Tagged: agriculture

Scion’s newest Emeritus Scientist - Mātau Taiao

Rosemary Rangitauira • Sep 29, 2021 •

• Agriculture,
• land use,
• Māori researchers,
• New Zealand stories

Scion has appointed Dr Tanira Kingi (Ngāti Whakaue, Te Arawa), who’s currently working with Māori landowners to find alternative ways to use their land, as its newest Emeritus Scientist. Scion’s former Research Leader in Primary Industry Systems is an agricultural economist with 30-years-experience working in the primary industry sector. Tanira says the current industry infrastructure for meat, milk and … Read More

Looking beyond regenerative agriculture - Unsorted

Robert Hickson • Mar 17, 2021 •

• Agriculture,
• climate change,
• farming,
• future farming,
• innovation,
• Sustainability

Regenerative agriculture, where the health and wellbeing of the environment, animals and farmers is prioritised, is gaining cachet. I see that as a necessary but insufficient change to how we manage land and watery environments. In some respects discussions about regenerative agriculture are more backward- than forward-looking. Take, for example, the UK’s Food, Farming and … Read More

Methane is short-lived in the atmosphere but leaves long-term damage - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Sep 09, 2020 •

• Agriculture,
• climate change,
• greenhouse gas emissions,
• methane

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Methane is a shorter-lived greenhouse gas – why do we average it out over 100 years? By … Read More

How climate change will affect food production and security - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Dec 04, 2019 •

• Agriculture,
• climate change,
• food production,
• food shortage

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz According to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat due to climate change. Are food shortages a … Read More

Regenerative farming can help grow food with less impact - Unsorted

Guest Author • Sep 11, 2019 •

• Agriculture,
• carbon emissions,
• climate change,
• soil,
• soil carbon

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz I would like to know to what extent regenerative agriculture practices could play a role in reducing carbon … Read More

Beyond the Robofarm - Ariadne

Robert Hickson • Apr 03, 2019 •

• Agriculture,
• farming,
• future,
• innovation,
• New Zealand,
• robotics,
• science system,
• Technology

It’s easy to get momentarily excited about robots on the farm, particularly if they are close to home, picking apples or herding stock. Robots have been rolling out onto farms elsewhere for several years and the pace is picking up, so NZ is in … Read More

Separating the chaff from the grain in the debate on GM wheat - Guest Work

Guest Author • Sep 18, 2012 •

• Agriculture,
• biotechnology,
• GE,
• genetic modification,
• GM,
• gmo,
• RNA silencing,
• wheat

By Prof. Jack Heinemann, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury. My report on assessing the risks of a form of GM wheat has sparked heated comment here and on other blog sites. The Sciblog-associated Science Media Centre (NZ) included comments from Peter Dearden and a link to the “Genetics Otago” blog along with comments made by … Read More

Cows up, sheep down - misc.ience

Aimee Whitcroft • May 13, 2010 •

• Agriculture,
• beef,
• dairy,
• deer,
• forestry,
• kiwifruit,
• statistics,
• Statistics New Zealand,
• wine

Statistics New Zealand’s just released its figures for New Zealand’s agricultural production to June 2009. The overall message? Dairy cows are up 5% to almost 6 million, with a particularly big increase in the South Island.  On the other hand, sheep are down 5% to a little over 32 million: half their … Read More

GRA inaugural meeting shows strong will to succeed - misc.ience

Aimee Whitcroft • Apr 07, 2010 •

• Agriculture,
• carbon,
• Carbon dioxide,
• emissions,
• Global Research Alliance,
• GRA,
• pastoral greenhouse gas

This week marks the inaugural meeting of the Global Research Alliance (GRA). For those of you not familiar with it, it’s probably one of the best things to come out of last year’s largely-failed Copenhagen talks.  The idea had first budded in late 2008, but was officially launched … Read More

Is genetic engineering just like breeding? - Guest Work

Guest Author • Feb 15, 2010 •

• Agriculture,
• biology,
• breeding,
• genetic engineering,
• genetic modification,
• GM,
• gmo

By Prof. Jack Heinemann* Dr. Nina Federoff, the science advisor to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, voiced more blatantly in New Zealand what many other advocates of large-scale plantings of genetically engineered (GE/GM) plants sought to imply for years: ’There’s almost no food that isn’t genetically modified. Genetic modification is the basis of all evolution.’ This stance … Read More