Category Archives: Controlled Traffic Systems

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Soil

Guide to Smart Farming well received

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A Guide to Smart Farming was published in December 2011. It was widely distributed in January 2012 with complimentary copies sent to LandWISE members, Rural Contractors , Foundation for Arable Research and Horticulture New Zealand levy payers. To date over 6,000 copies have been delivered and feed back has been extremely positive.

A Guide to Smart Farming contains a wealth of information, including case studies of farmers using new technologies, and expert articles explaining how the technologies work.

“New Zealand has a unique ability to supply quality produce to a rapidly increasing global market,” says Hew Dalrymple. “But to do so sustainably requires new approaches to farming and new skills for those on the land.”

The book encapsulates learning which is the result of many years’ collaboration, especially between LandWISE, the Foundation for Arable Research, Horticulture New Zealand, and Plant & Food Research. At its core are Sustainable Farming fund projects, Advanced Cropping Systems and Holding it Together.

View the Table of Contents here>

With orders now coming from across New Zealand and Australia, as well as the United Kingdom and Brasil, we’ve set up on-line shopping. Those in New Zealand and Australia will find the esiest way to purchase is via TradeMe. Search for “guide smart farming” and you’ll get to the auction page. The buy now price is $29-90 plus post. Others should contact us at LandWISE

Those who have already read the book are invited to post comment here.

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture

Can NZ arable farmers profitably adopt GPS guidance Technology?

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Peter Mitchell from Oamaru completed the Kellogg Rural Leadership programme on 2009. As part of his work he asked the question, “Can New Zealand arable growers profitiably adopt GPS guidance technology?”

Peter has given permission for his report to be published on the LandWISE website. It is a good and enlightening read.

You can view a pdf version of Peter’s report here> Can NZ arable farmers profitably adopt GPS guidance technology?

We welcome your feedback!

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Drainage, Irrigation, Precision Agriculture, Soil, Tillage, Uncategorized, Water

Smart Farming the Game to be in

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This article first appeared in The GROWER magazine in December 2011

Dan Bloomer, LandWISE

A Guide to Smart Farming

“New Zealand has a unique ability to supply quality produce to a rapidly increasing global market,” says Hew Dalrymple. “But to do so sustainably requires new approaches to farming and new skills for those on the land.”

A book published in December contains a wealth of information that will help. A Guide to Smart Farming has case studies of farmers using new technologies, and expert articles explaining how the technologies work.

The book encapsulates learning which is the result of many years’ collaboration, especially between LandWISE, the Foundation for Arable Research, Horticulture New Zealand, and Plant & Food Research. At its core are Sustainable Farming fund projects, Advanced Cropping Systems and Holding it Together.

View the Table of Contents here>

Advanced Cropping Systems

Advanced Cropping Systems followed twelve farmers assessing precision farming technology. Perhaps not surprisingly, the focus for some shifted in the three years of the project.

FAR’s Tracey Wylie worked with Tim Macfarlane mapping weed infestations with a canopy sensor. Their weed map did not correlate very well with the weed problem, but a soil map did.  As Tracey and Tim say, “We need to take all the information we have into account, we can’t assume a single tool will tell us what we want to know.”

Travis and Nigel Sue fitted RTK-GPS and autosteer for their fresh vegetable operation. Now the rows are dead straight and perfectly spaced every time. They have labour and input savings, and no land is wasted. “We should have had it years ago,” they say.

A half-paddock trial of permanent beds for onions, potatoes and cereals at A.S Wilcox and Sons controlled traffic on the paddock and saved soil, oil and toil. Already expanded to 40ha, they are now focused on rolling the new system out across the business.

Hugh Ritchie wants easy data transfer between GPS devices and computer programmes to avoid double and triple data entry, avoid errors, and increase efficiency. Unfortunately a solution does not look imminent! Sjaak Wolfert is leading a major EU project on this topic. “This is a global problem. There is no single standard for data exchange in agriculture, and manufacturers are slow to use those that are available,” Sjaak says.

In partnership with Keith Nicoll, Hugh has made major advances with precision drainage installing plastic pipe with a gravel envelope. The equipment maps the paddock using RTK-GPS, calculates the drain gradients, and controls the laying machinery automatically, removing costs from the operation.

