Follow science to profitable truth

OVER THE FENCE - BY JON MORGAN

OPINION: My catch-cry has always been "Follow the science". I believe that science, with its rigid and thorough testing of ideas and experiments, followed by peer review of the methods and results, shows us the truth of a matter.

Late last year, I put up the idea that to reduce nitrogen leaching in sensitive catchments perhaps organic dairying might be worth a try. Organic farmers can't grow grass as well as conventional farmers and therefore their stocking rates are lower. But they are paid a premium by the dairy companies and the farmer converting to organics would not have lost money. The response was mixed, to say the least.

Organic industry people welcomed me with open arms. Conventional farmers abused me for falling for the tosh spouted by greenies.

Oh well, it was just an idea. I still think it would achieve the desired effect, that of reducing pollution. But I could also have followed the science.

It's a good thing I have Doug Edmeades to put me right. Dr Edmeades is a soil scientist who works independently of local and central government, crown research institutes and fertiliser, meat and dairy companies. His firm is called agknowledge.

He is no fan of organics, saying it harms soil health long-term, but put that aside. He thinks that in their rush to meet the industry's incessant demand for more milk from more cows, farmers are undermining their biggest asset - the clover-based pasture our climate produces. The cost of growing a kilogram of our ryegrass-clover pasture is 2-3c, compared with 10-12c in the northern hemisphere where it is too cold to keep cows outside all year and too cold for clover.

"And what are we doing with our competitive advantage?" he asks. "Nitrogen fertiliser, supplements, feed pads, herd homes, irrigation. They all add costs, but do they increase profits?" In many cases, it appears not.

He produces DairyNZ research that shows a huge range in profitability of farms producing 100,000kg of milksolids, around the industry's average per farm, ranging from a loss of $200 a hectare to a profit of $2000.

Further DairyNZ research demonstrates the gamble intensive, high-stocking dairy farmers take. Using more supplements at the expense of pasture only pays off when the payout is higher than $5.50 a kg of milksolids. Pasture-only farms are always profitable, and more so if the payout is below $4.50.

So far, Fonterra is predicting a $6.05 payout this year on the back of a sharp rise in international milk powder prices, but the world economy remains unstable and that could change. Prospective indoor farmers in the Mackenzie Basin take note: your money might be better spent on year-round pasture.

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Dr Edmeades doesn't blame the farmers for falling into the trap of chasing high production. It is the industry bodies that have led them on, thinking of their primary goal - to make as much money for their shareholders as possible. For the dominant industry player, Fonterra, those shareholders are farmers. But it is also in the company's best interest to have profitable suppliers. It seems to have forgotten that.

Paying greater attention to the health of the clover plant will greatly increase a farm's profitability, according to Dr Edmeades. Clover is a natural producer of nitrogen, but it is not well understood that it has a high requirement for 16 other nutrients and can only grow as fast as the most limiting nutrient. Ongoing application of phosphate fertiliser will be in vain if potassium, sulphur or any of the others are missing.

"This is a problem I see every day, soils that are out of balance," he says. "The clover growth is restricted and its absence is blamed on drought or the clover root weevil or any other likely excuse." No clover means no clover-fixed nitrogen going back into the soil to feed the grasses. All too often, the solution is to put on bagged nitrogen, thus replacing a cheap source of nitrogen with an expensive source.

Soil tests are needed, and also clover tests, and they must be taken away from stock camps and urine and dung patches. They should also be done in concert with a visual assessment of the pasture's vigour.

Get this right and the results will be impressive, he says. When an average farm moves to a fertiliser regime based on regular soil and pasture tests, the savings in fertiliser spending can be $10,000-$15,000 a year. On top of that is the added benefit that excess nitrogen and phosphate will not be lost from the farm into waterways.

That way, we all win.

- © Fairfax NZ News