Environment Southland is investigating a possible wallaby sighting near Te Anau after a contractor identified possible wallaby scat and a detector dog found the potential presence of an animal in the area. 

Environment Southland said a wallaby has, however, not been confirmed by professional sighting.

Biosecurity and biodiversity operations manager at Environment Southland Ali Meade said wallabies are exclusion pests in Southland, meaning there are no established populations.

Meade urged locals not to go out looking for the potential pest, but let trained professionals do their work.

“Public interference risks the success of the operation and increases health and safety issues during the work. It also puts our efforts to maintain wallabies as an exclusion pest at risk,” Meade said.

Wallabies can cause significant economic and environmental impacts as they eat grass, native shrubs and trees. They can damage pasture and fences, add to erosion issues and damage young tree seedlings.

There have been two reports of wallabies near Te Anau this year, with three reports on the Te Anau-Mossburn Highway since 2022. 

No wallabies were found after any of the reports, except for a live wallaby found in Invercargill in 2016.

A sheep and beef farmer living near Lawrence, Otago, says forestry companies are doing too little to control the pigs and deer that damage farms neighbouring forestry blocks.

Jim Crawford said about 15km his farm fenceline borders forestry blocks owned by Wenita, Ernslaw, Rayonier and Port Blakely. 

Pigs living in forestry blocks adjacent to his land destroy as much as half a hectare of pasture per week, he said.

He has to be very selective where he plants swedes, as large deer herds destroy swedes.

Federated Farmers said in Farmers Weekly last week that goats, pigs, deer and other wild animals cost farmers about $213 million a year. 

Crawford said during a meeting organised by Lawrence police between farmers and forestry companies that it became clear that some forestry companies do not accept responsibility for managing their boundaries.

He posted about the topic on Facebook. By September 10 the post had received 107 likes, had 29 comments and was shared 137 times. 

At the Lawrence meeting landowners said trees in forestry blocks were planted too close to boundary fences, and that firebreaks were overgrown with gorse and broom with no real management.

Crawford said he knew of two incidents where hunters who pursued pigs from their property onto forestry blocks were trespassed.

It isn’t neighbourly to trespass a neighbour when you know their paddocks were “ripped up”, he said.

Forestry owners cited health and safety issues to keep hunters off their land, he said.

Crawford said forestry blocks often change ownership and some owners inherit a pest problem, but companies seem unwilling to offer solutions. 

“I think they’ve got to put a lot more groundwork in. It’s too big an issue to expect recreational hunters to get on top of.”

He was particularly frustrated with Rayonier and Wenita, saying Wenita contacted him only after he posted about his frustrations on Facebook.

He confirmed that Port Blakely contacted him directly after the meeting and undertook to drive his boundary fence to assess the situation.

Regional manager for Rayonier Matariki Forests Hamish Fitzgerald said they take relationships with the farming community and neighbours very seriously.  

“We are actively working with stakeholders in the local Lawrence community to review and collaboratively resolve any concerns,”  Fitzgerald said .

He did not answer questions from Farmer’s Weekly about what actions Rayonier takes to control pest populations or how it manages boundaries with farms.

South Island regional manager for Port Blakely Barry Wells said the weren’t aware of the scale of the problem until the recent meeting in Lawrence 

“The frustration from the local farming community is understandable. For animals such as pigs which are highly mobile, there may need to be a co-ordinated pest control effort between landowners to get on top of the problem, as opposed to just pushing it somewhere else,” Wells said.

Since the Lawrence meeting Port Blakely has been working with a hunting club to provide preferential access to Lawrence forest blocks with a view to knocking pig and deer numbers back. 

Wells said they will work with neighbouring landowners to control pests on their properties. 

“There are various options available, such as contract hunters, night/thermal shooting, poisoning and helicopter shooting, but not all may work or be suitable for each situation.” 

Over the coming weeks he will be visiting neighbours who contacted him, to address pest and fencing issues. He urged landowners to contact him.

Wells said a memorandum of understanding between Federated Farmers, the Forest Owners Association and the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association addressed many of the issues.

The MoU addresses responsibilities under the Fencing Act, and addresses setbacks and pest control and expectations for both farmers and forestry companies.

