Category Archives: Planting

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Innovation, Plant Health, Planting, Research, Soil

Harnessing the Power of Microbes

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This week we hear from Dr Johanna Steyaert, Trichoderma research scientist and molecular biologist and Max Purnell, Trichoderma practitioner and dairy farmer. Johanna and Max will talk about their work with Trichoderma a type of fungi that lives in symbiosis with plant roots, where they can increase nitrogen use efficiency and solubilise phosphate as well as protect against root diseases. 

Listen here>

 

“Spray-free” is an oft cited aspiration as the shift towards regenerative practices continues. An important part of such a strategy is the use of bioinoculants such as Trichoderma in place of traditional chemicals. However, it is not quite as simple as that. Beneficial microbes form part of a large interconnected web, a biological and chemical ‘superhighway’. Understanding those relationships is the foundation for understanding how to better optimise growth promotion and biocontrol.

Dr Johanna Steyaert is a senior scientist at Lincoln Agritech Ltd with 20 years’ experience working with Trichoderma bioinoculants used for disease control and growth promotion. Her research spans understanding the genetics of Trichoderma fungi to optimising production of biocontrol agents in collaboration with commercial partners. After completing her PhD, Johanna won a prestigious Marsden Fund grant from the New Zealand Royal Society. She led a highly original project studying the effect of the Earth’s electromagnetic field on fungal reproduction. Johanna has a strong interest in regenerative practices and the role Trichoderma play.

Max Purnell, was a member of the AGMARDT board for 10 years where his interest in soils and background in farming lead him to become interested in the work of Dr. Robert Hill who pioneered Trichoderma research in New Zealand. Max runs an 80 ha dairy farm in Thames, and takes a soils-first approach to farming. He has experimented with several strains of Trichoderma on the farm, and has supported research to collect Trichoderma fungi and observe their benefits to the farm system.

Thanks to our LandWISE Conference sponsors who continued their support by helping with the podcasts series after our May 2020 conference was Covid Cancelled.

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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Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Conference, Controlled Traffic Systems, Data Analytics, Drainage, events, Fertiliser, Innovation, Irrigation, LandWISE 2015, LandWISE People, Membership, MicroFarm, New Crops, Nutrients, Orchard, Orcharding, Plant Health, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Robotics, Sensing, Soil, Tillage, Uncategorized, Vegetables, viticulture, Water, Weeds

Memberships Open for 2020-2021

Calling all followers and friends of LandWISE, we invite you to become a financial member this year.

Your support is vital for LandWISE to continue doing what we do. We rely on farmer support to ensure the backing of new projects, discover new areas for research or technology adoption, and to fund field days, workshops and the development of practical resources. 

LandWISE Membership is a great way to support the mission of sustainable production in New Zealand, and as a member you’ll benefit from:

  • Results from on-farm trials
  • Projects focussed on real farmer and grower problems
  • Regional field days and workshops on a range of topics from conserving soil to nutrient management and novel fertiliser technology
  • A discounted registration at the 2021 LandWISE Conference
  • Subscription to our annual LandWISE News publication

Membership is open to all who are interested in primary production and share our values. We hope you’ll consider becoming a member, or forward this on to a non-member if you already are!

Sign up here >

Conference, New Crops, Orcharding, Planting, Research

LandWISE 2019: Development of a Banana Industry for Tairāwhiti

Jane Mullaney  is a scientist working in the Food and Nutrition group at AgResearch Palmerston North. Jane is also affiliated with the Riddet Institute for food innovation and is a microbiologist with her PhD in Food Technology.

Jane and colleagues have partnered with Tai Pukenga Ltd to develop a commercial banana industry for the Tairāwhiti/East Coast region. 

A bunch of bananas grown at Anaura Bay, north of Tolaga Bay on the East Coast.
Bananas grown at Anaura Bay, north of Tolaga Bay on the East Coast. [Image (C) stuff]
Bananas are economically important fruit crops grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world and are currently cultivated in over 130 countries, on over 5.5 million hectares with a global production of about 145 million tons (FAOSTAT, 2017).

Bananas serve as a principle source of carbohydrates for millions of people worldwide while in New Zealand, we spend more on bananas than any other fruit, and eat about 18kg of them every year, or roughly two bananas a week.

There are hundreds of different cultivars which differ mainly by the amounts of starch and sugars produced in their fruits however, the only bananas imported to New Zealand are the Cavendish variety. While subtropical, bananas can be grown almost anywhere.

By using tissue culture methods, AgResearch have developed and shared this knowledge with Tai Pukenga to enable the rapid expansion of a banana industry for the East Coast region.

Through DNA sequencing, AgResearch aims to identify cultivars and this information will help inform along with trial farms, which cultivar might be best suited for future commercial work.

