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.

The post STAMP Field Trip – IFAMA 2024 appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

The last few months has seen us researching and confirming management strategies for our spring tomato crops. A major component is crop protection planning for conventional, regenerative, and hybrid treatments. In a conventional tomato growing system, the 135 day crop typically receives about 15 spray applications, all with several active ingredients. Regenerative principles seek to reduce agrichemical additions. We have been working with the Watties team and industry advisors to prepare a minimum crop protection programme that should provide an acceptable level of risk to the crop, to people, and to the environment and the soil biological community.  

Measuring any potential agrichemical impact and comparing systems is a complex task. There are different types of harm to consider i.e., harm to humans, harm to insects, harm to birds, harm to soil life, etc. How do we describe and rank “harsh” or “soft chemistries? Is our proposed regenerative cropping programme “better” than the conventional one?

McCain’s Agronomist, Ben Prebble proposed the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) model to rate and compare programmes. The EIQ formula was developed at Cornell University by Kovach et al., (1992) to inform growers and advisors wanting to make more environmentally friendly crop protection decisions. The model considers a range of effects (Figure 1), which are categorised into three components: 1) Consumer EIQ, 2) Farm Worker EIQ, and 3) Ecological EIQ. The Environmental Impact Quotient EIQ is a weighted numerical score that allows different active ingredient choices to be compared.

An online tool for calculating EIQ is available through Cornell University (Grant, 2020). This tool uses the base product EIQ value to calculate a Field Use EIQ based on the applied rate of each product. Figure 2 provides an example of the calculator for glufosinate-ammonium (Buster).

Note that regardless of selected application area units, the Field Use EIQ is given in acres (Figure 3), so answers need to be multiplied by 2.47 to give Field Use EIQ per hectare. It is the Field EIQ values that can be used to compare options.

We have used the EIQ tool to calculate a ‘Total Field Use EIQ per hectare’ value for our tomato treatments. The proposed Field Use EIQ for the regenerative treatment is about half that of the conventional treatment. Of course, our production plans are subject to change based on seasonal events! Major contributors to a higher EIQ in the conventional treatment are the use of the pre-emergent herbicide Prosulfocarb, more frequent use of the fungicide mancozeb, and the use of copper hydroxide. We planned a regenerative crop protection programme for growing 100 T/ha, but which has a lower impact on the receiving environment, those handling the chemicals on farm, and those consuming the tomatoes.

We used the University of Hertfordshire Pesticide Properties Data Base (PPDB) for additional information on each active ingredient (University of Hertfordshire, 2023). The database provides information on soil degradation, soil mobility and adsorption, ecotoxicity (including harm to earthworms and honeybees), and risk to human health. A traffic light system is used to indicate risk to environment, ecotoxicity and human health Figure 4.

We are pleased we have a more objective way to assess each of our programmes and their components. The EIQ system is the result of three decades of research and modelling by many people in many organisations, who also incorporated decades of accumulated knowledge – it is not something we could have come up with overnight!

References

Grant, J. (2020). Field Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) Calculator [New York State Integrated Pest Management Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell University.]. Calculator for Field Use EIQ (Environmental Impact Quotient).

Kovach, J., Petzoldt, C., Degni, J., & Tette, J. (1992). A method to measure the environmental impact of pesticides. New York’s Food and Life Sciences Bulletin, 139.

University of Hertfordshire. (2023). PPDB: Pesticides Properties Data Base. PPDB: Pesticide Properties DataBase.

The post Carbon Positive: comparing crop protection choices. appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

The first week was spent in Washington State starting in the Yakima region. We are most grateful to Ines Hanrahan, Director of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission for arranging our visits and being our host and guide. We visited fruit packing and dispatch facilities, orchards and research centres, and looked out our bus windows as we covered many miles through orchards, vineyards and crops in a very low-rainfall area. The soils, climate and availability of water from stored snowmelt are very good and have enabled the very large state fruit industry to develop. Many operations are still family owned and operated, albeit at very large scale.

So what are their issues?

Speaking with Brett Valicoff, it would seem they face very similar challenges to New Zealand growers: increasing cost and reducing availability of labour, biosecurity threats with new pests and diseases and a reducing set of active ingredients to control them, climate change and reducing water security, and trying to make a buck with rising costs and reducing returns. It sounded very familiar.

