5 minute read
Locally produced nitrogen you can bank on
With nitrogen fertilisers prices high and demand impacting supply, there’s another, natural option - make your own!
That’s what soil inoculants can do, making them an obvious choice for paddocks being sown with grain legumes in this phase of your crop rotation. Both seed-applied (peat) and soilapplied in-furrow (granule) inoculants will boost the yield from chickpeas, faba beans, field peas, lentils, or lupins. Even better, they’ll leave a bank of residual nitrogen in the soil to feed following crops. The Australian Inoculants Research Group (AIRG) has previously estimated that using inoculants saves farms across the country about $4 billion every year. That figure will go much higher in the current market. especially if you also save on labour by applying a granular inoculant through the seeder at sowing. Of course, all farmers here and overseas face the same potential disruption to urea supplies. Should that cause an enormous spike in demand for inoculants, it may have a knock-on effect on inoculant supplies here too. BASF is one manufacturer that doesn’t have to worry about international supply chains to deliver inoculants. Production
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Kathleen Johns
is already being scaled up and the BASF team will be doing everything they can to help meet that demand. Two years ago, the company completed a $1.6 million upgrade of their BioTech Solutions facility at Somersby on the New South Wales Central Coast, where the iconic Nodulaid® brand has been produced for decades. BASF also make Nodulator®, a marketleading granular inoculant. Following the expansion of its production capacity, both Nodulaid and Nodulator are now entirely produced at Somersby. Now Elders’ customers all over Australia can be confident they are not competing with international customers for priority. “We only started granular production in January 2020 and were able to meet the whole of that year’s demand in the first quarter,” says Somersby site manager Kathleen Johns. “In 2021 forecasts were up, so we scaled up production and started processing orders early. There’s been another step up for this season because demand is so high. We’ll be supplying record quantities and – unless there’s a very big last-minute rush – expect to fill every order in plenty of time for sowing.” The switch to local manufacture made Nodulator the first and only granular inoculant on the market that offers both the extra convenience and accuracy of granules and the added quality assurance of an AIRG Green Tick, showing that it has been independently tested and approved for use in Australian conditions.
For most growers who have always used peat-based inoculants, the Nodulaid® range remains the original and the best. It’s been around since 1953 – much longer than any of the alternatives – and the processes BASF uses to manufacture it and test its levels of active rhizobia have been regularly updated to ensure it remains the pacesetter. “We’re proud of the heritage of this Somersby plant and the big investment BASF have made in local production,” says Ms Johns “and we hope Elders customers will continue to choose them because they know they can rely both on their quality and ready availability.”
RURAL PRODUCTS PRE-PAYMENT PROGRAM
• Pre-pay for Farm Supplies and earn a 4.2% p.a. reward to use on eligible purchases • Pre-pay before 30 June to claim a tax deduction in that financial year • No fees to establish or use your Pre-pay account
Contact your local Elders branch to find out more. Elders is not authorised under the Banking Act and is not supervised by APRA. The investment will not be covered by the depositor protection provisions in section 13A of the Banking Act. The investment will not be covered by the financial claims scheme established under Division 2AA of the Banking Act. Exclusions apply. For full terms and conditions, contact your local Elders branch. You should obtain tax advice before claiming a tax deduction.
IN THE MARKET FOR NEW GATES? CYCLONE N-SURE HAVE AN IMPRESSIVE LIST OF FEATURES
With a successful harvest behind us, many growers are using extra capital to reinvest in upgrading their fencing and gates. The N-Sure gate is no newcomer to the Cyclone range and its popularity as an all-round gate for most farm applications continues to rise. Over its lifetime the gate has gone through several changes, adding new features that help you get the most out of your gates. Andrew Dickinson, National Sales Manager for Cyclone, said the patented design of the N-Sure gate makes it a unique and a strong multi-purpose gate. “The top and bottom gussets are distinctive to Cyclone, and only found on N-Sure gates.” He added. The N-Sure gate is constructed of 25NB pipe – which is both galvanised inside and outside the pipe, delivering class leading gate frame corrosion protection. Cyclone N-Sure gates have a welded mesh insert with graduated spacing. This means it has increased density of strands in the lower part of the gate to keep smaller animals in or out. The strands increase to a maximum of 100mm at the top of the gate, delivering security where it is needed, while also saving material costs. The distinctive plate steel gussets add vertical load carrying capacity at the free-swinging end of the gate, so it is less likely to sag over time, which can happen with other gate suppliers. The N-Sure also has a wide range of widths and heights to suit almost any application – from 8 inch (2.37m) to 20inch (6.07m) wide and 1.17metre, 1.5m or 1.8m heights.
