In the above picture, you can see our McCain Foods pea crop planted into cultivated (Conventional treatment) soil on the left, and into sprayed our mixed cover crop (Hybrid treatment) in the centre. The golden patch is mixed cover crop residue in the Regenerative treatment plot that was mulched on 1 October. Some of the oats, tillage radish and other species remain alive under the mulch.

To completely terminate the cover prior to planting green beans in December, the Operations Advisory Group has decided to run disks over the plots to mix soil into the mulched residue to hasten its breakdown. They recommend spraying urea and a digester on to the residue first, to support the microbe population increase needed to chew through about 11 t/ha of biomass dry matter.

One of our big unknowns, is whether we can terminate the cover crops using a roller-crimper. Our literature and phone-calls-to-farmers research suggest timing is absolutely critical, and it is unlikely multiple species will be just right on the same day. We found for example, that the tillage radish was setting seed while the oats were not sufficiently mature for crushing. In our Regenerative treatment plots, we decided to mulch the five-species mix to avoid adding a gazillion radish seeds to our already well-stocked seed-bank.

We have also started termination programmes in the extra cover crops we planted. One crop is the same five-species mix as in the Carbon Positive Regenerative and Hybrid plots. Another is rye corn, one has straight tic beans, and one has tic beans and rye corn.

These crops were planted so we can try things without affecting the Carbon Positive plots. We started crushing strips with a roller-crimper on 10 October and will do more strips over the next few weeks. We are also considering mulching some and spraying any regrowth.

The images below show the bruised bars in the cover crops after roller-crimping. The theory is that once plants reach physiological maturity and flowering, they will not continue new vegetative growth if damaged. Bruising is thought better than cutting.

Thanks to TRS in Hastings for providing the tractor and crimper for these trials. We will be demonstrating it working at our Field Walk on Tuesday 15 October at the LandWISE MicroFarm. Everyone is welcome – but please register for free.

This work is being completed as part of the MPI Funded Carbon Positive project, a joint programme with the Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust. We a grateful for our industry sponsors and everyone who contributes through advisory groups, being tolerant contractors, and in many small ways!

The post Cover Crop Update appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Pea Planting

The Conventional treatment, which was planted in annual ryegrass, was sprayed out one month ahead of planting, then ploughed, disced (x2) and power harrowed in preparation for planting peas. The Hybrid treatment, which was planted in a diverse mix of mainly black oats, tillage radish and vetch, was sprayed out one month ahead of planting, with the intention of letting the cover crop rot down and peas were direct drilled. The Regenerative treatment was not be planted in peas, and instead left in a restorative phase for an extended period, whereby some of the intensity is reduced from this system.

We ran into some roadblocks in the Hybrid. As the consequence of spraying out early was that there was no evapotranspiration from the crop, so the soil was slow to dry after rain. We didn’t want to cultivate this treatment, therefore didn’t have the option to speed up drying through ‘opening’ the soil. In our ‘dry runs’ with the planter, a distinct slot was created, which would mean the soil to seed contact would not be good. It would also create a nice little home for slugs. To keep with our production plan, we delayed our planting date to get a bit more drying time, so the soil was dry enough for some tilth to be created.

Additional seed treatment

The Hybrid seed was treated with Trichoderma, based on promising trial results from Wattie’s in Canterbury. This was added to the seed, on top of the standard McCain seed treatment. The Hybrid was drilled through the standing sprayed out cover crop, so the residue was anchored, and then mulched after planting. The main concern with leaving the cover crop standing is that some of the tillage radishes had popped out of the ground. If left standing, they could be picked up by the harvester and end up at the factory.

Pūkeko as far as the eye can see

In the days after the peas started to emerge, we found the treatments overrun with pest animals – pūkeko, rabbits, sparrows and pigeons. This is perhaps to be expected, however as each plot is only 0.1ha, every plant is precious! We actively managed these pests to minimise the damage. As a result, we have seen a few more hawks around, which is hopefully deterring some of the unwanted bird life.

Soil Temperature

Soil temperature in the planting line was recorded every 15 minutes for three weeks from planting. using iButton microloggers. Soil temperature in the Conventional treatment (cultivated/bare soil) was consistently higher than the Hybrid (direct drilled/mulched).