Packhouse and dispatch automation plays an increasing role and places we visited have made significant investment. As well as the expected automated fruit grader systems, there was a move toward more automation in packing lines, including using Robotics Plus technology. We saw robotic pallet stackers at the Valicoff Fruit Company, and fully automated storage and inventory handling at Matson Fruit’s cold storage warehouse in Selah. Later in Bingen, we viewed the automated pear packhouse at the Mt Adams facility, where we saw the use of grader-scanned images of fruit to retrain algorithms for any new quality problems that arise.

A visit to the USDA-ARS Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research Unit in Wapato focused on entomology. The unit aims to provide growers with effective and sustainable tools for integrated pest and disease management, and consumers with safe and healthy produce. None of our group is keen on meeting a Northern Giant Hornet, a huge pest that quickly destroys honeybee colonies.

Many thanks to

• Rebecca Schmidt Jeffris for her presentation on natural enemy management of earwigs, identifying non-target effects of herbicides on natural enemies, and natural enemy releases with drones.
• Jacqueline Serrano for her talk on lures to better monitor introduction and spread of Northern Giant Hornet (Asian Giant Hornet, or murder hornet) which we certainly do not want. She also works on other hornets that may be relevant to NZ.
• Rob Curtiss for his presentation on the use of sterile insect releases for codling moth control in apples and pears via drones.

On-orchard, we had the opportunity to spend a few hours with Kyle Cobb and the Advanced.Farm crew who were field-testing two of their Robotic Apple Harvesters. Building on their success with robotic strawberry harvesting, the team is moving to the vertical plane for apples grown on a 2D systems, the same as in New Zealand. Refreshingly, they were clear that there is a way yet to go before the technology competes with human pickers.

At the Monson Fruit Company we were given a demonstration of Hectre’s New Zealand fruit scanning technology in action. The system’s camera scans all fruit on the top layer of bins as transport trucks bring it into the packing facility, with image analysis algorithms giving high quality statistics to aid logistics. Hectre has presented at LandWISE conferences, but it was great to see the system working for real in a large US facility. Growers reported trying many of the New Zealand bred apple varieties but had found a number “just don’t seem to do well”. The US Honeycrisp and related varieties fill a large part of their market.

A visit to Craig Harris’ cherry orchard introduced the re-emergence of the virus, Little Cherry Disease, or Western-X, which historically has severely impacted US and Canadian production over decades. Complete tree removal including poisoning to kill infected roots before they graft with neighbours is the current response, resulting in 240,000 trees being removed between 2015 and 2020, with more cases of the disease still being identified. Slow symptom expression makes it likely the disease has spread before it can be detected.

Hops are big business in Washington State and the area around Yakima, which produces about 80% of the world’s hops. With harvest in full swing, we were able to follow the process from the field, through transport, offloading, stripping, cleaning and drying, to baling and finally to examples of the product. New Zealand varieties such as Nectaron feature among the many US ones.

Moving eastward we reached the Washington State University campus at Prosser, which Dan last visited for a week when learning about the CalPoly irrigation system auditing procedures in 2003! This was the basis for the New Zealand Piped Irrigation System Performance Assessment Code of Practice and variants such as IRRIG8 and the simplified bucket test. At Prosser, Gwen Hoheisel talked to us about spray application technologies and current research into precision spraying and a solid-set delivery system for tree fruit, table grapes, and wine. Ex-pat Kiwi Scott Harper, Program Director of the Clean Plant Center Northwest, gave an overview of their activities removing viruses from plants, especially related to tree fruit, hops, grapes. Later, at the Center for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems, Matt Whiting and Manoj Karkee presented some of their research into automation including robotic apple pruning and harvesting.

Crossing the arid high desert south of Prosser, we reached the irrigated zone fed from the Columbia River and were hosted by Kevin Corliss and Mike Means at the Ste Michelle, Paterson Winery. Once again, the soils and climate, combined by access to plentiful water, have enabled a large industry to develop. The contrast between irrigated and unirrigated is stark. The Ste Michelle vineyards are moving away from wooden posts to relatively simple warratah supported systems, which seem suited to mechanised installation along with their current mechanical planting.

