News: 14 July 08
Roots the route to environmentally sounder intensive farming
Crop & Food Research is embarking on a project to reduce the environmental impact of intensive farming by developing cultivars with high-performance root systems for pastures and crops.
The project will use conventional breeding and molecular technologies to get a significant improvement in root performance for New Zealand’s major pastoral (ryegrass and white clover) and arable (wheat, barley, oats, peas) crops in such areas as water uptake, nutrient use, soil structure modification and pest control
The aim is to develop plants with much-improved root systems that require less water, pesticides and fertiliser, enabling New Zealand to compete strongly in overseas markets where consumers are increasingly demanding “green” food products.
The Foundation? for Research, Science and Technology is investing $7.5 million over five years in the “Roots for sustainability” project, which is one of 96 contestable research projects announced today in the Foundation’s main 2008 Investment Round.
Foundation chief executive Murray Bain says growth in New Zealand agriculture has historically depended on farming intensification, strongly underpinned by crop genetics and selection of performance traits under high water and nutrient inputs.
“However, the sustainability of this growth and access to overseas markets is at risk as water availability becomes limiting, soil quality declines, nutrient input costs become prohibitive and nutrient losses such as nitrogen and phosphate leaching and gaseous emissions become more highly regulated and a focus of consumer concern,” Murray Bain said.
“This innovative research project with its new and multi-disciplinary focus on improved roots will significantly reduce the environmental footprint of our pastoral and cropping systems and contribute to continued overseas market access with environmentally ‘clean’ exports. We will see more effective water, nutrient and pesticide use, with reduced nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions long term.”
Crop & Food estimates that $149 million a year will be added to New Zealand agriculture through reduced input costs such as irrigation, fertiliser and pesticides, and improved productivity of dryland systems and marginal soils from water uptake efficacy, nutrient recycling and soil structure modification.
The proposal is a collaborative effort between Crop & Food Research and AgResearch and will also build on existing significant collaborations with CSIRO Plant Industry, Australia.
Crop & Food Research chief executive Mark Ward says the new investment represents a significant commitment to enhancing New Zealand’s plant breeding capabilities.
Part of the investment supports a national germplasm collection which contains important material with which to develop new crops with new root systems.
“New Zealand’s food exports depend on access to quality crops, produced sustainably, and so this work underpins New Zealand’s ability to continue to increase its exports of quality foods.”
“We’re delighted with the new investment and will be working closely with a range of significant New Zealand companies to develop enhanced food and forage crops for the future,” Mr Ward says.
The project will use conventional breeding and molecular technologies to get a significant improvement in root performance for New Zealand’s major pastoral (ryegrass and white clover) and arable (wheat, barley, oats, peas) crops in such areas as water uptake, nutrient use, soil structure modification and pest control
The aim is to develop plants with much-improved root systems that require less water, pesticides and fertiliser, enabling New Zealand to compete strongly in overseas markets where consumers are increasingly demanding “green” food products.
The Foundation? for Research, Science and Technology is investing $7.5 million over five years in the “Roots for sustainability” project, which is one of 96 contestable research projects announced today in the Foundation’s main 2008 Investment Round.
Foundation chief executive Murray Bain says growth in New Zealand agriculture has historically depended on farming intensification, strongly underpinned by crop genetics and selection of performance traits under high water and nutrient inputs.
“However, the sustainability of this growth and access to overseas markets is at risk as water availability becomes limiting, soil quality declines, nutrient input costs become prohibitive and nutrient losses such as nitrogen and phosphate leaching and gaseous emissions become more highly regulated and a focus of consumer concern,” Murray Bain said.
“This innovative research project with its new and multi-disciplinary focus on improved roots will significantly reduce the environmental footprint of our pastoral and cropping systems and contribute to continued overseas market access with environmentally ‘clean’ exports. We will see more effective water, nutrient and pesticide use, with reduced nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions long term.”
Crop & Food estimates that $149 million a year will be added to New Zealand agriculture through reduced input costs such as irrigation, fertiliser and pesticides, and improved productivity of dryland systems and marginal soils from water uptake efficacy, nutrient recycling and soil structure modification.
The proposal is a collaborative effort between Crop & Food Research and AgResearch and will also build on existing significant collaborations with CSIRO Plant Industry, Australia.
Crop & Food Research chief executive Mark Ward says the new investment represents a significant commitment to enhancing New Zealand’s plant breeding capabilities.
Part of the investment supports a national germplasm collection which contains important material with which to develop new crops with new root systems.
“New Zealand’s food exports depend on access to quality crops, produced sustainably, and so this work underpins New Zealand’s ability to continue to increase its exports of quality foods.”
“We’re delighted with the new investment and will be working closely with a range of significant New Zealand companies to develop enhanced food and forage crops for the future,” Mr Ward says.