Planting

• Conventional treatment: ploughed, disced x 2, power-harrowed, peas drilled, rolled
• Hybrid treatment: peas direct drilled, rolled
• Regenerative treatment: not planted in peas

Winter cover crops in both the Conventional and Hybrid treatments were sprayed out early, and the soil stayed wet. The Conventional treatment was encouraged to dry by cultivating to ‘open up’ the soil. The Hybrid, which was not cultivated, remained very wet, making the soil more vulnerable to compaction at planting. The soil was wet enough to leave defined drill lines, and in some places open slots.

We decided not to plant the Regen treatment in early peas. We wanted to avoid driving on wet soil with heavy machinery, minimising compaction, and retained the soil in a ‘restorative phase’ for longer, ahead of planting beans in late December.

Crop Monitoring

The impact of planting into wet soil in the Hybrid treatment was seen almost immediately. Establishment was slower, and the plant population significantly lower than the Conventional treatment.

We saw similar trends in canopy cover percentage, with the Hybrid treatment lower than the Conventional one. The Regenerative cover crop was mulched on the 1st of October to stop the radish component of the cover crop mix from flowering. The residue was later disced in to mix soil with the residue and speed up breakdown. That was not been sufficient to kill the oats in the multispecies cover crop, and the regrowth required ongoing management.

Both the Conventional and Hybrid treatments had one post-emergence herbicide application (Bruno + Quantum). No pre-emergence herbicide was applied due to lack of forecast rain early in the season.

The dry weather through November brought forward our harvesting date. A fungicide application was recommended, but we were too close to the 14 day pre-harvest interval so none was applied. Disease pressure was low so we had few issues.

The dry spring meant the irrigator has been consistently running. Between planting on the 3rd of September and harvest on the 27th November we received 46.7mm of rainfall. The irrigator made six passes and applied approximately 96mm of irrigation.

Harvest took place on the 26th of November, read more in our harvest article!

The post 2024 McCains Pea Production appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

We think it is important that our LandWISE membership is up to date on regulations and are pleased to include this post on our website and in our newsletter. Many farm dams are excluded from the new regulations, but there are many that are covered. Farmers sometimes make big ponds, and we are aware of a few “home-builds” that were actually large dams with significant safety significance! Have a look and check your backyard (and the regulations) if you think you might be included.

Dam Safety Regulations are in force

The Building (Dam Safety) Regulations 2022 commenced on 13 May 2024.

The regulations have been made to improve the resilience and maintenance of Aotearoa New Zealand’s dams, protecting people, property and the environment from the potential impacts of dam failures.

Only classifiable dams are impacted by the regulations. Dams are classifiable if they are 4 or more metres in height and store 20,000 or more cubic metres volume of water, or other fluid.

Background to the Regulations
The Regulations were made by the Government in May 2022 and provide a nationally consistent approach to dam safety. Having a dam safety framework brings Aotearoa New Zealand in line with most other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Since May 2022, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has been working with industry groups and regional authorities to ensure dam owners are aware of the Regulations and provide them with information and resources to support them to meet their responsibilities when the Regulations came into effect.

What do the Regulations mean for you?
If you are the owner of a water retention structure, firstly you need to determine if your structure meets the definition of a classifiable dam (that is, if it meets the height and volume thresholds).

• If you determine that your dam is classifiable, you will then need to determine your dam’s potential impact classification (PIC). If you do not have a classifiable dam, no further action is required under these Regulations.
• Once the PIC has been determined, you will need to then have the PIC audited and certified by a Recognised Engineer, who will work with the dam owner to complete a dam classification certificate.
• Dam classification certificates need to be submitted to the relevant regional authority.
• Owners of dams with a medium or high PIC have further actions they need to take.
• The only additional requirement for owners of dams with a low PIC is to review their dam’s PIC within five years of the regional authority approving it.
• If you own a dam and fail to meet your responsibilities under the law (the Building Act 2004 Regulations), then you may be liable for a fine.

Resources to help you
You can read more about the definitions, regulations, and find resources to support you, on MBIE’s Building Performance website: www.building.govt.nz/managing-buildings/dam-safety/

Included in these resources is the Measuring and calculating the height and volume of agricultural dams resource. This is designed to help horticultural or agricultural dam owners calculate the volume of their dam and understand if they are impacted by the Regulations.

