LandWISE People, Membership

Inaugural Achievement Awards

LandWISE introduced two new awards at the 2019 Conference. They recognise outstanding achievement among our members.

The Board determined that neither would be awarded lightly or necessarily regularly. They are to be special and valued.

In 2019, the inaugural year, both Awards were presented to Hugh Ritchie of Drumpeel Farms.

LandWISE Manager Dan Bloomer presenting the Sustainability Award to inaugural recipient, Hugh Ritchie

The LandWISE Sustainability Award

The Sustainability Award represents a no-till tine, reflecting technology and our origins working towards minimising soil erosion and improving soil quality. The base is 100 year old native New Zealand Black Mairie recycled from a fireplace surround, representing sustainability and longevity.

The LandWISE Sustainability Award

Honorary Membership

The Board has created a new category, “Honorary Life Member” and awarded this the Hugh Ritchie.

A spage engraved and presented to Hugh Ritchie, our first Honorary Life Member

A Recipient of the LandWISE Honorary Life Membership will have shown extraordinary commitment including:

  • Active contribution to the management, direction and development of LandWISE
  • Active for 5 or more years as a LandWISE member/supporter/board member
  • Actively promoting and helping raise the profile of LandWISE

An Honorary Life Member will have been an active ambassador for LandWISE.

Hugh seemed happy with his award!

Hugh has been involved in LandWISE since its inception, joining with Dan Bloomer, Stuart MacIntyre and Moray Grant to investigate ways to avoid soil loss from wind erosion. This resulted in projects to refine strip-tillage and then into auto-steer and precision farming investigations. 

Following his Nuffield Scholarship, Hugh strongly promoted strip-tillage and the need for better irrigation management and system checks.

Hugh’s awareness of the need to check irrigation systems led to our project on Irrigation Performance which now forms the basis of Irrigation New Zealand’s Code of Practice for Piped Irrigation Performance Assessment and NZQA qualifications. The Bucket tests that are increasingly part of the farming scene are the direct result of this initiative.

Hugh was Chair of LandWISE for over ten years, and while no longer a Board member continues to provide practical and intellectual support. The foundation he helped establish has proved solid, and allows us to continue as we do today.

 

AgTech, Automation, Drainage, Orchard, Plant Health, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Soil

Orchard Drainage Implementation

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Figure 1. Gene Williams’ levelling blade fitted with Trimble RTK-GPS and FMX with WM-Drain drainage software

Drainage treatments in trial blocks at T&G Global’s Evenden orchard and Bostock’s Red Barn orchard. The narrow window between finishing harvest and the soil becoming too wet to work was longer than anticipated this autumn making the task easier.  All earthworks were completed and pasture re-sown. Vehicle access was restricted to allow the pasture to establish and soil to settle.

A range of treatments was included and implemented to compare to the new land shaping approach including Crasborn’s harrow and planter (Figure 2) and Aqualine V-blade, slotting and ripping and rut filling (Figure 3).

Figure 2. Crasborn Orchard Inter-row RutFiller and Regrasser
Figure 3. Aqualine fill trailer with splitter to direct brought in fill to rutted wheel tracks
GPS Levelling

Land levelling is a proven technique more commonly used in cropping, where soil is moved around to create fall across a field and allow surface water to drain off. Growers use this approach to reduce water lying on the surface and saturating areas of crop which results in reduce yield. Software is used that is specifically designed to minimise and optimise movement of soil. The height of the blade or scoop used to cut and fill soil is controlled by software through the tractor hydraulics. The same principles are being applied to existing orchard rows to create fall along the inter-rows and drain surface water off the block.

The inter-rows were rotary hoed to create a suitable tilth, to allow small volumes of soil to be moved along the inter-row (Figure 4). The elevation profiles indicated that only light shaping would be required to create fall along the inter-rows, where 100mm would be the maximum change in height (cut/fill) necessary.