Holding it Together

Holding it Together focused on retaining soil and soil quality. Plant & Food scientist Paul Johnstone led the Fresh Vegetable Product Group, Potatoes New Zealand, LandWISE project. “There are many practical things we can do to look after this key resource,” he says.

Scott Lawson is one of several crop farmers using furrow dyking in their wheel tracks. “It is normal practice for us now,” he says. “We were getting crop loss after rain or irrigation when water ran along wheel tracks and drowned out crop. The furrow dyker keeps the water where it lands while it soaks in.”

Antonia Glaria worked with Paul on a range of cover crop options for fresh vegetable growers. They found maize could recapture lost nutrients including nitrogen. “We’ve studied maize in a number of situations,” says Paul. “It is a very deep rooted crop, and a great scavenger of nutrients. In some cases, all the nutrients needed can be obtained from deep in the soil – nutrients that would otherwise leach and cause problems down the track.”

“A Guide to Smart Farming is a great publication,” says Hew Dalrymple. “Every cropping farmer should get a copy and read it. It will help them maximise opportunities and make sure our land and water is in the best condition for the next generation.”

Orders

Copies of the book A Guide to Smart Farming are available from LandWISE for $NZ 29-95 plus postage: Click here or contact us via info@landwise.org.nz

New Zealand and Australian residents can order copies and pay on-line by credit card via TradeMe. Search for Guide to Smart Farming

Feedback

Please feel free to post feedback – does the book give good information? What could be added or updated?

 

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture

What is LandWISE and what does it do?

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As published in Grower November 2011

James Powrie and Dan Bloomer LandWISE Inc.

History of LandWISE

LandWISE was formed in 1999 in Hawke’s Bay, because farmers and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council saw a need for improved soil conservation.  Since then we have become involved in precision agriculture as a means to better care of soil and water, and for more profitable and sustainable farming.  We have worked with farmers and others over much of New Zealand.

Today LandWISE is a sustainable cropping group of about 600 farmers, supporters and researchers from around NZ and the world.  It is a meeting place for those who want to continue to push back boundaries and improve their farming business with technology.  LandWISE aims for real gains from innovation. We conduct on-farm research, host field events and an annual conference.

Trends toward better cropping – GPS guidance and controlled traffic farming (CTF)

Growers sometimes continue with poor practices out of habit. It is not always easy for them to see where they are losing soil quality and money, but the search is always worth it. The more aware growers are always looking to improve their operations.  This leads us into technologies that can help.

GPS guidance gives the opportunity for farmers to avoid overlaps or misses in their operations.  This means less waste of “soil, oil and toil”.  Cost and time savings of more around 10% are common from these field efficiencies alone.  Also less land is wasted when rows are neatly laid out using GPS.

Using GPS guidance has many other advantages which may surprise growers who invest.  Freedom from concentrating on driving straight means less fatigue and operators can then use a phone, arrange other jobs, even use a laptop in the cab.  Also, they are able to devote more attention to the implement, which is where the money is made or lost.

Controlled traffic farming is also finding favour across many crop types in New Zealand. RTK GPS and auto-steering allows the same wheel tracks to be used again, pass after pass, saving fuel and reducing tracked area in the paddock.

Remedial tillage never restores soil to where it was and it is very expensive, so using controlled traffic to reduce compaction can pay off very quickly.

Many tractors you see in paddocks are either wasting energy or working against the effort invested in earlier operations.  Make sure yours aren’t!

Ask yourself: Can I align wheel widths and implement spacings to traffic less soil?

LandWISE Protocols for GPS guidance

When setting up GPS guidance and using it on your farm, there are some essential steps for success.  LandWISE farmers found this out the hard way, and so the Protocols for GPS Guidance were established. Because farmers helped to put them together, they have been tested again and again.

The latest version of the “Protocols for GPS Guidance” is on the LandWISE website www.landwise.org.nz in the resources section. It includes recommendations and check lists to help avoid the pain others experienced.

Recommendations include:

  • Have a list of paddock names so they are spelt the same way every time.
  • Have a set format for labeling AB lines so they are retrievable. You use them again, so that other operations match as planned.
  • Measure and match implement details to those in the GPS, so that there will be no gaps and no overlaps
  • Redo calibrations if the GPS is moved between tractors and when implements are changed.

