19366 research outputs found
Sort by
Landscapes of care
No full textThe perspective of care in design can mean doing less rather than more and adopting a self-effacing approach. The ideas of Weak Architecture (Sola-Morales 1987), Fragile Design (Pallasmaa 2000), Austere Gardens (Treib 2016), Frugality (Franch 2018), and “Doing almost nothing” (Descombes 2018), are ways of treading more lightly on the landscape
Responses to water stress extremes in diverse red clover germplasm accessions
Get PDFRed clover (Trifolium pratense L.), a key perennial pastoral species used globally, can strengthen pastural mixes to withstand increasingly disruptive weather patterns from climate change. Breeding selections can be refined for this purpose by obtaining an in-depth understanding of key functional traits. A replicated randomized complete block glasshouse pot trial was used to observe trait responses critical to plant performance under control (15% VMC), water deficit (5% VMC) and waterlogged conditions (50% VMC) in seven red clover populations and compared against white clover. Twelve morphological and physiological traits were identified as key contributors to the different plant coping mechanisms displayed. Under water deficit, the levels of all aboveground morphological traits decreased, highlighted by a 41% decrease in total dry matter and 50% decreases in both leaf number and leaf thickness compared to the control treatment. An increase in root to shoot ratio indicated a shift to prioritizing root maintenance by sacrificing shoot growth, a trait attributed to plant water deficit tolerance. Under waterlogging, a reduction in photosynthetic activity among red clover populations reduced several morphological traits including a 30% decrease in root dry mass and total dry matter, and a 34% decrease in leaf number. The importance of root morphology for waterlogging was highlighted with low performance of red clover: there was an 83% decrease in root dry mass compared to white clover which was able to maintain root dry mass and therefore plant performance. This study highlights the importance of germplasm evaluation across water stress extremes to identify traits for future breeding programs
Wellbeing, environmental sustainability, and profitability: Including plurality of logics in participatory extension programmes for enhanced farmer resilience
No full textEnvironmental sustainability and economic challenges are requiring significant change in the agricultural sector, and this is driving an increased focus on farmer and farm business resilience. Participatory extension programmes (PEPs) are a well-known approach for supporting farmer change. The objective of this article is to explore how a PEP based on peer-to-peer learning can support farmers in increasing resilience. Our study examines the interaction of wellbeing, environmental change and profitability through the applications of an institutional logics evaluation framework. We interviewed 24 participants in a PEP based in Northland, New Zealand. Findings show that PEPs can provide a safe space to discuss wellbeing challenges and link farmers with networks to support them on their wellbeing journey. We found that farmer wellbeing is intrinsically linked to other pressures that farmers face around profitability and sustainability, and therefore PEPs need to balance these three pillars. This article adds to the current literature by expanding an institutional logics evaluation framework and identifying the role of different actors in change mechanisms
A review of legume research and extension in New Zealand (1990-2022)
Get PDFLegumes have underpinned transformational change on New Zealand sheep and beef farms over the last 30 years. This was through an emphasis on ewe nutrition based on lucerne or red clover dominant pastures, and increased use of subterranean and white clovers on uncultivatable hill country. Pre- and post-weaning lamb growth rates have increased, and enabled earlier slaughter of heavier lambs. The farm systems results include greater numbers of hoggets mated, higher lambing percentages and greater ewe efficiency (kg lamb weaned/kg ewe mated). Extension packages to support legume use have compared growth rates of resident and legume-based pastures, economic analyses of successful farms and management packages for the most appropriate legume in different environments. Over the same period, the dairy industry rapidly expanded in cow numbers and area onto flat irrigated land on the Canterbury Plains. The nitrogen deficiency of perennial ryegrass was overcome by a linear increase in nitrogen fertiliser use. Environmental concerns from this intensification has led to a legislated nitrogen cap of 190 kg/ha.year. This, coupled with a recent trebling in urea price, has returned attention to increasing the white clover content of these pastures. Nitrogen applications can be minimised by using diverse pastures sown with a legume, herb and <8 kg/ha of perennial ryegrass. Work on other legumes, including annuals and those with condensed tannins, has to date failed to increase their use in most pastoral settings, with the exception of the perennial lupin which is adapted to high-aluminium soils in the South Island High Country
Lizard monitoring on Banks Peninsula Summer/Autumn 2022-2023: Summary report
No full textAs part of the biodiversity work that is ongoing on Banks Peninsula, Lincoln University staff and students continued their work in association with Alice Webster (Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust) to monitor lizards between December 2022 – April 2023 (with monitoring also done in May on Quail Island) as part of the Pest-Free Banks Peninsula (PFBP) initiative. Mike Bowie has now retired from Lincoln University, and Jennifer Gillette has replaced him on this project. This report summarises our findings from this field season
Indigenous IA as a game-changer? Lessons from Aotearoa, New Zealand
No full textIndigenous leadership in IA can lead to better IA practice and more resilient decisions. What are the specific catalysts that are empowering Indigenous groups to become more deeply involved in the practice and oversight of IA? This session will explore examples from around the world
Randomised control trials (RCTs) in progress for Moving the Middle
No full textRandomised control trials (RCTs) in progress for Moving the Middl
