Tea Lands Up Reviving Brew for Farms

By BASHAM, Laura

When Nelson soil consultant Robert Luff brews his tea, he uses a 2000-litre silo.

It is no ordinary cuppa that he makes. The compost tea will be sprayed on farmland to improve soils and growth.

His firm is working on restoring the biological balance to the soil on more than 200 properties, 60 of them in the Nelson region.

They include sheep and beef farms, dairy, vineyards, hop and berry farms and tree nurseries.

The business has grown over six years as farmers look at alternatives to conventional fertilisers to improve production.

Nelson-based firm Dynamic Compost Tea covers Marlborough and the West Coast, while a New Plymouth base covers Taranaki and Waikato, where converting conventional dairy to organics is its speciality.

Farmers usually call Mr Luff when they have problems with production.

Often the farm has grass grubs and poor animal health, such as mastitis.

On dairy farms he finds soil compaction and weed problems, over- use of fertiliser and urine patches in pasture with poor growth between them. Sheep and beef farms have similar problems but to a lesser degree.

On the Wairau Plains and Motueka Valley he tackles a big magnesium imbalance against calcium.

His approach is straightforward, starting with soil testing and analysis.

His remedies are aimed at what is happening under the grass, and getting micro-organisms to revitalise the soil.

He uses the compost tea and three other products he makes: Organo- n, which is a BioGro-registered nitrogen, Turbo-n, which is a non- organic nitrogen, and humic acid.

The compost tea is made in the silos with water and compost, which is trucked from Waihi. The bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes from the compost are fed to suit a farm’s requirements, to grow the biomass.

He said 150 litres of the biological organisms were equal to 15 tonnes of compost. The process takes 24 hours and each brew is tested under a microscope before being taken to the farm.

Appleby dairy farmer Brian Ford, who peak farms a 210-herd, began using the compost tea on his property five years ago because of concerns about the chemical imbalance in the soil and for stock health.

“We found within nine months the soil texture improved dramatically, it helped moisture retention and facilitated better drainage,” he said.

The cows also grazed the pastures more evenly.

Mr Luff, whose background is in farming, engineering and manufactured farm products, became interested in using compost tea after learning about it from Dr Elaine Ingram of the United States’ Soil Foodweb Institute.

He had a friend dairy farming at Havelock who was struggling to grow grass.

“After I heard Dr Ingram, I went back to him and said, ‘I think I know what is wrong with your soils’, and suggested the Soil Foodweb. It was the missing link.

“I thought maybe we could get a plant and start up business and so we did.”

With an increasing focus on sustainability, he is finding farmers are aware changes need to be made.

Continued use of superphosphate was not cost-effective and had killed micro-organisms in the soil, he said.

“Why would you continue to put on superphosphate when you know the majority of phosphate is being tied up in the soil?” he said.

Using Turbo-n was bio-friendly and cost less than urea, and the user got twice as much out of it by using only a third, he said.

Mr Luff sees the sense in going organic, not just for health reasons but also the premium price it can return to farmers and growers. “I am not a greenie but I understand we need to be getting some of this bad stuff out of our diet,” he said.

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(c) 2008 Nelson Mail, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.