As I grapple with my own understanding of Regenerative Agriculture (RA), a trip to Europe was just the thing I needed to provide me with more questions than answers!

1. What are the right policy tools to support both sustainable food production and growers making a livelihood?
2. How does RA scale to go beyond a ‘buzz word’ to have a meaningful impact on the environment?
3. What role do large corporations play in the transition to Regen Ag?

EU Green Deal- Farm to Fork Policy

In 2020 the European Union introduced the Farm to Fork (FTF) policy as part of the EU Green Deal. The policy aims to rethink the whole food value chain, minimise the environmental impact of food production, improve resource efficiency and enhance biodiversity.

Targets set by the FTF include:

• 50% reduction in the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 2030
• 50% reduction in nutrient losses, while ensuring no deterioration in soil fertility by 2030
• 20% reduction in fertiliser use by 2030
• 50% reduction in the sales of antimicrobials for farmed animals and aquaculture by 2030
• 25% of total farmland to be farmed organically by 2030 (9.9% of farmed area was under organic farming in 2021).

These are ambitious targets. In response to these targets, European businesses of all sizes are having to rethink what ‘the system’ looks like in the future and how they fit into food production not only in the face of environmental policy like the FTF, but also in a changing natural environment.

“Regenerative practices are for the future, not for today”

A quote by Tony Salas (founder of Shared X, Peru) at the 2024 IFAMA Conference in a session dedicated to discussing the future Regenerative Agriculture. Shifting from conventional growing methods to regenerative methods shifts the focus from yield, to the management of a functional ecosystem with an emphasis on healthy soils.

Salas reflected on the challenges that the Organic Agricultural movement has had in scaling globally, in 2021 only about 1.6% of total agricultural land was managed organically, and in global food sales organic produce accounted for 1-2%. Such challenges include regulatory barriers, reduced yields, market and distribution challenges and lower profitability.

So what should the regenerative system approach be? How do we scale RA to improve ecosystem and soil health, AND ALSO feed a growing global population, meet increasingly stringent regulatory targets and provide farmers and growers with a good income? Three key points stood out;

1. Focus on adopting a continuous improvement model (Plan>Do>Check>Act) at all stages of the food-value chain
2. Develop flexible standards and avoid exclusive certification
3. Actions must be underpinned with a focus of minimising agricultures contribution to climate change.

“From ‘producing more with less’ to ‘producing more and restoring more’.”

A comment from Kai Wirtz from Bayer, one of the worlds largest agri-chemical companies. Bayer are putting Regenerative Agriculture (RA) at the heart of their company, with a vision to restore nature, and scale regenerative agriculture. They believe that it is possible to grow more using regenerative practices. Their sustainability commitments include reducing GHG emissions per kilogram of crop by 30%, reducing the environmental impact of crop protection by 30%, and supporting 100 million smallholder farms in low and middle-income countries.

Bayer has a global footprint, and they see their portfolio of products and technologies being integrated into regenerative agricultural systems, taking a multi-crop/multi-season approach to farming. This portfolio includes biologicals, crop protection, advanced seed breeding and digital tools.

“Regenerative agriculture is not a destination but a path”

I have arrived home with more questions than answers.

Europe appears to be leaning into regenerative agriculture in a big way, in response to not only stricter environmental policy, but also in what seems to be reasonably genuine concern for the future of the planet and our collective ability to feed a growing population. Large companies (like Bayer) are positioning themselves in the market to support growers in implementing regenerative practices to suit their individual farm systems in countries around the world. We see this in platforms like the Sustainable Agricultural Initiative (SAI), who have signed on over 180 global companies, with the shared goal of transforming agricultural practice for a more sustainable future.

Back in New Zealand, I wonder if we are taking regenerative agriculture serious enough? There are many unknowns, we don’t really know how RA works in NZ farm systems (though we are trying to find out) and change is scary – I find that in our own project. However, I think we know enough to have a go, to start exploring ways of improving management practice to restore ecosystem and soil health.

How do we scale regenerative agriculture in a way that we have meaningful impact on restoring the environment? How do we access the technologies being developed overseas to support change? What does the future of market access look like if we don’t adapt? What does the future of our environment look like if we don’t start to look after our soils?

Or to put it more positively, what does the future look like if we do start to look after our soils? What are the possibilities?

Some other interesting business to explore

• Koppert– Global biological company
• Biobest– Sustainable crop management
• Kimitec– Biotechnology company
• Biorizon– Biotechnology company

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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

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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!

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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!

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Bushmere Arms, 1:30pm Tuesday 20 June

We welcome growers and other interested people to an afternoon meeting to discuss actions growers can take to help restore paddocks impacted by Cyclone Gabielle. This meeting is open to all growers; pasture, fruit and vine crops as well as vegetable and arable crops.

Please register – it is free, but we like to be able to plan!

We all know that Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay have been severely impacted by sediment as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle. Months on, there are still many problems to resolve, of which one is “what do I do to fix my paddocks?”

LandWISE with support from MPI, Vegetables NZ, AgResearch, Massey University, Gisborne District Council and Plant & Food has been coordinating the collection of information from experts and from impacted sites. We are offering this Gisborne Workshop to share the lessons so far, offer ideas of possible management actions, and outline a proposed long-term project to continue supporting growers.

What we expect to cover:

• What information is out there?
• Learning from the past
• Decision tree to guide management choices
• Early results from Hawke’s Bay testing
• Early results from Tairawhiti testing
• Paddock responses so far – what seems to be working?
• Where to from here?

We are also working with growers in Northland who, while not covered by sediment, have been severely impacted by constant flooding and long-term soil saturation. There are similar sites in Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti. It has not been an easy season for anyone.

Download a Copy of our Workshop Flyer

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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.

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What will you see at the field Horizons, session?

