FIFTY Central Queensland producers have descended on the Marshall family’s Springsure property Nandowrie to see its transition to certified organic beef production and learn the secret of effectively “farming twice the area of land without buying a single extra hectare.”
Matthew Marshall checks root development during the AOL field day at his property in Central Queensland
Hosted by certifier Australian Organic Ltd and the University of Queensland, the field day titled “Proactively addressing soil constraints: Using multi-species crops to cover your bottom line,” shared findings of the Federal Government’s Drought Resilient Soils project, which enlisted 20 farmers to trial treatments to rectify soil constraints, improve crop yield and enhance drought resilience.
Five years ago, fifth generation producer Matthew Marshall and his father Stephen made the decision to go “cold turkey” on synthetic fertilisers, replacing them completely with biological fertilisers to enhance productivity on their properties Nandowrie and The Pines, totalling 5725ha.
The Marshalls run Angus x Limousin breeders and cultivate organic dryland crops, as well as growing lucerne and fodder crops.
They achieved full Organic Certification under AOL and now produce their own biological fertiliser and incorporate a rotation of cover crops, finishing cattle under a paddock-assisted Certified Organic feeding program incorporating silage for drought proofing.
In moving to biofertiliser the Marshalls built their own facility to store 50,000L of home-made product which is applied at a rate of 50-150L per hectare.
“The advantage of bio fert is in the diversity of plant and microbial life that we’re seeing on the property, and we’re seen the benefits of putting a cover crop back in the ground annually or at least once every third year,” Matthew Marshall said.
“We went organic because we could see the trend in our consumer-driven market was to eat cleaner and know where food comes from, and the benefit to our farms has been tenfold through zero pest and disease problems and improved nutrition.”
Cover crops are composed of legumes, grasses, brassicas, and broadleaves; each playing a role by enhancing soil structure and water absorption capacity.
Victorian guest speaker Grant Sims, owner/director from Down Under Covers and a former Coles Farmer of the Year, told the audience that healthy soils responded in the same way to bio fertilisers as the human gut biome did to optimal foods.
Mr Sims said by stopping cultivation, encouraging fungal levels and diversity of root systems, and growing a protective cover for the soil, farmers could measure their land three-dimensionally – by length, width and depth.
“If rooting depth can be increased from 30cm to 60cm, and even better one metre, the volume of soil being farmed can effectively double,” Mr Sims said.
Guest speaker Kym Kruse from CircleAG told the audience that more organic matter provided more water infiltration in wet times and more water-holding capacity in dry times.
A one percent increase in soil organic matter provided 144,000L of water holding capacity per hectare, he said, and when moisture and nutrition was optimised, the plant would be more resilient and capable of defending itself against disease.
Mr Kruse described microbial diversity as the cornerstone of soil health and said that by mimicking what happened in the soil, biofertilisers could fast-track the benefits of balanced nutrition.
AOL chief executive officer Jackie Brian paid tribute to the Marshall family for their commitment to boosting soil health and drought resilience through innovative organic techniques.
“We were pleased to see such a good turnout of Central Queensland producers interested in finding an organic alternative to synthetic fertilisers, to build water-holding capacity and optimise weed control without herbicides,” Ms Brian said.
“By sharing their knowledge, the Marshall family and guest speakers are assisting farmers to get nutrition back into their ground more naturally whilst maintaining cropping yields and productivity, and these proactive practices will enhance their overall resilience.”
Source: AOL