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New Project: Fertiliser Calibration

JDcalibrationLandWISE has been granted funding to develop fertiliser application calibration procedures suitable for farmers applying nutrients with their own equipment. The two year Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Farming Fund project is co-funded by the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) and the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand (FertResearch). Work will begin in July.

Why have this project?

Intensive farming is under intense scrutiny as impacts on soil and fresh water are questioned. Nutrient budgeting is a critical aspect of fertiliser practice. Knowing what should be done is important. Knowing what is actually done is important too. This project will allow on-farm checks to ensure and demonstrate that their own or contracted application equipment is performing to expectations.

Recommendations and nutrient management plans from fertiliser and agricultural consultants assume the fertiliser material will be spread evenly and accurately over the target area at the target application rate. Poor spreading can negate the best management plans and result in significant production losses and pollution of waterways.

The Fertiliser Industry Code of Practice for Nutrient Management notes greater precision in fertiliser application is increasingly important if profits are to be lifted by more intensive farming.  Intensification brings a greater risk of negative impacts on farm profits and on the environment through errors and inefficiencies in fertiliser application. Fertiliser and its application is often the single biggest discretionary expense.

What will be done?

This project will deliver protocols, guidelines, templates and training modules for farmers doing their
own ground based fertiliser application. Calibration is familiar to farmers for agrichemical application. It is increasingly applied for irrigation, to achieve water use efficiencies and reduce the risk of drainage and leaching. The new aspect is applying to fertiliser placement, distribution uniformity measures as well as gross per hectare application rates.

Most fertiliser applicator manufacturers provide guidelines to calibrate equipment. However, usually only the bulk application per hectare is determined, not the uniformity of application. This is a critical omission, as poor distribution significantly impacts yield and increases risk of leaching losses.

Ground based application includes a wide range of application methods to apply a vast array of fertiliser products, requiring careful matching of equipment and technique to the fertiliser and production system.

FertSpreadThe project will address the two broad types of ground based spreading equipment:

  • equipment that spreads fertiliser beyond the width of the machine – e.g. bulk spinners
  • equipment where the swath width is equal to or less than the width of the machine – e.g. boom sprayers, combine drills, pneumatic top dressers.

The key performance criteria will be defined and expected levels provided.
Clear calibration protocols will be supported with guidelines and templates to ensure their correct implementation and for record keeping.

A training module and resources suitable for delivery to farm fertiliser managers and staff will be developed. Training opportunities will be provided at various locations around the country.
Together the project outputs will enable farmers to suitably calibrate equipment and record data pertaining to efficient use of nutrients. Their records will support industry QA programmes and demonstrate regulatory compliance.

For more information, contact Dan Bloomer at LandWISE:

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Hugh and Sharon Ritchie – Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year

LandWISE Chairman, Hugh Ritchie, and wife Sharon were named Silver Fern Farms Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year in April 2014. This follows Hugh’s father David Ritchie being given the same award in 1990. Both generations are recognised for their innovative farming practices, focus on sustainable production and care of soils, and for their very significant contributions to industry and their communities.

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Hugh and Sharon Ritchie, Silver Fern Farms Farmers of the Year (Marie Taylor photo from AgriHQ)

Hugh is a LandWISE Founder, being involved from the very start and contributing immensely to development of strip tillage, initially to stop wind erosion and then as a standard practice to reduce costs and care for all types of cropping soils. Hugh has chaired LandWISE since it was incorporated in 2003. He has had many industry and community roles and is currently on the Boards of FAR, Irrigation New Zealand, LandWISE and a member of the Process Vegetables Sector committee.

Farmer of the Year Awards Judge Peter Keeling noted the level of innovation across all aspects of the Ritchies’ business, including irrigation. He said, “The fact Hugh referred to the buyers of his products as clients was telling, and they had some very clear and written business goals.”

The organisers stated: “This is a large-scale business both in livestock and cropping using the very latest technology to make efficiency gains in production and optimise profitability with the better land competing with dairy returns. All this is achieved with a strong focus on sustainable farming and a passion for the environment and his soils”.

We congratulate Hugh and Sharon for this well deserved award.

Other winners on the night were:

  • Hugh and Di McBain, who farm 300ha, won the Pan Pac Hawke’s Bay Farm Forester of the Year award for outstanding planting since 1974. (Hugh and Di are neighbours of Hugh and Sharon – well done Otane!)
  • Mike Barham won the Laurie Dowling Memorial Award for five years of work with the East Coast Rural Support Trust that covered droughts, floods, and a weather bomb.
  • Lincoln University student Patrick Crawshaw won a $3000 scholarship from Lawson Robinson.

