Our 2026 LandWISE Conference Opening Speaker, James Hunter, is a farmer with a surprising number of decades under his belt. Rangitoto Station, farmed by Hunters since 1854, is named a local the Pa site that dates to some of the earliest times of NZ occupation. These attachments, mixed with time working for the Rural Bank…
Category: Cover crops
Soil Health for Profit – Charlie White
Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Cover Crop and Soil Health Research and Extension Dr. Charlie White is a faculty member at Penn State University, specializing in soil nutrient behavior and management. He has taught various courses, including Soil Nutrient Behavior and Management, Internship, Independent Studies, Thesis Research, and Supervised Experience in College Teaching. His…
Soil Health for Profit – Josh Wing
Josh Wing is a Senior Agronomist with Harvest Moon in Tasmania, bringing more than 30 years of agricultural experience to vegetable production. Raised on a mixed family farm conducting dairy, beef, potatoes and raspberry production, Josh developed a deep respect for the land and the environment from an early age. Reflecting this connection to nature,…
2026 Winter cover crops emerged
The winter cover crops in the Carbon Positive trial plots are well underway now. The last dull, wet, cold week slowed them down a little, but they still made good progress. The preparation and planting was covered in an earlier post that you can see here> To the left of the central irrigator strip, the…
Soil Health for Profit – Pranoy Pal
Pranoy Pal (PhD), along with colleague Gordon Skipage, was the joint winner of the Hort NZ Sustainable Innovation Award 2025. Pranoy is the Kiwifruit Technical Manager at Trevelyan Pack and Cool – the largest single-site kiwifruit and avocado packhouse in New Zealand. Across the regions, he provides science-based advice and support to kiwifruit growers to…
Soil Health for Profit
LandWISE Conference 2026 Havelock North Function Centre27 – 28 May 2026 Our “Soil Health for Profit” theme in 2026 is, in some ways, a return to the past. LandWISE arose out of work to combat soil erosion through use of minimum tillage and we’re returning to strip-till in 2026. A lot has been learned in…
Winter Cover Crops
After the 2025-2026 butternut crop was harvested, the Regenerative treatment received Omya Calciprills (150 kg/ha), Sulphur (30 kg/ha), Boron (10 kg/ha), and Humates (5 kg/ha). This mix has been applied annually to stimulate soil microbes for good soil health. Thanks to Websters Hydrated Lime for supplying the micronutrients again. All three treatments were then disced…
A Lighter Touch Biodiversity Field Walk
If you’re a grower or someone interested in biodiversity planting to support pest management, we’re hosting one of the A Lighter Touch (New Zealand) Biodiversity Grower Group Field Walks at the LandWISE MicroFarm on the 19th of March from 10-12 pm. We’ll look at our bio-strips which are made up of different mixes, were planted…
Biodiversity Strips Update
We established two new biodiversity strips on the MicroFarm in 2025, in addition to the two from 2024. One of the new strips, which is located under the irrigator wire, includes alyssum, calendula, and native ground covers. The other strip which is along a fenceline has the A Lighter Touch annual flower strip mix, which includes alyssum,…
Nitrate Levels on the MicroFarm
Throughout the Carbon Positive Trial, Soil Nitrate levels down to 30cm have been monitored fortnightly. During the tomato crop (26/10/2023 – 6/3/2024), the Regenerative treatment had significantly lower nitrate levels than the Conventional and Hybrid treatments, despite all three receiving similar amounts of nitrogen. This lower nitrate level was likely due to the breakdown…