The checklists include step by step instructions to make sure things are not forgotten. Even experienced operators find them useful, especially at the start of a new season.

LandWISE and you

LandWISE seeks the support of good science, and then communicates learnings from science back to farmers in a way they can relate to.  This ensures that problem solving between farmers and others is as smooth as it can be. We treat both successes and failures as opportunities to share information.  Our events and membership keep growing.  We would be happy to have you as a member too.

If you would like to know more about LandWISE, our conference, events, publications, or to become a member, visit

Controlled Traffic Systems, Tillage

Assess impact of cropping systems: a simple calculator

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To help you consider the impact of alternative cropping systems, we’ve put together a simple spreadsheet calculator. You are welcome to download it here> LandWISE Cropping Impact Estimator.

The calculator flows from our work on precision farming and the benefits achievable from controlled traffic farming or permanent bed cropping systems. Up to threee scenarios can be compared. The calculator is intended to help you consider the savings possible from alternative cropping system strategies, especially changing cultivation practices.

Farmers we work with are saving as much as half their fuel, machinery and labour costs. By not driving on the “garden”, and not ripping up the “tracks”, their cultivation is drastically reduced – the heavy work is just not needed.

The calculator is prefilled with some suggested values for fuel and labour use of different farming operations. You can choose your own operations and use your own fuel use values. Just put in the best numbers you can! It determines CO2 emissions from fuel consumption using a standard CO2-e value for New Zealand diesel.

We put in a sheet to calculate carbon equivalent emissions from fertilisers. We’ve suggested some New Zealand CO2-e values for main fertilisers. These are based on a paper by Stewart Ledgard and colleagues, “Life Cycle Assessment of Local and Imported Fertilisers Used on New Zealand Farms”.

Changing your cultivation might not indicate a change in fertiliser use. But when farmers move to GPS guidance, and especially to controlled traffic or permanent beds, they save about 10% or so of inputs such as fertiliser and agrichemicals. This is achieved just by avoiding overlaps.

A summary sheet draws the results from your scenarios together and shows how much fuel, fertiliser, labour and money can be saved by changing your practices.

Download the calculator, have a play, and post a comment!

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Drainage, Irrigation, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Water

LandWISE 2011 Conference on farmer’s successes with technology

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As published in Grower June 2011

Dan Bloomer and James Powrie – LandWISE Inc.

“Agriculture is the business to be in,” Hew Dalrymple told 115 delegates at the 9th LandWISE conference in Havelock North. Hew painted an exciting picture of high global demand for food and outlined some of the technologies he is adopting to be a better producer.

Chinese food consumption growth and diminishing area of agricultural land (8.33 million ha lost in the last 12 years) are just two drivers he presented.  Hew quoted David Stroud, chief executive officer of New York-based hedge fund TS Capital Partners: “China’s increased demand for agricultural commodities will mean an increase in prices for the entire world market. China can outlast any other bidders for the commodities it desires.”

One example: China, the world’s biggest grain producer, was a net exporter of soybeans until 1995.  This year, it’s forecast to import 57 million tons, or almost 60 percent of global trade in the oilseed used in animal-feed and tofu. Hew says this is setting the scene for NZ farmers to gain from exports.

Four AGMARDT sponsored experts from Australia addressed the conference. Professor David Lamb showed Precision Ag has moved steadily forward in Australia. He spoke on precision pastures and livestock, and the ways researchers are interpreting tracked animal behaviour to better manage farm systems.

David also described recent work with plane mounted crop sensors, capturing crop information from 150 feet, and how smart engineering is trying to use on board sensors to adjust aerial application rates in real time.

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!” Steven Raine, Professor of Irrigation from Southern Queensland, opened the irrigation and drainage session with a review of precision irrigation. He pointed out that you can precisely apply irrigation to a whole paddock as one block. He challenged farmers to look at real returns from investment, rather than adding to a stable of toys.

Steven showed how really smart irrigation systems not only manage application, but measure, monitor and determine needs automatically with little input from farmers. This needs a high level of knowledge of soils, weather and crops, computer modelling and process controls. But your system must be working correctly in the first place, before expensive smart technologies will add value.