Following down the Columbia River, we dipped into Oregon to visit Chris Adams at the Oregon State University Mid-Columbia Experiment Station. There is good collaboration with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and others with work primarily on pear and cherry production systems, integrated pest management and post-harvest storage.

Many thanks to the Callaghan Innovation team who organised and led the Horticultural Automation Immersion tour: Kev O’Reilly, Andrew Cameron and Simon Yarrow. Thanks to all our Washington State and Oregon hosts for generosity of time and knowledge sharing. And thanks to Kiwi travelling companions for their insights and openness about both our US experiences and their aims and activities in New Zealand.

Reports from California visits and the FIRA Robotics event in Salinas to follow.

The post Horticultural Automation in Washington State appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Cover crop measurements have continued over the winter. The hybrid treatment (annual ryegrass) will be sprayed out early September ahead of strip tilling to allow for the creation of a stale seed bed. The conventional treatment (annual ryegrass) will be sprayed out three weeks prior to planting. The regenerative treatment (oats, vetch and lupins) will not be sprayed out at all, and instead we will mow the cover crop and plant seedlings direct into the mulch (see last month’s newsletter for more details).  

While lots of folks have been sunning themselves in Europe or Fiji, we have been counting and weighing slugs… We are measuring relative slug activity using upside down pot plant bases, and there is a large range of slug numbers, from zero to eight per lid after being left for a few days. Since slugs could pose a threat to our small tomato seedlings, especially in the areas we aren’t cultivating, we are looking at control options.  

We have conducted a weed survey to look at weed populations in each plot, and record weed spectrum. We will complete more of these through the season to see if the different management practices used in each plot change the weed spectrum over time. We counted and identified weeds in a 0.5m x 0.5m quadrat four times in each plot.  

We have measured cover crop biomass pre-spray out and pre-grazing. We are in the process of drying samples to calculate dry matter percentage. Subsamples have been sent to Hill Labs to complete nitrogen and carbon percentages.  

Last Friday we had a delivery of lambs to graze the conventional treatment. The lambs will be rotating around our four conventional plots for the next few weeks.

Come and see for yourself on Wednesday 6 September – free registration via Eventbrite.

The post Carbon Positive Cover Crops: August 2023 appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Data from this sampling is being collated. A selection of sites will be revisited over the winter to track their progress. We have been back to some sites already. In places where grass seed was flown on or drilled soon after the event, light cattle and lambs are grazing. In shallower deposits, hooves seem to be doing a good job of ‘blending’ the sediment into the soil. In deeper deposits, plant roots have encouraged earthworm activity and a surprising number of earthworms can be found in some spots.

In June Dan and Alex visited farmers in Wairoa and Gisborne to view the impacts and share experiences and ideas for recovery. Most of the damage in Wairoa was in a small area near Frasertown, but there the sediment was very deep.

Gisborne sediment was finer than we saw in Wairoa. Bryce McLoughlin and David Sluter from Gisborne District Council took the lead sampling impacted sites across Tairawhiti and also in Wairoa “because we’re closer than you”, which was greatly appreciated. They guided Dan and Alex around typical sites showing orchards, vineyards, maize and vegetable paddocks.

Drainage in some areas has been very slow, not helped by a major pump failure.

Where landowners were quick to resow areas, grass growth has been very good. On first viewing, some sites even appeared to have missed to cyclone.

A workshop outlining the lessons from the past, and lessons for the future was held at Bushmere Arms and attracted 30 people. One of the messages heard was that even without Cyclone Gabrielle, things have been tough with far higher rainfalls in the last two growing seasons. Constant wetness and low light levels have impacted orchards and other crops.

The post Cyclone Gabrielle Update appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

Winter cover crops were planted in late April after sweetcorn was harvested. We have Moata annual ryegrass planted in the Conventional and Hybrid treatments and a mix of oats, vetch and blue lupins planted in our Regenerative treatment. Lambs will be arriving at the end of the month to graze the Conventional treatment. In an adjacent area, we are also following development of a post-cyclone sediment recovery mix provided by BioAg.

