Analysis

Drought will bring more crop disease, scientists warn

New Zealand’s land-based primary industries need to get ready for more, and more serious, crop disease as climate change causes more and longer droughts, according to new research. In the journal Australasian Plant Pathology, the authors say that climate change is expected to bring more droughts in many parts of New Zealand, and more droughts are “likely to increase the severity of a wide range of diseases affecting the plant-based productive sectors”. Scientists from the Bio-Protection Research Centre, Scion, Lincoln University, AUT University, Landcare Research, and the University of Auckland analysed the potential impact of climate-change-induced drought on several commercial plants and their diseases. They found that in most instances “increased drought is expected to increase disease expression”. The probable negative effects of drought include “…a predisposition of hosts to infection through general weakening and/or suppressed disease resistance”. More frequent and more severe droughts could also lead to “emergence of enhanced or new diseases of plants that can reduce primary production”. “New plant disease pressures are expected to occur… with potentially devastating impacts for New Zealand’s productive sectors,” the authors said. But the news is not all bad. “Drought may reduce the severity of some diseases, such as Sclerotina rot of kiwifruit and red needle cast (RNC) of radiata pine,” they said. And in some cases it could “activate systemic defence mechanisms resulting in increased resistance to infection”. In an extended case study the authors said that the effects of increased drought on New Zealand’s Pinus radiata industry would depend on many factors, including whether drought happened early or late in the season. “There is urgent need to study the impacts of the different levels of drought and different levels of RNC severity to understand the thresholds at which radiata pine plantations would still accomplish their economic and ecological roles.” […]

Government right to signal need for change in NZ agriculture

A Lincoln University expert says Environment Minister David Parker is right to signal New Zealand agriculture cannot continue with business as usual. Senior lecturer in Agribusiness Management, Dr Nic Lees, said intensive dairying is currently profitable only because it is not bearing the full costs of its production systems. “It is not paying the cost to the environment of its production. We are all picking up the tab, and especially our children for the impact on our waterways and climate,” he said. “Currently intensive dairy farming is addicted to high production per cow. This means adding in concentrated feed such as palm kernel and high levels of nitrogen fertiliser. This increases costs, which means these systems are only profitable with high production and high commodity prices.” Dr Lees said this shows New Zealand’s future is not in maintaining our position as the lowest cost producer of meat and dairy products. “The longer that the beef and dairy industries hold on to a commodity model based on increasing output and lowering costs the greater will be the future farmer pain. “I think we need to have conversations around “peak cow” and the future of our animal production industries.” He said the Labour Government is clearly signalling New Zealand’s future is not in commodities. “Facing up to “peak cows” will benefit New Zealand and farmers in the long term. It is either some pain now or a lot of pain later. “If not, alternative proteins will take out our commodity agricultural products in the same way nylon took out wool as a fibre.” Minister Parker has said there is potential to change towards cropping, horticulture, which are high-value land uses, Dr Lees said. “He is right to say there are too many cows, however the potential for cropping and horticulture to replace […]

Massey University announced as partner of the New Zealand National Fieldays Society

In the picture:Massey University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Jane Thomas, signing an agreement with New Zealand National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation. New Zealand National Fieldays Society, owner of the iconic Fieldays event in June, has a new partner in the form of Massey University. The university and Society signed the three-year initial term agreement earlier this month, ahead of the first Society board meeting to be held offsite since incorporation. Fieldays celebrates its 50th anniversary this year during the 13-16 June event at Mystery Creek near Hamilton. Nick Dromgool, GM Commercial for the Society, believes Massey University’s strong focus on the agricultural and health sectors makes it a strong partner for the Society and the Fieldays event. “Fieldays has been bringing rural and urban audiences together for 50 years, and we are very pleased about this connection with Massey University. Fieldays is a truly New Zealand event and we feel Massey’s ethos of being an accessible university through its many campuses and its distance learning is an excellent fit.” Massey University is well-known for agri-related study and research, and also has top equine, vet and food programmes. It has a strong focus on health and has many other unique schools within its campuses. The university was recently recognised in the 2018 QS World University Rankings, placing 22nd in the world’s universities for agriculture and forestry, and 23rd for veterinary science. College of Sciences Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Ray Geor says Massey is excited about connecting with the Society at a partnership level. “We are a strong supporter of Fieldays and have always had a large presence at the event. This year we are very pleased to be able to really cement that relationship,” he says. “Fieldays is a premier event, recognised in world agribusiness,” adds Professor Geor. “It’s an excellent fit […]

