Current research in Strip-till and No-till maize in the Waikato Rowland Tsimba is the National Research & Agronomy Manager at Genetic Technologies Limited (Pioneer®), Hamilton. An agronomist with more than 25 years’ experience, he has worked across agricultural research, the seed industry, and on-farm extension in New Zealand. Rowland leads Pioneer’s national field research programmes,…
Category: soil health
Soil Health for Profit – Uttam Floray
Do all nitrogen amendments have the same footprint? Uttam Floray works at the intersection of climate science, primary industry, and real-world delivery. With a background in the wine sector across New Zealand, Australia, and the United States, he has led production, compliance, and commercial operations while embedding environmental performance into the core of the business….
Soil Health for Profit – Richard Pentreath
Should soil health be our #1 sustainability goal? Richard has more than 25 years’ experience across orchard management, industry extension, consulting, and governance in New Zealand’s horticulture sector. He completed an eight-year tenure as Regional Manager for Ngāi Tukairangi Trust in Hawke’s Bay, leading high value kiwifruit and pipfruit orchards through significant productivity and profitability…
Soil Health for Profit – Katherine Martin
Crop Stacking in Pukekohe Vegetables Katherine Martin is a consultant at Perrin Ag, working across agronomy, farm systems, and environmental planning to support growers in improving productivity and strengthening environmental outcomes. Her work spans vegetable and pastoral systems, with a strong focus on soil health and regenerative practices at the paddock scale, alongside translating research…
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…
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…