viewpoint
April 2015
with John Barnes – Managing Director
As time passes I am increasingly concerned at the lack of any meaningful change in the advice that is provided to farmers by those in the soil nutrient field. Fertilizer New Zealand is providing options and taking on board the concerns of our communities and the calls for change from people to whom sustainability is a huge issue.
I have met literally thousands of farmers over my working life and every one of them would take offence if I were to suggest that they did not farm sustainably. “Does the non-farming public think that we would deliberately devalue millions of dollars of our own land?” they say.
But this sustainability issue is an evolving one, and by that I mean that what was okay a few years ago is not okay now and in a year or so it will be different again. And it is this need to anticipate the future which is exactly the point that I want to traverse in this article.
There was a day when our farming leaders, Government Ministers of agriculture and our scientists would grasp this problem by the horns and deal with it in a full and open manner with lots of noise and heated discussion from which a clear path forward would emerge. But this has not happened and it is this which is at the heart of my concern. I will be even more forthright by saying that it appears to me that there is a lot of denial going on and further to that I believe that many of the so called solutions are not much more than hasty stop gaps that do very little in real terms.
I read all of the information put out by our Environmental Commissioners and every other group that has a say in these matters. Without exception all of them have serious concerns about the way we are treating our environment with current farming practices. What is supposed to be happening is a careful monitoring of nutrient inputs by tools such as Overseer and other measuring devices. Much is said about how careful we should be with our nutrient applications and how we should monitor the use of same.
But… out where it all happens on the farm our farmers are being told to put on more acid based superphosphate and more nitrogen if they want to maintain and increase production. This is simply nuts!!! It is common place for dairy farmers in particular, to apply nitrogen on each paddock immediately it is grazed, come rain hail or shine. Then we read that nitrogen should only be applied at optimum times… like when it is damp and there is a likelihood of rain or a shower or followed immediately by irrigation. That is the correct way of doing things but the authors of these wise words are fully aware that this is not what their reps are saying to the farmers. This is where my contentions of denial come from.
If there is a problem, and there is a lot of evidence to say there is… and we measure our inputs carefully, which is open to question… how come we have not changed anything? How come we are pouring on more of the same in increasing quantities?
Logic should tell us that if we continue to apply the same products in greater quantities then the problem will get a lot worse… not better. And of course this is exactly what is happening. This leads me to believe that many of the tools such as the Overseer programme are either faulty or designed as an SOP just so that people in the industry can claim to be doing something.
No wonder then that the poor farmer is copping criticism from environmentalists. These people are not fooled by flim-flam and talk of change because they can read the fertiliser application figures too, believe it or not.
We at Fertilizer New Zealand believe that our farmers need to be better served and provided with real options that are sensible alternatives to that which is proven to be causing the harm to our waterways and lakes. Our representatives are able to offer products that leach less, release nutrients to the plant over a sustained period, have way less cadmium in them and still provide everything that the plants require for growth and stock health.
In short… we are providing solutions to some very serious problems and as the Managing Director, I am very proud of that.
John Barnes
As this autumn season finishes and we start planning for next season, it a great time to look at soil testing.
A soil test can provide information on the proper amount of lime and fertilizer to apply to your property. When farmers apply only as much lime and fertilizer as is necessary and at the appropriate time, nutrient runoff into surface or ground water is minimized, money is saved, and plant and animal health is optimized. Soil testing can also be used to diagnose common nutrient deficiencies for pasture that is growing poorly.
The reliability of the soil test, however, can be no better than the sample you submit. For results you can depend on, it is vitally important that samples are correctly and accurately taken to represent the soil in your landscape. It is important to sample the various soil types which means a strategic approach needs to be taken.
Care needs to be taken when interpreting these tests because at best they are a small sample of your total property. It is important to look for trends. Trends over several years on the same transom line on the same block will show if any of the levels have shifted up or down. For more information on testing give us a call.
KAREN FROM SOUTHLAND WRITES…
As I write this the soil temperatures are ranging from 12 to 14 degrees Celsius, meaning that there is still some quite good pasture growth in Southland. Farmers have been making the most of the fine weather to get the last of the autumn fertiliser on to further the pasture growth into the cooler weather.
Winter crops started off slowly over much of the South, but have really kicked away in the last few weeks due to good growing conditions. Those who have boosted their crops with nitrogen should beware of nitrate poisoning prior to starting their stock on this feed.
The arable farmers are well into getting their grain in; most will be trying to beat the predicted southerly change which will cool the soil down. Hopefully there will still be another month of growing conditions. The last of the round bales are coming off the paddocks.
Dairy farmers are beginning the wind down for the season. Many are on 16-hour milking while some have gone to once a day.
Alongside all of this farm work, farm utes are buzzing around loaded to the brim with scrub and camouflage gear; the ducks have no idea what’s just around the corner!
Regards
Karen (027) 733 1619
