Description
OVERSEER® Nutrient budgets can assist with the following: Calculates on-farm budgets for a wide range of nutrients and farming systems (pastoral, arable/vegetable and fruit crops) based on data inputs readily available from the farm. Understanding the fate of these nutrients is an important precursor to developing a Nutrient Management Plan. Calculates and reports farm-level emissions (greenhouse gases) for farms based on the farm-specific methods that are related to the National Inventory methodology. Emissions are reported on a per hectare and per product basis. This allows users to identify major sources on farms and to test management strategies for decreasing emissions. Calculates maintenance nutrient applications for pastoral farms, i.e. the levels of nutrients required to maintain the current soil test values. Is a useful fertiliser planning tool on its own, additional software is used by fertiliser companies to provide farm specific econometric information for further developing fertiliser recommendations. This information can support farmers and their advisors in planning nutrient use and assessing the potential environmental losses. Can support environmental policy development, most notably around Lake Taupo and as a part of Horizons One Plan. OVERSEER® does not include economic analysis, so outputs needs to be combined with other economic models to assess impacts of options on the farm business.
Purpose
OVERSEER® is an agricultural management tool which assists farmers and their advisers to examine nutrient use and movements within a farm to optimise production and environmental outcomes. The computer model calculates and estimates the nutrient flows in a productive farming system and identifies risk for environmental impacts through nutrient loss, including run off and leaching, and greenhouse gas emissions.
| Latest Version |
5.4.10 |
| State of Development |
Released and updated |
| Current Development Activity |
V6.0 scheduled for release 3rd August 2012 |
Development Contact
Mark Shepherd
mark.shepherd@agresearch.co.nz
+64 7 838 5136
AgResearch - Ruakura Research Centre
East Street
Private Bag 3115
Hamilton 3240,
New Zealand
Scope
| Outcome Areas |
Environmental
|
| Management Domains |
Land,
Freshwater
|
| Subdomains |
Contaminant Losses,
Crop/Farm Systems
|
| Intended End Users |
Fertiliser representatives, farmers, scientists, policy researchers
|
| Spatial Resolutions |
Unknown
|
| Spatial Extents |
Land or Business Unit
|
| Spatial Dimensions |
1D
|
| Temporal Resolutions |
Years
|
| Temporal Extents |
Unknown
|
| Steady State or Dynamic |
Steady State |
| Level of Integration |
Environmental
|
Input & Output Data
| Key Input Data |
Land Use,
Rainfall
|
| Input Data Formats |
XLS(X)
|
| Key Output Data |
Drainage
nutrient loss
|
Accessibility
| Open/Closed Source |
Closed Source |
| Licence Type |
No Licence |
User Information
| Operating Systems |
MS Windows
|
| Software Needed |
Unknown
|
| User Interface |
Graphical desktop
|
| Ease of Use |
Easy
|
| Use in Policy Process |
Plan (Policy Formulation),
Do (Policy Implementation),
Check (Policy Evaluation)
|
| Documentation |
For Manuals, release notes, guides and technical manuals see:
http://www.overseer.org.nz/OVERSEERModel/Information.aspx |
| Support |
Training courses available |
Technical Considerations
