Speaker: Dr Sinead Leahy, Principal Scientist at the Ag Emissions Centre

Date: Monday 6 July

Time: 6pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, EIT Taradale

Admission: Gold coin donation

Agriculture sits at the centre of one of the defining challenges of our time: producing nutritious food while responding to climate change. As pressure grows to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock systems, new technologies are rapidly emerging that could reshape the future of farming in New Zealand and beyond.

In this upcoming lecture, Dr Sinead Leahy, Principal Scientist at the Ag Emissions Centre, will explore the science behind low-emissions farming and the technologies being developed to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions from ruminant livestock systems. Drawing on both international and New Zealand research programmes, the talk will examine approaches including vaccines, inhibitors, selective breeding, and microbial technologies, as well as the opportunities and challenges of applying these solutions in pasture-based farming systems.

Dr Leahy is widely recognised for her leadership in agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation research. She has over 20 years of experience in agricultural science and climate change, and currently serves in several major international science leadership roles, including as Co-Chair of the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and as a lead author for the upcoming IPCC AR7 Assessment Report.

This promises to be a timely and thought-provoking evening exploring how science and innovation may help shape more sustainable and productive farming systems for the future.

Speaker: Dr Ian Horner
Date: Thursday 23 July
Time: 6pm
Venue: Havelock North Function Centre
Admission: Gold coin donation

Kauri trees are one of the largest and magnificent living beings on the planet, dominating the northern forests of Aotearoa-New Zealand. But our iconic kauri were plundered for their timber during the 19^th and 20^th centuries and are now further threatened by a micro-organism spreading through the forest, killing trees and destroying whole ecosystems. What causes kauri dieback, where did it come from, how does it attack kauri, how does it spread, and most importantly, what can be done about it?

For the past 42 years, Dr Ian Horner has worked as a Plant Pathologist for New Zealand Science Institutes from DSIR to The Bioeconomy Science Institute. His work has focussed on the biology and control of various diseases that have threatened New Zealand’s horticultural industries and forests. For the past 20 years he has studied our kauri forests and the biology and potential control of kauri dieback disease. Ian will present a summary of what we have learned about kauri and the disease threatening its very existence, and provide an optimistic but challenging view of what can be done to manage it and preserve our iconic kauri forests for future generations.