The MoU is not legally binding. 

Wells said many cases require a tailored plan. 

“Some issues we are dealing with are legacy issues, such as trees originally planted too close to boundaries. As the current landowners, we take responsibility for these historic issues.”

Wenita and Ernslaw have not responded to questions from Farmers Weekly.

In Focus Podcast | A new strategy for advocacy

AGMARDT and KPMG have released a report that offers a new way of organising our advocacy networks. Common Ground assesses the positives and negatives of the advocacy groups we have now and sets out a strategy that could improve the collaboration and messaging emanating from the farming world. AGMARDT general manager Lee-Ann Marsh joins Bryan to discuss the report.

People in the south are being asked to report rook sightings during spring, when the pest birds are most active.

The Otago Regional Council’s delivery lead biosecurity coastal Otago Simon Stevenson said while rooks have been reduced to very low levels, there are still some occasional sightings. 

“We need the public’s help to target the last remaining birds, bearing in mind the potential always remains for the population to increase again. 

“This enables us to better map nests and target these pests,” he said.

 Rooks are part of the crow family and are large birds with glossy, purplish-black feathers. They can be differentiated from other birds, such as magpies, by their larger size, their distinctive “kaah” call, slow wing flap and their wariness of people.

Rooks are attracted to recently cultivated paddocks and will feed on newly sown crops causing significant damage. Rooks were introduced to New Zealand between 1862-1873 to control insects, and, like many other introduced species, their population flourished and spread.

In recent years, ORC and Environment Southland have worked together to eradicate the pests, with community help, which has pushed rooks down to very low numbers from many thousands of breeding pairs in the 1980s and 1990s.

“While we haven’t had reports of one for a few years now, should we discover an active nest we would likely use a drone to establish if the rooks are actively breeding or if it is just the male going through the motions of nest building, which they can do regardless of a mate.”

 Environment Southland biosecurity team leader animals Dave Burgess said rooks are not currently known to be in Southland, with the last confirmed sighting in 2019.

However, there were populations in the mid-1990s to early 2000s in the Balfour, Eastern Bush, and Motu Valley areas. During the 2010s a small number of rooks were sighted in the Kaiwera/Pukerau area, which were thought to be transient birds from nearby Otago areas.

“As these are a very wary bird it is important people don’t try and shoot at rooks but report them to council so effective control options can be undertaken, at no cost to the landowner,” Burgess said.

Both councils use surveillance equipment to record and collect rook behaviour and age to build a picture of the current population.

What you can do if you see a rook:

•Report any rook sightings ASAP to the relevant regional council;

• Do not attempt to control any yourself, as unsuccessful attempts encourage dispersal and make rooks very wary and much more difficult to control.

Goats, pigs, deer and other wild animals are costing farmers huge sums and taking a significant toll on indigenous biodiversity, Federated Farmers say. 

“This is a very serious problem that’s costing Kiwi farmers almost a quarter of a billion dollars every year,” Federated Farmers pest management spokesperson Richard McIntyre says.

“These pests aren’t just chewing into farmers’ bottom lines; they’re also chewing into our native bush and completely undermining conservation efforts.”

A recent survey of more than 700 Federated Farmers members from across the country shows feral animals are costing farmers at least $213 million a year.

That figure includes a direct spend of $5.45 per hectare on pest control ($74 million per year) and $10.22 per hectare in lost production ($139 million per year).

“That is a huge cost for rural communities to be carrying at a time when many farming families are already struggling to turn a profit,” McIntyre says.

“It’s also a very conservative estimate and doesn’t include things such as the cost of restoring damaged pasture, fixing broken fences or the loss of trees.”

McIntyre says goat, pig and deer populations are booming in most parts of the country, but things are particularly bad on farms bordering Department of Conservation (DOC) land.

“DOC are widely regarded by farmers as the neighbour you really don’t want to have because they don’t fulfil their obligations to control wild animals and weeds,” McIntyre says.

“Farmers are spending huge sums of money trying to get wild animal populations under control, but until we see more investment on public land, nothing is going to change.

“Unfortunately, DOC are spending just $13 million a year managing large browsing animals like goats, pigs and deer.

