viewpoint
March 2016
with John Barnes – Managing Director
The growing population of our planet all need to be fed. It is increasingly apparent to me that as the world’s population grows there will also be an increase in those whose wealth puts them into the category of discerning buyers demanding the best quality food for their families.
New Zealand has always been a nation renowned for producing food that is the best in the world both in quality and price. Our temperate climate allows us to grass feed our animals all year around and, with a minimum amount of supplementary food be it crops or hay and silage, we are able to avoid the need for housing our cows in the winter months. There has been a trend following the higher dairy prices of recent years to move to a costlier production system entailing the housing of animals at least for a few months of the year. Unfortunately we are still selling our milk into a commodity market and that means that prices are not stable and can drop significantly and quickly as we have just experienced. The only way to combat that and stay in business is to get back to producing quality milk as cheaply as possible. THIS IS, AFTER ALL, WHAT HAS MADE US UNIQUE. We are one of the few countries which can do this and be profitable without subsidies.
Many farmers are finding that they can reduce stock numbers and, by fully feeding the quality cows they retain, the farm can produce as much milk per hectare with less cost thus making the whole operation profitable again. Fortunately other sectors of pastoral farming who have not been tempted to get into higher cost production methods are doing quite well, so all is not doom and gloom in the agricultural world.
The underlying message is that we must produce quality food at the lowest cost. For many years now Fertliizer New Zealand has advocated ways for farmers to cut costs without sacrificing production. We begin with our soils which are complex, and the way we treat our soils will have a marked effect on what they will produce.
Carbon is an important component of our soil, and farmers looking to improve their profitability should ensure that building fertility through increasing soil carbon is central to their farming system. Why our scientists and farm leaders have neglected to prove to our authorities how much carbon is being sequestered in our soils by pastoral farming is beyond my comprehension. They are doing our farmers a grave disservice by their neglect!!!
The world’s most fertile soils are deep and rich in carbon supporting a vast variety of microorganisms which promote high crop yields, natural disease resistance and superior water retention qualities. All these attributes assist the nutrient uptake of plants and improve the soil structure resulting in higher dry matter production. All this is achieved with less fertiliser which in turn leads to a better financial bottom line.
Deep root structures will flourish if we can avoid soil compaction so prevalent on our farms and once we attain this, the roots will provide a ‘nutrient net’ which captures nutrients moving down through the soil profile and feed them back to the plant. If the roots do not capture the nutrients they are simply lost to our precious waterways and as well as doing immense harm it is simply money down the drain.
If we over use nitrogen we also strip carbon from our soils and so it is hugely important to look at the types of fertilisers we use rather than the ‘one size fits all’ approach we have fallen into in recent years. We should only use fertilisers that build carbon in our soil and be very careful with ones that strip it out.
At Fertilizer New Zealand we go to great pains to provide fertlisers which enhance the carbon in the soil. Just two of these are VitaLife and Vitaphos. Our representatives will be happy to explain them to you.
Next month I will include some technical details on carbon written by others who I respect, and hopefully this will give you a better insight into the world of our soils as seen by scientists.
John Barnes, Managing Director, Fertilizer New Zealand.