Updates & Events

A recording of the Peatland Management Network webinar from 16 November 2023 titled “Measuring Greenhouse Gas Balance of Peatland: Lessons from the Tropics and the North” is now available to view HERE.

It is with great sadness that we share with you the news of Dr Yasukazu Hosen’s passing earlier this month. Yas Hosen has been a valued member of the GRA Community over the years, and his leadership and knowledge will be greatly missed by the Paddy Rice Research Group and by the wider GRA community.

Dr Yasukazu Hosen served as co-Chair of the Paddy Rice Research Group of the Global Research Alliance (GRA) from 2018 to 2023. He completed his doctoral course at the University of Tokyo majoring in soil science, and joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in 1996. He worked as a researcher in the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) from 1996 to 2016 and in the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) from 2016 to 2023 in the field of agricultural environment sciences, especially on greenhouse gas mitigation from agricultural soils in Asian countries such as China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. He was based in the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) from 2004 to 2010 as an International Recruited Staff member and served as Deputy Director of the International Research Division of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council, MAFF from 2013 to 2015. He greatly contributed to the field of agricultural environmental sciences especially in international research.

We know that you will join us in sending condolences to Dr Hosen’s family and colleagues at this time.

The 2023 meeting of the Livestock Research Group was held in-person for the first time since COVID-19 in Lyon, France on 1 September 2023.

The meeting was attended by 39 participants representing 18 countries and four partner organisations. The full report and presentation slides are now available for download HERE.

Congratulations to Tony van der Weerden and DATAMAN colleagues for the JEQ 2023 Outstanding Paper!

• DATAMAN: A global database of nitrous oxide and ammonia emission factors for excreta deposited by livestock and land-applied manure https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20186

DATAMAN is a global project, led by New Zealand, which was set up as part of the GRA Livestock Research Group’s Manure Management Network. The international team of researchers aims to develop a global database on greenhouse gas (N₂O, CH₄) and NH₃ emissions from the manure management chain (housing, storage, and field) to identify key variables influencing emissions and ultimately to refine emission factors (EFs) for future national GHG inventories and NH₃ emission reporting.

Learn more about DATAMAN here: https://www.dataman.co.nz/

Closing date: 27 October 2023

Location: Canterbury, New Zealand

Project title: Green boundaries: Unleashing nature’s power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in dairy farming

Are you passionate about sustainable agriculture, climate action, and soil science? Join us in an exciting PhD project focused on harnessing the potential of native vegetation along dairy paddock boundaries to combat greenhouse gas emissions, while simultaneously boosting biodiversity.

New Zealand’s dairy industry is both vital to the economy and a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Using the Lincoln University Demonstration Dairy Farm, we will investigate how “green” boundaries influence soil carbon stocks, nitrogen dynamics, soil microbial activity, and uncover the mechanisms behind these changes.

Specifically, the student will:

(1) Quantify how soil carbon stocks and microclimate factors change along native vegetation boundaries and into pasture;

(2) Test how use of these boundary areas as stock camp shelters may influence N₂O emissions;

(3) Investigate the microbial mechanisms facilitating changes in carbon and nitrogen dynamics with distance from the native vegetation; and

(4) Calculate the total net reduction in GHG emissions within the pasture with the added native vegetation

Students interested in pursuing this project should have a prior degree in soil science, ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, agricultural sciences, or a related field. Ideal candidates should be comfortable conducting fieldwork, running laboratory experiments, and have some background in statistics, GIS, and/or computer modelling.

LEARN MORE & APPLY HERE.

A recording of the Circular Food Systems Network webinar from 15th September 2023 titled “Indicators to measure circularity: developments & considerations” is now available to view here. The white paper introduced in the webinar, “Circular Food Systems around the world: exploring concepts, ideas and opportunities” can be downloaded here.

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This webinar brought together experts to focus on the development and considerations of indicators to measure circularity. The following questions were discussed: can we measure circularity? How would we do that? What are the limitations of using indicators? Are there alternatives to measure circularity of a food system? How important is it to measure circularity – is it necessary or does it defeat the purpose of circularity in food systems?