“This simply isn’t addressing the problem, with DOC monitoring showing deer and goat prevalence increasing 28% in just the last 10 years.”

McIntyre says DOC’s efforts are a drop in the bucket, with the annual cost to farming families being more than 15 times the Government spend. 

“Farmers could spend all the money in the world on pest control, but if we don’t see similar efforts on public land, we’re never going to make a dent in these populations.

“Hordes of wild animals will simply keep walking out of the bush, where they’re breeding like rabbits and destroying forest understories, and onto our farms.”

National parks comprise about one-third of New Zealand, but a quarter of the country’s indigenous biodiversity is located on farmland.

“If the Government continues to under-invest in pest control, we’re all going to pay the price of declining biodiversity, lost production and reduced exports,” McIntyre says.

“We need to get on top of this problem now. If we allow these animals to keep breeding, their populations, and the cost to control them, will only continue to grow.

“We appreciate the Government is under huge financial pressures, but this isn’t something New Zealand can afford to scrimp and save on.”

McIntyre says it isn’t necessarily about the Government having to spend more money; it could simply be a case of reprioritising existing spending to deliver better outcomes.

“DOC should be performing exceptionally well given their budget has increased from $402 million in 2017 to $710 million in the last financial year.

“Perhaps they should be spending more of that money on hunters and trappers on the ground controlling pests, and less on back-office staff and expensive Environment Court lawyers.”

The Federated Farmers survey found just on half of farmers reported pest populations expanding in the last five years, and 28% said numbers are ‘significantly higher’.

More than 30% of those surveyed said their shooting, trapping and poisoning efforts are making no inroads into reducing feral pest numbers.

“Farmers just don’t have the resources to keep rabbits, deer, wallabies, Canadian geese, feral cats and all the other pest populations at sustainable levels,” McIntyre says.

“Recreational hunters are doing a great job of supporting farmers, but things are now nearing crisis point and will only continue to get worse.

“It’s time for a serious intervention.”

The full results of Federated Farmers’ pest survey can be found at fedfarm.org.nz/PestSurvey 

Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.

Alexander and Rebecca Hunink say Akitio Station has always had a deer problem, but recently numbers have gone through the roof. 

“We can look out over the paddocks here and spot 30 or 40 wild deer,” Alexander says.

“At night, when we get out thermal gear, there might be 200. 

“One night this month I shot 24 deer in three hours.”

Alexander, who helps Rebecca’s parents on the Tararua coast station, says the damage being caused is immense – and costly. 

The station’s annual bill for pest control, loss of production and damage from wild deer and pigs, including in the forestry blocks, would top $75,000. 

Meanwhile, at Pārengarenga Station on Aupōuri Peninsula, Northland, Canada geese and wild pigs are stretching the annual pest control budget to $30,000.

“Trying to get on top of geese is frustrating,” farm manager Julian Peters says.

“On the peninsula there’s so much water, lakes and Crown land that if there’s any disturbance, the geese just fly off and hide out.”

They’re facing different challenges, but these farmers – among the 700 others who responded to Federated Farmers’ pest survey – say better cooperation is needed between landowners, the Crown, councils and recreational hunters.

Peters attended a recent hui with local iwi Te Aupōuri, who are keen to tackle Lake Wahakari’s water quality.

“I said you’re not going to get on top of water quality when there’s 600 to 1000 Canada geese dumping potentially a tonne of poo in the lake every day.

“They were 100% open to cooperation with landowners.”

Peters says the Crown and councils also need to front up with more funding for pest control programmes if they’re serious about biodiversity.

“We’re fencing our waterways, we’re cautious about spreading fertiliser and we do a lot of work to protect native bush on the station. 

“But where are the government bodies regulating us? They’re doing next to nothing.”

Akitio Station is also trying to co-ordinate with their neighbours. 

“Rebecca is on the local catchment board and pest control is on their priority list,” Alexander says.

“People are realising just how much damage is being done.”  

He says he’s glad Federated Farmers has done its pest survey. 

“We need more data about how big this problem is. 

“We also need to make a bigger noise about these challenges and get coordinated action and better resourcing going.”

Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.

By JR Bruning, a trustee of Physicians & Scientists for Global Responsibility New Zealand.

