Cropping Update – February 2022
Grass weeds are a problem that you shouldn’t ignore, and these weeds in particular need to be controlled across the whole rotation. Planning well in advance and using available chemistry and rotations can give good long-term outcomes.
Our field team have recently completed a follow up survey on the effectiveness of KERB in oilseed rape. The results from where Kerb was applied are exceptionally high and particularly where known problem grass weeds are a issue. These results backup our findings from last year’s Grass Weed Control Survey 2021/22.
Soybeans – Canterbury Crops
We have commenced the second years’ planting of soybeans in Canterbury. After the agronomic success of the 2021/22 season, we have increased planting 5-fold and are excited about increasing yield per hectare this season.
Soybeans naturally fix nitrogen in the soil. By including soybeans into crop rotation growers use less nitrogen fertilizer. That benefits the environment and allows farmers to save on input costs. As well as other agronomic values such as; reducing disease severity, lowering the risks of herbicide resistance, controlling hard to kill weeds, reducing insect pressure, positively affecting soil physical properties.
We are commencing trial work to better understand the capabilities of the soybean crops for capturing high amounts of carbon to feed the current crop and leaving deposits of nitrogen to feed following crop.
Our goals for this year are to increase yield to 4MT/Ha and to extract high percent of the oil during expelling and extrusion processes at the Rolleston crush facility.
Nadia & Carlos’ Sunflowers
It was a pleasure to show Carlos Bagrie from Royalburn Station around Pure Oil New Zealand’s oilseed crush plant.
On episode 6 of Nadia’s Farm we were cold pressing high oleic sunflowers that was harvested on their farm in late April 2022. Watch the full episode of Nadia’s Farm on demand at Three Now.