Jane and colleagues aim to use tissue culture to produce many banana plants for trialling across the region, to identify which cultivars we already have growing in the region using DNA sequencing and to assess the nutritional benefits of the NZ produced fruit. This project is funded through the Vision Mātauranga Connect Fund.

Want to know more?

REGISTER HERE FOR LandWISE 2019!

Agronomy, Drainage, Irrigation, MicroFarm, Plant Health, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Soil, Water

Onion Crop Development

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The crop at the MicroFarm is showing increasing variability.  The cause of some is understood, essentially excessive water pre-germination.  But in some poor performing areas the causes have yet to be determined.

The effect of our artificially applied rain event pre-emergence is clearly evident in late November.

The lasting effect of a heavy (artificial) rain event pre-emergence (right panel) shows low population and poor growth compared to areas without heavy rain (left panel)
The lasting effect of a heavy (artificial) rain event pre-emergence (right panel) shows low population and poor growth compared to areas without heavy rain (left panel)

However, we also see other areas that have poor crop development that are outside the area irrigated to create the artificial rain event.

Wide variation within the area new to onions does not follow artificial rain or topographic drainage patterns.
Wide variation within the area new to onions does not follow artificial rain or topographic drainage patterns.

Sharp differences in crop growth are evident in the new onion ground. Some parts that were heavily irrigated to simulate heavy rain show reasonable development. Areas that were not irrigated also show good development, but in some patches total crop loss.

Investigations of soil physical properties in these different areas are underway.

Agronomy, MicroFarm, Planting, Projects, Research, Soil, Tillage

Onion Crops Sown

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As part of our ongoing research project with Onions New Zealand, a new crop was sown on 6 September 2016.

Sowing onion seed at the MicroFarm
Sowing onion seed at the MicroFarm

Harvey from G & J Steenkamer planted the crop using Rhinestone seed donated by Vigour Seeds and treated for us by Seed and Field Services. We are very grateful for their continuing support.

We’ve aimed at a population of 580,000 plants/ha. With 8 rows in our 1.82m wide beds, we have seed at 72mm spacing in the row.

sowingonions03
G& J Steenkamer sowing our onion crop.

After last harvest the beds, but not wheel tracks, were ripped to 450mm depth.  Autumn planted Caliente and oat cover crops were mulched and incorporated in late June and the ground left fallow.  Prior to sowing it was hoed and rolled.

Rain after planting had only minor impact, with a little soil capping in some areas.

weatherdata

AgTech, Automation, Planting, Research

Weeding Robots: A Global Review

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Current Prototypes of Field Robots

Armin Werner1 Rory Roten1 Luc van Rijen2
1 Lincoln Agritech PO Box 69 133, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand
2 HAS University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Email: Armin.Werner@lincolnagritech.co.nz

Excitement is being generated at conferences, farmer’s workshops and the general media about the next level in precision agriculture: field robots. We all know that robots work in factories to carry parts or conduct specific actions in manufacturing and that indoor robots are already standard technology in many industries.

There is also interest in developing autonomous equivalents in agriculture beyond the current tractor-carried or self-propelled equipment. There are already some tomato and cucumber picking robots in use in greenhouses in Europe and North America. However, stepping out of the ‘controlled’ environment of a factory building or a greenhouse into the unforgiving conditions of an arable field, a pasture or an orchard poses many serious challenges for scientists and engineers.

Most of these technical challenges have been solved or at least solutions are prototyped for outdoor conditions. This includes the exact positioning and the orientation of the robot under changing ambient light and weather or infrastructure, the recognition of the dynamically changing environment of a field robot as well as precisely controlling the actions that a robot has to conduct in a highly variable environment.

With these preconditions in mind, it is most likely that agricultural robotics will develop very fast in the next years. It is unclear what the first major applications may be and what challenges farmers will face when it comes to using such robots as standard equipment. From discussions with farmers, growers and the industry it is anticipated that weeding robots for row crops (annual field crops, perennial tree and vine crops) will be a good candidate to pave the way for field robots into agriculture.

The presentation will give an overview of current prototypes and weeding robots which are commercially available. We will discuss general differences between these robots and the type of applications that are intended.

Agronomy, AgTech, Drainage, MicroFarm, Nutrients, Plant Health, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing, Soil, Water

Profit Mapping Variability in Onions

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Profit Bands Across A Paddock

 Justin Pishief

Justin Pishief and Dan Bloomer
Centre for Land and Water

 

As part of the Onions NZ project “Benchmarking Variability in Onion Crops” a process was developed to generate yield and profit maps. This presentation explains the process using the example of a 7.3 ha paddock in Hawke’s Bay.