Alan Emerson’s article “A debate that’s more fiction than fact” is a disservice to farmers and growers.

The reassessment of glyphosate has been extraordinarily political. New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) hasn’t reassessed glyphosate, and the more toxic glyphosate-based herbicide formulations that farmers are exposed to, since the 1970s.

No, the European Food Safety Authority has not classified glyphosate as a carcinogen. But the finding by the International Agency for Research on Cancer that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen still stands. 

Applicators might keep in mind the fact that the European vote to renew glyphosate occurred after a vote deadlock. Certain issues were left as “outstanding” or “could not be finalised” by the assessment due to gaps in the available data.

Emerson fails to mention that farmers are often the plaintiffs in court cases. Blood cancers are a known occupational disease for people who use pesticides. 

The science is not settled, it’s extraordinarily contested.

I am not saying don’t use glyphosate. It is an important herbicide. Cockies need to spot spray and arable growers need to prep before seeding. Many herbicides are much more toxic. But the regulator abstaining from proper risk assessment and a lack of  funding for science fails farmers. Europe has much more rigorous rules around application on and around crops, and they don’t pour glyphosate down roadsides, and into freshwater environments.

Our drinking water levels for glyphosate are based on an unpublished 1981 Monsanto study. The World Health Organisation in 2022 based it finding on its 2003 assessment, where the principle reference relates to a 1981 Monsanto study. Science, hey?

We find it easy to dismiss a weight of evidence. Regulatory agencies including the European Food Safety Authority historically primarily base their findings on a narrow group of studies supplied by industry. Industry data becomes the weight of evidence. In Europe’s recent review, many studies were excluded because the formulation studied by independent scientists is not a guideline; the formulation is the real-time mixture that applicators and farmers are exposed to.

The EPA has just dismissed a request for the first reassessment in 40 years because “what we received from the applicant does not meet the criteria for significant new information and does not justify a reassessment of this substance”. 

But the EPA did this by strictly keeping to regulatory protocols, while excluding important white papers, and court documents. The EPA does not conduct reviews of the published literature.

Regulatory science is political. In this gap, with $52 billion in agricultural exports, we could have long-term funding for scientists to do this sort of public-good research. 

The ESR and the Centre for Public Health Research struggle to access funding to assess pesticide-related risks. The Ministry of Health is not interested. As all the lab testing is privatised, universities won’t run studies without funding. AgResearch is letting staff go and the board has confirmed that the Crown Research Institute must never run at a loss. This is after years of frozen funding levels. 

The shifting of science to prioritise private-public partnerships and patents that return royalties is part of the story. Toxin-related research is outside government funding agendas.

This is important research that might show harm, but when it’s politically controversial, it’s dead in the water.

The United States Roundup trials revealed “the importance of multiple exposure episodes per year, over multiple years, including a certain percentage of high-exposure episodes caused by application equipment problems, leaky hoses and valves, spills, wind, spray patterns and equipment clean-up and repair”. 

Court transcripts show how glyphosate pools in the epidermis, resulting in longer-term exposures for accidentally exposed workers. Applicators take off gloves to drive, to answer the phone or eat lunch or when they use a backpack. Unfortunately, unintentional pesticide poisoning is all too common.

Other contaminants in the retail formulation include heavy metals and synergists. 

Ironically, because glyphosate is such a golden child we were late recognising glyphosate resistance in weeds. Now it’s common to mix herbicide formulations. Herbicide resistance is a global problem. 

Investment in integrated pest management, and scoping of global research to inform farmers and growers of best practice is simply not in government science budgets, which revolve around methane mitigation while ignoring climate adaption.

Synergies from mixtures are not studied in New Zealand. Do  residues of pesticide mixtures bioaccumulate at such a level where earthworms and honeybees are put at risk? Or, due to glyphosate’s binding properties, are soil minerals less bioavailable in frequently sprayed paddocks? Do herbicide-sprayed feed-crops impact livestock fertility? 

Which spraying patterns tip applicators into occupationally related chronic health conditions? Digestive tract, mental health and autoimmune conditions will be more likely to be considered unrelated, and just bad luck. Applicators can’t even get their blood tested to assess exposure levels.

