The Top Ten Farming Tips for 2016

Caroline Plouff

Soil Health is Financial Health• The biggest mindset change in the move toward a more sustainable agricultural future is the

recognition that you are dealing with a living system and that everything you do will impact that system. Your goal is to make that impact positive. However, a second paradigm shift involves an understanding that risk reduction, recession proofing and financial reward are intimately linked to the health of your soil life. It amazes me that research is still required to prove this point.

• Disease is the biggest risk factor limiting financial success in cropping and there is no disease that is not naturally controlled by a fully functioning soil foodweb. There are hundreds of papers linking specific disease protection to particular beneficial soil organisms. There are older farmers the world over who lament the loss of earthworms, soil structure and resilience, linked to the rise and rise of extractive agriculture. There are younger farmers, of course, who have never seen an earthworm on their properties and perhaps they are the audience for the latest “findings”.

• Enviroveg, for example, is a research initiative by Ausveg, the industry body for vegetable growers. The 2011 Enviroveg studies conclusively confirmed that soil health determined the need for chemical intervention, particularly in relation to fungicides. The irony here though, is that chemicals beget chemicals, and the collateral damage from this viscous cycle is to the soil life that actually reduces the need for chemicals.

• So, how do we escape the treadmill, how do we improve the life in our soils and reduce the need for chemicals? The answer involves a three-way approach including the protection, repopulation and stimulation of this silent workforce.

• Protection involves soil management decisions like the reduction of tillage (a proven humus depletor), the use of detox agents, like fulvic acid, to minimise the damage potential of the chemicals and the utilisation of compost and humates to boost humus levels. Humus (organic carbon) tends to buffer some of the damage associated with farm chemicals.

• Repopulation involves brewing and applying inexpensive specialist inoculums and compost teas along with the use of actual compost (which is, essentially, a broad spectrum inoculum).

Become Carbon Wise

• Agriculture is the biggest single green house gas polluter accounting for 25% of CO2 emissions, 60% of methane emissions and a whopping 85% of the nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere every year. It is only due to the importance of food production and food security that farmers have yet to be penalised for their premier role in global warming.

• I am not suggesting that this will change in 2012. In fact, the industry is set to be rewarded for reclaiming some of the CO2 it has contributed (via carbon credits). The loss of 70% of our soil humus over the past 150 years has contributed 470 gigatonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. All of mankind’s other enterprises, including industry and transport, have contributed 270 gigatonnes of CO2. Agriculture has been the big culprit and it will also prove to be the savior as no one else can save the day in time.

Become Carbon Wise

• Humus is built from CO2 that would otherwise be in the atmosphere. If we increase soil organic matter levels by 1% in US croplands, for example, we capture 4.5 billion of the 8 billion tonnes of CO2 that the American’s release each year. This is the only strategy, at this stage that is capable of halting or reversing climate change! So, how do we convert atmospheric carbon into soil carbon and how do we minimise the release of the other two offending greenhouse gases from our farms to reduce our overall footprint (before the regulators do it for us)?

• Here are some suggestions:

• Nitrogen should always be stabilised with soluble humates or compost to reduce losses to the atmosphere. We should also enhance nitrogen efficiency and increase our access to atmospheric nitrogen. Urea can be applied as a foliar at rates of 10 kg to 20 kg per hectare (with 1 kg of NTS Soluble Humate Granules™) and this form of direct entry can be three to four times more efficient than ground-applied nitrogen.

• Molybdenum and cobalt are required in the soil to fuel nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere and it is also important that oxygen delivery is maximised through optimising the calcium to magnesium ratio (this ratio determines a soil’s capacity to breathe, and nitrogen fixing organisms are particularly reliant upon good levels of oxygen).

• Grain-fed beef fart and burp much more methane than grass-fed animals and perhaps it is time to question this production technology. The rationale for feeding grain to beef cattle has always related to the superiority of the grain-fed product but this is simply not true. It is time that we recognised that there is no comparison between the end product in these two contrasting production methods.

Become Carbon Wise

• Contrary to the marketing story, grass fed beef is a vastly superior food, containing just 20% of the saturated fat of the grain-fed animal. It also contains good levels of omega 3 fatty acids and the highly protective fat, CLA, which is not found in grain-fed beef.

• Studies of the carbon sequestering potential of different systems have revealed three very effective humus-building strategies, all of which are linked to grazing. Rotational or cell grazing is a proven carbon builder.