MBIE has also published another resource, the Potential Impact Classification checklist, which is a checklist to support dam owners to identify and collate information for a PIC assessment.

The post New Dam Safety Regulations appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Many thanks to everybody involved in our 2024 Annual Conference! All up we had 99 registrants who heard from 23 amazing presenters and saw 9 different practical demonstrations. Our special thanks to everyone who contributed by sharing their knowledge and experiences, and to delegates for their active interaction. Thanks to Pure Catering and our hosts at the Havelock North Function Centre and at the Centre for Land and Water which hosts our MicroFarm and the demonstrations.

Many thanks also to our conference sponsors and supporters. These organisations support us through the year as well as for the conference and we are very grateful. They are the most loyal of partners we could hope for.

Ka mau te wehi!

The post Rebuilding Our Soils – Successful Conference appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Sustainable production through technology has been one of the key themes through the history of LandWISE Inc. We started with minimum tillage and strip tillage equipment, then rapidly adopted RTK GPS and autosteer, which we saw unlocked many opportunities for financial and environmental gains. We’ve looked a precision viticulture, canopy monitoring, crop mapping, soil sensing and more. We investigated agricultural robotics and options for management software. So much stuff to keep up with!

The 2024 LandWISE Conference has three components dedicated to agritech: an innovation panel discussing the experience of taking an idea to commercial reality, a group presenting technologies that automate data collection and help make sense of it all to support management decision making, and a practical in-paddock session where equipment will be demonstrated.

In the session, “Commercialising New Technology”, Andrew Cameron will chair a discussion between Tim Neale from Data Farming, Matt Flowerday from Landkind, Clare Bradley from Agrisea NZ, Hamish Penny from Croptide, and Richard Beaumont from AGOVOR. Different people, different technologies, different growth paths and different insights.

“Data Capture and Understanding” builds on the agritech theme, presenting technologies to capture data remotely and turn it into information to assist management. Tim Neale’s DataFarming platform presents satellite data and interpretations, Matt Flowerday capture aerial imagery and has a platform to plan farm management spatially, Hamish Penny and Croptide have a “smartwatch” for plants, collecting internal water status information and sending it straight to your phone, and Lia Willis helps clients pull different layers of data together.

The Horizons Regional Council Practical Session at the MicroFarm will display technologies and give opportunity to discuss details with the people with answers. Look for drones and robots from Airborne Solutions, AGOVOR and Robomate, cover crops and roller crimpers, pest predators with Bioforce and new irrigation technology from WaterForce!

The post Focus on Agritech 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.

Please register at Eventbrite

Once again, we are opening the gates and doors to the public for a Carbon Positive at the MicroFarm field walk to view and discuss the Heinz-Wattie’s process tomato crop.

We’ve been making nutrient, irrigation and crop protection decisions – come along and discuss our strategies and apparent effectiveness!

Please register at Eventbrite

The post Carbon Positive at the MicroFarm – February 2024 Field Walk appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Compare these images with last month’s post here>

Operations

Summary

The below table provides an overview of the three treatments and the main management decisions to date.  

Weed control

Due to continued wet weather we missed the window for our second Sencor (herbicide) application. Watties mechanically weeded with their Rototiller on the 1^st of December, which supressed weed growth in the interrow ahead of side dressing. Andy Lysaght then weeded between the double row of tomatoes with one of his mechanical weeders. This was completed across all treatments.

The Badalini (multi-row rototiller) came through at side dressing, completing a shallow cultivation in the interrow and incorporated a pre-emerge herbicide to supress weeds. The operations team decided we would exclude the pre-emerge herbicide from the regen treatment, with the view that we can mechanically weed again if weeds do get out of control.

Disease management

The weather has generally been cooler and overcast through the early part of the season, perfect conditions for late blight and bacterial speck in tomatoes. Our the spray programmes for the Conventional and Hybrid treatments have been the same and have included regular applications of Kocide Opti (copper) to protect against disease. These treatments have also had two Ridomil Gold MZ applications (protectant fungicide for blight). We are trying to exclude copper applications from the Regen treatment, replacing the coppers with Aureo Gold, a bio-bactericide to control disease (mostly used in kiwifruit). Only one Ridomil application has been applied to the Regen treatment as the canopy was smaller early on and had better air movement around the plants.