Ultimately, if we have an agricultural and horticultural products regulatory review, and officials continue to fail to address mixture synergies, while dismissing the fact that farmers, growers and soils are frequently unavoidably exposed to mixtures, we can miss issues which drive disease and suppress productivity.

Farmers and growers are in a double bind. This sci-knowledge gap leaves farmers and growers as the bad guys, damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.

In Focus Podcast: Full Show | 9 August

A feature documentary film, Six Inches of Soil, has been screening in NZ cinemas recently. It follows three young British farmers through their first year of transitioning to regenerative practices. The film has been brought here by regenerative farmer network Quorum Sense and its chair Becks Smith talks with Bryan about the network, the film and why we’ve been talking about regen the wrong way.

Ongoing issues farmers have been having when trying to clear migrant workers through immigration appear to have been fixed, with a stopgap measure introduced to ensure calving is a bit easier. Federated Farmers dairy chair Richard McIntyre updates Bryan about the changes and what he’s doing to make sure an enduring solution is found.

Senior reporter Neal Wallace says there are big challenges ahead for the red meat sector as it grapples with lower stock numbers and over-capacity. One processor in Oamaru has already laid off staff and Neal says there may be more rationalisation to come. He also discusses the ongoing push to get more rural GPs trained and working in our communities.

New research from Massey University has shown that mice are a critical yet underestimated source of leptospirosis on farms.

While current control measures of leptospirosis are tailored for livestock strains, the study underlined the need for strategies that address rodent-associated strains of the disease.

Lead researcher Dr Marie Moinet said data from the study showed that the risk of getting leptospirosis remained significant regardless of fluctuations in mouse density.

Even at lower densities, roughly nine out of 10 mice were infected, indicating a persistent risk. 

“Additionally, infected mice tend to roam more extensively, potentially spreading the disease further. Increased awareness of mice as a source of leptospirosis is essential, especially since we are often in closer contact with them than we realise. The recent trend of mice sighted in supermarkets is a good reminder of that.”

Led by researchers from Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University, in collaboration with ecologists from the University of Auckland and wildlife vets from Brazil, the study aimed to assess the density of infected mice within populations and understand their implications for disease transmission on a broader scale.

Conducted over two years in a farm setting, the study involved humane trapping and testing of mice for leptospira. While focused on a specific geographic area, the findings call for similar studies in urban settings to fully grasp the disease’s urban environments.

The research provides new insights into wildlife disease dynamics, with mice being underemphasised as disease carriers in New Zealand. 

Given the ubiquitous presence of mice across the country, their population sizes often go unnoticed until they reach outbreak level. Moinet said it heightens the risk for infection but misconception around the disease can cause further complications.

“Leptospirosis cases and strains have historically been linked to livestock, creating the misconception that it’s only a farmer’s disease. Contact with infected mammal urine or contaminated water poses a significant transmission risk, with house mice harbouring the prominent Ballum strain in recent cases. 

“The lack of awareness sets a dangerous precedent for those not in direct contact with livestock to be misdiagnosed or not receive proper treatment despite the need of a timely diagnosis.”

Infected people can show a wide range of symptoms, from asymptomatic to severe, including headache, fever, meningitis and kidney failure. Two-thirds of reported cases result in hospitalisation, averaging four nights, with half experiencing long-lasting symptoms. Early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment is critical.

“While current control measures of leptospirosis are tailored for livestock strains, our study underlines the need for strategies that address rodent-associated strains. “Awareness is the key to mitigation, particularly among health care providers, as anyone in contact with mice, including trampers, gardeners and urban residents, is at risk,” Moinet said.

Professor Jackie Benschop said the research shows the need for comprehensive strategies to mitigate leptospirosis risk.

“The data reinforces previous findings linking rodent activity to disease transmission, marking the need for greater attention to rodent control to safeguard public health. Pest control measures should not be limited to times of high density, and it’s likely climate change and our recent flooding incidents will aggravate the problem.”

We’re all going to need to start singing from the same song sheet if we’re serious about controlling wallaby populations, Matt Simpson says.

The Federated Farmers South Canterbury meat & wool chair has been advocating for a more coordinated approach to pest management, including the formation of community pest liaison groups. 

“If we can get better coordination between farmers, landowners, recreational hunters and government, that will be a huge step forward,” Simpson says. 

