MARLBOROUGH’S FUTURE IS DURABLE
A regional development case study on the potential for a durable hardwood industry
Held Friday 16th February 2024
Marlborough-based NZ Dryland Forests Innovation is working on a regional development case study to evaluate how new investment in planting naturally durable hardwood forests could contribute to sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Marlborough’s wine industry.
Contributors to the case study include the University of Canterbury School of Forestry and the NZ Bioenergy Association. The research is providing a market and science-based pathway for developing this novel land use and supply chain. Developing a regional plan for a new forestry and wood processing supply chain could improve long-term sustainability and resilience for Marlborough’s wine industry and generate new investment and employment.
Adding value to Marlborough waste streams using insect bioconversion
Recording of the seminar - Wednesday 28 June
https://vimeo.com/841035711?share=copy
The seminar showcases recent research on insect bioconversion of waste streams generated by Marlborough-based industries.
Presenters:
Jacqui Todd - Science Team Leader, Adaptive Entomology, Plant & Food Research, (PFR)
Jacqui Todd is an invertebrate ecologist interested in the interactions between organisms and the role invertebrates play in orchard ecosystems. This has led to an interest in decomposition by invertebrates and their ability to bioconvert organic and inorganic waste products.
Samuel Brown – Scientist, Adaptive Entomology, PFR
Samuel Brown is an entomologist with a broad knowledge and interest in insect biodiversity and biology. He has been leading a research aim on the potential of insects as a foundational ingredient for aquafeeds.
Katrina Fletcher – Research Technologist, Food & Bioproducts Technology, PFR
Katrina Fletcher leads a research programme on aquafeeds for open ocean aquaculture and the development of designer insect ingredients for New Zealand aquafeeds is a key research focus of this programme.
If you would like any further information or are interested in partnering with us please contact Claire Grose.
Climate Change and Impacts 8th May 2023
Speakers:
Professor James Renwick, Victoria University of Wellington, member of New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission,
Paul White, GNS Science.
Climate Change Seminar 3.00pm 30th January 2023
Speakers: Dr Iñaki Garcia de Cortazar-Atauri and Dr. Amber Parker
Venue: MRC Theatre, 85 Budge Street, Blenheim
Lessons learnt from climate change impacts on grapes in France
Dr Iñaki Garcia de Cortazar Atauri is the Head of the AgroClim Unit at INRAE in Avignon, France. This presentation by Dr Iñaki Garcia de Cortazar Atauri will focus on the main results from the last project finished in 2021, the LACCAVE project, which has defined a national strategy to adapt the wine sector to climate change.
Dr Iñaki Garcia de Cortazar Atauri
Biography:
Dr Iñaki Garcia de Cortazar Atauri research activity covers several research fields:
evaluation/development of phenological process-based models for perennial and annual crops;
the development of agronomic indicators in order to define strategies to adapt cropping systems to climate change;
development of biophysical databases related with the climate;
work on crop modelling using the STICS crop model, as a reference for crop ecophysiology topics and to study climate change impacts on grapevine.
Iñaki is currently the national coordinator of the TEMPO network, which is the national network of phenology observatories (network supported by the Ministry of Research) (https://tempo.pheno.fr).
For the last 20 years Iñaki has been involved in different projects to explore and define the impacts and the adaptation strategies to climate change, of the wine sector in France.
Flowering: Climate change and variability
Dr. Amber Parker is a Senior Lecturer in Viticulture at Lincoln University, New Zealand. Amber’s presentation will explore some of the findings of advances in flowering and the consequences for future grape and wine production, as well as deeper dive into flowering variability between plants, shoots, and clusters.
Dr. Amber Parker
Biography:
Dr. Amber Parker completed her PhD at Lincoln University in collaboration with Bordeaux Sciences Agro-ISVV-Ecophysiology and Functional Genomics of Grapevines, France. From there, she worked as a scientist in grapevine modelling at Plant & Food Research, then started at Lincoln University in 2015. Her research focusses on phenological modelling and understanding environmental drivers of phenology, investigating the effects of source-sink modifications of the grapevine on phenology and asynchrony of fruit composition, and understanding impacts and adaptations for viticulture in the context of climate change. She also has a keen interest in developing and implementing precision agriculture techniques in viticulture.
