Farmer’s Stories
When you’re doing the right thing for your land, your family
and the environment you can see and feel the difference.
Perhaps the most critical thing that we have noticed since developing our farming system along biological lines is the simplicity of operation. With improving soil structure and protection for newly germinating seedlings with excellent rhizosheath development we find that we can begin our seeding programme when we are ready and continue the programme without having to pull up due to the soil being too dry or hard to seed well. We have a large sowing programme spread over 3 distinct locations with 200 kilometres from the Northern to Southern end, so time efficiency is imperative at seeding time and wheels need to keep turning. We are able to put in more hectares, at a lower cost with less time commitment. The improved friability of the soil is also noticeable with less fuel useage and less wheel slip at seeding time ( the beauty of having these things monitored with modern machinery!!) Weed management is simplified and no use of fungicides or pesticides means minimal passes over the paddock for crop management purposes. Once sown, most of the work is done by the microbiological system in the soil and on the plant leaf surfaces. Some of the most exciting things have been seeing the return of plant and grass species that we have not seen on the property before and all the larger beneficial insects and spiders in the paddock. We are now seeing the proliferation of summer active grasses without spring rain providing green feed for the livestock almost all year round despite rainfall patterns and enabling opportunity to continue pumping carbon into the soil for the bulk of the year, something we only dreamed about some five years ago….
