After harvesting the McCain sweetcorn crop, we mulched the entire paddock and also rotarty-hoed the conventional treatment plots.
Winter cover crops were planted in late April after sweetcorn was harvested. We have Moata annual ryegrass planted in the Conventional and Hybrid treatments and a mix of oats, vetch and blue lupins planted in our Regenerative treatment. Lambs will be arriving at the end of the month to graze the Conventional treatment. In an adjacent area, we are also following development of a post-cyclone sediment recovery mix provided by BioAg.
We have been regularly monitoring canopy cover using the Canopeo app. The app captures an image of an area of crop, green elements appear as white pixels and all other elements appear as black pixels, and an estimate of canopy cover is given as a percentage. The example given is from the Regenerative treatment which has oats, vetch and lupins. Canopeo estimates canopy cover is approximately 72%.
We are experimenting with measuring Relative Slug Activity in our plots, to see if there might be treatment differences in slug population. Using methodology from Oregon State University, flowerpot saucers were placed upside down in the plots and we are monitoring them after a few days. Slugs found under the saucers are counted and weighed.
We are also starting winter weed surveys, aiming to set baselines from which we can follow changes in weed spectrum that evolve under the different treatments. We did apply a pet-emergent herbicide to the conventional and hybrid treatments as weeds started growing larger than the ryegrass. But the regen treatment has remained unsprayed.
Spring Planting
Looking ahead to the spring, we are preparing for our next crop, which will be a tomato crop grown for Heinz-Watties. We are exploring how we can minimise soil disturbance before transplanting tomato seedlings in the Regenerative treatment. One option we have is to use the MulchTec planter which transplants seedlings directly into mulch, which could be applied mulch (e.g., silage) or into a mulched cover crop. As part of this preparation, Caleb Burberry (Heinz-Watties), Phil Schofield (Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust) and Alex Dickson (LandWISE) visited Tobias Euerl and Robert Hall from live2give in Palmerston North to see their MulchTec planter in action.
Live2give have their own Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFFF) project investigating the feasibility of mulch direct planting in commercial vegetable systems. Tobi and Robert have been instrumental in planning for our Regenerative treatment, and we look forward to working with them in the spring.
Carbon Positive is a partnership with the Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust, with funding from the Ministry for Primary Industries, McCain Foods, Kraft-Heinz and BASF.
