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: Projects
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 – Dan Bloomer
Making sense of carbon movements. History of strip-till. Co-founder and manager of LandWISE since 1999, Dan’s career is diverse, with a constant theme of sustainable use of land and water resources. His post-graduate studies included an MScTech in innovation Management and adoption in the primary sector, and a PhD investigating the potential of ultra-low energy…
Soil Health for Profit – Sally Anderson
Summary from the Cyclone Gabrielle Research Symposium Sponsored by Dr Sally Anderson is the Scientific Services Manager for Market Access Solutionz Ltd and is based in Wellington. Sally has over 15 years’ experience designing, managing, and implementing science research programmes for New Zealand’s horticultural sector. This includes co-ordinating the Vegetable Research & Innovation Board, managing…
Soil Health for Profit – Dirk Wallace
Cyclone Recovery: Best practice for cropping Dr Dirk Wallace is a Senior Researcher with the Foundation for Arable Research, bringing 15 years of experience investigating how on‑farm decision‑making shapes profitability and environmental performance. He is passionate about building great soils that work for growers and improving understanding of the relationships between soils, crops, and profit….
Soil Health for Profit – Simon White
Minimising cultivation impacts in broadacre cropping Simon White is a farmer and entrepreneur based in Otane, Hawke’s Bay. He and his wife, Lou, have built a diverse operation with soil health at its core. They have a mix of arable cropping and sheep and beef finishing across 1100 hectares which has been in their family…
Soil Health for Profit – Rene Van Tilberg
Strip-till and under-sowing cover crops in maize Rene Van Tilburg is the Senior Maize Researcher at FAR, leading the development of the maize research strategy and overseeing a range of trials. He focuses on identifying the constraints that limit yield and productivity, with a particular interest in moving beyond simple comparisons to understanding the mechanisms…
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
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…