The effect of dairy farming on water quality in New Zealand streams has been identified as an important environmental issue. Stream fencing, to keep cattle out of streams, is seen as a way to improve water quality. Fencing ensures that cattle cannot defecate in the stream, prevents bank erosion, and protects the aquatic habitat. Stream fencing targets have been set by the dairy industry. In this paper the results of a study to identify the factors influencing dairy farmers' decisions to adopt stream fencing are outlined. Qualitative methods were used to gather data from 30 dairy farmers in four New Zealand catchments. Results suggest that farm contextual factors influenced farmers' decision making when considering stream fencing. Farmers were classified into four segments based on their reasons for investing in stream fencing. These reasons were fencing boundaries, fencing for stock control, fencing to protect animal health, and fencing because of pressure to conform to local government guidelines or industry codes of practice. This suggests that adoption may be slow in the absence of on-farm benefits, that promotion of stream fencing needs to be strongly linked to on-farm benefits, and that regulation could play a role in ensuring greater adoption of stream fencing.
Primary Innovation is a 5-year collaborative initiative demonstrating and evaluating co-innovation, a systemic approach to innovation addressing complex problems, in five “innovation projects” (active case studies) in different agricultural industries. In defining the elements of co-innovation, Primary Innovation has emphasized nine principles that guide activity in the innovation projects. To understand how useful these principles were in guiding practice, and their influence on co-innovation, project participants assessed and reflected on how the principles were applied in practice, issues that arose, how each influenced the project, and how important each principle was perceived as being in influencing project outcomes. The nine principles should be understood in each individual project’s context because their appropriateness and usefulness were affected by the type of problem being addressed and the stage of the project. It was also evident that they need to be built into the process from the outset.
Sitona lepidus had spread throughout the North Island of New Zealand by 2005 and was first detected in the South Island in January 2006 when one individual was found at Harewood Christchurch Intensive sampling during February 2006 recovered only two additional specimens Several specimens were recovered from a separate Christchurch location in August 2006 Localised S lepidus populations were discovered near Richmond Nelson in April 2006 and in Rai Valley in May 2006 A website established in May 2006 to provide information about S lepidus was visited a mean of 135 times per month but it was never used to report possible new South Island infestations A biological control agent Microctonus aethiopoides was released at Richmond and Rai Valley between August 2006 and March 2007 By May 2007 it was parasitising from 4 to 14 of S lepidus adults which indicates it is likely to become permanently established
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.