In the summer of 2020, Project Parore invested in thousands of new farm workers.  The release of dung beetles on farms in two catchments was supported by the project as part of our mission to improve soil health and water quality.

We teamed up with Ag Research to investigate how dung beetle introductions to farm pasture impact dung decomposition and the survival of the parasitic worms that live inside a cow’s gut. The scientific research took place over an extended period, mostly on Pukekauri Farm in Te Mania catchment. It’s great to know that the introduction of dung beetles appears to have been successful – the beetles are still tootling around the locations they were released into, and beetle species O. binodis in particular has established well after five years.

The team from Ag Research would like to thank the Ministry for Primary Industries for SFFF funding, as well as Project Parore, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Dung Beetle Innovations and Otago University for supporting this project. We thank farmers for providing access to their property to monitor releases. We thank Lawrie Donald for assistance in establishing the trial and Martin Hawke for assistance with monitoring.