The programme will focus on reducing nitrate leaching from farms and increasing profitability by developing pasture mixtures and crop sequences that reduce urinary nitrate excretion per animal or capture nitrate from the soil more effectively.
The couple run 1465 dairy cows on 375ha of irrigated land near Mayfield, in Mid Canterbury. They also have a 550ha dry land support block growing pasture, cereals, kale and fodder beet.
Being a monitor farm ''may keep them ahead of the game'', Mr Early said.
It will also be a two-way learning experience.
With nitrate leaching rules about to be imposed, solutions to mitigate leaching while continuing to farm profitably and sustainably were necessary, he said.
He admits they were not very good at saying ''no'' and when approached by DairyNZ to be part of the project, they agreed.
The first step is the collection of data to provide a base line. Information for the dairy farm includes what supplements have been fed, which paddocks the cows are on, where effluent has been spread, when land has been irrigated and how much water was put on, and how much and where fertiliser was used.
The import and export of animals to and from the block is also being recorded and the estimated weight of the animals.
This information is being collected and entered by the couple on a daily basis on a specially designed spreadsheet from DairyNZ.
Their contract milker and his team are collecting the data for the dairy farm. Mr Early and the dairy support team are recording details for the dryland support farm including what crop is being grown in each paddock and the import and export of supplements and animals to the block.
The quality of grass, grain and silage produced on the blocks will be tested too.
''We were already collecting a lot of the information but not all on a daily basis,'' Mr Early said.
There will be several commitments required from monitor farmers. On farm, the performance of the current farm system will be monitored. As research results from other parts of the programme become available, the expertise of the monitor farmers will be required to assess the suitability, adoptability and risks of proposed changes to their farm system. When changes are implemented on farm, monitoring will continue to assess the financial and environmental impact of these changes. The couple are looking forward to sharing ideas and information with the eight other monitor farmers in the project, but are not so enthusiastic about being a public face for field days.