Pea emergence

Plant emergence has been monitored since the 24th of September. Four x 1m² quadrats are counted in each plot, each day to monitor the rate of emergence. Plants are counted when the first leaves have unfurled/flattened. The Conventional treatment population is higher and more uniform than the Hybrid, which has been slower to emerge. This is likely to be related to lower soil temperature and soil conditions at planting.

Upcoming field walk

Our next field walk will be at 1pm on the 15th of October. Come along and join the conversation! Register here!

The post September 2024 at the MicroFarm appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

What to plant?

First off, what should we plant? I don’t think we have yet got our cover crop mixes quite right. This year, our hybrid and regen treatments were planted in a diverse mix of 7 species (black oats, tillage radish, vetch, buckwheat, sunflowers, crimson clover and Persian clover). This was to get lots of plant diversity over the winter.

A frost in May killed the buckwheat and sunflowers, which meant they weren’t present over the winter. We planted tillage radish as it is supposed to be the “crowbar of the soil” and will break through tillage pans. Unfortunately, our radishes knew better, hit the pan and, in some areas, popped themselves 10cm out of the ground. This is potentially an issue for both the hybrid and the regen treatments, as chunks of radish could be picked up by the harvester and end up at the factory which may be a problem for product contamination.

Additionally, the radish started to flower and was beginning to set seed, so radish if unmanaged, could have become be a new weed species for us.

In this conversation, there is the question of how much plant diversity do we need? Some of the species we are using, might be okay in a pastoral grazing scenario, but could be hard to manage in a cropping system and therefore become a weed for us. In the systems we are looking at, are we able to select fewer plants, that provide functional diversity, without adding added complexity of to the management of the cover crop?

Another consideration is disease carry over. We intentionally avoided planting tic beans this year, as they could carry unwanted diseases into the following legume crops. Tic beans may be an option ahead of other crops.

Do we graze?

One of the five regenerative principles is to integrate livestock, which we have not yet done in our Regen treatment. However we have grazed our Conventional treatment, which might seem a bit backwards. It is common for Heretaunga Plains growers to plant an annual ryegrass over the winter and graze it with lambs, so we are including sheep in our Conventional treatment.

In the last two years, we wanted to use the cover crop as a mulch on the surface for our main crop to keep the soil surface covered, another of our regenerative principles. If we have a mulch on the soil surface, we hope it will significantly reduce the need for herbicides. To do this effectively, we need to grow a lot of biomass, and therefore don’t want to have sheep or cattle grazing it. We don’t really have a long enough winter growing season to do both. This is where we find tension between some of the regen principles when applied to an annual cropping system. We might yet include livestock; however, we aren’t sure what this will look like in practice.

In addition, lambs can do considerable soil damage over the winter. The photos below show the difference between grazing for a couple of weeks in dry conditions and grazing over a wet weekend this winter.

When to terminate?

Ahead of the tomato planting last year, we had a cover crop of oats, vetch and lupins in the Regen treatment. You may remember that we planned to use a modified tomato planter, which transplants seedlings directly into a mulched cover crop, eliminating the need for both cultivation and herbicides. Just before planting, we met two problems with this plan.

The first issue was that the cover crop was still actively growing and sucking moisture out of the soil, so the soil was very dry in the regen treatment. This led to large, blocky clumps of soil forming in the top 10cm of the profile. The second issue was that the timing of maturity wasn’t right for mulching and killing the oats. In a test area of cover crop, we found the oats regrow, and we had very limited herbicide options to deal with this. It might have worked if we had waited a couple of weeks, however we were working with a factory schedule and had a planting date that wasn’t very flexible.

We want to apply lessons from that experience this year. We are already seeing low soil moisture levels and low nitrate levels in the Regen treatment. To manage the amount of biomass we have grown, and stop the flowering radish from seeding, the cover crop was mulched on the 1st of October. We expect the mulching will not kill the oats, and that we will need to manage regrowth.

How to terminate?

We planted a winter cover crop, it has grown all winter, so what next? Our Operations Advisory Group is having an ongoing discussion on how we terminate it in our Regen treatment. The initial plan was to use a roller crimper, but the consensus is that this is probably not quite the right tool for the job. We have since mulched the cover crop, but we will need another action to terminate it (oats weren’t mature enough). We have two options; we either spray out the oat regrowth or we cultivate to bury the residue.

