May 2013

VIEWPOINT

with John Barnes, Managing Director – May 2013

The 2013 Budget has been delivered and with very little money to spare, there should have been no surprises. I don’t think many people were expecting any. As I was in Wellington on business, I took the opportunity to sit in the gallery of Parliament, and watch the Honourable Bill English deliver the Budget first hand, which was an interesting experience.

What budgets always highlight to me, is the importance of agriculture, even though it is never as exciting as our city-based business people would like. Their businesses are often hyped to the max and under-deliver in macro-economic terms, whereas agriculture is like the strong silent type; doesn’t get much attention but underpins everything.

Having said that, I am sure that all farmers will welcome the irrigation initiatives in the Budget, which have been in the pipeline for ages, are long overdue, and now hopefully about to become a reality. As the Primary Industries Minister, the Honourable Nathan Guy said, “we do not have a water shortage [problem] so much as a water storage shortage”. It seems that this will now be attended to. It emphasises the critical role of agriculture in our economy, when a drought can upset the Budget predictions as much as it has, and I am sure that this has stirred some people into action.

Without wishing to rain on their parade, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that New Zealand agriculture will not take the huge leap in productivity gains that this Government seeks, unless we become more aware of our soils, and the critical mass of organisms that they contain. Why is it that research in this area of science has been languishing for the past fifteen to twenty years?

I have my suspicions, but suffice to say that we at Fertilizer New Zealand base all of our programmes on a sustainable basis, looking at both the short term fertility and the long term health of our soils, which are the lifeblood of agriculture. Unless our Government understands this, they will not succeed in meeting their targets.

Nevertheless we will be doing our bit to ensure that they do at least come close to those ambitious goals.

In recent times I have heard that moving away from the Phosphate/Nitrogen – chemical system will cost the farmer money, lose production and will drop the value of the farm by 20%. I am not sure where they got those figures from, but I do know who is promoting this theory. It is the chemical advisers who have had training only in the chemical system. True there are farmers who go the biological way and can be extreme but at Fertilizer New Zealand we do not necessarily agree with that type of system either.

We tend to take a more moderate approach that takes the best from the chemical system and the best from the biological system, which we have developed into a new generation system. It is a logical and practical system which many farmers will see as a common sense approach.

Farmers using this system will get better utilisation from the fertiliser applied because of a more friable soil and a better root system, amongst other things. These soils will also hold moisture better because the carbon within the soil has a greater water-holding capacity. This will obviously provide better pasture, greater animal health and greater production.

Soil Testing

This is the traditional time for soil testing and while there is nothing wrong with testing now, testing can be done at almost any time of the year.

The main points to consider for your main soil test are;

Always test at the same time of the year. Nutrient values can vary depending on the time of the year.
Always test on the same line. You can use GPS coordinates or white paint on fence posts is just as efficient. Steer away from trees, troughs and gateways.
If herbage samples are taken during the year, and I suggest they are, then take them from the same lines that the soil tests were taken from. This is so if problems arise we can see trends in both soil and herbage tests.

Reading Soil Tests

My pattern for explaining soil tests works like this. Start with what matters most – in our opinion, Calcium is King.

The Calcium indicators are Calcium, pH and Base Saturation. All three of those tests should read the same, whether that is high, low or medium. If they don’t there is something wrong – which is where we fit in. Our job is to figure out what needs to be fixed.

We are dealing with cations; that is Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and Sodium; Calcium holds the highest percentage in the soil at 65%. Magnesium holds the next spot at around 10%. Potassium is next with Sodium last but by no means least with 1 – 2%.

There are ratios for all of these elements which are very important and need to be adhered to. All of these deal with and are fundamental to animal health. Most of them revolve around Potassium being too high and Calcium, Magnesium and Sodium being too low or out of ratio.

The Olsen P is another test of importance, although more significance should be placed on a more accurate and recently introduced test called the “Resin P” test. Incidentally, the Olsen P test has a margin of plus or minus 40% which is huge.

The best way to read all of the soil tests is to look for trends, even if the Phosphate isn’t accurate. Which way are the tests trending? Up or down? If the tests over a few years show stability or growth and the ratios are correct then there is no reason for concern.

Potassium is another element that needs to be read carefully. Clay soils can easily hide Potash. If you are unsure of your Potash levels, there is a total Potash test available which will give a far more accurate reading. The other test to be aware of is the Base Saturation K test. This is also an indicator of Potash.

Our staff are trained to read these tests and give you an assessment of your fertiliser requirements.

Soils

The pasture growth around New Zealand has been very encouraging. Many are telling me that if it stays mild for a bit longer, then there will not be a feed shortage for this coming winter. This is great news as it sets us up for a good spring.

Many farmers are reactive, while most working with our new generation system from Fertilizer New Zealand are proactive farmers.

A simple illustration reactive farmers are those who use growth promotant products like Nitrogen to boost pasture every few weeks, then use veterinary products to sort out all sorts of animal-health problems like grass staggers, milk fever and bloat. This is a very costly system and leads to a multitude of preventative products and measures being implemented. Many of these farmers are in it for the quick buck – make huge unsustainable profits from bought production, and sell it off showing “proven” milk solid production. The next farmer soon realises to do this production is unsustainable and is stuck with a farm that has been sold on pretence.

The new generation system is proactive, realising that pasture requires a range of factors to reach its potential, start working towards those factors and this is a long term project. These farmers use what most business people set out with, that is the end in mind. They work with a holistic system; soil, plant and animal. I will look at the soil this time.

Soil

Soils are very complex. They are, or should be, alive. The cheapest soil test anyone can do is a dig test. Some call it a visual soil assessment.

Dig out a spade-width square – around 200 x 200 cube. Lay it out on a plastic sheet. Break it open – this will give it a soil “profile”.

If it breaks open easily, then compaction will be limited. Check the root depth; If roots are limited to the top 50mm (2 inches), this pasture is limited to how much fertiliser it can take up and will be subject to drought and pulling.

But back to the soil – Is this soil porous – is it a solid block or are there air pockets throughout the sample? If there are air pockets, what is the ratio? Soils should contain about 20% air. If it does then it is classified as being a porous soil. If not it will be compacted and to what extent will depend on the content of air cavities present.

The colour of the soil is important. A soil with brown mottles could contain iron, or a blue colour could indicate a pugged soil or a dead soil – an indicator of a dead soil is a bad smell. Soils that are alive have a real earthy smell similar to the smell of fresh rain on asphalt.
To find out if Carbon is present in the soil, take a sample and rub it between your thumb and forefinger. If there is a dark grey/black colour left on your fingers, there is Carbon present. Most soils should have up to 5% Carbon. If you are not sure of this, take some washed sand and do the same test. Your fingers will stay clean.

Different soils will need to be fed at different rates and in different ways. This is where our team at Fertilizer New Zealand will assist you – they are trained to understand the different types of soils and what they require for best production. In many cases, fertiliser N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Ng ratios are just as important as the amount applied.

I have seen in the past 20 years, soils with too much of one element and nothing growing. A common problem is what the major companies call money in the bank. It is of course, phosphate. The elements phosphate can lock up are numerous, so please don’t follow this thinking. It just leads to more problems – which will cost you money and lead to loss of production.