WA CATCHING UP IN BIOLOGICAL FARMING SHIFT

While the east coast of Australia has led the way in biological farming, West Australian growers are quickly catching up in recognising the benefits of reduced-chemical approaches, according to agronomist Burt Naude. A former farmer and consultant Mr Naude has recently joined the team at leading biological fertiliser company Western Mineral Fertilisers, based in Tenterden. Mr Naude said it was heartening that, in line with the increasing success of non-traditional approaches, more farmers were embracing the methods.

“When talk about biological farming first began, very few people were actually doing it so when a grower spoke to their agronomist or a fellow farmer about the idea, no one had any ‘real world’ evidence to support it, but that’s changed,” he said.

“Now, when a grower asks around, there’s a greater chance someone he talks to has either tried it, is using it or know someone who has reaped the benefits of it, and that’s making a big difference.”

One of a new breed of biologically-aware advisors known as biological agronomists, Mr Naude said frustration at rising costs and falling yields was also driving the shift.

“Some of the questions I normally ask when discussing biological farming systems with farmers include, ‘do we have more diseases in crops than thirty years ago?’, ‘Are weeds more competitive and resistant than ten years ago?’, ‘Are we starting to rely more on foliar nutrient application than ten years ago?’ and the answer on all three is yes – these answers identify the production cost drivers in the current system,” he said.

“As input costs go up, growers are quite rightly questioning high-chemical farming methods and, when pushed to make the change, most are pleasantly

surprised that they can boost their bottom lines by bringing down costs and equaling or improving yields.

“For most famers, the environmental upside is just a bonus but, for others, it’s a key factor in making the switch.”

WMF managing director Stephen Frost said Burt’s addition to the WMF team was in response to increased demand.

“In the face of much skepticism about reduced-chemical products, we’ve managed to come a long way since we started up in 1997, and growers are now responding in larger numbers to our scientific data proving the bottom line benefits of environmentally-friendly, alkaline fertiliser and microbiological products,” he said.

 “As more growers makes the switch to this fresh approach to farming, Burt will be there to guide them.”

Mr Naude’s chief role will be to give agronomic advice in soil and plant nutrition to existing and new Western Minerals’ clients.

“Rather than blindly using larger amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous to boost yields, the future of farming lies in getting better value out of the nitrogen and phosphorous already being used,” he said.

Mr Naude said biological farming was cutting edge and involved another leg of science, therefore making it more scientific than the current models of  mainstream farming which were based on the physical and chemical status of soils alone.

“Soil biology was poorly supported and recognised in the past, but this is changing fast as the limiting effects of chemical farming start to become more evident,” he said.

“The biological farming system is based on soil physical analysis, soil chemical analysis, soil biology analysis and supporting scientific evidence and research

 and this approach has to be more reliable and stable through all the challenges that the farmer encounters on the farm – any scientific solution based on more than one scientific field leads to improved solutions.”

Mr Naude holds a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Soil Science and Geology and has an immense amount of international experience in both chemical farming and biological farming production.