We have launched an online web calculator to process soil infiltration rate measurements collected using a Disc Permeameter. The calculator analyses measurements made at different tensions. It is a beta product, primarily made to assist us in assessing soil infiltration, porosity etc. We are keen for any feedback! Disc permeameters (also called tension infiltrometers) are…
Category: Irrigation
Irrigation System Testing
With the new irrigation season in sight, we have been working on ways to help growers check their systems are performing as they should. Page Bloomer has made a number of online irrigation system performance calculators available, and you can find these in our Tools section. Do note that these a “beta” versions and still…
Green Beans and Carbon Positive
The Carbon Positive programme continues. Our McCain Foods green bean crop has been successfully harvested and yield and quality data captured. Post-harvest, Alex and Oliva completed VSA tests in all the plots, and those and other data are being collated and processed. All treatments achieved good yields, but we found significant differences between them. We…
2024 McCains Pea Production
Peas were planted for McCain Foods on the 3rd of October as part of our Carbon Positive trial. This was a week after the target planting date due to wet soil conditions at the end of September. Planting Winter cover crops in both the Conventional and Hybrid treatments were sprayed out early, and the soil…
New Dam Safety Regulations
This is a guest post from MBIE. We think it is important that our LandWISE membership is up to date on regulations and are pleased to include this post on our website and in our newsletter. Many farm dams are excluded from the new regulations, but there are many that are covered. Farmers sometimes make…
Rebuilding Our Soils – Successful Conference
Many thanks to everybody involved in our 2024 Annual Conference! All up we had 99 registrants who heard from 23 amazing presenters and saw 9 different practical demonstrations. Our special thanks to everyone who contributed by sharing their knowledge and experiences, and to delegates for their active interaction. Thanks to Pure Catering and our hosts…
Focus on Agritech
Examples and discussions for horticulture and cropping Sustainable production through technology has been one of the key themes through the history of LandWISE Inc. We started with minimum tillage and strip tillage equipment, then rapidly adopted RTK GPS and autosteer, which we saw unlocked many opportunities for financial and environmental gains. We’ve looked a precision…
January 2024 Tomato Update
The Carbon Positive tomato crop has now been growing for 13 weeks. Our estimated harvest date is the 5th March, so just under six weeks remaining until harvest. All treatments have had a good fruit set and are reasonably disease free (minus a small amount of bacterial speck). We are on track for a good…
Carbon Positive at the MicroFarm – February 2024 Field Walk
Please register at Eventbrite Once again, we are opening the gates and doors to the public for a Carbon Positive at the MicroFarm field walk to view and discuss the Heinz-Wattie’s process tomato crop. We’ve been making nutrient, irrigation and crop protection decisions – come along and discuss our strategies and apparent effectiveness! Please register…
December in the MicroFarm Tomatoes
Our tomatoes have now been planted for eight weeks and we have seen a lot of growth since the November newsletter. Since our last update, the Watties operations team have mechanically weeded the interrow and Andy Lysaght has mechanically weeded in between the tomatoes. We have applied several sprays, side dressed, and irrigated. It is…