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…
Category: Research
Irrigation Performance Assessment
Irrigation NZ Training Course at the MicroFarm We were delighted to host Vicky Bloomer from Drop Consulting to present the Irrigation New Zealand Performance Assessor training course at the Centre for Land and Water this week. And what a wet week it was, so we thank them for breaking the drought in this part of…
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…
Butternut Harvest Data
Heniz-Wattie’s was unable to process our butternut through the factory due to a lack of demand, so we had to find an alternative outlet. A local grower ended up harvesting the butternuts on the 13th of March, which was a month earlier than our target harvest date with Heniz- Wattie’s. Our butternut hand harvest of…
Butternut Harvest
Our butternut hand harvesting to collect research data was completed on the 9th and 10th of March. Our hand harvest samples were taken from 3 m × 2 m areas within each of the four subplots of each plot; 16 per treatment, 48 in all. All butternuts within the sample area were cut from the…
Measuring Soil Infiltration
We were delighted to have Carys Luke join us as our Summer Intern in 2025-2026. Carys’ key project was measuring soil infiltration rates using disc permeameters. These devices work under tension, so water has to be pulled into the soil by capillary forces. By controlling the amount of tension, we can set the soil pore…
Cyclone Gabrielle Research Symposium
Lessons for the management of highly productive land Two years after Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti regions, what have we learned about recovery? Cyclone Gabrielle struck New Zealand in February 2023, causing widespread flooding that affected Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne/Tairawhiti, and Northland. In Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti, Cyclone Gabrielle was characterised by the…
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,…