A field day will be held at the Ritchies’ farm on 8 May 2014.

Sweetcorn Harvested

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Many thanks to McCain Foods, Te Mata Contractors, Apatu Farms and Heinz-Watties for help harvesting our corn crop.

Given the wet week we were pleased to have a break in the weather and fortunate the soil was not excessively wet. Gross weight out was around 20 t/ha which, given we suffered a fair bit from drought stress is pleasing.

Ben Watson and Dan Bloomer took crop samples from both Paddocks (3 & 4) and from drip irrigated, spray irrigated and non-irrigated zones. We’ll be interested to see the results.

Next activity is a full deep ripping to at least 600mm to try and address the deep compaction we have identified. Regional Council soil health sampling, HydroServices data and our own digging shows a legacy from previous land use remains – despite seven years of pasture phase and minimal traffic. We have ripped before, but only to about 300 – 400mm.

After that we’ll be establishing our winter crops – selected from onions, oats and mustard cover crops.

Playing with Peas

At the LandWISE MicroFarm, we are scoping the use of plant growth regulators to lift yields of peas for processing.

In our region, peas are produced for the global market, and the global price sets the local price. You’ll struggle to find a farmer that says the pay-out is generous. We could focus on increasing the price by $5 a tonne or even $50 a tonne. But that will make us uncompetitive. 

So how can we make it a profitable crop?

We could cut costs, though there is little left to remove. Peas don’t usually get fertiliser or slug bait, insecticides or disease sprays. Most get little or no cultivation. They do get herbicide treatment, but many chemicals are relatively cheap.

What’s left?

“Yield is king!” say LandWISE farmers. 

The yields of many crops have increased enormously over the last twenty years.  Pea yields have not, and are highly variable and unpredictable.  Even in good looking crops, yield can be disappointing.

As with any one pass harvest fresh vegetable crop, top yields need good plant, pod and seed numbers, all ready for harvest at the same time. Sometimes parts of a paddock are behind, sometimes parts of plants are left behind.

If part of a paddock matures differently, it is often because the plants emerged at different times. The cause may be soil moisture or temperature differences. Maybe it is compaction related.

If some plants mature at different rates it may be sowing or soil conditions causing uneven emergence.

If some pods mature at different times, maybe flowering was prolonged. If we condense flowering, all the plant’s resources go into peas that get harvested.

Farmers have noted drought-stressed crops can out-yield more vigorous ones. The stressed plants seem to have flowering curtailed, while vigorous ones continue flowering and have late pods and peas that will not be mature at harvest.

The MicroFarm group is looking at plant growth regulators to condense flowering and therefore the harvestable proportion of the crop.

Plant growth regulators control things such as shoot and root growth, internode length, flowering, fruit set and ripening. They are widely used in horticulture and have been used to manipulate flowering times.

We are applying a few options that have shown to have effect elsewhere. It is a first look to see if this is something worth researching further.

Our Discussion Group members’ experience has been brought together to formulate our “grand plan”.

Five different PGR products are being applied to the crop at different growth stages. The PGR’s include gibberellic acid, anti-gibberellin (Cycocel 750, Regalis), cytokinin (Exilis) and anti-ethylene (ReTain). These are potentially potent materials: one of our treatments is 8 grams per hectare.

The treatments are being applied in 3m x 10m strips, but are not being replicated in this initial scoping study. We do however have two sowings so we will get a couple of chances to compare. We will observe effects and yields. If we see evidence of a benefit, we will do a more detailed study.

Gibberellic acid was applied when peas were 10-15cm high. A rapid lengthening and yellowing of treated plants was quickly seen. The yellowing has reduced in time, but the plants are still double the height of their untreated neighbours.

But it is flowering we are interested in and that is still just around the corner. We have noted two flowers in one treated plant, and none elsewhere in the paddock.

The next set of treatments was applied about 10 days before anticipated flowering date. We are watching things closely.

Many thanks to the people involved in formulating the plan, and now implementing it: Plant Growth Regulators were supplied by BASF Crop Protection, Agronica and Fruitfed Supplies. Treatments were applied by Peracto. Plant & Food are monitoring the effects.

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A report of results of the season’s PGR trials is posted on the MicroFarm website.

MicroFarm Open Day 3-5pm 2 April 2014

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The second MicroFarm Open Day date will focus on beans, sweetcorn and water management.