Figure 4. Orchard Inter-rows pre and post hoeing, prior to land shaping

Hugh Ritchie’s Trimble RTK-GPS base station was set up in the orchard. Patrick Nicolle’s Trimble FMX unit with WM-Drain software was mounted on the T&G and Bostock tractors. A GPS Control Systems Trimble GPS antenna was mounted above Gene Williams’ 2.5m wide levelling blade, see Figure 1. The tractor hydraulics were used to control the blade height.

WM-Drain was used to record the elevation of each section in the orchard. An accurate RTK-GPS elevation profile was recorded by driving along the inter-row and the WM-Drain software used to generate the optimal profile (Figure 5), within specified parameters, such as minimum slope.

Figure 5. Screenshot of WM-Drain software, the grey area the current ground surface and the green line generated as the optimal profile

Soil was shifted using the blade to cut and fill areas to achieve the optimal profile designed in WM-Drain. Because the tractor hydraulics were not suited to automation without major changes, the blade height was manually controlled using the tractor hydraulics and lowered or raised. Multiple passes (up to six) were required along each row to move soil to create the desired profile. The results of the land levelling are shown in Figures 6 and 7.

Figure 6. Examples of inter-rows after land levelling has been completed

Figure 7. Inter-row profiles after cultivation and before land levelling (grey dotted line) and after land levelling (green line).

After earthworks the alleyways were re-sown in pasture. Vehicle access has been restricted to allow the pasture to establish and soil to settle. Timing is important to ensure orchardists can access blocks to continue their yearly programme in a timely manner, without damaging the newly formed alleyways.

The Crasborn machine cultivates and pulls soil from outside the wheel tracks using a set of angled discs. Harrows are used to break up and smooth the soil. A levelling bar with raised sections above the wheel tracks is used to further even out the soil. A compressed air seeder is used to sow pasture along the inter-row. Finally, a cambered roller creates a crowned inter-row and compacts the soil surface. The all in one implement (Figure 2) completes the final product (Figure 8) in one pass.

Figure 8. Inter-rows after Ricks Crasborn’s implement has been used to cultivate and fill wheel ruts
AgTech, Drainage, Orchard, Plant Health, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Soil

Orchard Drainage Surveys

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The Smart Tools for Orchard Drainage project has completed key steps to prepare and implement inter-row land levelling. Terrain analysis has provided a clear indication that a gentle gradient could be developed along the inter-row with minimal soil movement. However, the effects of reducing ponding through slight land shaping would be substantial for management and health and safety in the orchard.

Orchard Contour Mapping

LiDAR data from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Gisborne District Council were used to assess the feasibility of inter-row land levelling in the orchard blocks of interest. LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a type of airborne optical sensing that is used to generate a model of the earth’s surface. It let us create contour maps and look at ground profiles (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Steps for creating interrow profiles: a – LiDAR raw data showing bare earth points (brown) and above ground points (green) from rows of trees (note the difference in the frequency of green points indicating greater tree canopy in the bottom rows in the image); b – contour map created from digital elevation model; c – interrow profiles lines over aerial image; and d – example of an interrow profile

The inter-row profiles were used as a ‘first look’ to estimate the fall across the orchard and provide an indication of the approximate amount of soil to be shifted to remove and prevent areas of ponding.

We also surveyed using ground-based vehicles (quad bike or tractor) with RTK GPS (Figure 2). This system has a vertical accuracy of approximately 20 mm. Corrected elevation data were recorded along the inter-rows using WM-Drain. These data were also used to create accurate interrow profiles.

Figure 2. RTK GPS set up on ground-based vehicles at orchards near Gisborne and Napier
Figure 3: Comparison of profiles generated from LiDAR data (grey line) and ground based RKT survey (red line)

The comparison of the different methods of generating profiles has given confidence that LiDAR is useful for an initial block analysis.

