Nutrient management in New Zealand pastures—

recent developments and future issues both farm productivity and environmental outcomes are achieved. These include consideration of factors such as multiple sources of nutrient imports to farms, the optimal re-use and re-distribution of nutrient sources generated within the farm (such as farm dairy effluent), identification of the risks associated with applying various nutrient forms to contrasting land management units, and an econometric evalu-ation of farm fertilisation practices. The develop-ment of nutrient budgeting and econometric decision support tools has greatly aided putting these more complex whole-farm nutrient management systems into practice. Research has also identified a suite of mitigation systems and technological measures that appear to be able to deliver substantial reductions in nutrient losses from pastoral farms. However, issues of cost, complexity, compatibility with the current farm system, and a perceived uncertainty of actual environmental benefits are identified as key barriers to adoption of some of these technolo-gies. Farmers accordingly identified that their main requirement for improved nutrient management planning systems was flexibility in how they would meet their environmental targets. The provision of readily discernible information and tools defining the economic and environmental implications of a range of proven management or mitigation practices is a key requirement to achieve this. Keywords adoption; farm dairy effluent; grazed pastures; mitigation; nitrogen; nutrient budgets; phosphorus; water qualit