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
Prior to 1990, fertiliser N was used only strategically on NZ dairy farms, once or twice a year. MAF’s Farm Advisors cautioned against wider use because of adverse effects on clover growth. Dairy farming was mainly on the deep, free-draining volcanic soils of the Waikato and Taranaki, which had reliable summer rainfall. Developments in … Read more
Within the new EU Green Deal, its ‘Farm-to-Fork’ policy sets specific objectives for agriculture-food system sustainability. These include reducing nutrient losses by 50% and reducing fertiliser use by 20% by 2030. These objectives are interlinked; the development of more efficient fertilisers automatically reduces fertiliser requirements and reduces nutrient losses. In NZ by comparison, no … Read more
This issue is not going to go away. Environmentalists, farmer organisations like Federated Farmers, Fertmark and the fertiliser cooperatives are all ‘muddying the waters’ by using simplistic and self-serving arguments. We can keep going round and round the merry-go-round of passing the buck, or the government can put some effort into incentivising farmers to … Read more
Why has Quin Environmentals offered its Algerian RPR – internationally recognised as one of the best – in 2 forms since 2018? Simply because the ‘standard’ RPR contains about 7% dolomite. This gives it an artificially low result in the 1970s-vintage Fertmark 30-min citsol test, because the dolomite preferentially consumes the citric acid. It does … Read more
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