See a prototype electric version of the proven Oxin vineyard robot (have a drive!), Ross-AI bio-degradable netting clips, Croptide plant water status sensor (and the app), watch the Mulch-Tec transplanter working, watch the soil spader for sediment mixing at work, check out the Einboeck air-seeder for regrassing, discuss cover crop options with BioAg and LandWISE, and keep talking to each other about things that grabbed you at the conference prior and your ideas for after.

Revisit Normal Practice.

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Havelock North Function Centre

24-25 May 2023

It has been two years since we gathered for the last LandWISE Conference. We were unsure in 2022 what Covid was doing and chose to not add to its possible spread. With that more controlled if not fully behind us, we were feeling hopeful of a return to normality. But. . .

We’ve had the wettest time in memory in Hawke’s Bay, and Tairawhiti and Northland feel the same. A wet winter, a horrible spring, and then summer: notably Cyclone Hale and the big slapper, Cyclone Gabrielle. Plans have been tossed in the air, churned by the river, and dumped unceremoniously in the bottom of the orchard. So now we wonder what to expect. What is the future normal?

Three key topics feature at LandWISE 23. We wrap up the five-year Herbicide Resistance Management project led by Trevor James. We introduce a new six-year project partnership with the HB Future Farming Trust investigating regenerative farming from an intensive process cropping perspective, and we consider how cropping farmers and growers are responding to flood inundation following Cyclone Gabrielle – in some cases maybe “generative farming” if deep deposits need to be turned into good quality land with a well-structured topsoil.

And tech stuff!

Our Sponsors

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Industry Perpectives

Our group of four Hawke’s Bay industry representatives will discuss the impacts on the vegetables and fruit sectors and the various ways people have responded. How did people react, what were the urgent priorities, and how are people trying to remediate impacted sites? Far too soon to look back at the event that was, this is an update on the event that still “is”. For many there are some long rows ahead, but there is increasing evidence that things can be brought under control.

Brittany McCloy

Brittany is Labour Strategy and Solutions Manager at Apatu Farms and Ex Onions New Zealand. Since Cyclone Gabrielle has been working for the Hawke’s Bay Vegetable Growers’ Association at the centre of the industry response, working on behalf of vegetable growers to collate information and represent the vegetable grower voice in response initiatives and design. 

Dereck Ferguson

Dereck Ferguson is an agronomy consultant in Hawkes Bay.  Formerly the Agronomy Manager for Brownrigg Agriculture, he has over 20 years experience managing horticultural and forage crop programmes.  Dereck is a member of the Vegetable Research and Innovation Board and holds several technical roles on research projects.

Sarah de Buin

Sarah is a horticultural consultant with AgFirst Hawkes’s Bay involved in various industry intelligence projects such as the National Pipfruit Crop Estimate, Pipfruit Farm monitoring, and the What’s Coming out of Tile Drains project. She enjoys using meaningful data, to assist those at all levels of the industry with making educated decisions and driving industry change and success.

Richard Pentreath

Regional Manager at Ngai Tukairangi Trust, Richard is an experienced viticulturist and kiwifruit orchardist. Having experienced first-hand some of the devastation brought by the cyclone, he is well placed to discuss the impacts and how growers are responding.

Soil Recovery

Soil recovery – lessons from the past, lesson for the future
LandWISE Project Manager, Alex Dickson will outline some of the resources pulled together to help growers make first decisions about dealing with sediment and establishing living plants. A consortium including LandWISE, AgResearch, Massey University, Plant & Food, regional councils and consultants in Hawke’s Bay, Tairawhiti and Northland has formed to collect sediment and soil samples for nutrient and contaminant testing. Additional soil sampling and data collection seeks understanding of the new sediments, and to allow a longer-term study of soil and site recovery following a range of management responses.

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Lynn Sosnoskie joined Cornell AgriTech in September 2019 as an Assistant Professor of Weed Ecology and Management in Specialty Crops, which includes tree and vine crops in addition to fresh and processing vegetables. A native of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, she earned a B.Sc. in Biology from Lebanon Valley College, a M.Sc. in Plant Pathology at the University of Delaware, and a Ph.D. in Weed Science at Ohio State.

Prior to taking her position at Cornell, Lynn worked as a research scientist at the University of Georgia, the University of California – Davis, and Washington State University. Her work has focused on a variety of crops (almonds, cotton, melons, peppers, pistachios, tomatoes, walnuts, and wheat) and a variety of weeds (field bindweed and glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth, hairy fleabane, horseweed, and junglerice). She was most recently employed by the University of California as a Farm Advisor working with agronomic crops in the Central Valley, which is California’s agricultural hub.

In New York, Lynn’s research is multifaceted. In partnership with commodity groups, agricultural manufacturers, and the IR-4 Project, her lab is screening novel products for potential labeling. However, repeated use of some herbicides or modes of action over time and space can lead to intense pressure that selects for biotypes that are insensitive to commonly used chemistries. Consequently, another area of focus is confirming and describing herbicide resistance in weed species that have grown increasingly difficult to control. This includes glyphosate resistance and resistance to the ALS-inhibiting chemistries in Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) and waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus); it also includes resistance to paraquat and diquat in horseweed (Conyza canadensis). Other weed species-herbicide combinations of concern and under investigation include common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album)/bentazon, Powell amaranth (Amaranthus powellii)/PSII- and PPO-inhibiting herbicides, and common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)/clopyralid.

Although herbicides are an important component of weed management, they are not a silver bullet; sustainable programs must investigate other tools and technologies for controlling unwanted vegetation. Lynn’s lab is also exploring non-chemical strategies for weed suppression including cover crops and mulches, vision-guided sprayers and cultivators, and electric weeders.

LandWISE 2023: Normal Practice Revisited

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