This is an important conversation for us, as the use of glyphosate is not widely accepted by the Regenerative community. But our discussions with no-till or minimum tillage growers, and some of the Canterbury regenerative croppers, show it is an important tool for successfully reducing or eliminating cultivation. Most of the literature indicates that cultivating is the number one thing to avoid if we want to increase soil carbon, which is the main metric in this trial.

Weed management is a key consideration in beans as there are few herbicide options. If the crop is too weedy it won’t be harvested. If we cultivate, we will have to manage weeds through a suite of other herbicides that have the potential to as harmful as, or worse than glyphosate when compared using the Environmental Impact Quotient.

How do we best minimise soil disturbance? Both cultivation and herbicide use fall into the category of soil disturbance. The question for our operations group comes down to what is the ‘lesser of two evils’- glyphosate or cultivation?

More questions than answers!

A key lesson from the last two years, is that cover crops are important. We have also found that cover crop management is quite complex. There are a lot of questions we need to ask ourselves:

The post Lessons from two years of winter cover crops appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

In June this year, I was chosen for one of two teams attending the 2024 International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) Case Study Competition and Conference in Almeria, Spain. The theme of the conference was Food Security Through Innovation & Sustainability. We were then invited to attend a weeklong food and agri-innovation tour to Bologna, Cologne and then through the Netherlands.

I am lucky to have been in a team with four clever individuals from across the New Zealand Agri-Food sector. Our team included Dan from Silver Fern Farms in Dunedin, Fatima from ANZ in Auckland, Braydon from Perrin Ag in Rotorua, and Katie from Auckland University. We brought a diverse range of skills to our case study analysis, as well as a diverse range of opinions and perspectives on agriculture.

We were incredibly excited to learn that we won first place in our division, with the other New Zealand team coming in second place. Not bad for a little country at the bottom of the world!

While travelling together after the conference we were able to explore food provenance and food culture in Bologna, agricultural research and development in Cologne, and agricultural and horticultural innovation in the Netherlands. We will all be spending the next few months digesting what we have seen, discussed and learnt, and how our experience links to food production back here in New Zealand.

Many thanks to LandWISE (Dan & Phillipa) for allowing me the time away to learn, grow and explore the agri-food sector at a global level.

Applications are open!

Applications are open for the 2024 STAMP intake so if you have talented young people in your business (under 27 at the time of application), encourage them to apply! Click here for more information. Applications close 31st Aug 2024.

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9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Friday 26 July 2024

PIA Event Centre, Pukekohe, New Zealand.

In person only, there is no online version.

The purpose of this workshop is to give a complete overview of non-chemical weed management as part of Integrated Weed Management (IWM) and will include addressing herbicide resistance.

Merf is head of the BHU Future Farming Centre and Merfield Agronomy Ltd and co-owner and director of PhysicalWeeding. He is also the OrganicNZ 2024 Organic Leader of the year for excellence in science communication.

The primary audience is cropping (horticulture and arable) farmers & growers as it is these production systems that have the largest challenge with weeds. Perennial crop (e.g. vines, apples) producers will also benefit with one section dedicated to perennial crops (see below). For anyone dealing with herbicide resistant weeds, this workshop is the start of your solution. There are also some benefits for livestock / pasture systems in terms of the overall concepts of non-chemical and integrated weed management.

Consultants and advisors working with farmer and grower clients, particularly in cropping, will gain considerable benefit, especially regarding the latest technologies. Scientists, especially those dealing with herbicide resistance and working on the transition to non-chemical weed management, will gain valuable insights. The content assumes a reasonable level of understanding and practical experience of commercial agriculture and horticulture systems including weed management. This is a really full on and intense workshop – bring your thinking head! Plenty of caffeine is provided!

Cost is NZ$391.30 excl. GST = $450.00 incl. GST.

This includes a colour handout printout of the presentations. It also includes full catering includes tea, real coffee and snack on arrival, morning and afternoon teas and finger food lunch.
Registration is essential as places are limited.

