Yellow Bristle Grass Action Group
Region: Waikato
Award Category: Waikato
Year: 2008
The Yellow Bristle Grass Action Group was established in June 2006 in response to growing concern that this annual summer grass was spreading rapidly onto dairy pastures on a number of farms in the Waipa district. The grass was avoided by stock, difficult to control, invasive and management techniques not fully understood.
The group, comprising dairy farmers, AgResearch, Environment Waikato, NuFarm and DairyNZ meet on a regular basis to monitor and discuss management issues and have been successful in securing funding from the MAF Sustainable Farming Fund and Dairy InSight enabling it to produce a booklet titled Yellow Bristle Grass The Ute Guide and also carry out field trials. The group is hoping to secure further funding to allow ongoing promotion of awareness of this grass weed, examining management systems aimed at minimising its spread and assessing its economic impact.
The group has achieved a lot in a relatively short space of time thanks to a small number of focused and motivated individuals and for this reason deserves a nomination for this award.
Nominated by: Andy Laurenson, Biosecurity Contractor to Environment Waikato