The how-to of successful Precision Agriculture was covered by Tim Neale and Andrew Whitlock from Australia.  They covered farm software, precision drainage design and controlled traffic farming with Australian examples and comments on NZ practices as they had seen in their travels prior to conference.  They were impressed by the New Zealand farmers they met. “We don’t know anyone in the world who has gone as far as you, with precision ag in potatoes and onions,” they told AS Wilcox delegates.

Simon Wilcox spoke about their experience starting with the LandWISE Controlled Traffic trial at Pukekawa.  GPS guidance has given them savings from the paddock to logistics, and in the processing plant, with better structured soil staying in the paddock instead of riding in the truck to the factory. “The washing plant loves it,” said Simon.

Emma McCracken described how she and husband Peter have paced their investment in technology at Wai-Iti Fresh in Canterbury.  They are new adopters, with RTK-GPS, new irrigation types and other technology being adopted in the past two years.  Emma described their plans to build on this base, and use such tools to address their challenges with soil quality, water use, drainage and crop yield.

Sjaak Wolfert leads a European Union research program to enhance the use of on farm data. Based at Wageningen in Holland, he described the challenges of data compatibility between brands.  The same difficulties we find in New Zealand are faced globally by farmers. Sjaak invited aligned efforts and assistance from LandWISE in spelling out farmers’ requirements of the technology industry.

Massey University has formed a joint Centre for Precision Agriculture with Lincoln University. Professor Ian Yule outlined where this fits with the advancement of Precision Agriculture in New Zealand. He spoke about paths to managing your farm at the highest practical resolution. Using sensors and fertiliser as examples, he explained the goals and difficulties of managing variability in time and space as crops develop.

Plant and Food research Scientists Bruce Searle and Steven Trolove brought zonal management of nutrients into perspective, relating soil measurements to crop wants, and translating complex nutrient mapping into farmer application decisions.

It was exciting to see how success with technology is becoming the norm across a range of sectors and to hear farmer’s plans for more.

And it’s not just for the big farms. Brothers Travis and Nigel, and father Gordon Sue, grow fresh vegetables on 70 ha of land in Levin. Travis explained the successes his family has had with auto-steer precision; cutting costs and making better use of their land.  He explained how they plan to make their site more productive by managing traffic better. “We should have had it [RTK-GPS] years ago,” says Gordon.

The conference was generously supported with the platinum sponsor being CASE IH NZ Ltd.  AGMARDT provided funding for Professors Steven Raine and David Lamb and Andrew Whitlock and Tim Neale to present at the conference also. For more detail on the conference and coming LandWISE events visit our website www.landwise.org.nz

Agronomy, Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Tillage

Take More Care of Soil at Harvest

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As printed in Grower February 2011

James Powrie and Dan Bloomer LandWISE Inc.

In November LandWISE, FAR and Horticulture NZ held combined field visits to 7 cropping farms.  Visual soil assessments were performed at a range of sites and discussions held about what was seen.

Each farm is experiencing common challenges with soil quality.  All of the farmers visited want more soil quality because of what it means for the future of their operation…and almost all are getting less.  When we say less… digging soil from under a fence shows where the soil has come from, or its natural state.  When this is compared to the cropped soil, there is always a difference.  Often compaction damage is seen as big hard lumps with plant roots growing around their edges. Virtual rocks.

Farmers wanting to move their soil back toward this state have a range of options.
Reduce the use of powered implements –  Powered implements use PTO power to turn a tool at speed.  Soil structure is shattered at point of impact, rather than a natural line, worms and other life are destroyed and the natural flow pathways and porosity are interrupted. Depending on severity, full destruction of soil structure can result.  Often the progressively damaged structure requires increasing use of powered implements to create tilth.

Reduced traffic – Any practical mechanised system involves field traffic and compaction of soil, usually by wheels. Wheels cause soil damage, but this can be limited to a small proportion of field area by restricting all heavy wheels to permanent traffic lanes. Adoption in NZ and other countries has demonstrated the effectiveness and practicability of Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) systems in very different cropping environments.  Less trafficking means less remedial tillage is required to remove compaction and this can mean fuel savings and fewer operations.

Comparisons between CTF and conventional “random traffic” cropping systems in NZ are also showing improvements in soil quality, crop performance, time savings and a range of other gains.  Data from extensive grain production systems in Australia indicate that CTF could provide a major reduction in cropping emissions and massive improvements in hydrology.  CTF can improve productivity, and all measures of sustainability; it also overcomes some important constraints to the adoption of conservation agriculture.

