April 2013

VIEWPOINT

with John Barnes, Managing Director – April 2013

Trading Places

John Key is leading another Trade Mission to China. One of his messages is that we do not have an inexhaustible supply of land for China to buy but we do encourage them to build factories for food processing and specialised products like infant formula.

This approach makes a whole lot of sense to me as we are pretty good at farming but maybe other countries are better at knowing what their home markets want.

Tim Groser, our Trade Minister, puts it succinctly when he says that, simply transferring products to China and India that were designed for American and European markets is not a very smart idea. These expanding markets in Asia must have products that are specifically designed for them if we are to be successful.

Also from our Trade Minister is the wisdom that not since 1750 has world economic power been in the hands of those countries with the biggest populations. Now with the re-emergence of China and India as economic powerhouses those old rules will once again prevail. Namely that the worlds wealth will largely be distributed in line with where the people live.

We at Fertilizer New Zealand are particularly interested to note news reports coming back from China that our “Clean Green” image is paramount to these markets. We know that to preserve that status we need to have far more New Zealand farmers using our environmentally friendly products as opposed to the other.

Vegetative Growth and Reproductive Growth

A plant with a good root system and sufficient water and nutrients will generally grow and thrive. In plant terms, this is vegetative growth.

There are times in the life of a plant when something happens. It turns cold, the soil dries out, there is a lack of nutrients or the root structure is not sufficient to support the plant. Then the plant stresses and will go into reproductive mode.

When this happens the growth of the plant slows down and often stops.

Through the plants own inbuilt mechanism, it believes it is about to die so it produces a seed head.

In the case of pasture this seed head needs to be removed either by topping or a light grazing. This will put the pasture back into reproductive growth again.

In the case of fruiting trees or vines, the summer/autumn harvest has been taken off and in many farmers minds it is a time to rest until spring. However, the tree or vine needs to build up energy again before spring. For this to happen, a balanced foliar food is required. This gets taken up into the plant via the leaves and is stored in the sap which is drawn down into the root system during winter, waiting for spring.

Actavize is great at doing this, as it has all the nutrients in balance and is readily available.

Reseeding For Autumn

The drought will have no doubt caused a lot of pasture damage. In many cases reseeding will be necessary.

I am of the opinion we need to look back at some of the older pasture species that are more drought resistant and require lower fertility. There are pastures that will grow just as fast and will hold on a lot longer and more importantly will not cost a fortune.

There are companies out there who supply proven older varieties. One such company is Frame Grain and Seeds in Culverden. (03-315-8149)

While many farmers will wish to include some newer varieties here are some pointers to consider;

• check palatability – do the stock like what is growing?
• add in a variety of fast growing grass like an Italian rye grass which has strong cool season growth.
• plantain – great for stock health and is also drought resistant.
• always include white clover. It has more calcium than rye grass which means more milk and better bone structure for your animals.

Kelvin Hicks, Willowmere Organic Farm

Winner of a Ballance Farm Environment Award
The Hill Laboratories Harvest Award for the Canterbury region which promotes sustainable profitable farming.

 

Congratulations to Kelvin Hicks who farms the 115ha family farm in Hororata – it is one of only two large scale organic vegetable businesses in Canterbury. Carrots, potatoes and green-leaf barley are the mainstay crops with sheep and beef being a complementary part of the organic system.

In 1991 John and Trish Hicks purchased the then conventional sheep farm and in 1995 the farm became a fully certified organic farm. Kelvin (who in association with his parents John and Trish Hicks – who are now semi-retired), was “alarmed at the amount of chemicals used in farming”. Preferring to “work with nature” – over a number of years he looked at changing over to a totally organic system.

With a rainfall of 850mm per annum and only using BioGro certified fertiliser (no urea) the focus is to develop life in the soil, deep root structure and more microbial activity and oxygen in the soil.

The judges noted that in presenting the award, Kelvin demonstrated “Excellent understanding of weed and pest management with the limited range of treatments available”.

Fertilizer New Zealand has been part of Kelvins team for many years.

Congratulations Kelvin!

Constructive Ambiguity

The recent TV3 story on cadmium in soils has raised some interesting debate.

The fact is that ALL phosphate fertilisers have cadmium in them.

The fact that isn’t so obvious is that the cadmium levels are different in the various mines. Some phosphate deposits have high cadmium levels while others are quite low.

Some information put out by one of our competitors was what I would call constructive ambiguity. It says a lot about nothing.

At Fertilizer New Zealand we have been very aware of this situation and have chosen to import only very low cadmium fertilisers. It may cost us a bit more, but sometimes the best comes at a price.

click above to watch the full report.

The following is from an article by John Turner:

Soil and Pasture Nitrate after Drought

The Facts:

Pasture growth stops during drought, but mineralisation of soil Organic Matter continues to release Nitrate-N into the soil. The effect is that soil Nitrate-N levels accumulate and pasture utilisation of soil N has slowed or stopped depending on the severity of the drought.

When drought breaking rain finally arrives, growth of surviving pasture will resume utilising the accumulation of soil Nitrate-N. Post drought pasture grass growth is typically lush with a high Nitrate-N content, very high Protein, high Potassium and low Calcium compared to dairy cow dietary requirements.

The effect of summer drought that is severe enough to cause the grass to ‘brown-off’ and go dormant is that root carbohydrate reserves are depleted and root mass is reduced. Ideal ‘post drought’ management of ryegrass should allow pastures to grow to ‘2.5 to 3 leaf stage’, or about 30 days growth before grazing. The effect of this grazing interval is to allow the pasture grass to start to replenish root reserves, minimise the risk of Nitrate-N toxicity to livestock and to provide appropriate Protein, Calcium and Potassium for good feed conversion efficiency.

Farmers are short of feed for livestock, so when pasture growth resumes, the tendency is to feed livestock on fresh re-growth. Pasture that is grazed before the ‘2 leaf stage’ will lack vigour and ultimately be less productive. Early grazing of ‘post drought’ pasture growth will significantly increase the risk of Nitrate-N toxicity and excessively high Protein and Potassium in addition to low Calcium will increase the risk of metabolic stress.

Where there is no alternative to early grazing of recovering pasture, feeding of supplements that have a high carbohydrate and/or fibre content will improve feed conversion efficiency and reduce the risk of metabolic stress to stock. Submit samples of pasture immediately prior to the first grazing post drought for a Nitrate-N test, this will provide good information for livestock grazing management in addition to indicating when pasture grass may start to become responsive to N fertiliser.

Stay tuned for more from John in future newsletters…