Tools, Trust, and Treatment: Enhancing Decisions for Pasture Disease Management
Science Team Leader Kwasi Adusei-FosuPlugging the knowledge gap on disease management in pastoral farming.
Developing a tool that will help farmers predict the cost of disease management in pasture or forage crops, as well as considering climatic factors for their location, is the subject of a new PhD research project.
Funded by the T. R. Ellett Agricultural Research Trust and led by Bioeconomy Science Institute’s science team leader for plant and endophyte technologies, Kwasi Adusei-Fosu, the project is titled Tools, Trust and Treatment: Understanding Farmer and Industry Decision-Making to Improve Pasture/Forage Disease Management.
In 2024 Adusei-Fosu undertook a survey of farmers, farm managers and seed industry representatives in an attempt to plug the knowledge gap on New Zealand pest and pasture diseases.
The online survey, aimed at farmers, was designed to gauge the level of understanding of diseases present in New Zealand pastures, control/management strategies, financial implications, farmers’ education/capability to identify diseases and varying climatic conditions for existing/persisting diseases.
This new project will build on the survey findings, which identified the fact that some diseases were more widespread than first thought, but also highlighted the use of different tools and systems to manage different diseases.
“There’s a real sense of collaboration between Massey and the Bioeconomy Science Institute to expand our thinking around this, and diversity of thinking is really important.”Adusei-Fosu says pasture pathology has been largely neglected in New Zealand, and the support of the Trust has been invaluable to bring the project to life. “Making a case (for funding) was difficult and finding the resources to keep it going was a challenge. Without the Trust, the project would not be out there. The funding will go a long way to supporting the PhD student.“The Trust also funded the workshop, so they have been alongside us every step of the way. Other organisations have provided in-kind support with expertise and resources needed to help us get a strong response to the survey, but this project would not have happened without the Trust.” Henry adds that the simplicity and speed of the T. R. Ellett Agricultural Trust process was appreciated.
Associate Professor Matthew HenryThe project is unique in that it will have input from a diverse group, who have come together to collaborate and supervise the PhD student. These include Massey University’s Associate Professor, Matthew Henry, from the School of People, Environment and Planning, Dr Dee MacDonald, also from the School of People, Environment and Planning, Dr Wei Yang, from the School of Agriculture and Dr Duy Tran, Geospatial and Farm Systems Modeller, Bioeconomy Science Institute, AgResearch.Associate Professor Matthew Henry has a geography background and experience in PhD supervising. He has a particular interest in the interface between science and agriculture. “There is a long history of models and support tools being developed to enable people to make better decisions, but it’s really about how we make sure we are designing and building something that people will actually use,” he says.A workshop, also funded by the T. R. Ellett Agricultural Research Trust, was held to present the survey findings and gain input on the areas farmers and industry most wanted to see addressed. The three key recommendations were:
1) The need for a digital tool to help identify and efficiently report pasture and forage diseases in New Zealand
2) A cost prediction model for the industry and farmers to understand the financial impact of these diseases
3) And a forage/pasture diseases climate model to prepare farmers to understand the impact climate change has on the evolving burden of these diseases.
Adusei-Fosu explains that because the scope was so wide, this particular project has been narrowed down to designing a cost prediction model. An example the tool could explore was clubroot in brassica, and the fungicide or treatment needed to manage the disease. “We are looking at things like the size of the land and the cost of mitigation to predict how much you would need to spend, if the disease arrived. This would then go hand-in-hand with the climatic model to inform decision-making on farm.” The three-year project represents the opportunity to build the urgently required capabilities for correct disease identification by farmers and industry, Adusei-Fosu explains.The initial model would look at one or two key diseases that are particularly prevalent in New Zealand, but will be designed with the aim that it could be used to guide future models for other diseases. “It makes sense to pull all the information together in a simple tool for farmers. A good outcome would be taking the first step to establish a model to guide future projects,” he says. “I hope we will have a model that is efficient for others to pick up and develop for future diseases. It is also about building the capability of the PhD student, so we have someone who is skilled, and then keeping those skills in New Zealand for our industry’s benefit.”