Page Bloomer

It is an interesting process – getting common understanding and agreement of two dozen people at the start of a loosely defined project.

We have an interest group establishing itself around our Micro-Farm. We had a meeting about vision and purpose, and what everyone wanted to get out of their involvement.

At the end of the meeting, we agreed everyone would submit ten words that summarised their vision for the Micro-Farm, maybe as a vision statement.

We collated the responses and put them all into wordle.net.  This is what we got.

This seems a fair representation of our discussions to date.

It seems to me the big words have nailed the “what we want”.  We talked of maximising production, by increasing yield but while maintaining the soil. To achieve that we need management for sustainable cropping and controlled traffic (CTF) was frequently mentioned.

Many of the little words are “how we might get there”. They include possible practices and rules for engagement, as well as a wealth of ideas of things to try, to measure and to keep in mind.

I think this is something we need to repeat at intervals: wordles is a very interesting way to review messy information!

It is great when you have a sandpit to play in. You can dream a bit, try out things you wouldn’t do normally, and push the boundaries with little fear of hurt or harm. That’s what we want to do at the Centre for Land and Water.

A small group of enthusiasats that met at the Green Shed has begun formulating plans to develop the whole field as a group “sandpit”. The idea is for stakeholders to discuss and implement ways of cropping that may be outside the ordinary. Our intention is for the site to be cropped using conventional “farmer and contractor” equipment.

While full size commercial equipment is bigger than needed for this small site, the point is to use “real gear” so we can be sure the effects are easily translated to any other farming situation. We also think using controlled traffic principles is a base-line for management. We don’t think we’ll always be able to do that, especially as we intend process peas to be a feature of the rotations. But why not get what benefits we can, and worry about the problems when or if they actually arrive?

This aerial view (click for larger image) of the Centre site shows the layout. The buried drip irrigation is in Block 2.

We have six micro-paddocks, three either side of the central axis access way. We have determined to have a five year rotation plan as a starting point. This can be varied, but gives a clear direction to start the journey. Initial thinking is to chop-in the broadbeans in spring and plant a vining pea crop across the site. We have a few different  ideas to try out. We’ll follow the peas with  some summer crops.

With the drip irrigation in place, it was time to get cropping.

In May, McCain Foods took on cropping Blocks 1 and 2 using broad beans as a winter cover crop. Many thanks to Mike for sourcing the seed, and Ben and Richard for following up and helping with planters and planting.

Block 2 was already prepared, as it had been worked up to install the dripline. Block 1 was sprayed out by Hayden Greville, and ground ripped and hoed by Nicolle Contracting as for Block 2. We chose to replicate the preparations, thinking that the two blocks were to an extent a comparison.

Our intention was to establish the broadbeans as a row crop. At 762mm row spacing we wanted 75mm inter-row plant spacing. Our first attempt was not successful; the large seeds would not flow through the planter, but bridged and jammed. Our second attempt with a different planter was similarly frustrating. The seed flowed, but would not hold on the vacuum plates.

The crop was established on 8 May by Stu Mawley and John Roach of Te Mata Contractors – broadcasting the seed with a fertiliser spreader and harrowing it in. By the end of May, the crop was emerging and coverage looking reasonable. Weather remained warm, and moisture enough but not excessive.

Sara Gerard did eight x 1m² quadrat counts in each block – and got pretty variable results! Given the large seed size and relatively low target population this is probably to be expected for an early germination result.

In April 2013, we established a buried drip irrigation system at CLAW in Block 2.

The installation was done by ThinkWater Hawke’s Bay using dripline was sponsored by Netafim and other materials by ThinkWater. Thanks in particular to Anthony Waites for all his efforts and care in getting the job one well.

Ground preparation began withHayden Greville spraying out the existing pasture.  Nicolle Contracting cross-ripped the area to 400mm then hoed the surface. This left a good surface and soiol conditions for the dripline laying rig.

The dripline is a 0.9mm wall thickness hose with 1 lph drippers at 400mm spacing was installed 762mm apart and 200+mm deep. This combination applies 3.2mm per hour using 4.16 lps on the half hectare block. That sits under our consent take rate limit of 4.8 lps, and applies a summer day’s water use in about an hour and a half.

While initial thoughts were for 400mm dripline spacing, we decided to try 762mm, or 30″ spacing to match the majority of process and other crops produced in Hawke’s Bay. The wide spacing will enable planting above a row of dripline which should be sufficient for row crops. It may prove to be a little too far apart for cereals or pasture  – time will tell. The block was set up as two halves, with control valves and sub-mains to fit. If we halve the dripline spacing (double the number of drip lines) we can split the application and still fit within the consent and our pumping limits.

Dripline installation was by ThinkWater and Nicolle Contracting using Trimble RTK-GPS auto-steer. We know exactly where it is! This should allow us to do deep cultivation such as inter-row ripping without damaging the dripline. The initial installation has not used a flushing sub-main. We wanted the system in and running for the  LandWISE field event and made do with individual dripline flushing. We will install the flushing sub-main; it is the only practical solution for a fully buried system like this.

System control is very simple. A battery powered clock sequencer controls two battery powered latching solenoid valves at field hydrant 2. The whole system in permanently pressurised so if the solenoid valves open, the pump will start up automatically. This suits us; it avoids electrically connecting the field valve station back to the pumpshed, and we only have one or two blocks to control. It is easy enough to set up and adjust as required.