I am at this event today and thought I would share some of the proceedings over the day. Let me know your feedback and questions and will fire it in...
Note: I will be editing and updating this post throughout the day so apologies for typos etc...
Talk 1: Policy
Basically there is a shed load of policy context/directives/regulation and increasing amount of ambition around soil health but very little in terms of baseline data, definition and action plans. Main point of note I thought was EU are preparing a Soil Monitoring and Resilience directive which will start to drive action on issues like compaction, water retention and P levels...
Talk 2: Soil Nutrient Health Scheme NI
Online results maps and tools looking great for farmers with soil nutrient maps available and run off risk maps.
Initial results from. zone 1
95 percent of farms samples covering 132,758 fields
58% fields below optimum pH with a lime requirement
45% fields over Index 3 for Phosphorus. Most excesses are Index 3 but there are some at Index 6 and a lot at Index 0 and 1. Basically none at Index 2.
73% fields at over Index 2+ for potassium
93% fields above optimum for sulphate
Interestingly dairy farms showed the narrowest band of P levels around the optimum and with fewer excess anomalies. Perhaps indicative of the more active management of dairy grasslands and the P offtake through silage.
Main question is how this data translates into actions. Need alternative options available through policy if farms want to act in some of the data.
Talk 3: NI Soil Health Research
Big issue of soil saturation levels in NI. Alot of land is over saturation point and inaccessible for more than 250 days per year. This drives all sort of management challenges for soil health, structure and biology
Focus areas for AFBI covering
New P test for Basalt soils in Antrim due to the way these soils hold onto P
Looking at sub-field scale nutrient management and fertiliser applications using GPS
Looking at alternative fertilisers such as pelletised organic manures, compost etc
Talk 4: Soil organic carbon
All got a bit high brow for me here but whatever congo grass is I want some...
Talk 5: Managing organic materials
Some nutrient management figures for you.
Digestate = Rocket fuel
Talk 6: Soil Health Research Overview
Interesting findings coming out soon on impact of reseeding and old and young grasslands swards on soil biology, carbon and nitrogen.
Talk 7: Measuring and managing soil health on farms
Soil Health guide for grasslands farms
Developing a scorecard for monitoring soil health
Talk 7: Soil Health in arable
Results from NI cover crop trial in spring barley rotation. Carbon and Nitrogen accumulation shows when timing is right can provide all necessary nitrogen for following spring barley crop.
Talk 8: Earthworms
Watch out for the flatworms
Talk 9: Multispecies swards
Plant diversity = yield
Interesting to see results of follow on crop and benefit of Multispecies in a rotation
I was pleasantly surprised AFBI went deeper into soil nutrients than I expected in this conference. I'm comparing with their recent webinar series with UFU and AgriSearch.
I really enjoyed Elizabeth Stockdales talk. She is not only a talented speaker, she helped me answer a long time conundrum I had on my farm. At the end of the day there was a Q&A session, I asked about the Mg:Ca ratio so often spoke about with international agroecoligists. She gave the most comprehensive answer I've ever received. Because of our variable underlying rock here in NI we shouldn't worry about chasing this ratio, instead she said if our Calcium parts per million (ppl) is above 1000 we should be in a good position.
I'd really like to have her join us for a webinar soon with the GrowIN members.
If anyone here knows her and can persuade her - please do! 😁
Funny I took same images as Will on the day! But this one showing our weather patterns of temperature over the years is quite shocking.
We are all in for some big changes in Ag, that we all know. I think the biggest is going to be learning. Farmers should arm themselves with as much knowledge as they can, understand carbon and what it means for us as an industry as much as how we can harness it as an income. Measuring and monitoring will be the norm for farmers. For me, knowledge is more about empowerment, to be well informed to make my own decisions on farm. All this science and data is always collated for one sole purpose of the researcher. Looking at natural things in isolation is not always accurate. The context of a study is as important to know as is the results. What was the soil conditions before the test? How was that farmyard manure managed? What foodstuffs went into that digestate product? Why not test worm counts with FYM/slurry with zero worming products in it so we can also understand better the damage of these products?
I could go on and on, and indeed my mind was on the day with every research result put up on the screen I wanted to know more than just the results. Context is very important!
Sounds like I'm ending on a negative but really it was a good day and delivered at a high level of knowledge with some fantastic speakers. And I met some familiar faces which is always nice, met plenty of new folk too, even better! 😁