Biological Agriculture Success Stories
Biological Agriculture is an approach that emphasises the need to balance, and make plant-available, a range of soil minerals, especially calcium and phosphorous. The goal is to achieve a diverse, robust soil microbe population that creates active humus.
Active soil humus means more fertile and friable soils, better water utilisation, reduced need for fertilisers and pesticides, and greater nutritional density of the food produced. This translates to better animal health, less erosion, no leachate, greater profit, and more satisfaction for the farmer.
The focus is on supplying oxygen, water, food and comfort to the most important farm livestock - the underground ones.
The following are examples of biological agricultural approaches in action using a variety of products available in New Zealand.
Dairy
1. A Waikato dairy farmer (client of Abron Living Soil Solutions) has an 82 h dairy farm, was milking 270 cows twice a day producing 91,000 kg milk solids applying 250 kg N (urea/DAP) and 925 kg Pot Superten per hectare. He was growing 7 ha turnips as well as growing and buying in a total of 160-210 T maize plus 30-40 T of palm kernel. He needed to drill annuals and top paddocks every year. He had an empty rate of 5% and was using CIDRs.
He's now into his third year of a biological agriculture programme which has included fine lime and RPR, bio-complexed trace minerals, foods for soil biology and compost teas with 60 units of N from urea, sulphate of ammonia and DAP. He has dropped to 260 cows, switched to once a day milking and oversown with plantain and chicory getting better quality, leafier pasture with less growth variability. Grass brix has moved from ~5 to ~10. His fertiliser cost rose from $36 K to $48K but is likely to be below $30K this year. Empty rate dropped to 3.8% and he no longer uses CIDRs as his cows cycle well. He only buys in ~27T of maize silage and 20T of palm kernel and no longer employs off farm labour. Total milk solids production has dropped to 84,000 kg but his farm expenses have also fallen from $2/ kg to $1.60/ kg.
The client has been monitoring performance closely using Red Sky and Interlact and is very happy with the performance of the operation having just had the best financial results ever. In 2005 - 06 when most dairy farmers failed to make a profit, they were making good progress and better profits in the same climate.
2. Kevin Davidson, Plantation Road Dairies, Hawke's Bay (a client of Abron ) farms 560 hectares centre pivot cropping and milking 1500 cows year round. He began a bio ag regime in August 06 applying fine calcium and RPR, MAP, sea minerals, bio stimulant inoculum, trace minerals, fish emulsion and humic acid in a slurry after each shifting of the cows. He supplemental feeds with vegetable wastes, palm kernel and mineral nutrients. He has reversed his three-year declining milk solids by a 70,000 litre lift in production without appreciable increase in supplements.
Grass is much more palatable with cows eating immediately on entering the paddock instead of walking to the far end then grazing back. Topping dropped from 1.5 times for the whole farm to none needed. Dry cow levels are negligible. Blood profile is outstanding and biopsy indicates the need to now reduce mineral supplements as liver copper levels have risen. He has reduced N use by a third and experienced a greater than 10% lift in milk solids production. For an $81 increase per hectare in fertiliser cost, he netted an additional $986 net profit.
* * *
Pastoral
1. Mason and Sue Fraser, Taihape own a 850ha sheep and beef farm near Taihape that had been under a superphosphate programme for three generations. In the last 10 years there have been some 50ha trial areas of different conventional treatments conducted. Now three years into comparing conventional approaches to a biological programme with Environmental Fertilisers, Mason sees marked positive changes in the biological trial area. Autumn 2006 was a difficult time for lamb finishers indicated by larger than normal store lamb sales in the region. All lambs on his property finished at better weights and in shorter time on the biological regime. No viral pneumonia in his lambs from February onwards in the last two years goes against their norm of the previous 15 years.
Silage cut from the biological area had higher ME and was preferred by the R1yr cattle over silage from the conventional paddocks. R1yr cattle grazing conventional pasture showed the need for a yearly copper bullet whereas on the biological area copper was withheld and the usual deficiency symptoms didn't eventuate.