Ponding maps

Two of the orchards were visited after a significant rain event (30+ mm over a weekend). Locations of ponding were collected using the ESRI Collector smartphone app and an EOS Arrow SBAS GPS with a horizontal accuracy of 30-40cm. The interrows at one orchard were covered by Extenday, which meant the areas of shallow ponding were difficult to identify (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Recording ponding areas in the orchards’ interrows after a significant rain event

A drainage analysis created in Optisurface was used as a base map to display ponding locations (Figure 7). After this rain event, the majority of areas of ponding appeared to be located within areas identified by the drainage analysis as areas where ponding would occur.  

Figure 7: Map of OptiSurface drainage analysis and measured ponding spots – brown represents drier areas and blue/purple areas of ponding. Points locate areas of ponding after a significant rain event
Figure 8: Example of ruts highlighting the issues of ponding and mud splash on the fruit.

The ponding locations were also compared to the interrow profiles. Although no formal analysis was completed, many of the ponding spots appear to match dips in the profiles (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Profiles generated from LiDAR data (grey line) and ground based RKT survey (red line) with ponding areas after a significant rain event identified (blue dots)

Rut depth measurements

The key measurement for monitoring the effectiveness of the different drainage treatments will be the formation of ruts. A sled has been specifically designed to measure and record the depth of ruts and the location within the orchard blocks, see Figure 10.

The sled uses a linear transducer to measure the difference in height between the bottom of the wheel ruts and the ground surface between the wheel tracks. The location is recorded using the SBAS positioning system with an EOS Arrow 100 GPS with a horizontal accuracy of approximately 0.3-0.4m. The data was recorded on a smartphone using an app, Rut-O-Meter. Points are recorded approximately every 0.2m depending on travel speed as the sled was towed by a quadbike along orchard rows.

Figure 10: Sled design to measure rut depth, measuring the difference in height between the bottom of the wheel tracks and the centre of the inter-row.

The average rut depth (of the left and right wheel tracks) throughout the trial block was measured prior to the soil being cultivated. An example of the rut depth along an orchard row and the corresponding elevation profile are presented in  Figure 11.

 Figure 11: Example of matching rut depth measurements (a) and elevation profile (b).om the rut measuring sled is presented in Figure 18. The measured rut depths appear to correspond to the drainage analysis (Figure 19) completed in OptiSurface.

A map from the rut measurements is shown in Figure 12. Deeper ruts are darker blue. Pale yellow is no rutting or the inter-row is lower than the wheel tracks. This compares well with the OptiSurface generated ponding map of the block (Figure 13).

Figure 11: Map created from the rut depth measurements from the trial block

Figure 13: OptiSurface drainage and ponding analysis from RTK survey of the trial block

Conclusions

  • Analysis of LiDAR data and ground based RTK elevation data has shown that land levelling should be possible with minimal soil movement.
  • The ground based RTK survey, with the GPS antenna on a 2m pole has proven that the connection is not interrupted through dense tree canopies.
  • The use of the SBAS system, a cell phone and EOS Arrow GPS receiver allows information to be recorded against individual trees, with an accuracy of 30-40cm, even in dense tree canopy.
  • The ponding areas identified in the orchard after a significant rain event appear to show a relationship to the OptiSurface drainage analysis.
  • The Rut-O-Meter mapping shows good agreement with the other surveys

Project work by Page Bloomer Associates for NZ Apples and Pears Inc and MPI Sustainable Farming Fund

 

Conference, LandWISE People

Highlights from LandWISE 19

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LandWISE 19 “Rethinking Best Pratice” wrapped up less than a week ago, and we’re already in the planning stages for 2020. However, before we get too carried away with that, we reflect on this year’s conference and its highlights.

We were honoured to have two guest speakers join us from the US thanks to our Platinum sponsor AGMARDT – Brad Bernhard from the University of Illinois, and Frank Forcella from the University of Minnesota (now retired).

Brad’s presentation was well received, with the message of soil testing, and matching nitrogen applications to plant demand and yield potential very relevant for the growers whom attended. Brad’s PhD work was also well delivered with on-theme humour interspersed with the corn and nitrogen content.

