Operating under a nitrogen cap

M&WNZ's latest Monitor Farm programme focuses not only on production and profit, but also on the environmental impact of farming on Lake Taupo. The Taupo Monitor Farm Programme aims to find out how landowners can farm within nitrogen restrictions while still operating sustainable businesses.  One of the programme's goals is to ensure that farming in the Lake Taupo catchment area remains viable under Environment Waikato's Variation 5 regulations. The regulations aim to return Lake Taupo's water quality to 2001 levels by 2080 by limiting the amount of nitrogen entering the lake as a consequence of human-generated activities.  "The focus here is on the triple bottom line approach to farming," says co-facilitator Darren McNae, who along with Peter Livingston, also from AgFirst Rotorua, will lead the programme's first on-farm meeting this month. It involves two properties: Rangiatea Station, a 1593 hectare Maori Incorporation, and Alex and Anne Richardson's 290 hectare farm.  The programme has four key areas: identifying knowledge and knowledge gaps, conducting farm systems analysis, providing data for assessing catchment level implications, and education. "The key aspect initially is to get a greater understanding of what these two operations are all about and the impacts of the current situation on their future viability under a status quo scenario," says Mr McNae. The programme will then look to provide farmers with options and tools for their farming systems by analysing all potential land use and business alternatives. "A key component is background research to ensure that the programme is not "˜re-inventing the wheel'. We will look to utilise all previous research dealing with issues relating to the nitrogen cap," says Mr Wakelin.