Millions of dollars is being poured into research to see if using plantain pastures will help dairy farmers improve freshwater quality.

Associate Agriculture Minister Hon Meka Whaitiri today announced an $8.98 million government grant over seven years to expand the sector-run Plantain Potency and Practice programme.

DairyNZ, PGG Wrightson Seeds and Fonterra are investing a further $10.47m in cash and $2.8m in kind towards the progamme.

The programme aims to substantially reduce nitrate leaching to freshwater from New Zealand dairy farms using plantain.

Plantain – scientifically known as Plantago lanceolata – is a robust herb suited to pastures, with a tap root that gives some drought tolerance, but it offers feed quality similar to ryegrass.

PGG Wrightson Seeds chief executive John McKenzie welcomed the government support.

“We’re optimistic the programme will confirm previous research, commissioned by us and undertaken by a range of organisations, showing plantain has the potential to significantly contribute to environmental improvement.”

The funding will go towards large scale farm experiments at Lincoln and Massey Universities which will measure nitrate leaching under plantain pasture compared to perennial ryegrass.

If proven successful, the partners will work with farmers nationwide using a co-development approach to help them adopt plantain onto their farms.