“It’s all good and well for someone in our district to bring in a helicopter and do a heap of wallaby control work, but it can’t be done in isolation.

“Unless there are similar efforts on neighbouring farmers’ and public land, they’ll have wasted their money, because before long, their land will be re-invaded.”

Simpson says the Department of Conversation are understandably reluctant to be isolated in their spending too. 

“If they’re going to do a 1080 operation, it’s going to be way more effective if surrounding farmers make efforts to knock over the wallabies on their land too.”

Meetings to talk about forming community pest liaison groups have been held at Albury and at Cattle Creek in the Hakataramea Valley. 

Simpson is planning other meetings further along Hunters Hills and says the concept of better co-ordination is gaining ground. 

“People can see it’s commonsense – and it doesn’t have to just be about wallabies either. It could apply to deer or pigs too.

“How many times have we heard farmers complaining about their paddocks being reinfested by animals coming off the public estate?

“We need to get our own act together, better coordinate, and make some real progress.

“That will give us the leverage we need to go to DOC and say, ‘Come on, we’re doing our bit, now it’s your turn’.”

Earlier this month, Simpson was called in as Environment Canterbury hosted Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard.

They were joined by Waitaki MP Miles Anderson and MPI’s deputy director-general biosecurity Stuart Anderson for a look at wallaby control efforts in the area.

They were shown progress on the nearly completed 49km wallaby-proof fence being built near Tekapo and heard about plans for toxin control on around 9000ha in Canterbury during winter months.

The MPI-governed Tipu Mātoro National Wallaby Eradication Programme had a $5.9m operation budget in 2023/24. 

This was spent across the country on dog and drone surveillance, ground and aerial shooting, ground and aerial toxins, and fencing operations.

The focus is on containment zones around the core wallaby populations in Canterbury and Bay of Plenty, finding and killing wallabies in surrounding areas and gradually tightening the noose.  

Tipu Mātoro’s goal is to eliminate wallaby outside containment zones by the end of 2025, an aspiration Simpson “absolutely applauds” but thinks could be a struggle.

“Wallaby have been breaching the Waitaki River and heading further south into Otago.

“That’s why I’ve asked the Ministers for funding for spray operations to kill off broom, gorse and scrub on Waitaki islands and under bridges that wallabies have been using as a refuge.

“We’ve got to break that cover down, so they don’t have places to hide.”

Wallaby containment efforts are also hampered by some farmers against use of 1080 or other toxins on their land. 

“That’s perhaps because they also run commercial hunting sidelines and don’t want deer or pigs impacted,” Simpson says.

“That’s absolutely their right as landowners, of course.   

“But if we’re going to keep our foot on the throat of the wallaby problem, we need to find alternative solutions in those circumstances, such as expert hunters using thermal gear at night when wallabies are out and about.”

Continued funding for pest control operations is also crucial, which is why Simpson says it’s useful that MPs got to see for themselves the extent of the task.

Ultimately, Simpson has his fingers crossed that gene editing can provide an answer.

“Imagine being able to knock a huge hole in the wallaby population in containment areas with toxins and shooting, then put some sterile breeding wallabies in there where they can run for three or four generations.

“That’s how we’ll stamp out the problem for good.”

Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.

A Brazilian “biological farm” is brewing up some hard-hitting bio-pesticides to deal to troublesome pests across its vast cropping estate.

The Maro Julio farm in the northwestern Mato Grosso state is a vast estate cropping 9300 hectares in cotton, 20,000ha in soybeans and 16,000ha in corn. It employs as many as 600 staff at the peak of harvest season in its family agribusiness operation.

The property adopts some standard environmental practices, such as fencing off all waterways, fully reticulated cattle water, and a reforestation policy on poorer quality land.

But it also includes cutting-edge tech in its sustainable practices, which the property’s sheer scale gives economic weight to.

The Maro Julio cropping operation is using 30% less synthetic crop treatments than several years ago since it installed a bioreactor facility in the farm laboratory. The bio-reactor is responsible for brewing batches of biological crop treatments, applied as liquids by the estate’s fleet of crop-dusting planes.