Kiwi academics develop new food design technique

Two leading academics have developed a new food design technique to help inspire the next generation of culinary designers and make artistic food presentation more accessible to New Zealand restaurants. The new technique developed in consultation with EPIC Otago Polytechnic R & D centre and The Food Design Institute at Otago Polytechnic allows chefs to produce large quantities of artistically designed food products by hand on a commercial scale with a small team, and at reduced cost. Otago Polytechnic’s Timothy Lynch, who and lectures on sustainability in the food industry, says they wanted to present ingredients in a way that was consistent with multisensory food design concepts. “The process involves working with natural products to design handcrafted foods that look identical to fruit and vegetables but are filled with contrasting flavours.” “Initially we couldn’t find a way to make these products on a small scale, but a collaboration with the EPIC helped us overcome several barriers, and we were able to develop a method of crafting the lifelike products using food-grade silicon moulds, which we made ourselves,” he says. Lynch says a project of this scale and complexity would require international assistance and a large team of scientists and food specialists. This would have made the project cost prohibitive by New Zealand industry standards, he says. “Thanks to the ingenuity of some of our colleagues and the dedication of our staff and students we have managed to find a way to bring these food creations to life,”- says Lynch. Senior lecturer Tony Heptinstall who has catered for Prince Charles and other royal family members says one of the objectives was to increase current industry capital through being part of an innovative collaboration between the food industry and education. “We were conscious that to inspire the students we needed to take […]

NZ well positioned to be global player in alternative protein market

Eco conscious millennial consumers are reshaping demand for alternative sources of protein according to the country’s largest manufacturer of vegetarian foods. Mark Roper spokesperson for Life Health Foods – which makes plant based Bean Supreme and recently launched Alternative Meat Co. products, says growing concern for the environment is leading this demographic to seek out other options to integrate into their diet. A nationwide survey commissioned by the company has found that millennials aged 18-34 are the most likely demographic to adopt a mostly meat-free lifestyle in the next decade. “Among this age group, factors such as concern for animal welfare and the environment were some of the most important drivers of purchase choice; whereas if you look at older consumers, health considerations and cost of meat were the primary reasons for choosing vegetarian foods,” he says. Roper says New Zealand is well positioned to take advantage of this emerging trend – which has seen accelerated growth in the global meat substitute market. “Our research is showing that many consumers are not completely replacing meat in their diet – instead, they are integrating more meat-free options throughout the week. This makes development of a plant protein market complementary to our existing agricultural exports,” says Roper. He says the new consumer driven trend is something that farmers should not fear, but rather capitalise on. “As a producer we are looking at this growth as a promising future market. As well as a growth industry locally, there is increasing demand for these products in the more well-established markets of the US and Europe where there are potentially large export opportunities for us,” he says. Roper says at the same time, New Zealand is well positioned as a producer nation to capitalise on millennial’s demand for plant based products. “As a country, we […]

Fonterra ventures partners PIC on Food website

Fonterra ventures partners with high growth active nutrition start-uo

Fonterra Ventures has entered into its first strategic partnership, teaming up with German active nutrition start-up foodspring® through an investment in its parent company, Goodminton AG. The new partnership will enable Fonterra to tap into the rapidly growing active nutrition consumer segment, which is valued at $200 billion globally, and forecast to expand significantly in the years to come. Judith Swales, Fonterra’s Chief Operating Officer, Velocity and Innovation says the deal creates a range of exciting new business and market development opportunities for the Co-operative. “Fonterra is a global leader in protein and high value, advanced ingredients, so it’s only right we should strive to be at the forefront of the active nutrition market. The strategic partnership with foodspring® will accelerate our progress in the category by giving us direct access to a new consumer segment. This investment is a first for Fonterra and supports our strategy to grow in high value categories. “foodspring’s impressive growth trajectory is supported by its strong direct to consumer channel and digital nutrition and wellbeing coach. By leveraging this technology and innovative business model, we’ll be able to share the goodness of dairy with more consumers around the world,” Judith added. Founded by Philipp Schrempp and Tobias Schüle, foodspring® is a high growth, active nutrition Berlin based start-up. From whey protein shakes to organic superfoods, foodspring® has a strong brand and product portfolio across the healthy eating, weight management and muscle-building categories targeting the consumer’s mind, body and soul. Their products are sold online across Europe and Asia. “We are pleased to have gained the support of one of the largest and most innovative dairy companies, which is very aligned to our business. We look forward to welcoming Fonterra Ventures on board and the synergies we can capture from our partnership,” says Tobias […]

Food production system ‘unsustainable’

New Zealand agriculture needs to become more sustainable to capitalise on the clean, green, unspoiled image the country has overseas. That’s the view of Sir Charles Godfray, director of the Oxford Martin School at Oxford University in the UK, a world-leading centre of research into addressing global challenges. Sir Charles recently visited New Zealand to speak at a Bio-Protection Research Centre symposium, and give a public lecture on gene-drive technologies to control insects that transmit disease. Discussing food security Sir Charles said, “By the middle of the century there will be about 10 billion people. Demand for food will increase both because of the growth in population and because an increasing number of people will be richer and demanding better-quality diets – including more meat and dairy. “But calorie for calorie, food from animals requires more resources to produce than food from plants, and it would be impossible to satisfy the demands of 10 billion people if they all had the diets we enjoy in the rich world. Something would have to give.” Added to that there are pressure on food supply: climate change was already leading to more extreme effects such as droughts and floods, and there was increasing pressure on water resources. Given these challenges, there were two possible futures for the livestock sector, Sir Charles said. “One sees the demand for meat and dairy going up unchecked and putting so much pressure on the environment that it undermines our capacity to produce food in the future.” The other possible future was that people individually ate less meat and dairy, but demanded premium-quality products: safe and nutritious, and produced under the highest environmental and animal welfare standards. “It is natural that talk of eating less meat and dairy is concerning in a country where so many livelihoods depend […]