We have been regularly monitoring canopy cover using the Canopeo app. The app captures an image of an area of crop, green elements appear as white pixels and all other elements appear as black pixels, and an estimate of canopy cover is given as a percentage. The example given is from the Regenerative treatment which has oats, vetch and lupins. Canopeo estimates canopy cover is approximately 72%.

We are experimenting with measuring Relative Slug Activity in our plots, to see if there might be treatment differences in slug population. Using methodology from Oregon State University, flowerpot saucers were placed upside down in the plots and we are monitoring them after a few days. Slugs found under the saucers are counted and weighed.

We are also starting winter weed surveys, aiming to set baselines from which we can follow changes in weed spectrum that evolve under the different treatments. We did apply a pet-emergent herbicide to the conventional and hybrid treatments as weeds started growing larger than the ryegrass. But the regen treatment has remained unsprayed.

Spring Planting

Looking ahead to the spring, we are preparing for our next crop, which will be a tomato crop grown for Heinz-Watties. We are exploring how we can minimise soil disturbance before transplanting tomato seedlings in the Regenerative treatment. One option we have is to use the MulchTec planter which transplants seedlings directly into mulch, which could be applied mulch (e.g., silage) or into a mulched cover crop. As part of this preparation, Caleb Burberry (Heinz-Watties), Phil Schofield (Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust) and Alex Dickson (LandWISE) visited Tobias Euerl and Robert Hall from live2give in Palmerston North to see their MulchTec planter in action.

Live2give have their own Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFFF) project investigating the feasibility of mulch direct planting in commercial vegetable systems. Tobi and Robert have been instrumental in planning for our Regenerative treatment, and we look forward to working with them in the spring.

Carbon Positive is a partnership with the Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust, with funding from the Ministry for Primary Industries, McCain Foods, Kraft-Heinz and BASF.

The post Carbon Positive Update appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

We have also written a series of learning courses on our new website. You’ll have to sign up (for free) to access them because a login is needed to keep track of your progress. And there are some self-test questions to help reinforce the messages if you’d like to check your understanding.

Course 1 Nutrient management for vegetable crops covers nutrient management principles, taking representative samples, and nitrogen as a special case.

Course 2 is “How to run an on-farm fertiliser rate trial”. It is based on the “On-Farm Trial Guide” and covers the 10 point plan for running a successful trial.

Our next section is focused on fertiliser equipment calibration. We’ve already got some video in the can thanks to Extremekid Productions.

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

We have been delighted to have Bridgette Haldane working with us this summer, with support from Callaghan Innovation. A Hawke’s Bay local, Bridgette is studying agriculture at Massey University.

We have a major soil health and soil fertility programme this season. We are doing baseline measurements at the MicroFarm, and we have eight process crop paddocks with nitrate rate trials underway. Many of our soil samples are taken to 90 cm, so Bridgette’s enthusiasm for hard fieldwork is a real bonus!

While with us, Bridgette has been assisting with our Best Management of Nitrates in Process Cropping project, doing Nitrate Quick tests, VSA soil assessments, MicroFarm baseline testing and site maintenance, running a small greenhouse trial investigating the effects of two additives on sweetcorn germination and initial growth, trialling a new soil slaking test, helping make training videos and doing some work in our Nano-vineyard. We’ve also given her a couple of topics to research and summarise, a bonus on some of our wetter days!

The post Bridgette – our 2022-23 Summer Intern appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.

We are delighted to have Alex on board, with her strong background in nutrient management and a focus on sustainable production systems.

The local farms are part of the second year of our “Best Management Practice of Nitrates in Process Cropping” project funded by MPI through the Sustainable Farming Fund, with co-funding and support from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Kraft-Heinz Watties and McCain Foods. As with everyone else, the wet spring has delayed many plantings, but we have six trials established, with two more green bean crops to be planted in January.

We began an extension to our “Future Proofing Vegetable Production” project in July. That is making a series of online learning resources, based on the lessons from the Future Proofing Vegetable Production work in Gisborne and Horowhenua. Alex stars in two new videos, which can be viewed on our new-look website.

Alex is also managing a new trial that will be announced shortly. A lot of preliminary work behind the scenes and a huge amount of baseline sampling in the field has kept everyone very busy for the last few months.

The post Welcome Alex appeared first on LandWISE - Promoting sustainable land management.