22 August 2013 Farmax announces recipient of inaugural Lincoln University scholarship

Second year Lincoln University PhD student, Geoffrey Smith, has been awarded a $5,000 scholarship from Farmax to advance his research into the strategic use of the drought-tolerant species lucerne as an alternative or complementary forage to ryegrass for Canterbury dairy farms.

Farmax General Manager, Gavin McEwen, said Smith’s research stood out for the selection panel because while it was focussed on Canterbury, it had the potential to create significant benefits for all New Zealand pastoral farmers.

He added that the panel was impressed not only by the focus on addressing an emerging environmental issue, but also the potential the research has to help farmers further increase profit from pasture management, which would benefit both individuals and the country.

On receiving the scholarship, Smith said he felt very privileged and was grateful for the support from Farmax to further his research, which he hopes will one day translate into farm extension. 

Lucerne has been widely used in South American systems both on its own and within pasture mixes to provide quality feed to extend lactation and increase milk production.

With the Canterbury region requiring irrigation throughout the summer months, and water access, supply and irrigation increasingly more expensive and unreliable, Smith said there is potential for drought tolerant species to be used strategically to make farming systems more sustainable and productive.

Smith’s research project is in the second of three years. The farmlet study conducted last season examined milk production, urinary nitrogen excretion off lucerne and ryegrass, and monitored the seasonal growth rates of lucerne versus ryegrass pastures.

This summer Smith will be examining the effects of different feed allowances of lucerne on milk solids production.

All the results will be used to model both animal and economic performance under different whole farm system scenarios – including the amount of lucerne in the milking platform pasture, with adjusted stocking rates, calving dates, supplement and nitrogen use.

Smith said this wouldn’t be possible without the modelling capability of Farmax, which will be specifically used to model the economic effects on the base farm in the different scenarios. 

He expects his research to be finished in 2014 and to complete his PhD in 2015.

Smith’s research will be shared with the scientific community through published papers. However, he said it was important that it was also translated into farm extension and he will be working with the Lincoln University research farm and wider industry to drive its application. 

The inaugural Farmax scholarship was open to all people eligible to perform postgraduate research at Lincoln University in Canterbury whose research utilised Farmax software products. 

McEwen confirmed the scholarship will be available again in January 2014 through the Lincoln University Scholarships Office to current students and those intending to apply to study at Lincoln University.