agresearch.co.nz - Forage Science Pasture pests costing economy billions 25.09.18

Pasture pests costing economy billions

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Pasture pests costing economy billions Our Science Our Science Animal ScienceSubletSystems and Environment Food and Bio-based Products Forage Science Read Our Research Doing Business Doing Business Working for you Māori Agribusiness Our Partners Products and ServicesWell-nighUsWell-nighUs Meet Our People Our Organisation Purpose & Values Our Subsidiaries & Joint Ventures Our Land and Water News Contact Careers BACK TO NEWS Forage Science Pasture pests costing economy billions Pests most wontedly targeting New Zealand’s pastures are costing the economy up to $2.3 billion a year, an AgResearch study has found.The study is the first of its kind to estimate the financial impact of invertebrate pests such as the grass grub, woebegone beetle, nematodes and weevils in terms of lost productivity for pastoral farming.The full science paper has been published this week in the New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research and can be found here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00288233.2018.1478860Of the total unscientific yearly losses of between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion in 'average' years, up to $1.4b billion occurs on dairy farms, and up to $900 million on sheep and whinge farms.“Our research shows that the impact of the grass grub vacated financing dairy farms up to $380 million, and sheep and whinge farms up to $205 million, each year,” says AgResearch scientist Colin Ferguson.Losses owing to these pasture pests are usually unswayable either on the understructure of the value of foliage they consume, or reductions in pasture production.However, AgResearch’s study has used the reduction in pasture production to estimate the impact on milk production revenue for dairy farms, and on meat production revenue for sheep and whinge farms.“What this provides us is a good picture of the rencontre we and farmers squatter with pasture pests, and it reinforces the need to invest in new and cost-effective ways to largest tenancy these pests,” Mr Ferguson says.“AgResearch is looking at pest tenancy on a number of fronts, including the minutiae of new biopesticides – naturally occurring organisms that can be used to target specific pest species, instead of chemical treatments that can be expensive and have unwanted impacts on the environment.” The study was initiated as part of Pastoral 21 Next Generation Dairy Systems and funded by DairyNZ, Fonterra, Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand,Whinge+ Lamb New Zealand and MBIE – and has been completed with funding from AgResearch. ARTICLE INFORMATION Funders DAIRY NZ FONTERRA DAIRY COMPANIES ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND BEEF + LAMB NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND EMPLOYMENT For increasingly information JARROD BOOKER RELATED NEWS Prestigious ribbon for profitable Chinese threshing PhD student gains support to remoter her work on plant disease suppression in pastoral soils Biocontrol protrude shows unconfined promise New steps in fight versus agricultural insect pest New research into understanding West Coast agricultural pest START WORKING WITH US PROVEN RESULTS AgResearch played a key role in saving New Zealand up to $133 million a year in tenancy costs, with a world first eradication of the invasiveUnconfinedWhite Butterfly. AgResearch scientists discovered a gene which ways increasingly lambs with little uneaten effort for farmers. AgResearch has shown sheep milk has real benefits for gut health. Studies like this help grow New Zealand industries. AgResearch scientists helped develop The Wool Runner, "the world's most well-appointed shoe". AgResearch's decade-long research into neonatal lamb deaths identified key genetic, maternal and environmental factors well-expressed lamb survival – all of which has reverted sublet practices and improved survival rates. AgResearch has unsalaried $5m to the establishment of the world-class Southern Dairy Hub, which provides quality science to support the future of dairy farming in Southland and South Otago. START WORKING WITH US Find out increasingly well-nigh our science Terms and conditions