Data from a satellite image captured in late November were used to identify high, medium and low biomass zones.  Paddock yield samples were taken from these zones at harvest and used to generate a paddock yield map. The average yield of the paddock was estimated at 95 t/ha, with a predicted total field harvest of 669 tonnes. This compares to the grower recorded harvest of 614 tonnes.

The relative yield data were combined with grower supplied costs and returns to determine gross margins across the paddock. Data were mapped in ArcGIS and a Gross Margin map with five “profit bands” produced. The highest band had a mean Gross Margin of $11,884/ha compared to the lowest at $3,225/ha.

The breakeven gross margin yield is estimated to be 62.5 t/ha at current costs and prices. The estimated cost to business of low performing areas is $27,945, assuming the whole paddock could achieve the top band mean yield.

The poorest performing areas were identified by the grower as impacted by a failed council drain and areas of slowed drainage in the main paddock areas. An OptiSurface® assessment using historic HBRC LiDAR elevation data analysed of the impact of ponding on the site and also suggested ponding was a significant issue.

An OptiSurface® landform assessment was conducted using both single plain and optimised surface designs and the soil movement required to allow effective surface drainage was determined.

The assessment showed ponding could be avoided by land shaping with 224 m3/ha soil movement and few areas requiring more than 100 mm cut or fill. The cost is estimated at $2,000/ha or approximately $14,000 total.

Agronomy, AgTech, MicroFarm, Plant Health, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing

Enhancing Value of New Zealand Onions

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Onions New Zealand Research project

 

Dr Jane Adams
Research and Innovation Manager, Onions New Zealand Inc.

The New Zealand onion industry expects to further develop high value export markets, particularly in Asia, which could see its exports double to $200million by 2025. To realise these export opportunities the industry needs to improve efficiency and consistency of production and reliably supply high quality onions.

Currently industry average yields for brown onions vary between 33 and 50t/ha depending on season, which are significantly below demonstrated potential average yields of 100t/ha. Competition for productive land mean growers must maximise both productivity and crop value, while also meeting requirements to sustainably use resources and minimise environment impacts.

To help the industry achieve these objectives Onions New Zealand developed a project ‘Enhancing the profitability and value of NZ onions’, in collaboration with LandWISE Inc and Plant and Food Research, to understand causes of low yields and variable quality of onion crops and to develop tools to help growers monitor and manage crops. The project received additional funding from Ministry of Primary Industries Sustainable Farming Fund and commenced in July 2015.

In the first season of the project a crop of cv Rhinestone onions was grown on the LandWISE MicroFarm to allow easy access for both LandWISE and Plant and Food Research scientists to assess crop development and test methods and tools for monitoring the crop and environment at regular intervals.

Four monitoring zones were established across the trial paddock for detailed measurement of plant growth and crop development. Several tools and techniques were tested for obtaining digital data of site and crop attributes. 

An important part of the project is the involvement of local growers in discussion of progress results and use of monitoring tools and advice on crop management.  

Plant Health, Planting

Investigating variability in potatoes

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Sarah SintonSarah Sinton
Plant and Food Research

Final potato crop yield is a sum of its parts; each individual plant contributes to it. Should some of these individuals perform below potential, overall yield will be reduced accordingly. Yield variation within a crop is caused by biotic and abiotic factors, which could range from the wholesale effect of soil compaction restricting root growth across the entire field or be an outbreak of patches of disease causing the early death of individual stems or plants.

Nationally, potato yields average 55- 60 t/ha, which are not economically sustaining for many growers, and well below the 80-90 t/ha potential yields predicted by crop models. This was confirmed in a Canterbury survey of 11 process crops in the 2012-13 season where the crops had different histories, management and cultivars. All crops had a similar overall rate of yield reduction, largely caused by soil borne disease and soil physical constraints.

The survey showed that individual groups of healthy plants in a crop did achieve up to 90 t/ha (Fig. 1).   However some groups of plants yielded as little as 30 t/ha, due to Spongospora and Rhizoctonia infection, soil compaction and/or inferior seed quality.

Figure 1 Final yields from groups of individual plants that were: both healthy and growing in compaction-free soils (yellow bar); had soil compaction together with Spongospora (root galls); had severe Rhizoctonia stem canker; had both diseases and were growing in compacted soils
Figure 1 Final yields from groups of individual plants that were: both healthy and growing in compaction-free soils (yellow bar); had soil compaction together with Spongospora (root galls); had severe Rhizoctonia stem canker; had both diseases and were growing in compacted soils

Last year, an intensive study of three Canterbury crops showed that some areas of the crops reached potential and that others were limited by soil borne disease infection and water supply.

A field experiment at Lincoln is currently investigating how bed shape, subsoiling and irrigation regime are affecting crop production, and future work will look at how improvements to seed tuber production could reduce yield variability.