ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the issue of fertiliser and sustainable land management in pastoral farming, it is important to note that New Zealand pastures are based on introduced species, principally rye grasses and clovers, which have a high demand for nutrients. New Zealand's modern history is related inextricably to the development of land for pastoral farming. New Zealand's family-based agriculture was nourished by a diet of centralised marketing, a huge public science effort, and various other forms of direct and indirect support from central government. In tandem with the exorbitant fiscal costs of fertiliser and other subsidies, many New Zealand farmers themselves have come to see their previous use of fertiliser as inappropriate. The Northland sheep and beef farm model for the years 1983 to 1996 reveals the highly variable and generally insufficient expenditure on fertilisers and other inputs during the period of restructuring.
