forward slash resilient pastures or check out the link in the show notes.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: Matewa.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: If you'd like to get connected with DairyNZ's latest advice, research, tools, and resources, whether it's reading, scrolling, listening, or in person, you can visit dairynz.co.nz forward slash get-connected, and don't forget to hit follow to keep up to date with our latest episodes.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: As always, if you have any feedback on this podcast or have some ideas for future topics or guests, please email us at talkingdairy at dairynz.co.nz.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time on Talking Dairy.