Insect pest management

All treatments have had one application of Benevia insecticide. A second application is planned for the Conventional and Hybrid treatments later this week. This is mainly to protect plants against Tomato Potato Psyllid (TPP), however also controls aphids and thrips. Some Biological Control Agents (BCAs) have been released in the trial area to help control insect pests (more detail on this in subsequent post).

Nutrient management

Fertiliser decisions are made by the operations group, along with Mark Redshaw from Yara. A high rate of YaraMila Complex (full N, P, K, S, Mg, B, Fe, Mn, Zn) was applied to the Conventional treatment, with a slightly lower rate of Complex applied to the Hybrid treatment. As the background fertility of the plots is in theory high enough to support a crop of tomatoes, it was decided that the Regen treatment would have an application of nitrogen only, so had YaraLiva Nitrabor applied (N, Ca, B). We have been monitoring Nitrate-N levels using the Nitrate Quick Test every two weeks. Results for the top 15cm is displayed below.

Side-dressing

Fertiliser was applied in bands at side dressing through the Badalini (single pass with herbicide application), and worked into the interrow, close to the rows of tomatoes. The Hybrid treatment interrow surface was particularly hard and had two passes with the rototiller to break up the surface.

Foliar nutrition

All treatments had foliar nutrition with YaraVita Bud Builder applied in early November. Regular foliar applications to both the Hybrid and the Regen treatments are planned and bio-stimulants in the mix have been advised. Caution is being when these products are included with other sprays to minimise the risk of burn. In some cases, crop protection and foliar nutrition products are being applied separately.

Irrigation

Management

Irrigation has started with a 15mm application on 16 December that, after the heat and evapotranspiration over the weekend, barely changed soil moisture in the top 200mm where most of our root activity is currently. A second 15mm application was made immediately after the first, and a third is due.

Bucket test

We did an IRRIG8 bucket test and found a DU = 0.88 which is good.

We will make minor changes to the sprinklers on each end and expect an improvement as a result. At the inlet end, a 180 sprinkler is over-applying (orange line) and at the far end a sprinkler is underapplying.

Now is a great time to check irrigation using the bucket test – it is easy to do, it doesn’t take long, and it costs very little. Have a look at the guidance in our Irrigation Management online learning resource. You will need to login – it is free although we welcome paying members to help run the organisation!

“Carbon Positive” is a project running in partnership with the Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust. It is funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Kraft Heinz Watties, McCain Foods, and BASF Crop Protection with in-kind support from many others.

The post December in the MicroFarm Tomatoes appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Following our successful annual conference in May, we wish to thank all the speakers and sponsors who supported us, and the delegates who enriched proceedings and made it an enjoyable event.

The conference focused on building and rebuilding our soils, topics close to recovery from the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and “Carbon Positive”, our new regenerative process crop production project.

The well-loved Tech Session had new companies presenting their technologies, ideas about responsible robotics and a panel discussion led by Brendan O’Connell from AgritechNZ.

Thanks Callum Ross from Ross-AI, Hamish Penny from Croptide, Quinn Elstone from WaterForce, Callum Eastwood from DairyNZ, Andrew Kersley from Smart Machine Co and Guy Coleman from University of Sydney for sharing your stories and insights!

Day 2 focused on weed management, with insights from two overseas experts, Lynn Sosnoskie and Michael Widderick, and updates from the AgResearch herbicide resistance management project – Trevor James, Zachary Ngow, Andrew Griffiths and Dan Bloomer.

The afternoon field event was a chance to see things first-hand in the paddock, and for many a first opportunity to see our regen project at the MicroFarm.

Thanks Tobi and Robert of live2give for the mulch planter demo, Hamish Penny for showing the Croptide system, Andrew Kersley and Rob Elstone for bringing the electric OXIN robot for everyone to play with, Nick Gillot of Tulloch Farm Machinery from bringing the Einbock Pneumaticstar, Andy Lysaght for demonstrating the new soil spader, Steven Haswell of BioAg for showing the germinating seed mix intended for revegetating sediment covered sites, and our own Alex Dickson for presenting the Carbon Positive winter cover crops.