Frank’s presentation “Weeding with Walnuts” focused on abrasive weeding, and was well placed as part of our session on Managing Herbicide Resistance. Frank’s abrasion weeding technique and research was on display at the MicroFarm field visit on Thursday afternoon. Thanks to Trevor James and AgResearch for lending us his abrasion weeding machine. This was a popular demo to view and test out on the broadleaf weeds in our Barley crop.

We are very grateful to all of our invited speakers, without whom we would not be able to present a new LandWISE conference each and every year. There was particularly good feedback about the presentations from the “Something Rather Different” session on Day 1 where two farmers and one researcher presented their experiences cultivating markets for and growing novel crops in New Zealand. We look forward to hearing more about NZ grown Bananas, Hemp, and Quinoa.

A massive thank you must also go to our kind sponsors who made this conference possible. At the platinum level HBRC, AGMARDT, and BASF helped us very generously, we also appreciate our gold sponsors Vegetables NZ Inc, Process Vegetables NZ, ARAG Australia / SenseFly, Potatoes NZ, and Power Farming.

Another highlight for the LandWISE team was seeing Hugh Ritchie receive the inaugural LandWISE Sustainability Award, as well as being bestowed with the honour of Life Member. Hugh has been involved with LandWISE since its humble beginnings in a maize paddock in 1999. Hugh also acted as chairman of the LandWISE board for over 10 years, and since stepping down has remained a staunch supporter of our work and projects. As part of receiving Life Membership, Hugh was gifted with an engraved shovel with which, judging by the picture below, we think he was quite pleased…

Finally, we thank all the conference attendees for their interest, participation and engagement with the conference content. We are very lucky to attract growers, farmers, researchers, and industry people from such a wide array of backgrounds and industries – the variety and diversity of conference attendees has significantly contributed to the quality of discussion and network building.

If you missed this year’s LandWISE conference, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter, and stay in touch for updates about LandWISE 2020 – we look forward to seeing you there!

 

Conference, Innovation, Irrigation, LandWISE People, New Crops, Tillage

LandWISE 2019: Best Practice Changes

Hugh Ritchie – Honorary Life Member

Drumpeel Farms has been run as a continuous mixed cropping farm since 1962 but had been cropped prior to that time. Key to the ongoing success of this farm has been a 5-year rotation utilizing legumes, cereals, seeds and stock.

During the 70’s a significant injection of lime was used to lift performance, irrigation was introduced in 2000 which provided resilience and opportunity for new and higher value options. This was closely followed by a move to reduced tillage eventually progressing to direct drilling and strip-tillage. These changes were driven consciously by a desire to make good business decisions but also there was an underlying understanding of importance of soil health and with limited water a need to be as efficient as possible with that water.

Good farm practice is an ever-evolving status. What was good in the 60’s is now modified and the 2000’s are completely different from today. Going forward,best practice will need to incorporate carbon zero thinking and (what will be even harder) meet public expectation even if that expectation does not reflect scientific findings, for example Roundup acceptance in the marketplace. Currently our business of good practice and reduced cultivation relies heavily on a chemical herbicide program.

Facing these new and emerging issues means a further refinement of good practice and even completely new enterprises to utilize our soils, climate and water resources with the aim of creating a sustainable business.

Drumpeel Farms is a family business Hugh runs in conjunction with Sharon and their four children. It is a mixed enterprise business with livestock, seeds and cereals and process vegetables as the main components.

They produce peas, beans, carrots, sweetcorn and some export squash, along with carrot and onion seed. The business is exploring the options for kiwifruit and apples as a way to increase value from the soils and water resources available to us.

As a grower Hugh has always contributed to industries in which he is involved. Currently a director of Hortnz and chair of the Foundation for Arable Research board, a member of Process Vegetables NZ and a director of Water Holdings, Central Hawke’s Bay, Hugh recently retired from the LANDWISE and Irrigation NZ boards.