Camera boxes: A novel artificial refugium with a camera for monitoring lizards
No full textLizards are under-studied in New Zealand and are under threat from introduced mammalian predators and habitat modification. These threats can occur across different land uses and have a significant impact on the populations. To reduce and manage the impact of these threats on lizards, we need a deeper understanding of lizard ecology. In particular, we need an increased focus on lizard behaviour, population-level studies, and the influence of agriculture on lizard ecology. To conduct such studies requires an effective toolkit of monitoring techniques. However, current standard herpetofauna monitoring techniques are limited by cryptic lizard behaviour and site inaccessibility. We have developed a novel herpetofauna monitoring tool: a wooden camera box that functions as an artificial cover object, but with a camera inside that can photograph and video lizards (and other animals). The camera box has a Perspex-covered base layer with ‘rooms’ that lizards occupy. The lid of the box contains a wide-angled camera lens, designed to film and photograph the ‘rooms’. The camera box allows us to investigate behavioural ecology in a space traditionally cryptic to researchers. We will deploy the camera box on three sites: Cleardale station (Rakaia Gorge), Goughs Bay (Banks Peninsula), and Flea Bay (Banks Peninsula) as a component of a MSc thesis. Preliminary tests are being conducted at Orana Wildlife Park on their captive Woodworthia sp. population, and we will present our preliminary results. This novel device is a non-invasive and resource-efficient tool for monitoring herpetofauna that reduces climatic influences, accessibility barriers, and extensive labour requirements
Assessing short-term economic consequences of cow-calf contact systems in dairy production using a stochastic partial budgeting approach
No full textIntroduction: While early separation of dairy calves after birth has been debated from an ethical and animal welfare lens, the economic evidence surrounding alternative cow-calf contact (CCC) systems is scarce.
Methods: To address this knowledge gap, we assessed the economic consequences of CCC systems using data from the Agriwise database as well as parameters from published literature in a stochastic partial budget model. The implementation of CCC is very diverse between farms, so in our study we therefore selected a limited number of CCC systems to assess. The examined CCC systems were: (i) dam rearing with limited contact at milking (15 minutes twice a day for 115 days) with no manual milk feeding; (ii) dam rearing with 21-day full contact, after which calves are manually fed 8 kg of whole milk for 94 days; and (iii) mixed calf rearing with using both dams and foster cows with full contact; calves are initially kept with their dams and then moved to foster cows at 9 days of age.
Results: We found that adoption of CCC systems was associated with decreases in contribution margins in the range of 1 to 5.4%, as compared to a rearing system where the calves were separated from their dams after one day and were manually fed 8 kg of milk for 12 weeks. These results illustrated that the costs associated with CCC systems may be fairly high under certain circumstances and may prohibit farmers from adopting this practice. Sensitivity analysis suggested that differences in milk sales, assumptions on changes in labor requirements, and changes in daily calf weight gain depending on CCC system were the main variables that governed the net impact on the contribution margins.
Discussion: We did not include building costs in the analyses assuming that barn structures may not change in the short-term. The study focused only on short-term pecuniary associations between changes in CCC systems and contribution margins. To strengthen the economic decision-making around CCC systems, future research should consider non-monetary impacts of different CCC systems, as well as long-term economic impacts of these production strategies
The regional consequence of a disaster: Assessing employment transition during economic recovery
Get PDFOrientation: Large-scale events such as disasters, wars and pandemics disrupt the economy by diverging resource allocation, which could alter employment growth within the economy during recovery.
Research purpose: The literature on the disaster–economic nexus predominantly considers the aggregate performance of the economy, including the stimulus injection. This research assesses the employment transition following a disaster by removing this stimulus injection and evaluating the economy’s performance during recovery.
Motivation for the study: The underlying economy’s performance without the stimulus’ benefit remains primarily unanswered. A single disaster event is used to assess the employment transition to guide future stimulus response for disasters.
Research approach/design and method: Canterbury, New Zealand, was affected by a series of earthquakes in 2010–2011 and is used as a single case study. Applying the historical construction–economic relationship, a counterfactual level of economic activity is quantified and compared with official results. Using an input–output model to remove the economy-wide impact from the elevated activity reveals the performance of the underlying economy and employment transition during recovery.
Main findings: The results indicate a return to a demand-driven level of building activity 10 years after the disaster. Employment transition is characterised by two distinct periods. The first 5 years are stimulus-driven, while the 5 years that follow are demand-driven from the underlying economy. After the initial period of elevated building activity, construction repositioned to its long-term level near 5% of value add. Practical/managerial implications: The level of building activity could be used to confidently assess the performance of regional economies following a destructive disaster. The study results argue for an incentive to redevelop the affected area as quickly as possible to mitigate the negative effect of the destruction and provide a stimulus for the economy. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to a growing stream of regional disaster economics research that assesses the economic effect using a single case study