The bio-reactor’s pesticide brew is aimed at a wide range of common pests that afflict the crops, including spittle bug, stink bug, white fly and leaf hoppers. 

The batch reactor is primed using commercially purchased inoculums and fungal spores, and the possibility exists at a later date of the property claiming IP rights to some batch brews.

Estate agronomist Osvaldo Arujo said the estate intends to increase the spectrum of pests and diseases the treatments can address, and ultimately push towards 100% bio-treatment use.

He said the region’s tropical climate with its reliable dry period over May to September with only 80mm of rainfall provides a stable period for the slower acting bio-treatments to work, without risk of being washed off before activating.

“There is no premium for products treated this way at present, but we believe over time, this will be the case,” Arukjo said.

The bio-treatments are cheaper than synthetics, and last longer in the right conditions. “For example, if it costs 80 real [$26] a litre for a synthetic, we can make an equivalent treatment in the bioreactor for 5 real [$1.66] a litre.

“But we are still some way before we can achieve 100% use, as synthetics tend to work quicker.”
The bio-reactor produces a fungi that infects the relevant pest and effectively feeds on it.

The use of bioinsecticides and treatments on Brazilian farms has grown in the past decade, largely driven by the growth in large scale family-owned operations that are now double-cropping with soybeans and corn over the growing season, putting greater demand on soil fertility and insect pest loads.

The global bio-pesticide market is estimated to be worth US$5.2 billion ($8.5bn) in 2020, and accounts for only 8% of the total global crop treatment market. 

However, a compound growth of 13% a year is expected between now and 2030 as pressure mounts for alternative treatments, and the cost of developing new synthetics continues to rise. 

Brazil’s portion of the world’s bio-pesticide market is small at only 5% but it  has stood out for its rapid gain in the past few years, estimated at 42% between 2017 and 2020. 

The bulk of the treatments are applied to soybeans, sugar cane and corn.

Uptake of on-farm biopesticides is expected to continue, but the rate of adoption will depend on factors such as the selection of safe, virulent microbial strains and implementation of sound quality control measures.

The Brazilian Congress has recognised the popularity of the crop treatments, and legislation is in play to simplify the registration process and create a framework that fits for “on farm” bio-reactor use, compared to large scale commercial production plants.

Rennie visited Brazil as part of an international delegation of agricultural journalists hosted by the Brazilian Association of Corn Ethanol Producers. 

In Focus Podcast: A journey through Brazil’s agricultural state

Bryan catches up with senior reporter Richard Rennie who has just returned from a trip through Brazil, taking in its arable and beef farming systems.

The Environmental Protection Authority has approved the release of a rust fungus to control the spread of Chilean needle grass, an invasive weed that not only harms animals, but has the potential to cost farmers millions of dollars in lost production.

Marlborough District Council applied to use a strain of rust fungus, Uromyces pencanus, as a biocontrol agent against Chilean needle grass (Nassella neesiana) in New Zealand.

“We hope the introduction of this rust fungus will help slow the spread of this aggressive weed and reduce harm to livestock and other farm animals,” general manager, hazardous substances and new organisms Dr Chris Hill said.

“Testing shows this rust fungus can successfully slow infestations, killing the foliage of the Chilean needle grass as well as reducing its growth and seed production.

“This rust fungus is highly host-specific, meaning it only lives on Chilean needle grass.

“The testing results provided to us showed it is highly unlikely to harm native plants or animals. There is also no risk to people.”

Chilean needle grass is a perennial grass from South America and was first identified in New Zealand in the 1920s.

The seeds have sharp tips that can bore into the eyelids and pelts of animals, resulting in severe animal welfare issues, including blindness.

Plants form dense clumps, which exclude pasture species and are less palatable to stock, reducing farm productivity.

Methods for managing Chilean needle grass infestations on farms, such as destocking for the three-month period when seeds are present, or by applying herbicide, can be both difficult and expensive.

One study estimates that across the sector, the potential cost of lost production could reach as much as $1.16 billion if the weed is left unchecked.

Chilean needle grass is well established in some regions, particularly Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Auckland and Canterbury

“Our panel of independent experts approved this release following a rigorous, evidence-based investigative process which included the consideration of public submissions, international best practice and engagement with mana whenua,” Hill said.