Regenza™
A blueprint for a low-emissions, added-value model for
regenerative pastoral agriculture in New Zealand.
Dr Bert Quin, November 2024
Reason
Over the next decade, New Zealandmust adopt a new, farmer-controlled, demonstrably sustainable, added-value regenerative farming system for its pastoral agriculture.Failure to do this, whilst overseas housed cattle and sheep systems are steadily reducing their methane emissions,will result in progressive loss of overseas marketsfor our products.
Rationale
Methane belched from ruminant animals(enteric methane) is one of the most serious contributors to global warming. Unfortunately for New Zealand, (i) methane is NZ’s biggest shorter-term contributor to global warming in its emissions, and (ii) the amount of methane emitted per unit of food produced is known to be considerably higher from animals grazing ryegrass-dominant pastures (as currently practised in NZ) than from housed animals fed concentrates.
To mitigate this, the New Zealand pastoral research industry has until now been relyingon (i) the development of methane-production inhibitors that can be fed to animals on a daily basis(note – a workable option for dairy cows only, even if cost-effective ones aredeveloped), (ii) stomach boluses for cattle and cows that release a proven methane inhibitor over time, and(iii) the genetic selection of animals for increased growth efficiency (and with it, reduced methane and other emissions). Option (i) is only applicable to dairy farming, in which inhibitors could be fed out during milking. Option (ii) faces a myriad of legal, effectiveness, consistency, health and costbarriers, and is simply not a good look for our ‘clean and green image’. Option (iii) is at best going to deliver 0.5 -1 % reductions in methane production per yearas the low-methane genetics are introduced into the country’s cow, cattle and sheep populations, making it most unlikely that it will help significantly in New Zealand meeting its shorter-term emissions reductions targets.
Then there is water quality. Nitrate leaching, phosphorus run-off, and E. coli and sediment run-off from our current ryegrass-dominant grazed pastures are the key causes of the unacceptably poor water quality in most of our rural areas. None of the above options will improve water quality, at least in an acceptable time-frame.
But there is another for more compelling option – the adoption ofmulti-species forages and other regenerative practices to achieve much lower methane emissions during digestion,and also reduce nutrient losses by requiring less N and P fertiliser. Together these initiatives can ensure a profitable future for New Zealand’s pastoral industry while meeting emissions targets and achieving acceptable water quality. The increasing numbers of regenerative pastoral farmers all accept the merits of adopting multi-mix pastures with lower methane footprints.
The 7-year Whenua Haumanuregenerative agriculture research project, a partnership between Massey University and the Ministry for Primary Industries through the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund is an excellent if tiny step in the right direction.
Rules
Regenza™(short for Regenerative New Zealand Agriculture) is envisioned as a farmer-controlled organisation. It does not needa plethora of specific rules and restrictions. For example, individual farmer adoptees of Regenza™ can, if supported by adequate scientific research and extension, decide what multi-species mix works best on their soil types and climate, and their style of farm management. However, some fundamental principles need to be expressed as rules for farming under the Regenza™ name, both for marketing success and to prevent hijacking of the merits of the system by bad actors. The key rules will require Regenza™ farmers to:
(a) Adopt self-seeding, multi-species pastures which include
(i) plant varieties which have been scientifically proven to result in substantial reductions in enteric methane emissions. In many cases this is a result of the methane-inhibition effects of higher tannins and other PSMs (plant-specific metabolites) present;
(ii) a variety of persistantlegumes to naturally fix nitrogen from the air;
(iii) some deeper-rooting species to allow accumulation of more soil organic carbon and reduce nitrate leaching;
(b) Maintain pre-and post-grazing herbage masses at considerably higher levels than practised with ryegrass, to encourage self-seeding and minimise bare soil and soil disturbance, and therefore minimiseE. coli and sediment run-off;
(c) N and K inputs would be substantiallyreduced to minimise nitrate leaching and metabolic illnesses, and fertiliser P use must be restricted to sustained-release forms such as reactive phosphate rock (RPR) and reverted superphosphate to minimise P runoff.
(d) The current dairy-farm practice of slaughtering bobby calves, increasingly becoming a red flag in our overseas markets, would be stopped, with dairy production, dairy beef production and hill country sheep and beef farming becoming fully integrated under Regenza®.A spin-off of this is that GHG emissions are known to be significantly lower under dairy beef than beef-on-beef farming.
Research
AgResearch® needs to be repurposed, working with an advisory board of regenerative farmers, to focus on the selection and breeding of plants with the desired characteristics (see Rules), including persistence under grazing and best grazing practices. Multi-year on-farm trials and extension at a variety of locations across the country must be an integral component of this research.The objective should be to have pasture mixes with 30-50% reduction in enteric methane rolled out across the country over the next decade. Several alternative forage plants (mainly legumes) containing higher levels of tannins were investigated by DSIR Grasslands (now part of AgResearch) 30-40 years ago, mainly because of the benefits of these psmsfor stock health and production. A limited amount of study of persistence under grazing was conducted. Examples of species needing urgent evaluation include are listed below*.
In addition to this, given the recent changes in government policy regarding genetic engineering, AgResearch should be cleared to developryegrasses (and clovers) with considerably higher tannin contents than the 1-1.5% present in currently used cultivars. Modified ryegrass and white clovercould be important components of regenerative forage pastures. Levels of tannins and other PSMs in forage plants of up to 6%(depending on the species and types of PSMs present) are believed to have no adverse effect on production. Each 1% increase in tannins/PSMs typically reduces methane emissions by 5%.
*Alternative forages to be investigated –
Legumes
• Sulla (Hedysarumcoronarium)
• Biserrula(Biserrulapelecinus)
• Serradella (Ornithopus spp.)
• Sainfoin (Onobrychisviciifolia)
• Lotus (Lotus pedunculatus)
• Birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
• Subterraneumclover (Trofoliumsubterraneum)
• Lucerne/alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
• Annual Medics (egburr medic, Medicago polymorpha)
Non-legumes
• Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
• Plaintain(Plantago lanceolata)
Note that different cultivars and lines of the above can vary in both their PSM content and persistence under grazing, so selection for these attributes is essential.
Return on investment
There must be a sophisticated and concertedstrategy to promote the Regenza™ brand internationally, and particularly in those countries with significant market sectors known to be willing to paypremiums(of for example 20%)for high-quality food produced under demonstrably sustainableproduction systems. The combination of added value, and reduced fertiliser and veterinarycosts under Regenza™ compared to the current ryegrass-dominant system will ensure a profitable future for New Zealand’s farmers.