Unfortunately you are viewing this website on an outdated browser which does not support the necessary features for us to provide an adequate experience.
Please switch to a modern browser such as latest version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari or Microsoft Edge.
Forages are a key part of our food production systems. As our climate changes, our systems will require forages that are adapted to future climate conditions.
Plants represent another means to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture. Our expertise in forage breeding, bioengineering and our germplasm collection, including endophytes, are keys to increasing resilience to climate change.
In order to build more resilience into our food production systems, AgResearch scientists are working on everything from plants with deeper roots as a means to increase resilience to drought, to developing an ability to predict and prevent the incursion of damaging weeds and pests, to developing one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most promising genetically modified technologies, High Metabolisable Energy (HME) ryegrass.
Endophytes occur naturally in some grasses, such as those used to feed livestock on New Zealand farms. Our expertise in endophytes is used to investigate how to confer resilience to forages for traits that will be affected by climate change, such as insect pest incursions. We are also exploring if endophytes might be a potential way to influence the amount of methane produced during digestion of the forage.
Active
An experiment is providing enduring benefits for scientists to study and manage the effects of climate change on pastoral agriculture.
3 Min Read
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the science evidence behind "grass-fed" livestock production.
This handbook has been produced for farmers and others who grow, or want to grow and learn about tagasaste.
Send an email to one of our team or check out our facilities located across Aotearoa New Zealand.