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Bean planting – Richard Airey picture

The green beans are destined for McCain Foods Hastings plant. The four micropaddocks include demonstrations of:

  • Two row spacings 20″ and 15″
  • Four plant populations
  • Different varieties
  • Drip vs spray irrigation
  • Phosphorus: non vs normal vs double rate
  • Herbicide management variations

Sweetcorn demonstrations

  • Strip-till
  • No irrigation
  • Drip irrigation
  • Very late spray irrigation

Irrigation discussion

  • Soil monitoring records from 2013-2014 crops
  • Where crops are getting water from
  • Impact of drought stress
  • Cost of drought stress

More details on the MicroFarm website

Many thanks to:

Ballance AgriNutrients, BASF Crop Protection, Centre for Land and Water, ThinkWater, Netafim, HydroServices, McCain Foods, FruitFed Supplies, Agronica NZ, Nicolle Contracting, Te Mata Contractors, Drumpeel Farms, Agnew Hort, Greville Ground Spraying, True Earth Organics, Tasman Harvesting, Plant & Food Research and Peracto Research for support with this work.

Irrigation NZ Conference

INZ2014The biennial Irrigation New Zealand Conference will be held in Napier on 7-9 April 2014. This is a major event for farmers and industry with a number of high profile speakers from around the world. Details at http://irrigationnz.co.nz/events-and-training/irrigation-securing-the-next-generation-s-future/

Monday 7 April includes optional bus tours, one of irrigation on the Heretaunga Plains and one to visit the proposed Ruataniwha Irrigation Scheme and site of the water storage dam. From 2pm the trade show is open to view the latest and greatest opportunities and technologies.

Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 April are based at the Museum/Theatre/Gallery and War Memorial Conference Centre on Napier’s Marine Parade.

Hear

  • Rod Oram discuss Irrigation – securing the next generation’s future
  • About the catalyst for and execution of Hawke’s Bay Ruataniwha water storage project
  • If government policy is helping or hindering
  • Technology updates
  • Good practice expectations
  • and lots more

 

2014 LandWISE Conference

Ever Better: Farmers, land and water

21 – 22 May 2014
Awapuni Function Centre, Palmerston North

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Many thanks to our Platinum Sponsors, BASF Crop Protection and John Deere who actively put their support behind the conference. This extends the support they have already given LandWISE for previous events and our MicroFarm initiative.

Our Gold Sponsors are Horizons Regional Council, Potatoes New Zealand/Process Vegetables New Zealand and Trimble Ag specialists, GPS Control Systems. They are also long term and positive LandWISE supporters.

And thanks to our many returning sponsors for ongoing support, and to the new sponsors who also see benefit in the work LandWISE does.

Conference Programme

A draft programme outline is available here>

The theme reflects the increasing demands on farmers to demonstrate effective stewardship of the land and water resource that underpins their businesses. We have a guided tour of an intensively cropped catchment where farmers are working to achieve water quality that meets community expectations and values.

Having our Conference in a different region acts on our mission to promote sustainable farming and smart technologies to as wide an audience as possible. We previously held the conference in Palmerston North and Gisborne with good attendances and we expect a good response in 2014.

Other prospective Sponsors and Trade Displays can contact us anytime at info@landwise.org.nz

We want a big turnout at LandWISE 2014. We encourage you to use your communication channels to ensure as many interested people as possible know, value, register and attend. We look forward to your support.

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Wairakaia Station is Supreme

Congratulations LandWISE Members Bruce and Jo Graham. Together with Rob and Sandra Faulkner, they have been named Supreme winners of the 2014 East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

There is a Ballance Farm Environment Awards Field Day at Wairakaia on Thursday 27th March 2014 for those keen to see the farm and hear what the families have been doing.

More information on the Ballance AgriNutrients website>

BFEA -Faulkner and GrahamBallance AgriNutrients photo

The Faulkners and the Grahams run a 600ha family farm ‘Wairakaia’ at Muriwai south of Gisborne.  At a special Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA) ceremony on February 20, Wairakaia also collected the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Farm Award, the Hill Laboratories Harvest Award, the Massey University Innovation Award and The East Coast Farming For The Future Award.

Bruce was part of LandWISE project work looking into strip tillage and precision agriculture techniques. He started his GPS journey with the purchase of a lightbar for spraying in 2006. In 2009 he purchased Trimble RTK and EZI steer, allowing him to drive hands-free and focus on the implements and results behing the tractor. Wairakaia hosted LandWISE field days to help extend knowledge of these practices.

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Autumn Open Day

The LandWISE MicroFarm is preparing for its second Open Day to be held at 3 pm on 2 April 2014. The two crops for discussion are sweet corn and green beans.

