With the arrival of NZ-wide competition to the duopoly, and my reduced level of energy, I am now putting more of my available time into providing independent fertiliser cost comparisons for farmers. These include full explanations regarding what nutrients in particular fertilisers are needed on a particular farm, and which are not. For example, farmers … Read more
The complex judgement comes down to 6 key points: Ballance sought a permanent injunction preventing Quinfert Algerian RPR being described as an RPR in advertising. It failed in this objective. To quote from the judgement: “Apart from the [Fertmark] citsol test, the Algerian RPR meets the other tests for RPR.” And further, the Judge said: … Read more
Part 1: Background. A suggested path for improving New Zealand’s water quality and reducing global warming gas emissions, starting now. Part 1: Background. (Part 2: increasing soil C). In the 35 years since the future importance of agricultural exports was dismissed by the government of the day, we have instead become increasingly dependent … Read more
In the early1970s, the most widely accepted challenge facing human existence was how to feed a rapidly growing world population (5 billion then). However, in a mere 50 years, plant breeding and scientific advances in crop production enable us to feed today’s 8 billion. Food shortages that do occur are actually distribution problems in … Read more
This provides us a great opportunity to reset how we look at farming and the environment. One where, instead of Overseer, which uses hidden N and P models to brush over the alarming effects on nutrient runoff and leaching that can result from individual applications of excess granular urea and water-soluble phosphate, we grab this … Read more
1. Peat/organic soils DO NOT retain water-soluble P, form of P present in superphosphate, TSP or DAP. 2. Scientific research has demonstrated mass that P fertilisers only need to contain 0.10-0.15 mg/L (ppm) water soluble P in the soil solution to maintain maximum pasture production. The sustained-release of RPR over 2-3 years maintains this … Read more
1. New Zealand has over 200,000 ha of peat (aka organic) soils, mostly in the Hauraki Plains and the Waituna catchment in Southland. Most have been drained and underdairying. 2. The use of soluble P fertiliser like superphosphate and DAP on these soils is disastrous . Most of the soluble P is lost in … Read more
Nutrient cycling in natural ecosystems is incredibly efficient, having had immense periods of time to develop. It is incredibly arrogant of mankind to come along and impose totally different, man-made farming systems where natural ecosystems used to be, and assume that everything will be fine and dandy. We initially got away with it with … Read more
As people who read my website www.quinfert.co.nz or my posts on LinkedIn will know, I have started taking part in the debate on regenerative farming (regen for short). Many members of the agricultural research fraternity, particularly those involved in various aspects of dairy farming, have criticised regen for even daring to exist as a … Read more