Taking advantage, or greater advantage, of biological nitrogen fixation, seems like a logical option for a chemical nitrogen substitute. Adding legumes to your cropping system, and managing them well, has great potential to add significant amounts of nitrogen to your system, in a more sustainable way than chemical fertilisers.
Every farmer should assess their system and see where they still have opportunities to improve. This will probably show them whether their stocking rate is too low, too high, or just right. The data in this case study would suggest that very few farms are in the just right category.
The purpose of this article is purely to provoke thought. To ask you to consider where you fall in the spectrum of techonogist and environmentalist, and to think about how this perspective influences your view of the solutions that are presented to you every day.
We have recently implemented a new assessment which assigns each farm participating with Trace & Save a sustainability status. The purpose of this status is not necessary to categorise each farm and say whether they are good or not. It is rather to identify where the farm is on their sustainability journey.
The purpose of this business case is to investigate the association between the economic and environmental facets of sustainability related to milk production on dairy farms in South Africa.
Weeds are a nuisance but through effective field management, herbicide usage, and cover crops they can be controlled.
Physical soil disturbances are a well-documented and well-understood concept; however, we underestimate the disturbances that result from chemical and biological processes.
Can we afford not to change when we look beyond the individual farm and look at the entire agricultural industry and the way food is produced? What will it cost environmentally, and long-term economically, if we do not change?