A series of workshops delivered by visiting regenerative soil scientist, Joel Williams, has inspired local farmers into immediate action, particularly regarding the use of foliar sprays.
The cost of fertiliser has producers looking for alternatives and foliar sprays, where additives like urea are mixed with water and sprayed directly onto plants, are a hot topic of conversation.
Hillside dairy farmer, Rohan Reynolds, who listened to Mr Williams speak at the new Gippsland Agricultural Group (GAgG) shed near the Bairnsdale airport last Friday night, was inspired into action.
“He was sensational,” Rohan said.
“He made everything very clear.
“He was really informative on soil health and soil biology, in both scientific and practical ways, to increase soil and pasture productivity.
“That event really cemented how foliar sprays work for me, the nutrients go onto the plant and into the soil, not the other way around.
“It makes sense.”
Mr Reynolds has mixed-pasture species on his property, including rye grasses, clovers and cocksfoot, and will also spray his 20 acres of lucerne.
He said over the weekend he rigged up a towable foliage spray unit, “at very little cost with things laying around”.
He achieved high agitation and will put
out 1000 litres across his 1.5-hectare paddocks.
His liquid mix will include lime, blood and bone, effluent, fish emulsion, kelp, bio stimulants and liquid urea, which he says will be good for his soil carbon as well.
Rohan said he has also ‘binge-watched’ YouTube videos of Joel’s teachings all weekend.
“It was definitely money well spent by the shire and the Gippsland Ag Group to have Joel in our region,” Rohan said.
Gippsland Agricultural Group (GAgG) chief executive officer, Trevor Caithness, attended several of the events in the roadshow, which started in Flynn last Wednesday, moving to Yarram, then Bairnsdale.
This week Joel spoke at Orbost and Omeo.
“Joel puts so much information into such a practical format for farmers, it’s easy to digest and take back to their own businesses,” Trevor said.
“The emergence of foliar sprays is being driven by expensive conventional fertilisers, as most budgets are being squeezed.
“Conventional fertilisers are about building fertility in reserve, whereas foliar sprays are just delivering a certain amount to grow the plant and generally not leaving much in the soil.”
GAgG drought adoption officer, Rick Blackshaw, also attended most of the workshops.
He said there were 28 people at the Orbost event on Monday and farmers ranged from small property owners to large beef and dairy operators.
“Joel’s really making people think,” Rick said.
“As well as connect the dots.
“His focus is on animal, plant, and soil health and how that connects back to human health, having high-quality, nutritious food.
“Cents soon add up to dollars and the incremental changes being made is resulting in substantial change in practices and production, which hopefully translates to increased profitability.”
Rick said they also took a metre-deep soil core and found 6.5-7pH all the way down, roots to 90cm-plus and even an earth worm on the dairy flat country.
Co-organiser, Landcare’s sustainable agriculture facilitator, Emma Orgill, said it seemed most attendees had heard of Joel and wanted to hear more for themselves.
“He’s about balancing our systems and balancing soils, not just throwing fertiliser out,” she said.
“He’s brilliant, he tailors each session to the region he’s in, he really does his homework and he’s a very good educator.”