Conference, Innovation, LandWISE People, viticulture

LandWISE 2019: The Vineyard of Tomorrow

John van der Linden  – LandWISE Board Member

Epitomising this years theme of “Rethinking Best Practice” John van der Linden from Villa Maria Estate discussed the “Future Vineyard”

Future Vineyard – Inverse Goblet

Often people’s future thinking is constrained by their past practises and experiences and so many ‘innovations’ are often only ‘improved ways of doing the same thing’. Two main considerations went into designing the vineyard of tomorrow:

  1. How to use land more effectively (more high quality grapes/ha)
  2. How to grow grapes more efficiently (eliminating, minimising, or combining operations)

Some solutions in this space that Villa Maria is trialling include:

  • “Trunk-Wrapping”: eliminates disbudding, or avoiding disbudding altogether and combining it with pruning.
  • “Sustainable Vineyard Floors”: eliminating or at least drastically reducing the numerous weed control and mowing passes by using different inter-row species and management techniques.
  • “Inverse Goblet” style vines: growing staked vines in an isometric pattern can provide advantages over current planting arrangements (parallel rows)

John van der Linden is a Viticulturist with Villa Maria Estate, NZ’s most awarded wine company. He has developed a wealth of viticultural experience and knowledge having grown up on a vineyard, owned and managed his own vineyards, studied and lectured in Viticulture and worked as a Viticulturist in Hawkes Bay and Marlborough for some major NZ wine companies.  One of John’s philosophies is that ‘there is always a better way’ and so innovation, sustainability and continuous improvement play a big part in his role.

John’s interests include family, rowing, cycling, swimming, guitar, Hi-Fi, technology, flying, design & architecture.

 

 

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Drainage, events, Fertiliser, Nutrients, Orchard, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Soil, Vegetables, Weeds

LandWISE 2019: Rethinking Best Practice

22-23 May 2019
Havelock North

Do we really know why we farm as we do? Or are we constrained in ways we just don’t see?

Often our current practices have evolved over a very long time – thousands of years of human history, decades of technology developments. Remember the space shuttle and the horse’s rear? We’ve long forgotten some of the reasons behind what we do, so maybe it is time for a reset!

LandWISE was awarded four significant new projects that started in 2018. They cover enhanced GPS, precision drainage for orchards, nitrates in fresh vegetable production and herbicide resistance management. They’ll be among the topics discussed at LandWISE 2019.

LandWISE 2019 Platinum Sponsors

LandWISE 2019 Gold Sponsors

Thank you to our other sponsors…

Agronomy, Conference, New Crops, Research, Vegetables

LandWISE 2019: Kiwi Quinoa

Growing the Andean Superfood here in New Zealand

  

Eight years ago, Dan and Jacqui Cottrell set off on their Overseas Experience – it was in South America that they encountered the high protein superfood staple of the Andean people, quinoa, and considered “Could quinoa be grown back at home on the Cottrell family farm?”

Fast forward to now and Dan and Jacqui have recently harvested their fourth and largest quinoa crop on their cool climate sheep and beef property on the Taihape-Napier Road, just out of Moawhango in the Central Plateau.

Quinoa is a high protein seed with an impressive nutritional offering, so much so that NASA stated “while no single food contains all the nutrients necessary to live, quinoa comes as close as any” and have included it in their long term space travel.

After a lot of research, communication with international quinoa producers and a variety trial – the couple identified a particular saponin-free variety of quinoa that really suited their cool climate and short growing season. 

Through many years of trial and error, Dan and Jacqui have ironed out a growing practice that suits their quinoa and their wider farming operation.  Kiwi Quinoa is grown without the use of herbicides or pesticides.  Their quinoa is grown as part of pasture renewal program and permanent pasture is planted shortly after the crop is harvested in February.

With a shift in consumer attitudes around food choices – the demand for sustainably produced, plant based proteins is on the rise.  Recent studies in the US have shown that consumption of alternative proteins, like quinoa and other plant proteins, is growing at a rate of 4-10 times faster than conventional proteins.

