How dairy effluent can be turned into fish food was recently showcased in the Western Bay.

The trial farm, located near Katikati, uses the Dairy Effluent Conversion project to convert waste nutrients from dairy shed effluent into algae that can be fed to native fish, as well as improve water quality in the drainage system.

Farmers see trial system that turns dairy effluent into fish food and cleans water in drainage system in action.

The open day, hosted by DairyNZ and Bay of Plenty Regional Council, showed visitors the conversion project in action, and provided a chance to ask questions about the trial farm.

Regional council rivers and drainage manager Bruce Crabbe is pleased with the open day and the enthusiasm from visitors, including in-depth discussions about what the project is expected to achieve.

'The project is really just kicking off so we don't have any long term monitoring results or data to share, but having the ponds built and some of the associated infrastructure in place meant that we could have some great in-depth conversations.

'We had a tour of the sites with briefings at a few key points of interest and a question and answer session at the end.”

The project expects to see improved water quality and more fish and healthy aquatic life in the farm's drainage system, including native species such as tuna (eel), inanga (whitebait), and mullet.

Bruce says feedback is positive, the famers showed a 'natural interest in the economic possibility around creating a feed source from ponds” and they were interested in the possibility of selling the product created from the effluent conversion.

'While the project isn't focused on that aspect of the process, it was great to see visitors catch on to the possibilities that open up if we can show that the technology works in this trial.”

The project is funded by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Ministry for Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund.

Further open days will be held over the coming three years of the trial.