To register please email charles@merfield.com including:

• Your / your business name and address for the invoice.
• The number of people from your business who will be attending and their names and emails.
• A bit of your background, e.g., farmer, grower, consultant, farm system, e.g., veg, apples, so I have an idea of who is coming.
• Any dietary requirements.

More information at Charles Merfield – One day seminar-workshop on non-chemical weed management

The post Non-Chemical Weed Management Workshop appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

In the summer of 2023-2024, the LandWISE MicroFarm grew process tomatoes for Heinz-Wattie’s using three alternative management systems: conventional, regenerative, and a hybrid taking from each. One of the principles for a regenerative system is to build natural resilience rather than rely only on a chemical-based crop protection regime. Nothing new, of course, we’ve had IPM programmes for decades.

How can we apply these concepts in an intensive process vegetable crop production system? What are the elements we need to consider, and how do we bring them together? There are tried and proven approaches, there are ongoing developments, and there are new ways that are being explored. Come to the LandWISE Conference “Rebuilding Our Soils” and hear what experts have to say!

Bruce Mackay, Heinz Wattie’s agricultural manager, has been an agronomist for a long time and has seen and tried different growing philosophies in a commercial context. As a key partner in Carbon Positive, Wattie’s has been deeply involved since Day Zero, and doubly so through the 2023-24 cropping season as we’ve worked to integrate regenerative agriculture principles into an intensive crop programme. Why is Kraft-Heinz interested at a global level? Why is Heinz-Wattie’s investing in local research?

Tika Schellevis started working on assessment of regen ag practices in Canada as part of her master’s degree in climate studies at Wageningen University. Over the last two years, Tika has been part of McCain Foods’ Regen Ag journey. Since October 2023, Tika has been working with the McCain Foods agronomy team in Timaru. Tike will outline how the Environmental Impact Quotient, EIQ, can help understand the relative impacts of different agrichemical options, and help select an optimal programme.

Jessica Vereijssen will discuss integrated pest management, using our crops as examples, but presenting transferable principles. She leads the Insect Dynamics, Ecology, and Sustainability team at Plant & Food Research in Lincoln. Jessica specialises in Integrated Pest Management and sustainable management programmes, considering the biology, behaviour, and ecology of pests. Her current research delves into (invasive) insect vectors such as psyllids and aphids, as well as the potential transmission of plant pathogenic organisms, leveraging her dual background in entomology and plant pathology. 

Chris Thompson will describe the use of predatory insects. He is a seasoned professional in the biotechnology industry, and Managing Director of Bioforce, where he leads the development of sustainable agricultural products and environmentally friendly solutions for various industries. When we received a “bag of bugs” to help control Tomato Potato Psyllid, he’s who we rang with twenty questions. Where do we put them? What agrichemicals might be OK? Which ones should we avoid at all costs? etc.

Since we began the Carbon positive project, we’ve been introduced to a huge range of products described variously as crop elicitors, bioactives, biostimulants, natural protectors and more. Tony Reglinski is a Senior Research Scientist at Plant and Food Research where he investigates the use of plant defence inducers to enhance natural resistance against pathogen attack. His research has covered a broad range of crops including, cereal, radiata pine, wine grapes and kiwifruit. His aim is to is to improve our understanding of the benefits and potential limitations of inducers in order to facilitate their practical implementation as crop protectants.

Come along and hear these experts as they lay out options to increase our resilience and reduce reliance on single approaches to crop protection. The principles and concepts apply broadly, so there wil be gold nuggets regardless of your crop interests!

The post Alternatives for Crop Protection appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Canopy Development Week 2 – 13

Pest Management

In mid-January we started to see holes appearing in tomatoes, caused by corn ear worm/tomato fruit worm. The first insecticide application we used (Benevia) is registered for chewing insects, so caterpillars were targeted early in the season. However, subsequent insecticides have predominantly targeted sucking insects (psyllid/thrips/aphids/whitefly). We applied Uphold (spinetoram) across all treatments to control fruit worm. The crop was inspected five days after application, and found no active caterpillars. Additionally, we still haven’t seen any psyllid on the sticky traps in the field, which is positive!

