Category Archives: Cover crops

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Cover crops, Drainage, Fertiliser, Innovation, LandWISE People, Nutrients, Projects, Soil, Vegetables

Growers Making Changes – Jay Clarke

Jay Clarke, Director of Woodhaven Gardens joined us at LandWISE 21 to discuss changes that have been made on their vegetable growing farm.

Woodhaven grows a diverse range of 23 vegetable crops in Horowhenua. Operating on more than 1000ha their annual production comprises 10% of the national fresh leafy greens supply for New Zealand.

Woodhaven Gardens has been working hard to meet and exceed environmental targets in their region. They have sought help from the experts, collaborated within their community, and thoroughly reviewed their processes on-farm to achieve improved environmental outcomes. Some examples include considerable reductions in fertiliser use, reduced soil and nutrient losses, contribution of land and resources for trials, and community engagement supporting other vegetable growers with environmental management.

Jay urges growers to avoid “ticking the compliance boxes”. AS well as providing 220-250 full-time jobs, Woodhaven Gardens consults with their community, iwi and regulators to understand their needs and wants. By meeting these community aspirations, Jay believes Woodhaven Gardens will stay ahead of regulation. 

Listen to a Summary SoundClip here:

Woodhaven Gardens was named the Regional Supreme Winner at the Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards in April 2020. This award recognised their significant efforts to improve their efficiency on-farm and the environmental outcomes of their land management practices. Judges commented that “new technology is being integrated to lower nutrient output” and that “the Clarke’s are making changes to their business to improve water quality”.

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Cover crops, Drainage, Fertiliser, Nutrients, Projects, Soil, Vegetables, Water

Future Proofing Vegetable Production – Dan Bloomer

Dan Bloomer is LandWISE Manager and a consultant working with and between farmers, scientists and regulators. He likes to be “linking thinking from the farm out”.

Through the MPI SFF project, “Future Proofing Vegetable Production”, Dan, Georgia O’Brien and Luke Posthuma worked with growers to identify ways to minimise nitrate leaching from vegetable production areas.

In this LandWISE 21 Conference presentation, Dan will describe the four strands they set out to address: Precision Prescription, Precision Application, Maximum Retention and Nutrient Mitigation, and the processes for achievement they employed.

The LandWISE team has observed a significant shift in grower thinking and practice. This came when growers were supported with easy to access and use tools and one-on-one coaching.

Agronomy, Conference, Cover crops, Fertiliser, MicroFarm, Nutrients, Orcharding, Plant Health, Research, Soil, Tillage, Vegetables, Water

Growing Soil Carbon – Phil Schofield

Phillip Schofield is a soil scientist and rural professional, working with growers and farmers, helping them improve soil function and hence profit.

He holds a B Ag Sci (hons) and a PhD, is a Certified Nutrient Management Advisor and Certified Green House Gas Advisor. Phil is a founding Board Member of the HB Future Farming Charitable Trust.

Phil provides farmers and growers with soil health advice and adapt production systems to improve farm performance and profitability in the face of increasing compliance and regulation.   

At LandWISE 21, he asked: Why is soil carbon important? How might we increase it?

Atmospheric CO2 is a greenhouse gas, responsible for global warming. The IPCC reports that soil holds two to three times as much carbon as the atmosphere, so the 4.5 billion ha of pastures and croplands are an immense source or sink.

Plants fix carbon dioxide by photosynthesis, and this provides a mechanism to move CO2 from the atmosphere to the soil. Human activities release about 9 GT C/yr. so increasing soil carbon by 0.4% would account for much of our emissions. It would also improve soil health and set us up better for climate change. Atmospheric CO2 can be sequestered. Plants exude 30% of their sugars through their roots, providing energy and raw materials for synthesis by other organisms.

Soils that contain more carbon have more humus to hold particles together, provide a better environment for root growth, hold more nutrients and hold more water. However, many of our current practices degrade soil. Regenerative practices address soil health by minimising disturbance, keeping the soil covered, always keeping living roots in the soil, increasing plant diversity and introducing grazing animals.

The HB Future Farming Trust aims to establish a series of trials partnering with industry, HBRC, CRIs and MPI. One set is a replicated trial proposed for the LandWISE MicroFarm, with further demonstration trials on orchards, vineyards, and arable and vegetable properties.

Trial sites will be heavily monitored, benchmarking soil physical, chemical and biological properties, nutrient and GHG budgets, water, energy and financial analyses of the enterprises.

