Earlier this year we learnt of an interesting project focusing on increasing biodiversity on vegetable farms. The aim of this joint project between A Lighter Touch, Vegetables NZ and Onions NZ is to reduce pest insects in crops by increasing the abundance of beneficial insects on vegetable farms, therefore reducing the need for insecticides. Two…
Category: Fresh Vegetables
Earthworm eDNA at the MicroFarm
Hill Laboratories announced a new commercially available soil test for earthworm eDNA this year. The new quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) test quantifies the amount of earthworm eDNA for the New Zealand’s most common earthworm species, Aporrectodea caliginosa. The current approach to assessing earthworms is through field visual assessments, which can be labour intensive and…
STAMP Field Trip – IFAMA 2024
Last year I joined the STAMP (Strategic Thinking Agri-Food Marketing Program) for young professionals working in the agri-food sector. The program is supported by Massey University, AGMARDT and FoodHQ. We meet four times a year to connect, and through workshops, case study analysis, and discussions, we are provided with a platform to gain insights into…
European Covered Production
In this post LandWISE Project Manager Alex Dickson discusses two examples of covered horticultural production in Europe, which were explored in her recent travels to Europe. Almería – a sea of greenhouses At the bottom of Spain on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, you’ll find Almería. Almería is a city and municipality of Andalusia,…
More questions than answers – Regenerative Ag
LandWISE Project Manager Alex Dickson discusses some of her thoughts on Regenerative Agriculture after her trip to Europe in June. As I grapple with my own understanding of Regenerative Agriculture (RA), a trip to Europe was just the thing I needed to provide me with more questions than answers! EU Green Deal- Farm to Fork…
Non-Chemical Weed Management Workshop
Presented by Dr Charles ‘Merf’ Merfield. 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Friday 26 July 2024 PIA Event Centre, Pukekohe, New Zealand. In person only, there is no online version. The purpose of this workshop is to give a complete overview of non-chemical weed management as part of Integrated Weed Management (IWM) and will include addressing…
Alternatives for Crop Protection
Presentations at the LandWISE Conference “Rebuilding Our Soils” In the summer of 2023-2024, the LandWISE MicroFarm grew process tomatoes for Heinz-Wattie’s using three alternative management systems: conventional, regenerative, and a hybrid taking from each. One of the principles for a regenerative system is to build natural resilience rather than rely only on a chemical-based crop…
Mulch Direct Planting in Vegetable Production
Invitation to Manawatu Field Day Thursday 1st Feb 2024 Our good friends from live2give in Palmerston North are hosting a summer field day to discuss mulch systems for commercial vegetable production. The field day will include a demonstration of the MulchTec-Planter in action. You may remember the MulchTec-Planter from our conference demonstration day last year….
Biocontrol at the MicroFarm
Our Carbon Positive project is comparing conventional intensive process crop production with production applying regenerative farming principles. One of the aspects we are focusing on is the “softening” of the pest and disease control programme. In the regenerative treatment, we are particularly looking at a range of biocontrol agents. In effect, these are also playing…
Soil Recovery after Cyclone Gabrielle
Gisborne Workshop Bushmere Arms, 1:30pm Tuesday 20 June We welcome growers and other interested people to an afternoon meeting to discuss actions growers can take to help restore paddocks impacted by Cyclone Gabielle. This meeting is open to all growers; pasture, fruit and vine crops as well as vegetable and arable crops. Please register –…