Pests & Disease | The Conscious Farmer

FUNGI – Helping build plant resilience to drought and pests

7 October 2015 / 0 comments

I recently had a fascinating talk with Dr. Mary Lucero, a former USDA molecular biologist who now works to restore food systems by restoring microbial health.

Mary’s work and knowledge confirms to me the absolute necessity for diverse microbial communities in our agricultural systems, if we are to produce nutritious, chemical free food. Mary’s particular area of interest has been plant and soil fungi. Fungi are not just a ‘choice’ extra that might be nice to have in our farm systems, but are an integral part of healthy plants. Continue reading “FUNGI – Helping build plant resilience to drought and pests” »

PERENNIAL WEEDS and planned grazing

15 September 2015 / 0 comments

I recently spoke with a fellow farmer who was sharing his challenges of perennial weeds – particularly, in this case, mid story native shrubs. This conversation prompted me to think that this was probably a fairly pertinent subject to follow up here on the blog.

If we get our grazing practices right, we know that we can have succession of species towards more stable plant communities and most likely more desirable species for our production systems. So, if there is a season where we have annual weeds, we could use herbicides or mechanical means to control, or we may choose to leave the ground covered with that plant, create conditions favourable to higher succession plants and hang in there hoping that our complex and dynamic ecosystem is being driven in the right direction. Following seasons will likely then see the change to a different species – and possibly a more desirable one. This is because the presence of that annual weed creates changes in the micro-environment around it, which then allows other species to establish that may not have been possible before these micro-environment changes occurred. Continue reading “PERENNIAL WEEDS and planned grazing” »

INTERCROPPING – A Winter Crop Example

31 August 2015 / 0 comments

A quandary of many grain farmers is knowing that the rotation to a pulse crop is a good thing for the soil and farming system, but that this choice has often come with an increased risk associated with these crops. This is when some farmers decide to be innovative to solve such problems – as is the case with Nick Shady on his farm near Lismore in Victoria, Australia (West of Melbourne). Nick has moved to low rates of liquid fertilizer and has begun to experiment by combining a pulse crop with another of his grain crops.

This has led Nick to discover the world of companion cropping or intercropping, with his crop that he aptly calls ‘Peaola’ (a mix of field peas and canola). His ideas developed after he planted a field pea crop quite late (as planting was delayed due to wet weather); in a season that rapidly turned dry. The crop that resulted was not worth harvesting, but was rather treated as a brown manure crop and then worked into the soil prior to summer for the associated advantages. Continue reading “INTERCROPPING – A Winter Crop Example” »

INTERCROPPING – FOR CROPS AND FORAGE

24 July 2015 / 2 comments

Intercropping is a way that we can introduce diversity into our cropping systems. There are many reasons why one might chose to do this, including reducing the use (and potential financial risk) of high input fertilisers, reducing pest problems and reducing soil erosion. Intercropping can also aid in weed control and helping to make the most profitable and productive use of land, through the complementary access to a greater range of the soil’s resources than with a monoculture.

The history of intercropping is long – with developing countries still using it as a common technique. Developed nations’ farmers however predominantly moved away from it around the 1940’s¹, and into monocultures, but in some cases have now done the full circle and are beginning to incorporate it back into their programmes. The added bonus now is that they have the use of modern day technology and the value of greater scientific understanding. Continue reading “INTERCROPPING – FOR CROPS AND FORAGE” »

HOW TO MAKE THE CHANGE TO REGENERATIVE FARMING – with Graeme Sait

5 June 2015 / 0 comments

There are some really fantastic regenerative practices that we can and have learnt about. I understand that for many of you, these are things that you are likely to try first on a trial basis over a small area. It was pointed out to me by some croppers that they are happy to undertake some trial area of a quite different practice but this is over a small area and they also want direction for what they how they can tweak their farm inputs over the remaining and largest area of the farm. They want to reduce their reliance on high fertiliser and chemical inputs, while being more sustainable. This is a really great point – and so, this week I have addressed it.