As precise guidance becomes progressively cheaper, machine system width compatibility remains the only real barrier to a significant improvement in food security and the environmental footprint of cropping.  Imagined barriers can include tradition, stubbornness or resistance to change.

If soil is recognised as a primary asset on the farm and improvement a goal, then the cost is justified as an investment in the future.  It may be easier to make changes than you expect.  Some changes can create immediate improvements and savings.  With the urgency of better soil care becoming clear, be sure its not rocks in your head causing the rocks in your paddocks.

For more information on how farmers in NZ are making these changes and support with yours, talk to James Powrie (LandWISE) or Dan Bloomer.. Funding for this work has come from the Sustainable Farming Fund ‘Advanced Farming Systems’ and ‘Holding it Together’ programs.

Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture, Soil, Uncategorized, Water

Water, oil and phosphate

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As published in March 2011 Grower

Dan Bloomer, LandWISE

Farmers are under constant pressure from the community. You hear and see it in the media everyday. “Cut food prices!” “Stop sucking our rivers dry!” “Produce more food!”
We hear of fully allocated water, peak oil, peak phosphate, and rising populations with higher and higher expectations (no observable peak there yet). So what can anyone do?

The last few generations have seen massive increases in agricultural productivity. Often attributed to increased fertiliser, chemical sprays and irrigation, it is often portrayed as negative.  But increased productivity is also the result of increased efficiency and learning compounding on learning. Efficient farmers produce more crop per hectare, more crop per litre of water, per litre of oil, per kilogram of phosphate. So they eke out those finite resources to give more people better nutrition.

Water, oil and phosphate are finite resources. Being more efficient doesn’t make any more. But it gives time to come up with the next great plan. And that’s what we must do with urgency.
Let’s think for a minute about those three farm inputs.
In the case of oil (energy), we ultimately need substitutes. Alternative energy options that may suit cities are not practical on farm. So agriculture is seen as a high priority area for remaining oil supplies (after the military).
Our immediate task is to increase efficiency until viable agricultural energy alternatives are developed. In the medium term, bio-fuel economics will give “Grow your own” new meaning. But more paddocks set aside for tractor feed means less for human feed. Even in the long term, energy efficiency must be a very high priority.
For crop production, the major efficiency gains farmers can have right now come from reduced cultivation. Avoid compaction, cultivate less, improve soil and require less cultivation. A positive spiral up the slippery slope.

Phosphate and water don’t have substitutes. Efficient use and recycling are essential.
Phosphate is lost in eroding soil and in our farm effluent and urban waste streams. It goes to sea. It takes millennia to return to land in mineable quantities, if we don’t remove the fish stocks in the meantime.

The Taupo urban treatment system applies waste to soil and produces stock feed, so the nutrients are rapidly returned to the agricultural system. We need the rest of the country (world) to follow suit. On farm, we need to minimise phosphate use and avoid excess soil levels. And we need to stop soil erosion and loss of effluent.  Water largely recycles itself and New Zealand has a very fortunate short cycling period. We do need to capture rainfall (free irrigation) and retain water in the landscape. That means strategic use of water storage including farm and community dams. On farm, it also means keeping soils in top condition to allow infiltration and store as much water as possible, and still ensure suitable drainage.
Our other main duty is looking after water quality, keeping nutrients levels suitable for stable ecosystems. We need to keep farm nutrients on the farm for growth. The cost of external nutrients is increasing. Soil is a resource we must retain. So there are multiple drivers for keeping soil and nutrients away from waterways.
Soil is the linking theme throughout this article. Too often we draw down on this natural capital for short term gain. It is the base farm resource and biggest capital investment. It is central to all we do and deserves as much care, repair and maintenance as any asset.

Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Soil

The Dirt on Controlled Traffic Potatoes

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As printed in December Grower

James Powrie and Dan Bloomer LandWISE Inc.

Four tonnes less soil is going to the packhouse from each hectare of potatoes. It’s a result pleasing the team at A S Wilcox in Pukekohe.

