28 | Continual review of systems a key driver Virginia Wright RURAL PEOPLE » Hugh Ritchie Hugh Ritchie is the second generation of Ritchies to farm what is now two blocks totalling just over 2000 hectares, with one block in Otane and the more pastoral Horonui block just south of Hastings. Hugh’s father David bought the original 315 hectare Drumpeel farm with his three brothers in 1962. By the late 1970’s David and his wife Sally had bought the other brothers out and over the years slowly added neighbouring blocks, including leasing a 470 hectare block from Sally’s extended family on the Horonui block which now measures 1400 hectares. Hugh came back to the property with his wife Sharon after completing his Bachelor of Agriculture at Massey in the early 90’s and gradually took over its management although David, now 85, still goes out every day on the Horonui block and Sally’s still busy “organizing smoko for everyone and keeping everybody happy” says Hugh. The Ritchies describe themselves as a mixed arable cropping system. The farms are run as one but the Drumpeel block is predominantly cropping, with some winter lamb nishing; Horonui is mainly pastoral farming, running bulls and lambs, with some cropping on a couple of hectares of atter land where there’s some irrigation. They nish all their animals and carry no breeding stock: a decision made seemingly well ahead of its time 20 years ago in the interests of exibility and ease of handling dry conditions; all part of the Ritchie’s continual reviewing of systems in order to adapt to conditions as they change. Their rst irrigation went in on the Drumpeel block in 2000 which gave them the opportunity to change their system in order to grow different and higher value crops. Now they’re trying to work out what opportunities the current changing conditions • to page 29 might offer because they’re being affected as much by signi cantly higher temperatures as they are by dry conditions. The science is simple enough according to Hugh. Grasses grow effectively up to around 26 degrees night or day. Spring sowings of cereals that hit daytime temperatures in January of 30 degrees, “just turn their toes up without getting to maturity,” says Hugh, or to be more precise, “they’ll start to dry off prematurely which impacts yield and grain quality signi cantly. Plants under pressure tend to race through their reproductive activity which reduces accordingly so instead of getting, say, a six or seven tonne crop you’re getting a three tonne crop and the price doesn’t change regardless of your harvest size.” As part of their systems review the Ritchies are shifting where it’s feasible to autumn sowing, to avoid summer’s high temperatures, as well as transitioning further towards vegetable crops: especially those varieties that might be better genetically disposed to handling higher temperatures. “Australian crops might handle higher temperatures better than ones bred in New Zealand so we’re looking at our sources to adapt to what’s actually happening,” says Hugh, “but that’s a bit of a longer-term x. At a farm level we’ve been playing with different cultivars for the last three or four years.” Strip till unit at work in maize-sweetcorn con guration. Inset: Hugh Ritchie
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