• The principle here is basically common sense. The higher the above and below ground biomass, the greater the potential for humus production (because there is more raw material present). The below ground biomass (the roots) directly mirrors the above ground biomass (the foliage). If you graze down to a bowling green, the plant roots will correspondingly reduce in size and so will your potential to build carbon.

• Buffaloes grazing the Great Plains did so en-masse for short periods and then moved on. This was the natural equivalent of cell grazing. These soils were some of the most consistently productive soils in the history of the planet until man intervened. As is so often the case, our management strategies have not proved the equal of Nature and the Great Plains has consistently lost their productive potential since the advent of extractive agriculture.

• Pasture cropping is a relatively new phenomenon that appears to have considerable promise as both a carbon builder and an income stream. Here, cereals and other crops are interplanted with the pasture. They are grazed off twice before they are left to go to head and harvested. It seems that the biodiversity and added photosynthesis potential linked to greater plant density may be playing a role in sequestering more carbon into these soils.

• The third of these strategies has been well researched over the past twenty years by the Rodale Foundation in the US. They have shown that no-till and minimum-till farming significantly increases the carbon-building potential. Tillage exposes humus to oxygen and there is always some loss through oxidation. This loss is magnified greatly if the soil is too moist when worked. No-till has disadvantages due to the compromising effect of the herbicides required, but minimum-till farming, with well-timed use of mechanical weed management tools, seems to be the most sustainable and productive option.

• Perhaps, the single most effective carbon building strategy is to reintroduce mycorrhizal fungi back into our soils. It is now estimated that these remarkable creatures are responsible for over one third of the stable soil carbon on the planet and their decline, due to modern agriculture, directly parallels our loss of soil carbon.

• It is estimated that up to 90% of the mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have now been lost in the cultivated, food producing soils on the planet. Increases in the efficiency of spore harvesting have now enabled the remarkably cost effective inoculation of AMF. Other free living cellulose digesting fungi can also be inexpensively reintroduced, to maximise the carbon building potential of crop residues like stubble.

Diversify or Get Out!

• The average age of farmers is increasing (now over 60 years of age) and we desperately need to entice a younger generation into farming. The idea of monoculture involving commodities governed in price by the value of the Australian dollar and the whimsys of world investors has lost its appeal to many. A younger generation spawned on the promise of diverse, exciting, often digitally driven career options, is not flocking home to the farm. Entrepreneur farmers like American, Joel Salatin have recognised the need for change. Diverse, multi dimensional, interrelated enterprises have much greater appeal to youth.

• As peak oil and global warming issues begin to bite there will be more drivers to buy local, seasonal food. In fact, we eventually may not have a choice.

• The massive increase in farmers markets around the globe reflects a trend toward shopping locally and a desire to put a face to our food. These markets have proven lucrative opportunities to cut out the middlemen and the growers who have prospered most are those with the greatest variety on offer.

• The farmers markets also allow a cash injection, which is immune from bank interference. Many of the larger dairy farmers, for example, in both Australia and New Zealand, have borrowed heavily to “get bigger” and now, when they finally get some good milk prices, the bank is demanding a big slice of the action to repay some principle. The milk cheques are being severely pruned as a result and the farmers are given their meager monthly living allowance.

• Polyculture is invariable less pest intensive because biodiversity tends to reduce pest pressure, particularly if companion planting is practiced. The Farmers Markets reflect increasing consumer demand for chemical-free food. Farm chemicals will dramatically increase in price with peak oil and so there is a dual motivation to reduce your reliance upon them.

Become a Price Maker

• You can produce record crops of high quality fruit and vegetables and leave them unharvested because the market falls in a heap. You need to become a price maker rather than a price taker. Marketing your produce is as important as growing it, but it is often the neglected skill in the armada of talents involved in modern food production.

• Sending your hard won produce to distant markets to be sold by strangers is a risky practice rarely mirrored in other industries. A writer, for example, does not market his work as an anonymous wordsmith at the mercy of all comers and the winemaker is similarly discerning regarding the outcome of his labours.

• There are some simple tricks that can increase the odds of success if you are sending food to the large markets. It’s not just enough to develop a reputation for quality, although it definitely helps. Branding is important. Create your own catchy colours, logo and product name on your box and make sure that labelling reflects your key selling points. If you are growing biologically, then include a reference to “biologically grown with forgotten flavours and extended shelf life” on your box, or you have sold yourself seriously short!

• Consider developing your own *export market *for your produce. It can be as simple as visiting some South East Asian markets and identifying an agent with whom you would like to work. An export agent will take care of the bookwork and you can simply ship on demand. There may be some initial hiccups but then you have a system in place that can ensure a much better return.

