16 | Low input, high-output is the key David and Justine Birkett. Richard Loader David and Justine Birkett farm 200 hectares of fully irrigated land on the Canterbury Plains near the township of Leeston, growing a diverse range of crops including herbage, rye grasses and clovers and vegetable seeds. Much of their market is overseas based with multiplications of grass, clover, radish, seeds going back to the Northern Hemisphere. Developing a low input-system while retaining a high-output farm has been a key goal and the Birketts’ research showed there were similarities between what they were already doing and the principles of regenerative agriculture. “The soil is the pulsing heart of the farm, and all decisions are based around it,” says David. “The better condition the soil is in the more it will give back to your crops. The more organic matter we can get the more N the soil releases, and it’s free to us every year. Key to a low input system is working with nature and utilising what nature can provide.” He says the biggest change in their farming system has been in regard to cover crops. “We always grew cover crops, but not dedicated cover crops. We were incorporating residue with wheat and a few bits and pieces, but now we ensure we have a living plant growing in the paddock as often as possible. There are times when there are bare paddocks during establishment, and there will always be times when you need to deviate from what you would like to be doing. That’s a general rule in farming; you must have flexibility. MEAT & WOOL » Birkett Farming Ltd You have to make money, and whatever we do, we don’t want to take a step back in yield, because yield is king.” The second principle is diversity in what is grown, which the Birketts achieve through crop rotation. The third principle is to get the crop established with as little tillage as possible. “At times we do need a more intensive cultivation, but an increasing amount of time we’re able to direct drill or minimum till with one or two passes. The fourth principle is having livestock in the system, which we’ve always had, but because we’re growing more cover crops we’re able to increase the livestock, which is trade lambs. Cattle is too heavy on this heavy soil. The fifth principle is ensuring the soil has some protection over it any point in time, so you have either got a cover crop growing, or some residues.” David acknowledges that applying the five principle of regenerative agriculture is not without its challenges and slugs and grass weeds can become more of a problem with reduced tillage. “We still do some burning, and we incorporate residues where we can as well, along with as many cultural techniques as possible including rotations, burning, and grazing - anything that reduces Ag-chem. We know we have increasing agri-chemical resistance and the less you can use the longer you will keep that resistance at bay. We’ve been able to decrease the input cost of growing crops. We do a mass budget for N and know what every paddock on the farm is releasing out during a season. Our N input numbers are quite low because we’ve looked after our soil for a long time.” FERTILISER SPREADING | FARM MAPPING GPS TRACKING | VARIABLE RATE SPREADING LIVESTOCK CARTAGE | DAILY FREIGHT CONCRETE SUPPLIES | GRAIN CARTAGE SHINGLE SUPPLIES | FERTILISER SUPPLIES Leeston: 03 3248 070 | Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz Outstanding success removing weeds, seeds such as dock, field madder, and fathen P SRS 03 302 8115 email: nzoffice@spsnz.co.nz Proud to be working with Birkett Farming SOUTH PACIFIC SEEDS (NZ) LTD Specialists in Hybrid Vegetable Seed Production
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