The Country 11/11/25: Dr Jacqueline Rowarth talks to Jamie Mackay

A leading primary sector academic - on Armistice Day and why we need to be investing in pasture - the fundamental enabler of our productive economy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
She is one of our leading primary sector academics. Her
name is doctor Jacqueline Roweth. Jacqueline, I wonder whether one
of your areas of expertise is history, namely the history
around World War One, because today New Zealand time anyhow,
it's about eleven o'clock tonight, real time is Armistice Day,
of course, the cessation of hostilities and the First World

(00:24):
War on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of
the eleventh month. You must have studied that at school.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Being British, I was there, not in I would hastily
add at the end of World War War One, but
Armistice Day, remembering that I grew up in a naval family.
That he was British Royal Navy and it's almost served
in the Second World War in terms of age. He'd
signed up and was trained and he went to see

(00:50):
but didn't see active service in that we went. We
were there at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day.
It was very moving, like the twenty fifth and Zac
Day here where you remember not just the end of
that war but also all the people who have served
to keep your country safe. It's very moving.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
We've spoken to Wayne McNee chief executive of Agri zero
in Z. On the show, we were talking about this
new development with the urine spreader. Do you know anything
about that?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeap Berkeuinn investigated a similar device back twenty years ago.
This is the thing with scientists. They have long memories
and there are a lot of things to overcome, including
the animal welfare and how any device is managed in
the yards, for instance, when they're coming in from milking.
So I think there are quite a lot of technological

(01:44):
aspects to be investigated before this becomes a great idea.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
You are lamenting the fact that, yes, it's nice to
have all this funding for the likes of Agri zero
in Z, but you think we need to go back
to the basics. Where's the funding the enabler of our
productive economy pasture. Now you've written a column on this
chequeline and I did say to you this reminded me
of plant science at Lincoln College in nineteen eighty two,

(02:11):
and my eyes did sort of glaze over, to be honest,
when I was reading your column.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh Jamie, that's because I wasn't the lecturer. So had
we been in class together in whatever way, it would
have all been far more exciting new women.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Jacqueline, you probably you probably would have hated me. I
was one of those horrible kids who through flaming darts
on one occasion. Anyhow, I've grown up a lot since then.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Good yes, and I have never hated a student. I
have looked at them with steely eyes and raised one
or maybe two eyebraws. But I have never had bad
behavior in the class because it was also fascinating. So
let's go back to the pasture and think about the
research that's been done by Agresearch and involving various other

(02:58):
groups to say that our imary production, our ability to
capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is not happening as
rapidly as we thought from our trees and pastures, and
so what's going on Fundamentally carbon dioxide when you have
it in a glass house, for instance, it enriches, it

(03:20):
grows plants faster. But that is under perfect conditions of moisture, nutrients,
and temperature. In the real life, something else is going
on and we need to be investigating that. Otherwise all
the technology funded by various groups in New Zealand and
around the world won't actually make any major difference. And
I suspect that all the predictions about how great the

(03:43):
technologies will be were modeled on an incorrect assumption of
how much faster plants will be growing.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
They're not got to go check on one. Always good to
check lovely.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Thanks don't mean