Tararua plantain project helps improve waterway health

Tararua dairy farmers Thomas and Jennifer Read with their children Annabelle, Eleanor and Jonathan. Photo / Brad Hanson

A DairyNZ-led Tararua Plantain Project with community at its heart has been a game-changer.

The project aimed to contribute to improving the health of local waterways, and has seen dairy farmers, community members, iwi, DairyNZ and partners working together to reduce the environmental footprint in the district.

DairyNZ sustainable dairy general manager David Burger says the project supports local dairy farmers to understand and adopt plantain (a leafy herb cows like to eat) in their pastures, which helps improve water quality by reducing nitrogen leaching to waterways.

“The impact of the Tararua project as a blueprint for farmers to take up plantain in catchments nationwide cannot be understated. A research trial run at Massey University as part of the DairyNZ Plantain Potency and Practice Programme showed that Ecotain plantain mixed pastures reduced nitrogen leaching by 20 to 60 per cent, compared to a standard pasture with ryegrass and clover. Plantain also has potential to reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions.”

Plantain use is predicted to lead to flow-on benefits to national and regional economies and to save farmers about $1 billion per decade through not having to implement more expensive nitrogen leaching mitigations.

The Tararua project started in 2018 after new regulations were introduced requiring local farmers to reduce nitrogen (N) leaching from their farms by up to 60 per cent. It capitalises on research findings from the DairyNZ Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) programme, which helped establish that plantain reduces the concentration of nitrogen in cow urine, leading to a drop in N loss.

So far through this project, 101 dairy farmers in the Tararua district now have plantain on their farms. These farmers are incorporating plantain on their farms and helping DairyNZ assess the benefits and practice change needed. They monitor their streams monthly to understand where they should focus their environmental efforts. Water quality in these streams has been improved through on-farm actions, and learnings are shared with other farmers.

“Farmers care about their local waterways and the Tararua Plantain Project also sees farmers monitor their own streams to understand ecosystem health and where to focus their environmental work,” Dr Burger says.

Earlier this year the project won the 2023 Primary Industries New Zealand team and collaboration award. It also helped inspire the seven-year national DairyNZ-led Plantain Potency and Practice Programme, which sees the sector, government and farmers working together to research the effects of plantain and successfully adopt it on farms. This programme is funded by DairyNZ, the Government through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Fonterra, working with six additional research and delivery partners.

Tararua dairy farmer Thomas Read is involved in the Tararua Plantain Project and the Plantain Potency and Practice research and development programme. He says N loss from his Tararua farm has reduced by 10 per cent since he started using plantain, and he is gradually increasing the proportion of Ecotain plantain in his pasture to achieve even better results.

Thomas and his wife Jennifer have planted 12,000 trees across their farm, including along waterways and have fenced off wetlands to keep cows out. This protects the wetlands, which is important as they can improve water quality, boost biodiversity and provide habitat for birds and fish.

DairyNZ partners in the Tararua project with Agricom, the Ministry for Primary Industries, Fonterra and Nestlé. Delivery partners include AgResearch, Horizons and Massey University. The work is part of broader dairy sector commitments, programmes and on-farm work to reduce footprint.

For more information visit dairynz.co.nz/tararua

Tararua Plantain Project highlights

• 101 dairy farmers in the Tararua district have plantain on their farms.
• 11 partner farmers have case studies and monitoring of plantain effects carried out on their farms.
• 24 project events held from 2021-23 to share project knowledge with farmers and the community.
• 3189 hectares plantain planted in mixed pastures. 104 hectares plantain crop.
• More than 560 monthly water quality monitoring samples taken by farmers across 21 sites.