Biology IS King!

The future lies in

BIO-LOGICAL FARMING SOLUTIONS

Is Bio-Logical Farming the future for the worlds farming business?

Specialist Advice in Soil Fertility and Crop Nutrition OIL FERTILITY SERVICES LIMITED

What do we mean by this phrase?

Bio = Living Logical – Because it is!

Next year we will need a bigger venue and we hope to get a couple of key note speakers, so whichever way you look at it, biological farming is growing. Speaker after speaker said their farming is now more interesting, they are enjoying the challenge of working with nature, learning about their soil health, plant health and nutritional value of their produce, growing crops that stock want to eat and that people benefit from - ALL AT NO EXTRA COST!

You start where you are with a spade, dig down and have a look at what is going on in the rooting area of your crops. Is it easy to dig? Is there compaction or a pan? How many earthworms do you have? Take soil samples in the 2 to 5 inches depth and repeat the exercise 10 to 12 times over the field. If the soil varies, keep the samples separate. If you are working in a growing crop in say April/May then take plant samples from the same area that you take the soil. Send them all in and we will run a detailed soil or plant audit. You may be very surprised at the different messages you get from the soil and the plant.

How it works:

1. A full and detailed soil analysis with recommendations for soil mineral balancing

as far as is practical, plus plant analysis.

2. Application of soil feeders as required.

3. Use of plant growth stimulants with

megabacters.

4. Use of Bio-N to fix nitrogen naturally.

5. Use of ‘Flex’ Amino nitrogen to build protein.

Introduce cover cropping and sub-soiling into the rotation; use min-till : no-till as much as possible, ploughing is okay if and as necessary. Learn how to be kind to your soil - use Bio-Mulch /Humic SC to feed the soil. Learn how to ask the plant what is needed and then feed the plant as required.

NEWSLETTER Issue 37

This does not mean farming without the chemistry that we now know, but farming more sympathetically and with more awareness of what is going on under our feet.

We recently attended The Real Oxford Farming Conference. It is split into 2 sections; you have the real farmers discussing real farming issues, mostly to do with soil and plant/animal health matters and averaged about 120 people per day, then the others, the small scale farming enterprises with speakers on subjects as diverse as Agro-forestry and Mob-grazing, with 300 delegates. At the same time just across the street was the ‘proper’ Oxford Farming Conference with the NFU and Politicians charging £350 per ticket and similar numbers of delegates.

I guess it is a case of where do you want to be seen, with our motley bunch – we have farmers with 10,000 acres down to 8 acres, wanting to know how they can do it better; how they can move away from intensive chemical application; how they can improve their soil health; how they can make more money from the crops they grow (adding value, selling direct) etc, or with the ‘pro-chemical, highly political, mainstream farming lobby.

Magdalen College Oxford Jan’14 - Real Oxford Farming Conference.

Our History

My own background is from conventional

farming and from the age of 25 to 47 I

was involved in making fertiliser blends,

on prescription, to farmers in and around

Norfolk. I was doing a lot of soil analysis

but no one could tell me anything about

the life in the soil. We were taught to put on what the

crop needed and never how to balance the soil. We tested

for pH and applied lime to cure acidity – we never knew

what caused the acidity in the first place! Ploughing was

an art and most farmers enjoyed the skill of ploughing a

straight furrow. There were of course a lot more people

per acre and farms were much smaller than they are

today.

We were very progressive and we ran a fleet of big

spreaders to apply blends direct from mix plant to the

field; we had the world’s biggest boom spreader and

could apply nitrogen top dressing at 30 mph with an 18m

spread. I don’t think anyone can do better than that

today. The key was keeping the 8 tonne body loaded and

we did this with a high tip trailer.

We never got a yield response to any P or K fertiliser

except for potatoes, but there was always a response to

nitrogen. In 1990 I met Jerry Stoller who was over in

the UK from the USA and was advising on the

importance of trace minerals and suggesting we should

put up a liquid fertiliser plant to ‘complex’ nitrogen with

magnesium and trace minerals – what today is the ‘Flex’

system.

It was in 1995 I went to Australia to look at the

biological methods being employed and it was there I

was introduced to ‘The life in the soil’, ‘The importance

of earthworms’ and ‘How to feed the Soil’. I was keen to

introduce these ideas back home but I had a lot more to

learn. I then made contact with Neil Kinsey and went to

the USA to meet him and a number of other ‘soil gurus’.

With the help of these soil doctors and my friend Neil

Fuller, we introduced the idea of soil nutrient balancing

and feeding the soil to UK farmers. We had a stand at

The Cereal Event in 1996 and I am delighted to say that

some of the people that saw us there are still friends and

clients today.

It was not until I met Elaine Ingham of ‘The Soil Food

Web’ that we really began to understand how our soils

work and what makes plants grow. Elaine wanted me to

put in a soil food web laboratory, but just could not see

how we could ever get our money back and as we didn’t

have any money, it never happened.

