Growing More Grain: Impacts & Opportunities for Dairy Farmers

New Zealand’s livestock sectors are reliant on imported grain and PKE. Recently completed research asks whether growing more grain in New Zealand is a viable approach to reduce risk associated with reliance on imported grain, and comes with wider benefits to farming systems.

The comprehensive report from AgFirst modelled a range of scenarios with different yield, cost, livestock, and supply situations to review the effects of converting a proportion of pasture into supplementary feed grain crops. They found potential positive impacts for farm profitability, greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen leaching.