SYSTEMS REGENERATIVE TRIALS
Regenerative Trial 2020-21 season plan
Regen
Conventional
3.3 cows/ha
4.0 cows/ha
4500-5000 kgDM/ha
3000 kgDM/ha
2000-2500 kgDM/ha
1500 kgDM/ha
Stocking rate:
Target pre grazing:
Target residuals:
Supplements:
Competing for soil health Anne Lee checks in on progress with Align Farms’ comparative testing of regenerative and conventional practices.
T
wo years ago, Rhys Roberts would have told you cutting out synthetic nitrogen (N) altogether was one of the biggest concerns he had about the fertiliser aspect of Align Farms’ regenerative study. “I wasn’t worried about the P (phosphorus) and K (potassium) but I was really, really worried about dropping out the N,” the farms’ chief executive says. “But now I’ve done a complete 180 on that. I’m not worried about dropping the N out on the regen side of the farm but I’m a bit dubious about the P and K.” Align Farms has embarked on a side-byside study, running 148-hectares or half of its 296ha Clareview farm at Westfield in Canterbury using regenerative practices and the other half more conventionally. The major differences are: • the pastures cows are grazing with diverse multi-species growing on the regenerative areas, • the grazing management of those pastures with longer pre and post-grazing covers on the regenerative side, • the fertiliser regimes with no synthetic 38
300kgDM/ha N Fertiliser:
20kg N/ha
fertiliser going on the regenerative paddocks and crop stimulants such as fish fertiliser and humates applied used on those paddocks. They’ve also retained a higher stocking rate of 4 cows/ha on the conventional area with 3.3 cows/ha on the regenerative side. “We were putting 280-300kg N/ha on in days gone by and now we’ve even got our conventionally run farms down to 150kg N/ha in some cases. “The diverse paddocks here are just about infested with legumes so they’re fixing a lot of N. “They’ve had no synthetic N now for more than two years and we’re just not seeing a problem.” Clare Buchanan is Align Farms’ head of environment and innovation and says the fertiliser regime on the regenerative side of the farm is aimed at feeding the soil biology – specifically the bacteria and fungi which are then a food source for other microbes such as nematodes, protozoa and micro-arthropods. Soil biologists recommend a 1:1 bacteria:fungi ratio for grassland
700kgDM/ha
190kg N/ha
ecosystems to function optimally, but agricultural soils tend to be bacterial dominated, she says. “Fungi are the micro-organisms with enzymes that can mobilise minerals from the crystalline structure of soil and transport them to roots in plant available form, so increasing the ratio is a priority.’’ Some nutrients that aren’t plantavailable in the soil can be released and made available by the actions of fungi, she says. The soil biome and what’s really going on down there could be seen as the last frontier with new organisms and processes being identified all the time. “There’s so much yet to be learned – we just don’t know what’s happening - no one does. It’s been in the too-hard basket along with soil carbon but the world is reaching crisis point and scientists are seeing the need to study it more urgently now. “We’ve got scientists on one hand who just dismiss regenerative agriculture practices and say they don’t work. They say managing soil fertility is simply about putting back what you take out and it doesn’t matter if that’s a synthetic fertiliser.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | October 2021