• You will need to develop some basic retail skills if you want to succeed in direct selling at the farmers markets. Print out your prices and specials with your computer and keep the site mess-free and creatively appealing to consumers. One simple trick is to keep the shelves full. As soon as you slip up and fail to refill your display area you will notice an immediate reduction in sales. For some reason people are drawn to abundance.

• A friendly, positive attitude will attract return custom so even if you may be struggling with crowds because you spend all day alone in the paddock I suggest that you may need to fake it or forget it! I am amazed that anyone ever returns to some of the grumpy, unhelpful characters that sometimes appear to sell their produce at the markets.

Become a Price Maker

• I have argued long and hard for the flexibility of the biological approach over organics. I have suggested that organics is largely about what you can’t do, while biological farming is all about what you should be doing to achieve nutrient dense, flavoursome food. However, it is a simple fact that depending upon your marketing skills, the organic produce will usually return a higher premium. It is often worth jumping through some extra hoops to access this premium. There is also the issue that organic certification offers the only ironclad certainty that the food you are buying is completely free from chemicals.

• Recent research published in this month’s issue of “The Townsend Letter For Doctors”, a highly reputed industry journal, adds extra impetus to the need to be chemical-free. This research covers the effects of farm pesticides on the intellectual development of children. There is now compelling evidence linking exposure to organophosphate pesticides to significantly lower IQ in children and this also applies to low level prenatal exposure. This exposure can lead to lasting metabolic disruption in children. In newborns this exposure is related to an increased number of abnormal reflexes but in adolescents the effects manifest as emotional and mental problems.

• In 2002, The US National Centre for Health Statistics reported a 50% increase in the number of women reporting impaired fecundity in the 14 years since they had initiated these studies (4.9 million women in 1988, increasing to 7.3 million women reporting problems in 2002). In 2005, a group of 40 experts compiled by Stanford University, noted that there were significant concerns about the effects of organophosphate pesticides on fertility. The cynics amongst us may suggest that this is one way of addressing the problems associated with overpopulation but this is not a view which will be shared by the countless, confused newly weds struggling to conceive. The consumption of organic food is now a proven strategy to increase sperm counts and reduce problems with fecundity.

Feed What You Need When You Need It

• Most growers now understand the necessity for soil testing to avoid driving blind. This information is essential when designing crop nutrition programs, but you do need to understand the figures to make productive decisions.

• All minerals affect other minerals and that influence may be negative or positive. If you follow the common NPK prescriptions favoured by many of the fertiliser companies, they usually remain the same year after year regardless of the soil test results. How can this be possible you may well ask? A crop removes a whole range of minerals and they need to be replaced. There is obviously more than NPK involved here but even the simplistic, NPK prescriptions, repeated year after year, do not gel from a soil science perspective. The amount of each of these three key minerals required each season will vary based upon many environmental and biological factors.

• Nitrogen requirements, for example, will vary based upon the supply of free atmospheric nitrogen and environmental factors that influence the supply of this form of nitrogen. Phosphorus requirements will also vary, based upon release of “locked up” phosphorus and this in turn can be influenced by soil aeration, suitable soil life, P releasing legumes and the presence of beneficial fungi which release phosphorus.

• Potassium is, perhaps, the most mismanaged of this trio, when it is included every season with the NPK blend, whether needed or not. We encounter many occasions in intensive horticulture where the soil contains way too much potassium and yet more is added every feeding time. In this instance, the grower is not only wasting hard earned money on the most expensive of all fertilisers, but the excess is creating other problems.

• Excess potash negatively influences the uptake of boron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. We call these minerals “the Big Four” because they have such an impact on both yield and quality. The absence of “the Big Four” can produce a compromised plant that will require more chemical intervention.

Discover the Benefits of Tissue Testing

• While most growers understand the need for soil testing, many have yet to understand the benefits of tissue testing. Testing the leaf during the crop cycle offers an invaluable insight into exactly what the crop is accessing at any point in time.

• On many occasions the presence of a mineral in the soil (according to soil test results) does not ensure the presence of that mineral within the plant. This can relate to antagonism from other minerals that are in excess, the destruction of biology responsible for the delivery of that mineral or a dilution of minerals within the plant due to an oversupply of nitrate nitrogen (a mineral that is always taken up with water, which dilutes other nutrients).

• Whatever the cause of the mineral imbalance, a tissue test allows rapid correction. This correction is best addressed as a foliar spray as this has proven to be the most efficient way to deliver minerals and it means that soil lockups can be bypassed through delivery of the required minerals directly into the leaf. I am of the opinion that, in many circumstances, tissue testing can be of more value that soil testing because it facilitates yield building, precision nutrition.

