Family Seed Business

From left, Richard Kershaw, Thomas Kershaw, James Watts, Paul Kershaw and Zac Chandler.

“ Having seed from Corson Maize now grown in the lower North Island of New Zealand is a great bonus for us in the Wairarapa. Growing their seed in this region will reduce the risks of only growing seed in Gisborne, and it’s a great benefit for us too. Corson are a great partner to work with and knowing they are a part of PGG Wrightson Seeds Ltd is very reassuring as they are an outstanding New Zealand agriculture business”, according to Wairarapa grower Richard Kershaw.

The Wairarapa grower is responsible for growing a significant amount of maize seed for Corson Maize. He also grows hectares of maize for grain and silage, as well as squash, onion seeds and is growing peas again after the region eradicated pea weevil.

Richard’s family farms 290 hectares on the river silt soils between Martinborough and Greytown and leases another 200 ha around the region.

Corson Maize grows seed in both Gisborne and the Wairarapa. Both of these areas provide an excellent growing environment for maize seed. It is vital to ensure hybrids chosen from overseas are suitable for New Zealand growing conditions, he says.

“We also produce hybrid sweetcorn and hybrid maize for them so we can compare hybrids to see which ones grow the best for our region and are best adapted for New Zealand.”

These varieties have been chosen for New Zealand conditions.

“It’s like breeding a cow. A New Zealand cow that has been bred for a New Zealand pasture system is going to perform over a cow that has been bred for a feed lot overseas. The seed industry is the same and we’ve noticed it with all our seed production – it does make a difference.”

For example, the Wairarapa is notorious for high winds and Corson Maize hybrids are showing good tolerance, he says.

“The Wairarapa can sometimes be a harsh environment; we can get a lot of wind down here and their varieties are showing they can handle it really well.”

A lot of the new varieties are continually improving in other traits that make them excellent for New Zealand conditions, such as drought or pest tolerance he says.

Richard grows grain for the feed market using three of Corson’s maize varieties – Booster, Pelota and Afinity on his blocks. Booster is a dual-purpose hybrid which is a very early maturity, with excellent yield and early growth.

Afinity is a full season hybrid suitable for the lower North Island with consistent yields and a mid-maturity option for the northern North Island. Pelota is a silage hybrid suitable for good ground, including peat, with impressive yields.

“Corson have a really good selection and with really diverse hybrids they can cover everything. You just need to pick the right hybrid for your conditions.”

Richard’s family does a lot of contracting and growing of maize for other people; it helps that Corson has a lot of hybrids and advice that suit people in a range of conditions.

Being able to select shorter maturity hybrids for example is a tool that farmers can use to get a good yield in droughtprone areas.

Paddock selection and understanding your conditions is key when it comes to choosing what hybrid to plant, Richard says.

“If you know that paddock has a strong history and has potential to grow a good crop you know it’s going to perform, so you give it a long hybrid and you know you can get the full maximum yield out of it.

“If the paddock is on drought-prone country, you go for something like Booster which is a bit shorter in growing days.”

Some growers aim to be flexible to the market and plant a Corson dual-purpose hybrid so it can go into maize silage or grain depending on how the season goes.

This year was a classic example, with a lot of farmers buying maize silage early to cope with the drought.

Richard grows 100 ha of maize grain and getting a good yield comes down again to selection of the right seed, he says.

“You budget for 10-11 t/ha and hope you get 12-14 t/ha. It comes down to selection and choosing the right hybrid for your conditions. We tend to stick with Corson Maize hybrids now. We’ve been using Booster, which is predominantly used for silage, but we’ve been using it for grain as well to get early crops of grain off.”

Soil preparation is also vital to any successful crop, from fertiliser inputs to the seed bed presentation. Whether farmers are using minimum till, strip tillage or full cultivation, it comes down to their soil types and the weather for the best strike rates.

“It’s about seed-to-soil contact. We do a bit of ploughing, but have a ripper cultivator and usually get away with two passes when we are planting.

“It depends on your soil conditions in the paddock. If it needs another pass, give it another pass.”

Farmers shouldn’t just go on what their farm diary says from last year or adhere to dates on a calendar, they need to get out in the paddock and see what is going on, Richard says.

“A lot of people get hung up on planting dates, but the season dictates when you can plant.

“Don’t take it from a book or from your diary on what you did last year.”

Maize growers have ridden the waves with dairy farmers over the years with fluctuating demand depending on seasons and other products available to farmers such as palm kernel.

Maize continues to be a staple choice for dairy farmers, however, and one Richard believes more farmers will fall back on with global supplement supply more volatile.

“Hopefully, after all of this Covid-19, more people will be buying more within New Zealand. We’ve all been guilty of buying cheap things from overseas, but hopefully people will buy more local now.”

As a maize grower you need to be flexible depending on what’s happening in the market, but build solid foundations with your farmers, he says.

“It’s nice to have long-term relationships with people that come back every year and buy product off you. That’s your bread and butter.”

Content supplied by New Zealand Dairy Exporter.