I am the first to admit that the ideas I am presenting in this blog go, in some areas, way beyond what I can claim to be my field of expertise. I have however done a search of existing scientific research in this area, and found nothing. So someone has to start the discussion. … Read more
Part 1 High P-using dairy farms in the Waikato and Taranaki have enriched soil cadmium (Cd) levels because of the decades-long use of high-Cd manufacturing phosphate rocks from Nauru and Christmas Island to make superphosphate. This shameful legacy is being ‘managed’ by MPI by restricting the Cd level in phosphate fertilisers that can be … Read more
Bert does the Overseer® Nutrient Management course at Massey I decided I would sit the Overseer® Nutrient Management course at Massey University a couple of months ago, just to make sure I was up to speed on the changes in the latest version. Both the P and N models are still ridiculously biased towards underestimating … Read more
At Waikaraka Park Auckland with Lana watching youngest brother Mick race his mighty SuperSaloon. He won the feature race as well!
Very proud to be awarded Life Membership of the New Zealand Soil Science Society for “Outstanding service to the Society” in Hamilton on Friday 29th November.
What’s happening and what’s causing it? Global warming is happening. This is fact. The main reason is the rapid increase of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane in the atmosphere. These ‘greenhouse’ gases (GHGs) trap heat which would otherwise be lost from the planet. See the graph of CO2 increase since 1960! At least … Read more
Farmers have asked me what I think of SurePhos. Given the huge resources Ballance has at its disposal, and the pre-release hype, the specs of the product left me feeling underwhelmed; sad even. But one good thing; by advertising it as a fertiliser that has 75% less P runoff loss (relative to super in much … Read more
Apply with your Nitrogen and save 50% Dairy farmers are coming under increasing pressure from different combinations of things in different areas of NZ; lack of rainfall, disappointing payouts, bank lending becoming more focused on cash-flow, and increasing environmental restrictions and requirements. So why talk about potassium (potash) in this context? Well, a key … Read more
Everywhere in the world, before the intervention of man and fertiliser, soil, vegetation and animal systems evolved naturally to make the most efficient use of the rate of nutrients becoming available from parent materials, assisted by the local climatic conditions. Except during extreme events such as flooding or earthquakes, losses of nutrients to the outside … Read more
There is a way Dr Bert Quin, July 2011 We have pretty much done the easy bits – fencing streams for example, to prevent direct access by stock and preventing runoff of effluent into streams being the two big ones – but nutrients continue to enter waterways from our agricultural land, simply because … Read more