MANY farmers are faced with the situation of diminishing returns, even where productivity is increasing.
It is not that new technology, such as precision systems, new formulations of fertilisers and chemicals, do not continue to increase productivity, but often the problem is that productivity is not cost-effective.
So after a while, the graph of cost increases starts to converge with the graph of productivity increases, and when that happens it is time for a serious re-think.
So much research has gone into improving fertiliser technology that it is difficult to see an area that has not been, or is not being, improved. The diminishing returns are an increasing reality for many farmers.
However, there is one area that conventional technology has not considered, or been able to get a good handle on - soil microbiology - and the steadily growing groundswell of operators looking to manage their soil microbiology better have not been satisfied with the management tools previously available to assist them.
Until now, increased interest in soil microbiology has been hampered on the ground by a lack of affordable and reliable microbial testing services.
That situation has now changed with the introduction of a useful range of economical and reliable microbiology tests from Adelaide-based agricultural microbiology consultancy, Creation Innovation Agriculture and Forestry, which has teamed up with Australian Perry Agricultural Laboratory to offer the first accurate microbial test for about $50.
With my colleagues at CIAAF, I have spent more than 12 months developing a microbial test system based on technology that is commonly used in research science, and adapting it to a commercial environment.
"We believe that farmers should have the ability to measure what's happening to the microbiology in their soils so they can make informed decisions about whether or not their management practices are working. Whether it's fertiliser applications, microbial inoculants, or cultural practices, such as tillage or green manuring, growers need a cost-effective way of measuring what effect those management practices have in order to make good management decisions. It is very difficult to manage what you can not measure, and we are committed to providing an affordable and reliable way for people to do that.
Soil microbial biomass (the weight of soil microbes) could be up to as much as 1 million kilograms a hectare or more in a healthy, biologically active soil. Like cattle, all those microbes need food, and graze on nutrients, residues and each other to survive, and create what is known as the 'microbial pool' of nutrients. The microbial nutrient pool sits alongside the well-known labile (plant available) and non-labile (temporarily unavailable) nutrient pools and interacts with them, as well as the mineral (locked up) nutrient pool. Just about every nutrient that exists, or is applied to, soil will be influenced by soil microbes in some way. There are also microbes that increase the total amount of nutrients in your soil, such as those involved in the nitrogen cycle.
These microbes supply nutrients to crops in a sort of chain reaction, with each type of microbe playing its individual role. In order to have a constant, optimal nutrient flow to crops from the microbial nutrient pool, all the different groups of microbes must be in balance. Any break in the chain can result in a disruption to nutrient flow and potentially cause other problems in the chain, much the way a blocked drain can cause other problems to a plumbing system. Nutrient build-ups and blockages can lead to other soil physical and chemical problems, and can lead to the growth of disease-causing, pathogenic microbes.
Furthermore, in a balanced microbial system, pathogens are kept in check by the presence of helpful bacteria that can suppress pathogens using active and passive strategies.
? Details: www.ciaaf.com.au, www.apal.com.au email info@ciaaf.com.au or 0409 273 528.
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