In the contravening time we have grown from 5 members

of staff to over 20; moved offices 5 times and now are

based over 2 separate sites. We have a team of Soil

Specialists based around the country, have trained over

10 people some of whom have now been with the

company for 10 years, and we have watched Bio-Logical

Agriculture go from ‘muck and magic’ to mainstream

practices.

During the time that we have pioneered the ideas of

farming with regards to ‘The life in the soil’, we have

learned how to balance soil chemistry, how to feed the

plant, how to use live cultures to prevent disease, how to

‘fix’ nitrogen, how to reduce the damaging effect of

modern chemicals, how to reduce reliance on fungicides,

how to improve plant health, how to increase protein in

cereals and grass, how to improve mineral levels in all

crops, how to improve stock health, with the ultimate aim

to improve the mineral content of the food we provide to

our consumers. So bio-logical farming for me has been

an exciting adventure over the past 18 years – and still

it goes on; we are still learning, still pioneering, still

teaching and still loving it.

Now we are working with Neil Fuller, David Ward and

Michael Harrington as the UK’s leading authority on

biological farming for UK agriculture. Replicated trials

are now confirming what we know –

BIOLOGY IS KING!

Christmas 2013 at Bank House Hotel - Two very long tables now!

Nitrogen / Mega-Fos

Nitrogen prices are going up rapidly, just due to supply and demand, but we need to make good use of the new N-fixers. Trials last year confirm around 60kg of nitrogen fixed direct from the atmosphere from soil dry matter and air in the soil. We reckon we can do better than that this year as David Ward has increased the numbers of the beneficial microbes, but not the price.

We are doing a lot more trials again, to include both in-house and laboratory trials as well as a wide range of field trials by NIABTAG. So we now have biological nitrogen (recycled phosphate and potassium) plus the ‘soil fixers’ to make these work for your crops.

While the early drilled crop generally established well into good soil conditions. Some of the later drilled crops have struggled with wet waterlogged soils, especially after crops like Sugar Beet and Potatoes. Second wheats have also been slow in emerging and they all have poorly developed root systems due to the cold wet soils.

Although travelling is still an issue in most areas, soon there will be conditions where it is possible to get over the land and these type of crops would benefit from a helping hand which is where the Mega-Fos is ideal.

The application rate is very low at 2.5 litres/ha (£3.20/litre = £8 ha) and its unique combination of phosphate and phosphite with the addition of organic bio-stimulants will improve uptake of all cat-ions (Ca, Mg, K, Mn) and increase mobility in the plant.

These elements and growth stimulants supplement the plants bio-chemistry and have a catalytic effect on the growth mechanisms of the plant that develops a stronger, more active root system.

Trials done last year - a low disease year, showed megabacters were able to keep crops clean and as long as you start early and follow the programme, it will do so again this year. My recommendation is for you to order Mega-Fos now, store it in the yard and be ready to go as soon as conditions allow.

NOW is the right time to give your baby crops a much needed boost. All babies need baby food!

Without Bio-N With Bio-N

New Products

For years we have said do not waste money on unnecessary phosphate fertiliser especially TSP or DAP; both of these products damage the soil eco system and they quickly become ‘locked-up’. However, we are finding situations where we do need to bolster the soil levels. We have also said that we need to make better use of recycled products, well it’s very pleasing now to say that we have found a source of recycled phosphate and it is ideal for building your soil levels. It is a natural product and is essentially calcium phosphate – exactly what nature supplies and contains 23% P2O5 plus 5% potash and 24% calcium.

It is ideal in acid soils but it will work just as well in alkali soils where you have good biology. It is kind to the soil life and it is the phosphate fixers and mycorrhizal fungi that will put this phosphate right into your plant’s root systems. So, if you need to top up your phosphate levels apply Phos-K at 1 tonne/ha.

It is a dusty material and so needs a lime spreader. We can supply it to you on a delivered and spread basis.

The same with potassium, most plants are too low in potassium in the late spring when they are being driven by high rates of nitrogen, MOP is not the best form of potassium to use. Sulphate of potash is better but is a lot more expensive.

Now we have another alternative - K-Plus. Again a recycled product, this time from the cement works. It is a by-product, with 30% K2O (MOP is 60% and SOP is 50%) but with 5% sulphur and a good dose of calcium (17%) – brilliant. Ca and K2O work together to build cell wall strength, so just 1 tonne/ha will supply up to 300kg/ha of K2O plus calcium, magnesium, sulphur and other beneficial trace minerals.

The problem once again is it is a fine powdery product and needs a lime spreader, so we will offer this product on a delivered and spread basis. One more issue, at the moment the environment agency have declared that this product is a waste material; that’s crazy and we will get it changed but it won’t happen straight away, so we have to jump through the environmental hoops and carry out soil testing to establish the need for this product.

