More Profit from Nitrogen - Quantifying the whole farm systems impact of nitrogen best practice on dairy farms

The dairy industry has invested in and proven that whole farm system modelling is a highly efficient way to assess the efficacy of a range of management interventions on dairy farms. Over the last 20 years average annual Nitrogen (N) fertiliser use on dairy farms has increased markedly, now approximately 100kg N/ha to over 250 kg N/ha on some farms. Although much research has defined guiding principles for N application, there has been little validation of these best management practices (BMP) across farming systems. It is well known that local climatic and edaphic factors influence the efficiency of N usage, however the effects on production, profitability, N cycling, and N losses at the whole of farm system level have not been well quantified. The project aims to use farm systems analysis and modelling to validate recommended N best practice on dairy farms including the efficacy of the existing Fert$mart guidelines and new research emanating from the broader More Profit from Nitrogen projects.