Case studies. |
Synthetic Nitrogen cap for dairy.
A regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand came into effect in July 2021, under the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater, which limits the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser on land to help reduce the amount of nitrogen in waterways. A cap of 190kg/ha/yr applies to all grazed land and also as an average across a pastoral farm system if higher levels of synthetic nitrogen are added to fodder crops. Regional councils are responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the cap, and for helping farmers understand what they need to do to comply with the regulation.
N-Cap is used to describe a suite of tools that assist dairy farmers to electronically record the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser on their land and for those records to be made available to regional councils to support their compliance role. Other farm types do not have this same recording requirement; however the cap still applies.
N-Cap is used to describe a suite of tools that assist dairy farmers to electronically record the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser on their land and for those records to be made available to regional councils to support their compliance role. Other farm types do not have this same recording requirement; however the cap still applies.
THE CHALLENGE.
The regional council, dairy farming and fertiliser sectors had no tools to enable synthetic nitrogen usage recording and reporting as required under the regulation. Further there was no central repository for the data to be stored and presented to regional councils for evaluation and action, should that be required.
Adding complexity to the challenge the sixteen regional councils manage compliance, consenting, permitting and audit or inspection activities for dairy farms in different ways.
Adding complexity to the challenge the sixteen regional councils manage compliance, consenting, permitting and audit or inspection activities for dairy farms in different ways.
HOW WE HELPED.
Resolution8 team engaged with the Essential Freshwater Programme, Regional Software Holdings Limited, Regional Council representatives, the Ministry for the Environment, Ballance Agri-nutrients, Ravensdown and farming advocates such as Federated Farmers to build a clear view of what a Minimum Viable Product solution would need to be capable of. This process involved workshops with all stakeholders, mapping regulation clauses to data requirements and development of solution requirements for developer resources to use as the foundation document.
Developing a shared API, available to all organisations wanting to develop a farmer-focussed tool, was a core requirement. The database to store farmer records securely and extract data for reporting was a simple SQL solution given the MVP approach from the regional sector.
A detailed project delivery phase was initiated, and weekly stakeholder meetings were used to report progress and as a forum for decision-making process where consensus was required. Each of Ballance and Ravensdown maintained their own projects which delivered updates to existing apps. Agreement on data fields and the API was critical to ensuring that the regional sector tool, and the two fertiliser companies would develop complying solutions, providing consistent experience to farmers as they may shift between tools and allowing efficient, accurate reporting of data to councils and the regulator.
Change management
This process ensured ownership by staff as there were all directly involved in the solution selection, it also leveraged staff business knowledge to ensure the selected solution could meet their needs. The rollout was coordinated across all regional councils and key farming stakeholders involved in the solution user acceptance testing process. The communications team were engaged early on to help ensuring consistent messaging across the country and our team both drove and facilitated the reuse of FAQs and messaging points.
On going support of the solution for farmers was to sit with the Regional Councils themselves and so we provided training materials and videos to help upskill key staff. Along side this our support team provided ongoing support to the councils where they still require help.
Developing a shared API, available to all organisations wanting to develop a farmer-focussed tool, was a core requirement. The database to store farmer records securely and extract data for reporting was a simple SQL solution given the MVP approach from the regional sector.
A detailed project delivery phase was initiated, and weekly stakeholder meetings were used to report progress and as a forum for decision-making process where consensus was required. Each of Ballance and Ravensdown maintained their own projects which delivered updates to existing apps. Agreement on data fields and the API was critical to ensuring that the regional sector tool, and the two fertiliser companies would develop complying solutions, providing consistent experience to farmers as they may shift between tools and allowing efficient, accurate reporting of data to councils and the regulator.
Change management
This process ensured ownership by staff as there were all directly involved in the solution selection, it also leveraged staff business knowledge to ensure the selected solution could meet their needs. The rollout was coordinated across all regional councils and key farming stakeholders involved in the solution user acceptance testing process. The communications team were engaged early on to help ensuring consistent messaging across the country and our team both drove and facilitated the reuse of FAQs and messaging points.
On going support of the solution for farmers was to sit with the Regional Councils themselves and so we provided training materials and videos to help upskill key staff. Along side this our support team provided ongoing support to the councils where they still require help.