NZ Soil In Need Of Fertiliser To Become More Productive

Lately, regenerative agriculture has been gaining a lot of attention from the New Zealand media as farmers move away from more conventional agriculture practices. This has brought new attention to the use of dosing pumps in NZ.

Just as practices evolve in any other industry, agriculture practices are continually changing. New, better dosing pumps are created, and more efficient machinery is invented. What could be thought of as a crazy idea today ends up being tomorrow’s new normal.

However, climate change is quickly increasing the pressure to come up with new, innovative ways of doing things in the agriculture industry. Temperatures are soaring, and New Zealand is getting less and less rain right when our soil needs it most. Droughts are occurring more frequently and lasting for longer.

All of this has dire consequences on the health of our soil. Currently, grazing systems tend to rely on species with shallow roots, such as clover or ryegrass. However, these are having a harder time growing in the current climate. There is a lot of misinformation out there about regenerative agriculture and soil health. One of the most notable beliefs is that fertiliser is not good for either, but this simply isn’t true.

Much of the soil in NZ is low in the phosphorous required to produce excellent results from pastures. Even more nutrients disappear each year from farmland due to natural weathering and through stock leaving. To keep our soil as productive as we need it to be, we must be adding fertiliser into it. This will give a dose of much-needed nitrogen and phosphorus to the plants that grow in it.

Public opinion has lately been that fertiliser is not good for pastures; however this opinion is flawed. Numerous studies show that applying plenty of fertiliser can encourage pasture production and create better quality soil. This is just one example of how new findings can support regenerative agriculture in New Zealand.

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