The next step if you want to use the excellent soil/plant friendly type of potash is to ring now so we can get your soils sampled as soon as possible. This is a very good deal for potato and vegetable growers as the cost is about half of what the normal potash would be but it is a better product and has been used extensively in other parts of the world with excellent results.

CALL US NOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

PHOSPHOSPHOS---K K K AND KKK---PLUSPLUSPLUS

01366 384899

Useful Info

Soil Fertility Services Limited, Harvest House, New Road, Crimplesham, Norfolk, PE33 9FH Tel: 01366 384899 Fax: 01366 380205 Email: info@independentsoils.co.uk Website: www.independentsoils.co.uk

Welsh News

When I first started this job I had to serve

my ‘apprenticeship’ and that meant going

all over the UK testing soils and walking

fields. I would come in on a Monday and

be told by Robert where I was going for the next 3 days

and to be back on Thursday night. So, as you can

imagine, I’ve seen a lot of the UK.

Now I look after Wales and the border counties and yet I

see the same problems here that I saw everywhere else. It

has been taught in UK agriculture for decades that all

you need to grow a crop is NPK - That is just not true.

I still regularly come across the idea that if a crop uses

60kg/ha of potash then you have to replace it and again,

this is not true.

Working biologically I have seen potash levels increase

where no potash has been applied; clovers return to

fields where none have been seen in 20 years; huge

increases in earthworm populations; more aerobic free

draining soils (isn’t that topical at the moment!) and

much more. What I can’t understand is why doesn’t

EVERY farmer want this?

When I talk about biological farming my emphasis is

always on the ‘logical’ bit, it’s just mainly common

sense. The farmers that I work with are trying to look

after their soils as that’s what will look after the plant…

and we help them to do it.

Nick Thorp - Soil Specialist Wales.

News from the North

For Northern farmers 2013 was a huge

improvement on the wet and miserable

years of 2011 and 2012 not to mention the

winter of 2010, with snow right through to

April, affecting the quality and number of lambs

produced and damage to land leading to huge feed costs;

but every year brings its challenges and as an industry

that relies heavily on the weather, we need to not only

improve grazing nutrition but also soil biology and

structure so land can cope with these wet spells.

Every farm can have soils that manage water better, long

term soil management is the key and dryer land means

less Fluke burden! With costs increasing and trade

variable, improving the feed you have growing on farm

has to be priority, after all fattening lambs off grass

alone is money in your pocket and keeping stock healthy

over winter, with good quality mineral rich silage will

reduce the risk of illness and poor lambing percentage.

2013 was my fifth year with Soil Fertility Services and I

would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who

has supported me on this huge learning curve. Not only

have my work colleagues been extremely supportive

giving me training and advice that no university could

give me but my customers have been excellent. Carry on

challenging me and I will endeavour to always do my

best for you.

Jenna Ballantine - Soil Specialist Northern England &

Scotland

There is quite a lot of confusion about phosphite PO3 and phosphate PO4 -

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME!

Phosphite (PO3) - For plant health with biologicals (megabacters), to fix nutrients and protect the plant from soil and leaf disease; much more of a plant fungicide and will not supply the phosphate that a plant may need.

Phosphate (PO4) - Supplies the phosphate the plant needs to stimulate root and sugar production to aid effective growth.

This is why we always use both!

The Return of the Prodigal

My upbringing was on a mixed dairy/sheep

farm in Edale which is in the Hope Valley

in the beautiful Peak District National Park

in Derbyshire. Until we got hit by the Foot

and Mouth outbreak of 1967 we were milking 34 cattle

which in current terms probably represents an equivalent

herd of 100!

The family farm was sold to the National Trust in 1972.

I went into the agricultural supply industry after college,

selling ‘conventional fertilisers’ and mineral supplements

until one day I saw an advert in the farming press for

people to get involved with a different concept in soil

fertility. That was when I met Robert Plumb and joined

the ‘Dark Side’ in the late nineties.

In those days the usual response was “Oh you mean

Muck and Magic”, a response which I now consider

flattering because, yes, we do appreciate the importance

of muck and yes, the results we produce do frequently

appear almost magical. Funny how ‘muck and magic’ is

now becoming mainstream.

One of the most important concepts with which I have

been involved has been the influence of the calcium/

magnesium relationship in soils and their massive

importance, particularly in the north of England.

One of my most memorable incidents was telling a

farmer from North Yorkshire to apply 2 tonnes/acre

of calcium lime to a soil with a pH of 7.8. (interested?

please contact me and I will be happy to explain the valid

reasons why) ps. He has made a full recovery!

In 2006 I was tempted away and spent a few years doing

battle with the Environment Agency in the waste industry

but the Dark Side continued to exert it’s influence on me

and in 2012, for my sins, I returned to the fold.

David Chapman - Soil Specialist Mid West UK