MPI S3F21124 2022-2023
The purpose of this project is to build on the previous Future Proofing Vegetable Production project and develop a series of on-line workshops and tutorials and make these available to the wider fresh vegetable production industry.
Initially planned as a follow-on from Future Proofing Vegetable Production, this project struck the headwinds of Covid and severe on-farm staff shortages. It morphed into its current form: producing a range of online learning packages, sharing key lessons from the original project to a wider audience.
Support from Vegetables Research and Innovation and extension of funding from MPI’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund is enabling us to prepare a series of courses, with instructional videos, text and self-test quizzes. You’ll need to log-on to access these resources. There are two options, Basic (free) or Full (paying membership), to sign up here>
Course 1 Nutrient management for vegetable crops has three main sections: Nutrient management principles, Taking representative samples, and Nitrogen ( a special case).
Course 2 Run an on-farm fertiliser trial, follows our Ten Step Plan for a successful trial you might run to compare alternative fertiliser rates for your crops on your farm. It is based on the LandWISE/FAR On-Farm Trial Guide series of booklets, and is essentially how we run our own on-farm trials.
To follow in 2023 are courses on calibrating fertiliser application equipment, checking irrigation systems application depths and uniformity, and nutrient budgeting for vegetable crops in New Zealand.
Anticipated project outcomes include
- reduced impacts on land and water – resulting from better use of applied nutrients and water
- improved water quality – directly through reduced nitrate leaching, but also through growers applying knowledge to other nutrients including phosphate
- improved soil quality as excess nitrogen is reduced, and less carbon is lost unnecessarily
- improved efficiency of water use – through equipment tested, shown to have good uniformity and with known application rates
- reduced emissions such as NO3 and NO2 from nitrogen fertilisers, and less energy used as less made