WHEN livestock and forestry come together it can be the best of both worlds, leading to resilience against climate change, productive landscapes into the future and improved animal welfare.
Scion researchers and partners are on a mission to demonstrate the environmental, economic, cultural and social benefits of an integrated system during the three-year Taking risk out of next generation silvopastoral systems research programme.
Agroforestry blends agriculture and forestry in a way that addresses environmental, economic and social pressures.
Silvopastoral systems are the form of agroforestry involving livestock grazing on pasture.
There has been little new research on silvopastoral systems in New Zealand for more than 30 years and there is a gap in current knowledge and lack of demonstrated systems.
This project aims to change that.
During the research program, which started in August 2024, the team will hold co-design workshops with research partners and landowners to identify sites where trees can either be planted into established farms or existing stands of trees can be modified.
Animal and plant monitoring will ideally be done across trials on sheep, beef, and dairy farms.
Engagement with landowners occurred pre-proposal and will continue throughout ensuring research, infrastructure and project objectives are collaboratively developed, project lead Peter Clinton said.
“Co-design is a key requirement to ensure objectives are met and research is relevant to the needs and aspirations of landowners,” said Clinton.
Animal welfare and climate change are at the project’s core.
Clinton, a microbial ecology and soil systems principal researcher, said trees on farms deliver multiple benefits from creating more natural shelter for animals from the elements to encouraging potentially more biodiversity and increasing carbon sequestration.
Mr Clinton hopes the trials can continue beyond the life of the research project.
Simon Van Haandel, a Forestry Business Manager at Pāmu, one of Scion’s research partners, said deciduous silvopastoral systems could be a viable land use option on vulnerable land types across New Zealand.
He said climate modelling shows extreme weather events will worsen over time which will reduce productivity and increase the risks to both stock and the land.
Trees can help mitigate the effects of erosion and minimise the impacts of extreme weather by cooling air and regulating water flows.
“Historical silvopastoral trials under radiata pine were not economically viable however, other values such as erosion control, animal health, shade and shelter, timber and carbon are becoming increasingly important for farm resilience in the face of climate change," Van Haandel said.
“Pāmu hopes that through the project we can show the conditions under which silvopastoral systems can work in New Zealand to provide farmers with another option for their tool kit.”
Senior scientist Karin Schutz of AgResearch’s Animal Behaviour and Welfare team said cows and sheep are very good at seeking out microclimates that help them thermoregulate and stay comfortable, so it is good for their welfare.
"It is also good for the farmer because animals that do not have to spend energy to thermoregulate produce more, so it is good for the wallet as well," she said.
Short-term, the project aims to develop new systems infrastructure to promote farming practice changes.
In the medium-term it aims to develop methods for quantifying the benefits of silvopastoral systems.
Long-term, the aim is for local communities to have increased confidence in the future of silvopastoral systems, for the public to have greater confidence in intergenerational sustainability of New Zealand agriculture and the government to have greater confidence in the farming community’s ability to adapt to climate change and other global pressures.