A last-minute offer of land has meant the fourth and final year of a trial of a new way to aerially spread 1080 rabbit poison will go ahead.
Landcare Research and the Otago Regional Council have been trialling aerially spreading 1080 in strips rather than broadcasting it over entire plots in Central Otago, as part of a Sustainable Farming Fund project.
But Otago Regional Council environmental monitoring and operations director Jeff Donaldson said some farmers were wary of the new method, as they did not want to risk anything less than a 100% kill of rabbits on their properties.
This meant finding an appropriate property with two 100ha blocks - one for the trial and the other as a control - was difficult this winter, he said.
''We need the trial to validate the results.''
The offer of a property came just in time, as the poisoning season was nearly at an end, Mr Donaldson said.
Landcare Research's Dr Dave Latham said farmers' reluctance had resulted from some less than perfect results from the strip trial, although the more traditional broadcast method also had less successful results in the same circumstances.
''Some landowners have unfairly spotlighted the failures of the strip-sown method, ignoring the failure of the broadcast method.''
Results from the trial had shown very little difference between the two methods, he said.
The rabbit kill for strip-sown bait was between 90% and 97%, while for the broadcast method it was 89% to 98%.
Low kills (under 95%) were thought to have been caused by factors such as bait-shyness and weather conditions, which affected both trial plots, he said.
A cost-benefit analysis would be conducted after the trial, unless it showed a ''stark contrast'' to previous results.
Then the method would likely be added to the best-practice ''toolbox'' of rabbit control, Dr Latham said.
The method was expected to be cheaper because less 1080 was used per hectare. It was also better for the environment.
''Farmers will then be able to make up their own mind whether to go with this method or the more expensive traditional broadcast method.''
