NZ Landcare Trust held a 'Practical Farm Planning Workshop' on the 22nd February at Heritage Valley Farms, Horsham Downs. The event aimed to give an overview of Whole Farm Plans and how they can fit into the wider catchment.
Over 40 attendees heard a series of presentations on a range of useful subjects. To set the scene Bob Penter, Waikato River Authority gave an overview of the newly formed Waikato River Authority and outlined early plans for funding projects designed to clean up the river. This was followed by a useful session on 'Seasonal Forecasting' delivered by Georgina Griffith from NIWA. She pointed out the clear difference between MET Service 7 day weather forecasts and NIWA's the longer range Seasonal Forecasting that set out to explore weather patterns and the influences of events such as La Niña. From this they can create useful tools such as their '15 Day Forecasts'.
After a break for morning tea Bala Tikkisetty from Environment Waikato took the stage and outlined the history and development of farm planning. 'Whole Farm Management Plans' (WFMPs) were explored in detail during a presentation from Farm Planning Consultant Alison Dewes. WFMP’s take a comprehensive look at the whole farm system, and consider economic, environmental and physical performance perspectives. They are far more involved than a simple 'Nutrient Budget' and offer far greater benefits to the farmer.
Finally Richard Henderson from Heritage Valley Farms gave a farmers perspective of the value of Whole farm Plans and the issues associated with implimentation.
Before lunch the attendees were divided into two smaller groups so they could firstly discuss in more detail the issues around Whole Farm Plans with Alison Dewes, and secondly learn about 'Catchment Action Plans' from John-Paul Praat from PA Handford & Associates.
Slides that accompanied these presentations are available on this page to download.
This workshop demonstrated what can be achieved in a small catchment involving only 2 farms around a peat lake. This scaleable approach offers the potential to tackle some of the larger peat lake catchments. In the future Whole Farm Management Plans can be linked to a larger scale Catchment Action Plan, providing an opportunity for the whole farming community to work together to improve farm system efficiency with associated benefits for the whole rural community and the environment.
