The science is just plain wrong!

Well, maybe not entirely, but it does depend on which bit of science is focussed on and how it is applied. A well-known scientist has repeatedly over recent years dismissed organic farming with the one liner that he knows all about organic farming and it grows half as much.

That’s about as meaningful as saying that we know all about dogs and they bite people. Butt it’s not organic farming that is the subject of this article.  What concerns me is the use of ‘science’ to justify the ongoing reliance on synthetic nitrogen when there are alternatives with only upsides.

There are systems that grow more year on year at lower cost with only positive environmental consequences. The dismissal to that is, “if it sounds too good to be true….”  Dismissal is easy because taking on new information and reorganising our present understanding takes time and effort. Being increasingly busy we much prefer sticking with our current view on things and saving what little spare time we have for leisure activities.

I often hear that New Zealand farming industries are well placed because people have to eat and there is an ever-increasing world population.The world population is only increasing in some areas, and those places tend to have low incomes and don’t purchase much if any of what we sell. As populations move from primarily rural based to urban, as all civilisations do, birth rates drop. It’s a natural process that has taken place over hundreds of years.

In rural communities a child rapidly becomes a labour unit and therefore valuable.  In an urban environment an extra child is just a cost.  The markets that pay enough to ensure the financial well-being of our farmers are those where people have large disposable incomes, and those people have choice. Increasingly they want to know where their chosen cut of meat or dairy based dessert has come from and its environmental footprint.

Carbon, gain or loss, is the measure of sustainability.  Where farming systems sustainably sequester carbon, they can carry on indefinitely with steadily increasing production and lower costs. Where costs are steadily increasing, and the maintenance of production is a challenge it’s almost certain that carbon is being lost.  Another useful measure is Nitrate Nitrogen levels in groundwater.  Carbon and nitrogen bind together and where there is steadily increasing Nitrate N losses, soil carbon, particularly the labile fraction will be diminishing.

Pre the widespread use of urea pasture growth in the Waikato measured by the staff at Ruakura Research Station regularly grew in excess of 18 tonne of dry matter per hectare annually and that science is available. Annual growth rates now are significantly lower with total farm production propped up by grazing off and imported feed. That doesn’t alter the fact that measures, the basis of all science, show production from our best pastoral soils to be steadily declining.  The loss is sufficiently slow enough for climate to be blamed, but over time the drop has been significant.

For those genuinely interested in delving deeper into this area we’re keen to share our findings from the last twenty-five years of work. For more information talk to Peter on 027 495 0041 or 0800 843 809.