There is a widespread misconception that improving the quality of what we grow and produce from the land will result in lower volumes. This argument is used by supporters and users of conventional growing systems to justify a regime that increasingly struggles with the speed and magnitude of the changes now required.
The production of a healthy plant, animal, or person is always greater than a less healthy one. So too with soil, healthy well-structured biologically active soil will always produce more than a semi-sterile, compacted piece of dirt.
Eight years ago we started making products based on calcium and magnesium that included live fungi and bacteria and integrating them into conventional soil fertility programmes providing phosphorus and sulphur, and potassium where required.
The notion that New Zealand can produce the quality and quantity of food required for a healthy and productive population without modifying soil chemistry in some way doesn’t make sense.
Our soils are naturally not suited to the production of a wide range of fruit, vegetables, crops and pasture, so an understanding of the nutrient requirements of each is necessary. Some of that knowledge is available and the rest is being steadily gained through observation and measurement.
Careful measuring of growing systems based on DoloZest, containing Golden Bay Dolomite, over the last eight years has shown that soil is better structured than that under conventional growing systems, particularly those reliant on fertiliser nitrogen as a driver of growth.
In a pastoral situation the nitrogen required for near maximum growth is provided direct from the atmosphere and via fixation by clovers. The spread of growth throughout the season is more even as soils rich in humus are better able to provide nutrient and moisture to plants on an as required basis.
Not only is the quantity grown greater, the quality of the pasture and therefore the quality of the meat is also better. Milk produced from these properties typically has higher protein content.
Per animal production is greater and the cost of treating ill animals is significantly reduced. The ability of animals to maintain a twelve month calving and lambing interval is also improved.
Recently the first fourteen months of Nitrate-Nitrogen leaching results were made available and they show significantly lower levels of Nitrate-N lost from the DoloZest/CalciZest based programme compared to a fertiliser N driven programme.
There is no down side; volume is higher, costs are less, and each year there is the potential for increased production due to more soil-stored carbon.