OVERSEER 6.2 welcomed despite forecast Nitrate loss spike

Media Release

1 April 2015

IrrigationNZ welcomes OVERSEER 6.2 despite forecast Nitrate loss spike

IrrigationNZ says any short-term pain for irrigating farmers who end up with worse nitrate leaching results in OVERSEER 6.2 will be out-weighed by the benefits of more realistic irrigation modelling.

To prevent issues arising from OVERSEER 6.2’s introduction, IrrigationNZ and OVERSEER’s General Manager Dr Caroline Read have been working to inform affected regional councils to reduce compliance concerns. The industry body says irrigating farmers also need to be proactive and familiarise themselves with the new software.

The latest version of OVERSEER® Nutrient budgets (OVERSEER 6.2) launches later this month and IrrigationNZ says some irrigators will see increased nitrate loss estimates for their properties due to more accurate modelling. This may impact on their compliance under regional council regulations.

“IrrigationNZ has advocated for several years for realistic modelling of the diversity of irrigation practice. OVERSEER’s overhaul should give irrigating farmers greater confidence in the nutrient budgets they produce. Having the ability to model specific irrigation practices will dramatically improve OVERSEER’s predictions of nitrate loss for irrigated properties,” says IrrigationNZ CEO Andrew Curtis.

“At the same time, we recognise that for some of our members OVERSEER 6.2 is likely to change their Nitrate loss results as specific management practices are inputted. We’ve been working closely with regional councils involved to ensure this doesn’t cause compliance problems. It is important we move to a more transparent and robust system. Irrigators will benefit in the future from having more specific OVERSEER assessments. Yes there will be short term pain but we need realistic modelling to ensure performance improvements can be rewarded and to truly reflect where the industry is heading,” says Mr Curtis.

“The collaboration with IrrigationNZ through the development of this new irrigation module ensures we produce a useful tool for irrigators,” say OVERSEER General Manager, Dr Caroline Read.

“Incorporating irrigation practices in use today will allow OVERSEER to address a known shortfall and provide more opportunity for reflecting practices in average nitrate losses from farm,” she says.

Irrigators will need to plan ahead as the data requirements for OVERSEER 6.2 will be different.

While the new irrigation module will include backward compatibility for reading files, irrigators will need to update their files to reflect their management practices,” Dr Read says.

An OVERSEER 6.2 roadshow kicks off this week to support uptake of the new irrigation module. And full technical information will be released with version 6.2 later this month.

The roadshow has been organised with the Otago, Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay, Waikato and Horizons regional councils. Session dates are Lincoln 2 April, Hastings 7 April, Palmerston North 9 April, Timaru10 April, Dunedin 13 April and Hamilton 15 April. Check out the OVERSEER website for venues and times www.overseer.org.nz

ENDS

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