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Green beans are a relatively new crop here, and questions over best management remain. The MicroFarm Discussion Group selected a few options this season.  Some may require following up with more investigations.

Plant arrangement and population are two key questions. Herbicide and fertiliser options are also being considered.

Tasman Harvesters Director, Gary Cutts returned from a trip to Europe where he saw most green beans are planted on 15” or 381mm rows. Gary was very keen to try the narrower row spacing. He has noticed smaller canopy crops that do not fully fill the allocated row space are difficult to harvest well.

This season we have planted one MicroFarm paddock at 15” or 381mm spacing, increasing the in-row spacing to keep the population near the norm.  At half the usual spacing for crops such as process sweetcorn or maize, fitting tyres into the mix is a challenge.

McCain Foods Field Officer, Ben Watson was interested to know what plant population might be optimal. He set up four rates from 300,000 to 370,000 plants per hectare.

Ballance AgriNutrients’ Mark Redshaw has used double rate phosphorous in one half and no phosphorous in the other. Other nutrients are the same, rates determined following soil testing at Hill Laboratories.

Scott Marillier and Vaughan Redshaw at Fruitfed Supplies selected a standard herbicide programme for most of the area. Haydn Greville applied 600mL/ha BASF Frontier and 500mL/ha Magister as a pre-emergent spray. This was followed by 3L/ha BASF Bentazone at two trifoliates.

By the end of February the buried drip had applied four 10mm irrigations. That was enough to keep just above stress point.

HydroServices’ soil moisture monitoring showed the un-irrigated paddocks were stressed from early on. Funding constraints have prevented us getting the dream irrigation system so we started using our mini-gun, applying 20-35mm at the end of February.  While adequate on pasture, it is not ideal for crops.

Many
thanks to Thanks to: Centre for Land and Water, ThinkWater, Netafim, HydroServices, McCain Foods, Ballance AgriNutrients, BASF Crop Protection, FruitFed Supplies, Agronica NZ, Nicolle Contracting, Te Mata Contractors, Drumpeel Farms, Greville Ground Spraying, True Earth Organics, Tasman Harvesting Plant & Food and Peracto for support with this work.

MicroFarm Updates

Entering the MicroFarm after a three day gap highlights how rapidly sweetcorn grows at this tassling stage. The crop has moved quickly, although the in-paddock variability remains. This crop is desitined for McCain Foods Hastings plant. More details are available on the MicroFarm website.

Green beans were planted in four paddocks on 31 January 2014. We have a range of things being looked at including row spacing, plant populations, fertiliser and weed management options. More details are available on the MicroFarm website.

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We started irrigating the beans in Paddock 2 on 18 February with the ThinkWater/Netafim buried drip system. The other blocks are not currently irrigated. Promised rain did not arrive so moisture levels in the dry land crops are starting to drop. HydroServices has put neutron access tubes into Paddocks 2 and 5 and are monitoring for us. The results of monitoring are posted on the Irrigation Monitoring page.

We are grateful to Stu Mawley and the Te Mata Contractors staff for a big job ripping the bean paddocks prior to planting. We have identified deep soil compaction as a significant limitation on-site. This is a legacy of the previous orchard impact and one we need to deal with. We also believe bonfire sites where old orchard trees were collected and burned have left a problem behind. The soils seems “fired” and has very large, very hard lumps. The drivers quickly tired of replacing shear bolts.

Te Mata Contractors used four-tine rippers from Lawson’s True Earth Organics. These are narrow shanked and set at 762mm spacing, so we could run them between the buried driplines in Paddock 2.

We have been learning about peas and irrigation. We have published two articles in The Grower (see the January and February editions). We were impressed to see vining peas drawing water from very deep in the profile. In our early plantings we could see the effects of a compaction layer on water availability. In our later plantings we had the comparison of drip irrigated cersus dryland, and were interested to see differences in water consumed in tha last couple of weeks before harvest. Thanks to HydroServices for providing our monitoring.

Steve Green has donated us a radiometer to add to the Plant & Food weather station on-site. Once we get the wind sorted we’ll be able to calculate our own potential evapotranspiration figures. The radiometer complements the existing rain gauge, temperature, humidity and leaf wetness sensors on the station. These are standard on Plant & Food “orchard monitoring” stations, which are mainly intended to support pathology and enable assessment of disease risk.

We have also installed an Aquaflex sensor which was donated by Streat Instruments. This is stabilising, but with little rain since installation, we are not yet fully confident of the data. These are available on the MicroFarm website courtesy of Plant & Food and HortPlus MetWatch.