Listen to a Summary Sound Clip here:

Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Conference, Controlled Traffic Systems, Cover crops, Drainage, Fertiliser, Innovation, Irrigation, Membership, MicroFarm, New Crops, Nutrients, Orchard, Plant Health, Precision Agriculture, Research, Soil, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Water, Weeds

Less $$ than a flat white a fortnight

A message to our members and friends

LandWISE runs on a voluntary membership basis with an annual subscription of just $100 for the current year. Subscriptions are now due and our Financial Members will be getting their invoices sent out shortly.

If you are already one of our Financial Members, Thank You! Can you please help us again by recommending us to a friend?

We haven’t changed our subs for years, but are starting to review that. What would be best, is if more of our followers chose to join!

Not a Member? JOIN HERE!

If you’re getting and valuing our newsletters, downloading and listening to our podcasts, accessing the resources on our website or the FertSpread tools etc. please think about giving us a hand.  It really will only cost you about half a cup of coffee a week, but it will make a big difference to us.

How does LandWISE fund its activities?

Our overheads are kept rock-bottom. The MicroFarm, our offices and equipment are provided as an in-kind service by Page Bloomer Associates. Our Board is voluntary, and we meet mostly by email and video conferencing. But we do need to pay accountants and insurance and run websites and the other things every organisation has to do.

Our major activities are funded on a project by project basis. That means we need a lot of support from co-funders so we can access (hopefully) various reasearch and extension grants such as MPI’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFFF). Our Conference too (as podcasts in 2020!) also relies on a number of loyal sponsors and the delegate fees we collect.

Merf explaining cover crops and catch crops at the LandWISE AGM
Merf explaining cover crops and catch crops at the LandWISE AGM

All these things cost a bundle. If we can get more members, we can increase the amount of work we can self-fund and provide more member services. 

Please consider becoming a Financial Member today. Click the link, fill it in and we’ll flick you an invoice.  (and we’ll cover the cost of our own coffees!)

Agronomy, Conference, Cover crops, Projects, Research, Weeds

Non-Herbicide Weed Control – New Options

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Trevor James and Katherine Tozer are scientists working on the MBIE funded AgResearch project “Managing Herbicide Resistance”, and join Georgia to discuss their two areas of research into non-herbicide weed control.
 

Interview Part 1: Trevor James

Trevor James is a senior scientist at AgResearch responsible for the “Managing Herbicide Resistance” project.

Aside from his role as manager of the many scientists working on the project he is  researching the potential for cover crops to control weeds in maize.

Interview Part 2: Katherine Tozer

Katherine Tozer, another senior scientist at AgResearch is working on tools and practices to improve non-chemical weed management. A key area of her research is pasture fallow, a practice where certain paddocks or parts of the farm are set aside to reduce weed establishment from overgrazing.

Podcast here>

The LandWISE Podcast Series is made possible by our sponsors:

Agronomy, Cover crops, Fertiliser, Nutrients, Plant Health, Soil, Vegetables, viticulture, Water

The Role of Soil Microbes in Soil Plant Interactions

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Our latest podcast is now online. Phillip Schofield talks with Georgia about the role microbes play in soil plant interactions, the use of Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) and practical ways to improve soil health on-farm.

Phillip is a soil nutrition consultant based in Hawke’s Bay. He has a PhD in Plant Science from Massey University where he studied autotoxins, herbicide residues and pathogenic fungi in asparagus crops. He has many years’ experience in soil conservation, and nutrient management in the Hawke’s Bay area.

Our thanks to our loyal sponsors and to Radio Kidnappers for support with our podcast series.

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Cover crops, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Tillage

Strip-Till and Cover Crops Panel Discussion

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The “Strip-Till and Cover Crops Panel” Panel Discussion was recorded in September following a series of earlier podcasts. Panellists included:

  • Hugh Ritchie (HB Farmer, Strip-tiller, LandWISE Honorary Member)
  • John Evans (Canterbury Farmer, Strip-tiller, LandWISE Chair)
  • Allister Holmes, (Technology R&D Manager, FAR)
  • Charles (Merf) Merfield (BHU, Independent Cover Crops and Tillage Researcher)

If you’re interested to hear the panel members’ individual podcasts, plus one from Simon Lochhead, Strip-till farmer in Canterbury, follow these links:

Down load the LandWISE Strip-Till guide here>

All Podcast Episodes here >

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