Jacqui and Dan remain very supportive of traditional proteins, but also see tremendous opportunity for New Zealand agriculture in not only the plant protein space but with a shift into more regenerative ways of farming our land.

Want to know more?

REGISTER HERE FOR LandWISE 2019!

Agronomy, Conference, New Crops

LandWISE 2019: Hemp and its Capabilities

Simon White is a Co-Founder and Director of Kanapu Hemp Foods Limited New Zealand. Simon has spent the last 9 years running the family farm in Otane, CHB.

The Whites grow a range of processed crops, speciality seed crops and animal grain crops, also finishing beef and lamb. Simon will be speaking about his involvement with Industrial Hemp and its capabilities.

The Hemp plant has been a part of this world for more than 10,000 years which puts it into the range of one of the oldest known human agriculture crops to be harvested. As explained by Richard Hamilton on sustainable agriculture “Modern humans emerged some 250,000 years ago, yet agriculture is a fairly recent invention, only about 10,000 years old as well. Agriculture is not natural; it is a human invention.”

Varieties of Cannabis sativa (Industrial Hemp) that contain no, or very low levels of, THC are commonly referred to as hemp or industrial hemp. Hemp has typically been used for industrial purposes, such as textiles, fibres, paper, building materials.

Over time, the use of industrial hemp has evolved into an even greater variety of products. The global market for hemp consists of more than 25,000 products in nine submarkets, agriculture and textiles, recycling and automotive, furniture, food and beverage, paper and construction, cosmetics and medicine.

“At a time when I was looking for alternative crops to fit into our cropping rotation that I researched Industrial Hemp. The properties of the plant started to fit more into the category of what we were after in a new crop: environmentally enhancing, nutritionally beneficial, minimum tillage or no tillage, short crop (100days).

The opportunities for food, fibre and medicine into a global rising market at a CAGR of 14% saw us develop a partnership, establish a company and now have a vision of being New Zealand’s leading Hemp foods company transforming the health and wellbeing of all New Zealanders through production, manufacturing and distribution of high quality functional hemp food ingredients in New Zealand.”

Want to know more?

REGISTER HERE FOR LandWISE 2019!

Conference, New Crops, Orcharding, Planting, Research

LandWISE 2019: Development of a Banana Industry for Tairāwhiti

Jane Mullaney  is a scientist working in the Food and Nutrition group at AgResearch Palmerston North. Jane is also affiliated with the Riddet Institute for food innovation and is a microbiologist with her PhD in Food Technology.

Jane and colleagues have partnered with Tai Pukenga Ltd to develop a commercial banana industry for the Tairāwhiti/East Coast region. 

A bunch of bananas grown at Anaura Bay, north of Tolaga Bay on the East Coast.
Bananas grown at Anaura Bay, north of Tolaga Bay on the East Coast. [Image (C) stuff]
Bananas are economically important fruit crops grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world and are currently cultivated in over 130 countries, on over 5.5 million hectares with a global production of about 145 million tons (FAOSTAT, 2017).

Bananas serve as a principle source of carbohydrates for millions of people worldwide while in New Zealand, we spend more on bananas than any other fruit, and eat about 18kg of them every year, or roughly two bananas a week.

There are hundreds of different cultivars which differ mainly by the amounts of starch and sugars produced in their fruits however, the only bananas imported to New Zealand are the Cavendish variety. While subtropical, bananas can be grown almost anywhere.

By using tissue culture methods, AgResearch have developed and shared this knowledge with Tai Pukenga to enable the rapid expansion of a banana industry for the East Coast region.

Through DNA sequencing, AgResearch aims to identify cultivars and this information will help inform along with trial farms, which cultivar might be best suited for future commercial work.

Jane and colleagues aim to use tissue culture to produce many banana plants for trialling across the region, to identify which cultivars we already have growing in the region using DNA sequencing and to assess the nutritional benefits of the NZ produced fruit. This project is funded through the Vision Mātauranga Connect Fund.

Want to know more?

REGISTER HERE FOR LandWISE 2019!

Promoting sustainable production