Nutrient Management

We have been regularly monitoring soil nitrate levels using the Nitrate Quick Test method. Nitrate levels have been declining since side dressing, which indicates that plant demand is exceeding supply of nitrogen. Fruit set has been good and we want to ensure there is enough energy in the canopy to increase fruit size (and yield).

Additionally, we have been doing monthly leaf tests to look at nutrient levels in the tomato leaves. There have been signs of leaf rolling, and purpling along the leaf margins in all treatments in January. This was more distinct in the Regen treatment. This is an indication of low phosphorus or potassium causing plant stress.

Leaf tests showed lower than optimum Nitrogen percentages in the leaf for this stage in the season, as well as low P and K percentages (graph below showing N%). The Operations Advisory Group decided to apply a late application of fertiliser across all treatments. The Regenerative treatment has appeared stressed compared to the other treatments in recent weeks. There has been concern as to whether the canopy is big enough to size the fruit already set. The OAG used the information available to make a justified ‘grower decision’ to address the apparent nutrient deficiencies.

Nitrogen concentrations in the leaf were lower in the Regen treatment than the other two treatments, so we decided to apply a higher rate of N, to support the plants to harvest. The OAG decided to apply YaraRega 9-0-27.5. The Conventional and Hybrid treatment had 9kg N and 27.5kg K applied (100kg/ha). The Regen treatment had 18kg N and 55kg K applied (200kg/ha). This is somewhat counter intuitive for the Regen treatment, however all of the treatments have now received the same amount of N, around 90kgN/ha. Even with this application the Regen plots have had much less potassium applied compared to the other two treatments.

Drone Application

Fertiliser applied late in the season is normally done using a tractor mounted spreader. However, because our plots are 12m wide, we are unable to get the desired spread width this way. We worked with Airborne Solutions to apply the fertiliser with their drone, to be more targeted with our application, plus avoids damaging the plants by driving over with a ground spreader. The spread of the product was uniform and spread to the 12m width of our plots. The drone carries 40kg of product so was a quick job to get done on our 1.5ha.

The post January 2024 Tomato Update appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

In the vineyard every twelve rows a planted strip of a colourful mix including mustard, buckwheat and phacelia is grown to encourage beneficial insects like lacewings. This crop had become too tall, and was interfering with other orchard operations, so was being roller crimped (rather than mown), with the aim of keeping some of the beneficial insects and get some regrowth in the weeks ahead.

Terminating cover crops using a roller crimper has been suggested for the regenerative treatment in the Carbon Positive trial, to minimise the use of herbicides. In a cropping scenario we would be aiming to have no regrowth of the cover crop, which can be achieved by applying more weight to the implement.

How much would we need on a 2-metre wide machine? We tried terminating our oat/lupin/vetch cover crop by mulching, which result in a number of oat plants being pushed over and laid flat by the mulcher body. It wasn’t a total success, but maybe a crimping roller will do a better job.

The post Roller Crimper Demonstration appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

McCain Foods has a global strategy for implementing regenerative growing practices and the Carbon Positive project, now in its second year of crop rotation having successfully harvested a sweetcorn crop for McCain Foods last summer, is viewed as important work comparing conventional with regenerative and our “hybrid” systems.

People interested in the McCain Foods journey in regenerative practice can hear more on the Hot Potato podcasts. The Hot Potato Podcast | Podcast on Spotify. The Hot Potato series is a very interesting collection of discussions with influential people in the food industry. It is worth taking the time to listen if you want to understand how global businesses view sustainability and the concepts of regenerative agriculture, or in our case, regenerative cropping.

We are holding open walks at the beginning of each month. The December walk will be held on Wednesday 6th at 1 PM. The current crop is process tomatoes being grown for and in collaboration with Heinz-Watties. Plants are now well established, and different treatments are showing different growth patterns.

The post Visit by McCain Foods Global team members. appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

The regenerative treatment of oats, vetch and lupins was not intended to be cultivated. It was. Come and find out why.

Other topics for update are the overall operations plan for the season, the results of assessing the crop protection programmes using the EIQ method from Cornell, and our plans for soil moisture monitoring.

It is a free event open to all, but we’d like you to register to let us know numbers please.

The post Carbon Positive Field Walk this Thursday, 9 November appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.