The webinar included the following:

• Short introduction and presentation of the whitepaper ‘Circular Food Systems around the world’ – by Flavia Casu
• Three presentations of projects funded by the CFS Network
  • Circularity in Integrated Systems: Resource Recovery for Feed, Fuel and (Organic) Fertilizer Self-sufficiency in Ethiopia – by Carlos Brazao Alho
  • Benchmarking nutrient circularity at different scales: Using a food systems perspective – by Marloes van Loon
  • A holistic framework for assessment of circular food systems – by Vicki Burggraaf
• Panel discussion with the project leaders to discuss (the need for) indicators (and possible alternatives) to measure circularity.

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Closing Date: 27 September 2023

Location: NZAGRC, New Zealand

The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) is expanding due to increased investment and is seeking a Senior / Principal Science Advisor.

Working across international and domestic spheres, the role will be responsible for the elaboration of complex scientific research and development programmes focussed on reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. The International role will support the NZAGRC Science Team to deliver on the vision and mission of New Zealand’s investment in the Global Research Alliance on Greenhouse Gases (GRA).

The NZAGRC is looking for someone with excellent scientific, communication and relationship skills and a strong familiarity with the workings of government departments and international science and policy fora.

LEARN MORE AND APPLY HERE

(Note: Closing date extended from 20 September 2023)

An updated version of the GRA brochure is now available to download and share. Check it out here or by clicking on the image below.

Preliminary call: Joint Colombia-NZ PostDoc project in Global Research Alliance Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI) programme

Overall aim: Understanding the key controlling points of BNI in tropical and temperate systems in relation to N₂O emissions.

This 2-year PostDoc position for researchers from developing countries, is part of a collaboration with the Alliance Bioversity & CIAT (Colombia) and AgResearch (New Zealand) on the role of Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI) for reducing N₂O emissions from livestock systems. The project is funded by the New Zealand Government in support of the objectives to the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance (GRA). The position is primarily based at CIAT campus, located in Cali, Colombia, but will be conducted in close collaboration with researchers in New Zealand.

The project focusses on identifying and quantifying the key control points of BNI in both tropical and temperate systems for maximising reductions in N₂O emissions. It is an interdisciplinary project, involving plant, soil and systems scientists and will use the G x E x M framing to identify key genetic, environmental and management factors and their interactions.

The project will include conceptualisation of this framework, development, and meta-analysis of a quantitative database of information available in global BNI literature, and targeted experimental work to fill key gaps in the knowledge of controls of BNI effects on N₂O emissions.

Register your interest for this position by completing the form HERE.

Closing date: 3 September 2023

Location: Technical University of Munich

See HERE and below for details.

The HoloRuminant Joint Dissemination Network (JDN) consists of 5 projects representing a complementary effort to reduce the environmental and climate footprint of livestock production – while guaranteeing genetic diversity and efficient production in a more constrained environment – by focusing on the mitigation of GHG emissions improving the health and welfare of farmed animals and increasing the sustainability of animal production systems. The project group joins forces to provide an environment to optimize and share efforts.

The network will host a webinar series to showcase the different projects’ results. The series will include three sessions; the first will occur on the 5th of September, 11:00-12:00 CEST. In this session, they will be joined by:

Florence Bedoin and Elise Vanbergue (HoloRuminant): Stakeholders’ views regarding new practices to control microbiome; Birgit Gredler-Grandl & Oscar Gonzalez Recio (Re-Livestock): Animal breeding as a CH4 mitigation strategy and Jeremie Vandenplas (RUMIGEN: ” New breeding tools in a context of climate change”.

Registration details for all webinars can be found HERE.

The second webinar will be on the 19th of September (gut microbiome in monogastric), and the third and final (NGT for PLF traits) on the 3rd of October.

The August 2023 Issue of Who’s Counting, the Inventories and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Network Newsletter is now available to view HERE.

Who’s Counting summarises scientific progress, opportunities, resources and events related to national agriculture inventory development, national agriculture climate targets, and international inventory capability-building activities.

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We encourage you to directly submit content for the next Issue of Who’s Counting, or contact one of the Inventories and NDC Network co-leads directly. To receive future issues of this Newsletter subscribe here.