3 August 2020 - Predicting grapevine yields and development
We are delighted to take the opportunity to invite you to this Marlborough Research Centre seminar on grapevine yields.
Topic Predicting grapevine yields and development
Venue Marlborough Research Centre Theatre
Date Monday 3rd August 2020
Time 3.30 pm
Speakers Dr Amber Parker and Dr Junqi Zhu
Chair Dr Mike Trought, Fellow New Zealand Winegrowers
Overview of Amber’s presentation:
Phenology is a key biological indicator of climate change and an essential biodiversity variable for species worldwide. In this presentation, Amber will present recent research illustrating how grapevine historical phenological records can inform us of the effects of climate change, and how we can use this information to develop tools to enable us to predict past, present and future changes in phenology in response to climate change. The impact of climate change on adaptation choices in response to phenology will also be explored.
Biography: Dr Amber Parker
Dr Amber Parker is a Senior Lecturer in Viticulture at Lincoln University, New Zealand. She completed her PhD at Lincoln University in collaboration with Bordeaux Sciences Agro-ISVV-Ecophysiology and Functional Genomics of Grapevines, France, worked as a scientist in grapevine modelling at Plant & Food Research after her PhD, and has been at Lincoln University since 2015.
Her research focuses on understanding and modelling environmental drivers of phenology, investigating the impacts of effects of source-sink modifications of the grapevine on phenology and asynchrony of fruit composition, and understanding impacts and adaptations for viticulture in the context of climate change. She also has a keen interest in developing and implementing precision agriculture techniques in viticulture.
Contact: amber.parker@lincoln.ac.nz
Overview of Junqi’s presentation:
Seasonal differences in weather conditions cause marked variation in grapevine yield. However, quantitative relationships between various yield components and climatic factors at field scales are still lacking. By using a long-term field trial, we quantified the correlation between weather conditions during the key development stages and the yield components of Vitis vinifera L. Sauvignon Blanc growing under cool-climate conditions.
The derived relationship between yield components and climatic conditions has also been input into the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) grapevine model that we are developing. The model was designed to simulate phenology, (strip) light interception, canopy development, carbon allocation, carbon storage and remobilisation, yield formation and berry composition.
The model can also be linked with digital soil map and future climatic condition to study the effects of climate change and explore suitable regions for grapevine production.
Biography: Dr Junqi Zhu
Dr. Junqi Zhu joined Plant & Food Research at the Marlborough Research Centre in September 2016. He was educated as an agro-meteorologist and plant eco-physiologist with strong emphasis in quantitative plant modelling. After his PhD on plant plasticity in Wageningen University, he switched to grapevine modelling and did his postdoc in the Institute of Vine and Wine at Bordeaux France.
Junqi‘s main research interest is to study and model the effects of the environment and vineyard management on the grapevine production system. The final goal is to develop a digital representation of a vineyard ecosystem where we can test the effects of all management practices on yield, berry composition and sustainability virtually.
1 July 2020 - Climate change and heatwaves
Overview of Presentation:
Dr Jim Salinger will examine the three extreme heatwaves that have affected the New Zealand region - back to back heatwaves in the two summers before last and 1934 -1935.
Dr Salinger will talk about the heatwave effect on many sectors, including the devastating ice loss in the Southern Alps and wider impacts for crops, including wine grapes and marine life.
Such heatwaves are becoming more common and are a guide to future climate with anthropogenic global warming.
The research by a multidisciplinary team of 19 of the recently published paper looked at what happened and why.
The research paper is entitled Unparalleled coupled ocean-atmosphere summer heatwaves in the New Zealand region: drivers, mechanisms and impacts.
Biography:
Dr Jim Salinger is a climate scientist of international repute, being the first to uncover climate warming in New Zealand, and the surrounding oceans in the 1970s, an area of 4 million square kilometres. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 together with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) colleagues for ground-breaking work on climate change.