Environment and agriculture can both benefit from trade agreement

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) trade agreement has the potential to transform the agricultural sector and at the same time benefit the environment, agribusiness expert Dr Nic Lees of Lincoln University says. However, he added, the public needed to be convinced of that. The CPTTP is the re-negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership after the USA withdrew, and is a free trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Negotiations have concluded between the countries but it is yet to be ratified by New Zealand. The TTP had met some public and political opposition. The CPTTP could change the sector from relying on low cost commodities to a focus on high value exports intimately connected to a pristine environment, Dr Lees said. “Where New Zealand producers are exporting high value branded products we see an associated increase in concern for the environment. These producers know that they need to meet consumers demand for products to be produced ethically and sustainably.” He said tariffs on New Zealand beef exports to Japan will drop from 38.5% to 9%, saving the industry $25 million. “This reduction in tariffs will give New Zealand and Australia a competitive advantage over the USA beef in the high value Japanese market. “It will encourage New Zealand beef farmers to target high value beef cuts in the Japanese market rather than export commodity hamburger beef to the USA,” Dr Lees added. Tariffs on kiwifruit exports to Japan, the largest importer of New Zealand kiwifruit, will be eliminated. Tariffs on wine exports to New Zealand’s fourth largest market Canada will also be removed. Overall the CPTPP could provide approximately $222m of tariff savings each year. However, he said, the public need to be convinced of these benefits. “There is […]

DNA technology to accelerate improvements in agricultural production

A new deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis technology called Genotyping by Random Amplicon Sequencing (GRAS) uses analytical materials. This technology is capable of dramatically improving the efficiency of identifying and selecting useful genetic information for agricultural plant improvement. This technology should lead to substantial time and cost savings in the agricultural plant improvement process. Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC0 is involved in a wide range of initiatives in order to help achieve a sustainable society. In addition to improving the fuel efficiency of its vehicles to help prevent global warming and to also enhance energy security; TMC is also supporting various bio-technology businesses. For example, TMC has applied its wealth of knowledge about production control systems and process improvements to the agricultural field so as to help develop the cloud-based agricultural IT management tool (Housaku Keikaku). At the same time, TMC is also developing a technology that would help to increase the yield of sugar-cane as an alternative biofuel source. Conventional agricultural plant improvement to increase crop yields involves selecting and interbreeding of parent varieties based on extensive past improvement data, assessing progeny over the long term, as well as selecting new progeny with the desired property. However, although the recently developed marker technology(1), which uses genetic information to predict plant characteristics has helped to improve the efficiency of this process, the lengthy time needed as well as the high cost of this method of DNA analysis have sought to hinder its adoption. In response, TMC has paired its proprietary sample preparation technology(2) with a next-generation sequencer(3) to develop GRAS, a new technology that can substantially simplify the process of identifying and selecting useful genetic information. GRAS is capable of analyzing DNA in about one-tenth the time needed, and at around one-third the cost of conventional techniques that are being utilised. This […]

The world needs carbon-in not carbon-out

If we stopped releasing carbon from the soil into the atmosphere and captured it instead then the serious problem of global warming could be solved. International soil scientist, Dr John Baker, says, in relation to soil, there’s more “carbon going out than coming in” and the world has reached a stage where the process must be reversed. When it is, there won’t be a problem with climate change. Dr Baker points out we recycle bottles and plastics but not carbon and the time to start recycling carbon is long overdue. “There’s more CO2 in the atmosphere and less in the soil than ever before,” he says. “While the first crucial step is to grow more plants, it’s even more important to ensure the carbon that existing plants absorb from the atmosphere through photosynthesis remains in the soil.” At the moment carbon is squandered. About 50 percent is lost when food is harvested but Dr Baker says that’s acceptable because it’s why we grow food in the first place. But as much carbon again remains as straw, stubble and roots after harvest and, if this is removed, burnt or incorporated, then most of it gets back into the atmosphere where it contributes to global warming. “Instead we must retain the crop residue after harvest and offer the carbon to the soil microbes. They decompose it and earthworms and other fauna take it into the soil which enriches it,” he says. “The future of mankind depends on harnessing the biology in the soil and making it work for us. The impact would be massive if the uneaten carbon that food crops gather globally was transferred into the soil and stayed there.” The good news is that the world doesn’t need to invent new technologies to make it happen. New Zealand already has […]

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