Copies of the Conference Handbook and the speakers’ presentations have been loaded on our website where they are available to registered members. Anyone can register for free or can choose to be a Full financial member supporting our efforts.

The post LandWISE 23: Normal Practice Revisited appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

This project is built on the previous Future Proofing Vegetable Production project and presents a series of on-line workshops and tutorials and make the lessons available to the wider fresh vegetable production industry.

We previously published our first courses and have seen uptake. Give them a try.

• Course 1 Nutrient management for vegetable crops has three main sections: Nutrient management principles, Taking representative samples, and Nitrogen (a special case).
• Course 2 Run an on-farm fertiliser trial, follows our Ten Step Plan for a successful trial you might run to compare alternative fertiliser rates for your crops on your farm. 

We have published the next two courses in our series of online learning resources. There are notes and videos to guide your learning journey!

• Course 3 Fertiliser application equipment explains different types of application equipment and the factors you need to get right to apply the right amount evenly. 
• Course 4 Irrigation Equipment Performance considers irrigation efficiency, soil water management and assessing irrigation systems using the IRRIG8Lite tool.

Course 5 is on its way. It covers nutrient budgeting, determining how much nutrient your crop is likely to require, how much is available and how much extra is justified.

You can access the free online courses here, but you do need to be registered.

The post Vegetable Production Nitrogen Management appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Sustainability and high-tech
Callum Ross, the founder of RossAi, brings a wealth of experience spanning over 18 years in sustainability, technology, and innovation projects. Callum has worked with various companies like Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Hawkes Bay’s own Rockit Apples. His unwavering commitment to sustainability is unmatched and implements environmentally friendly solutions in all his projects. He recently served as a trustee for the Environment Centre Hawke’s Bay, demonstrating his passion for the environment.

Callum Eastwood

Responsible robotics design

Callum is Senior Scientist at DairyNZ, where he works among other things on the effective use of new technologies in dairy systems, technological innovation systems, improving co-ordination between farmers and technology developers, design of social research in agriculture, and the integration of data into farm decision making.

Quinn Elstone

Quinn is responsible for a range of Ag products for WaterForce, with a critical area being Valley Irrigation products and associated technologies. He has a long history working in technical and sales roles, supporting the agricultural sector. Today he continues to provide a range of technical design and product solutions supports throughout New Zealand. Quinn will introduce the Valley Irrigation insights technologies

Hamish Penny

Monitoring real-time crop water potential
Hamish is CEO of Croptide, a Hawke’s Bay startup now active across New Zealand, USA and Europe. Using a novel approach to understand the internal status of water within plants, Croptide talks of their technology as “the smartwatch for plants”. Hamish will talk about their journey, and the steps they are taking to launch a new product into a global market. He will also be on hand at the Conference Field Session to show the technology in the vineyard.

Andrew Kersley

Automating vineyard and orchard operations
Andrew is CEO at Smart Machine, a company developing Oxin autonomous vehicles for permanent horticulture. Smart Machines has designed both the autonomous technology and the Oxin platform itself from the ground up. The machines currently servicing vineyards around Blenheim are the third generation of the vehicle. Formed in 2018, Smart Machines’ founding concept was to combine engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics to address labour shortages and other challenges within the horticultural sectors.

Guy Coleman

Open Weed Locator
Guy began his weed technology journey in 2018 as a precision weed control scientist in Narrabri, Australia. He notes that a lot of the algorithms and hardware that we are using to identify weeds automatically did not exist back then. Guy released the OpenWeedLocator (OWL), an image-based green-on-brown weed detector for site-specific weed control in fallow, as part of his PhD. The details for making OWL – from the 3D printable components to the algorithms needed – are all freely available online. Using off-the-shelf componentry it can be built for about $400.

Brendan O’Connell

Agritech Panel Chair

Focused on identifying new business opportunities, scaling businesses internationally and the collective power and sustainability of ecosystems, Brendan is CE of Agritech NZ. He has worked on product innovation in different industries including bio-medical, telecom, marine/consumer electronics and agritech in both R&D and business development roles.

“I want to work with businesses building new things who need somebody to help them make sense out of the opportunities, bring people together and join the dots.”

The post LandWISE 2023 – Tech Session Presenters appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.