Over the past two years A S Wilcox has been working on a controlled traffic system for potatoes and onions.  Helped by high accuracy GPS guidance, they want to improve soil quality and reduce cultivation costs by keeping field traffic to planned tracks.  They have seen beneficial changes in soil condition since reducing compaction and cultivation. They are now capturing the benefits through 45% less soil being transported to the packhouse. They have reduced transport costs, reduced washing plant time and energy and have much less waste soil at the packhouse.

Potatoes from the conventionally cultivated area carried nearly twice the dirt to the packhouse as those from the controlled traffic rows.

The Wilcox team extended the axle on the harvester so it could run in the traffic row. It means less compaction in the paddock and less time and fuel used for remedial cultivation.

Reducing soil on harvested crop was a major reason to pursue controlled traffic, particularly in Pukekawa where harvest operations are often difficult. “The clay soil has amazing stickability,” says Simon Wilcox. “It gums up the harvesters, slows down operations, and then after trucking it to the packhouse, we have to take it away again.”

To monitor savings, twelve tonne lots of potatoes were harvested from each of the controlled traffic and conventional cultivation areas and tracked through the packhouse.  The washing plant crew reported big efficiency gains, with potatoes from the conventional area often needing a double wash, against the controlled traffic area needing only one.

When the trial was harvested, weather and soil conditions were dry.  “We needed rain to see the full effect of controlled traffic on harvest conditions,” Simon Wilcox said.  “For once the rain never came! But we saw enough to know that controlling traffic is a good thing for our business, from paddock to packhouse”.

In addition to the harvest cost savings and soil improvements, the Wilcox team estimates they halved fuel use through controlling traffic. Convinced of the benefits, they have increased their controlled traffic area to 44 ha this year.  “It’s about making things better today and for the future,” says Simon.

The trial at A S Wilcox is part of the LandWISE ‘Advanced Farming Systems’ project run in conjunction with the Foundation for Arable Research.  It has close links to ‘Holding it Together’, a project with Horticulture New Zealand.  For more details, contact James Powrie (LandWISE) or Paul Johnstone (Plant and Food Research).

Controlled Traffic Systems, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Soil, Tillage

Rocks we make in our soil – field sessions on soil care and reducing costs

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Last week LandWISE completed a national round of field discussions in conjunction with HortNZ and FAR. The round started at Lawson’s Organic Farms in Hastings and finished at Peter and Emma McCracken’s farm at Rangiora where they grow onions, cauliflower, pumpkins, lucerne and maize.

Discussions were focused on soil care and cost reductions with reference to managing traffic and cultivation options. Over 100 farmers participated in the sessions from Pukekohe to Canterbury and looking at systems ranging from potatoes and onions, to maize, market gardens, and arable crops.

Visual Soil Assessment was used to observe cropped soils and then to compare them with uncultivated soil from under the nearest fenceline. It is always sobering to see the effects of cropping, particularly when it is continuous. Farmers were able to see the difference between dusty, compacted, platy or grey cropped soils vs the same soil type in its darker, porous, nutty, native state from nearby.

In some instances compaction from traffic and cultivation pans is creating virtual ‘rocks’ in the soil, these are so dense they don’t allow for storage of water or exploration by roots. In each case, after looking at soils, discussions turned to managing traffic and reducing powered tillage and how changes in practises are improving soil condition and farm profitability around the world.

The visits were supplemented with the expertise of a Nuffield scholar, James Peck from PX Farms in Cambridgeshire, and Dr Bruce Ball, a visiting soil scientist from Scotland. Bruce has practised and encouraged reduced cultivation and better traffic management since the 1980s, because it is a solution to many of today’s cropping challenges. As he concludes his Nuffield tour, James commented that he is seeing improved management of traffic create dramatic soil improvements and cost savings at all scales, in Europe and Australasia.

It has been said that farmers make their money with the top 6 inches…. of their head. It is interesting that many innovative farmers reflect on changes they have made and note that many perceived barriers turned out to be imaginary – rocks in their heads….

As new technology offers the chance to take better care of soil, it’s a good time to check for ‘rocks’ in our soil, and in our heads…, and then to explore new and proven options for better care of cropping soils.

Talk to LandWISE if you would like to discuss your options or have us help you meet a farmer who has overcome similar challenges to yours.  Someone surely has.

Contact James for more information on 06 6504531 – 0272 757757 – james@landwise.org.nz