Stock are preferentially grazing the biologically treated blocks so hard that different stock management approaches are needed.
* * *
Cropping
1. Don Hart an Ashburton grain grower and aerial spreader, has been applying biological agriculture practices to his farm and operations for the last nine months and is noticing marked differences in crop response. He is applying fine lime with carbohydrates, composted RPR and calcium nitrate as basic soil amendments. Using foliar applications of very small amounts of composite minerals like magnesium, he has achieved high yields with no insecticide on his pea and wheat crops in a very poor grey, drizzly year while his neighbours were struggling to bring in a crop. His available residual nitrogen levels have come up to 160 - 170 kg per Ha with minimal-to-no urea use. His humus formation, in even a short time, is very good and his wheat protein levels are the best in the district.
* * *
Horticulture
1. Tony Robinson, Rambler Flowers Levin, followed Arden Andersen's in- class recommendations and in March began weekly applications of lime and compost teas to his frost-tender and poor performing foliage ferns. By mid-winter 05 despite plenty of frosts, his fern crops were the best ever in winter, with plenty of strong growth. Production was up 30% on the previous year despite only being part-way through the season. "Crops seem to be able to handle the frosty conditions better this year. We have repeatedly gone down to minus three degrees and we've had very little damage."
2. Clarrie Head, Te Puke had his kiwifruit production lift from 80,000 trays to 110,000 trays in 2006 after attending Arden Andersen's three-day "Balancing Soils for Profit" course and applying Dolozest. He stresses the need to keep soil energy flow levels up and to pay attention to micronutrient availability. On another property he has doubled production to 13,000 trays per hectare and the brix and dry matter levels are among the best in the industry. This season his dry matter percentages for Golds are 18.37% and his TZG 0.63 vs the industry average of 16.5% and 0.5 TZG. For Greens his dry matter was 18% and TZG was 0.65. Worm counts on this block are extremely high at 500/m˛ and he doesn't summer prune or apply fungicides. Previously his fruit was harvested in late May. Under a bio ag program his premium fruit were cleared for harvest in late March with taste band Y protocol A.
3. Lyn Hall, Avocado Orchard, Tauranga (Client of Abron Living Soil Solutions). The orchard is 10 years old. It has been managed within organic principles until a year ago when a full biological programme was put in place. The orchard has had significant issues with poor production. Three of the four blocks yielded approx 11 tons per Ha in 04 - 05 and 6 tons per Ha in 05 - 06 whilst the fourth block, which is 40% of the orchard, has yielded 0 tons per Ha every year since planting. Separate CEC soil tests and plant tissue tests have in the past been taken to look for differences in fertility. No significant differences have been found or differences in the condition of the trees observed between these blocks.
A programme of fine lime being applied with live biology and bio foods is now in place along with the addition of fish, seaweed and carbohydrates with low rates of NPK. Observations of the soil in early 2006 were of a tight fairly collapsed structure that had very little surface rooting activity. Visual improvements to the soil structure are now being seen. The fruit that was set in November 06 on the first three blocks is estimated at being 10 to 12 tonnes per Ha while the first set ever to hold on the 4th block is estimated to be more than 15 tonnes per Ha.
* * *
Overseas examples
1. Beyond Organix of Fresno, California provides cultivation instructions to, and markets the fruit from, 20 orchards at premiums of three to four times the average. Beyond Organix follows biological agricultural practices of soil aeration, compost application, extensive liming, low to no N use, mineral rebalancing, and two green crops a year between the trees. The orchardist must achieve brix levels above 14 in their trees' leaves. The sweetness and taste of the peaches, citrus and apricots they produce are such that grocery chain buyers queue up to forward-purchase their fruit before the season starts. Having Beyond Organix fruit in the supermarket makes a 1% to 3% increase in the total supermarket annual turnover. Demand for premium quality fruit vastly exceeds the supply, and the return to the grower increases each year.
* * *