So how might farmers work toward achieving these soil humus increases? Well, through best farming practices – annual green manure crop incorporation on cropping soils or every fifth year fallow to pasture, reduced use of urea and Super P, full spectrum soil remineralisation, use of humic acid buffers for all synthetic fertiliser applications and a preference for liquid foliar fertiliser applications. Elaboration of these techniques could be part of the farmer education programme. This is the farming of the future that solves, rather than creates, environmental problems. We can be the first region in the world to officially, actively encourage best practice humus farming. What are we waiting for?
The science behind biological farming Reinstate balanced fertiliser, emphasising calcium and trace elements, pamper your soil microbes, feed them well and they grow dark, rich, water holding humus at ever increasing depths. This boosts production and reduces the need for pesticides while pulling greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere for long term storage in the soil. It means we can grow more crop on less fertiliser with markedly less irrigation. The cheapest, most efficient water storage scheme is to hold water in the soil, in humus. This could be integrated with smaller scale and on-farm water storage to create a multihub, reliable and flexible source of water that doesn’t force existing farmers to sell, or tempt fate with a single large dam on multiple earthquake faults.
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s– land – both large and small section We want to lease your cropping ons, squashes and feed crops. for our wonderful Hawke’s Bay oni how we could work together, To find out about our packages, and 3 or email chrisz@bostocks.co.nz contact Chris on 021 843 97
In contrast, the standard dry applications of synthetic nitrogen, potassium and phosphates fertilisers scorch soil microbes; pull crucial minerals off the soil matrix; prompt leaching of these nutrients; contribute toxic elements like uranium, fluoride and cadmium; and burn up soil carbon. The way fertilisers are being applied to farms now IS the cause of the water quality deterioration in the Tukituki. 21st century science demonstrates that it is possible to produce greater volumes of nutrient-dense food, with a fraction of the fertiliser and pesticide use and with negligible nutrient loss to the environment. This is achieved by focusing on meeting ALL the plants’ nutrient needs in a balanced fashion and in a manner that boosts soil microbe activity and soil carbon/ humus levels. The farm management changes needed to achieve this are minor and profitable. There is nothing to fear from adopting a soil biology-centric approach to farming, even if one is a conventional fertiliser company. A Central Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer floored me with this admission several years ago, “Phyllis, the reason we all farm like this and meekly take the 250 kg Sulphur Super recommendation from the fert rep every year is because we don’t know enough about soils to challenge them and we’re afraid to admit our ignorance, so we just go along with it.” Graeme Sait is teaching a four-day biological farming course in Napier in November. See the Nutri-Tech Solutions website at www.nutritech.co.nz
JM Bostock is committed to sustainable, GE-free land use, leaving fertile soils and clean water supplies for future generations. We also believe in creating solid business relationships, securing a healthy future for Hawke’s Bay agriculture.
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JM Bostock Ltd. 3 Kirkwood Road, Hastings, NZ · www.bostocks.co.nz
Bee in the know ~ sep/oct 2013
most valuable farming asset, their soil. Dr Graham Shepherd of Palmerston North has developed an elegantly simple procedure for determining progress onfarm at next to no cost by grabbing a spade and using your eyes and nose. It’s called the Visual Soils Assessment (VSA) and it is widely admired overseas. Many biological farmers and firms already use the VSA for charting soil progress over time. The VSA could form the basis for a regional council soils incentive programme. Farmers would receive a subsidy to switch to a fertiliser and cropping regime that grew soil humus levels as documented by reaching and holding VSA scores of between 1 and 2. They would soon find that the reduced pesticide costs and increased yields would be incentive enough, but a bit of a sweetener to get the ball rolling wouldn’t go amiss. A 1% increase in soil carbon levels every three years would be an easily achievable goal. Ideally, we’d want soil carbon levels to be at 12% plus and holding. Dairy farmers in CHB have already shown that it is possible to boost soil carbon levels by 2-3% in 18 months. Seeing as bank research in Australia found that the most powerful overall indicator of farming profit was the level of soil carbon, everyone should want to grow humus in their soils. At some point in the future, if VSA or soil carbon readings weren’t rising, then Regional Council penalties or rates increases could be imposed for not reaching soil improvement targets. Or Fonterra could get on board and add achieving soil improvements to its list of milk pick-up criteria. After all, ‘FontTerra’ means a productive source, a fountain, of the soil or earth and their ability to produce quality milk rests on humus levels.
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