Many of the initial ‘tweaks’ that we might make to traditional system are input related. It’s about choosing inputs that are kinder to soil life, and more balanced for the plant and supportive of the soil. As a rule I tend to concentrate on farming practices for this blog, as it keeps me independent, and also because discussion of inputs can begin a very long list.

I do however want to address this point that was raised with me about how a farmer or grazier can make some more minor changes to their system (while trialing other more significant changes) – and this does lead me to the topic of inputs.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM WEEDS?

15 May 2015 / 0 comments

When we have an influx of weeds, or a specific weed, we can curse “the damn” things or we can stop, think and use them as a lesson and/or a tool. Weeds can tell us things about soil condition, ground cover and what might be an appropriate action to repair and bring a soil back into balance. Agriculture needs to consider different ways to manage weeds because current conventional systems have a finite lifetime of success. Consider the application rates of herbicides used in crop production systems today when compared with 20 years ago. There have been really significant rate increases – and it is not just rate increases – we now have double knock strategies that further increase the use of pesticides. Sure, the double knock strategies delay the build-up of resistant weeds, but this is a delay tactic, not a solution. We need to explore other options now.

Granted, weed control is probably one of the more challenging aspects of a reduced pesticide input system (at least in cropping), but this is no reason not to try. As I mentioned above, the herbicide dominated system has a limited lifetime. Continue reading “WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM WEEDS?” »

OPPORTUNITIES IN PRODUCING CLEAN, NOURISHING FOOD

14 December 2014 / 0 comments

It’s always great to get off the farm as I find I think in fresh ways and from a different perspective. Mix with this being surrounded by people equally as passionate about farming in a conscious manner and it’s a pretty good combination – as we found at Acres USA. I will share with you some detail of practices and growers techniques in time, but today I want to discuss where our food producing systems have gone wrong and that this creates opportunities for us as growers.

I am always aware of how our crop and livestock production systems affect the quality of soils, our animals and our food and, in turn, the health of us and our families. After all, this is one of the reasons we changed the way we do things on our farm. With young children, I wanted them to live in a safe, clean environment and I wanted to produce a product that is safe to consume. As well as chemical free, I want to produce a mineral dense food that nourishes our bodies.

Despite being well aware of the problems with conventional production systems and the associated health problems, (and even changing our practices accordingly), I am still shocked as to the seriousness of this problem when I hear people like Don Huber of Purdue University speak. Don shared the science behind why we should be concerned about the impacts of Glyphosate and GMO’s on the health of our soils, plants, animals and ourselves. Continue reading “OPPORTUNITIES IN PRODUCING CLEAN, NOURISHING FOOD” »

$Refractometer up close$

PLANT HEALTH AND SUGAR LEVELS

18 October 2014 / 0 comments

What do you reply when you are asked what you do? Maybe that you produce corn, wheat, lamb, beef, wool or chickpeas?

Yes, we farmers ARE doing these things, but we are actually in the business of maximising the capture of light energy from the sun, for the production of chemical energy and sugars in the plant. With these sugars we want to maximise our food and fibre production, because this is our profitability. And, as regenerative farmers, we want to do this whilst increasing the quality of our asset base (soil, farm environment and our team).

So, the sugar levels in the plant are like a gauge of photosynthetic activity. They are also a gauge of the health of the plant; the higher the sugar levels – the healthier the plant. A determination of the plant’s sugar levels, (as well as other dissolved solids like minerals) is measured as Brix.

Measuring brix levels is a helpful thing to do because it is very quick to do and gives us clues as to the health of the plant and the subsequent likelihood of insect pest attack, frost susceptibility, possible plant growth limitations and more. If higher brix levels can have such benefits to us and our crops, then we also want to know how we can increase brix levels. Continue reading “PLANT HEALTH AND SUGAR LEVELS” »