Rid Yourself of Herbicide Residues

• The recent research efforts of a single scientist have questioned the ongoing viability and sustainability of the largest selling herbicide on the planet. Who says one man cannot change the world? In fact, multi-national giants are quaking in their boots at the potential losses associated with these findings. Professor Don Huber, from Purdue University in the US, has released a series of damning research papers that confirm beyond any doubt that glyphosate is not the benign, biodegradable weed killer that the marketers would have us believe. Don’s research has revealed the following:

• Glyphosate kills the soil creatures responsible for delivery of iron and manganese to the crop with obvious implications for chlorophyll density and associated photosynthesis potential.• Glyphosate has been linked to an increase in the prevalence of over 40 soil diseases because it compromises both the plant defense systems and the beneficial soil life that would otherwise protect against these pathogens.• Glyphosate increases the growth and virulence of several fungal pathogens, including fusarium, pythium, rhizoctonia and phthora.• Glyphosate immobilises the nutrients responsible for mobilising a plant’s defense system. This is actually how the chemical operates. It weakens the plant so the pathogens can then kill it. This raises huge issues for the genetically modified, Roundup

Ready crops because the food crop is drenched in this chemical and can be compromised accordingly.• Glyphosate compromises the nutritional value of food crops because a robust defense system is directly linked to the presence of medicinal phyto-chemicals in the food. In fact, in many cases, the very same biochemicals are involved.• Glyphosate increases the likelihood of dangerous mycotoxins entering the food chain and there are also issues with the chemical itself in stock food. In fact, the toxin levels in straw can be high enough to make cattle and pigs infertile.• There are many reports of allergic reactions in both humans and livestock following consumption of Roundup Ready crops.• The chelating capacity of glyphosate can lead to a reduction in the plant availability of key micronutrients, including zinc, and this is having a negative effect upon human health. We now know that our food contains less nutrition when it is grown in soils

that contain glyphosate residues or when we consume GM food that has been directly treated with glyphosate.

• So how do we reduce the collateral damage associated with the world’s largest selling farm chemical? Unfortunately, the increasing popularity of no-till farming has increased the use of this chemical and resistance is becoming a major issue. It is now known that the biodegradability of glyphosate reduces over time as the organisms responsible for the degradation are compromised by the chemical.

• One productive strategy involves the use of specific biostimulants that accelerate the breakdown of the chemical in the soil. It is important that the glyphosate is rapidly degraded because if it remains in the field, it also continues to kill algae in the soil. These plant-like creatures are a major food source for the key workers in your soil (bacteria and fungi), so their demise signals a negative effect upon the entire, interrelated soil life community.

• If you are locked into a glyphosate regime (as many farmers are), then make sure that you combine a suitable soil detox agent with your glyphosate. NTS has pioneered the development of this type of product. Herbi-Safe™ is an inexpensive, essential additive if you are seeking to increase the sustainability of glyphosate and other contact herbicides. If you can remove the residues from the soil as rapidly as possible, then the long list of potential negatives can be seriously reduced.

Discover the Multiple Benefits of Mycorrhizal Fungi

• Wherever I travel throughout the world, I ask participants at my seminars about their stress levels. There are usually less than 2% of these patrons who do not feel anxiety on a regular basis. We have created a stress-laden world often based upon rampant consumerism. We “need” all these “things” and the effort to acquire and maintain them is slowly killing us.

• Farmers do not usually fit into the mindless consumer mould but they actually have more real reason for stress than any other profession. You are dealing with climate extremes, greedy supermarket chains, declining soil fertility, inconsiderate banks, fickle commodity prices and a high Australian dollar. This is one of the few professions where effort does not necessarily equate to reward.

• This is the most important profession of them all and we need to look after the people who produce our food. In this instance, I will endeavour to help you look after yourselves with a dozen stress busting tips:

Learn to Relax Through the Hard Times

• Wherever I travel throughout the world, I ask participants at my seminars about their stress levels. There are usually less than 2% of these patrons who do not feel anxiety on a regular basis. We have created a stress-laden world often based upon rampant consumerism. We “need” all these “things” and the effort to acquire and maintain them is slowly killing us.

• Farmers do not usually fit into the mindless consumer mould but they actually have more real reason for stress than any other profession. You are dealing with climate extremes, greedy supermarket chains, declining soil fertility, inconsiderate banks, fickle commodity prices and a high Australian dollar. This is one of the few professions where effort does not necessarily equate to reward.