On the much lauded Heritage Farms, just out of Cambridge, manager Richard Prew has had a surprisingly large and successful crop of asparagus. It was enough to draw commercial grower Annie Wilson to check things out.
The Waikato is the main asparagus growing area in the North Island, chiefly because it has areas of flat, fertile, well drained sandy loam – soil suited to the needs of asparagus, which is a long-lived perennial and likes good fertilisation.
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https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/asparagus-tips-1141953-1280x960-1.jpg9601280Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2005-05-01 03:17:362025-07-23 21:01:56Organic Asparagus: Yield way above conventional
Dr Tim Jenkins, of the Biological Husbandry Unit outlines strategies to develop great pastures
Grazing management can include a regular pattern of shifting livestock onto clean pasture. In some cases this may be as often as shifting each day. This is an effective way of ensuring good pasture diversity too, especially if paddocks can be left long enough for the more preferentially grazed and slower to recover species to recuperate from the grazing. This will involve a high level of permanent and possibly temporary fencing (with back fencing). (A further advantage of such fencing is to reduce losses of nutrients through dung and urine transfer – fewer stock camps etc).
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On conventional New Zealand farms fly strike is kept under control through a variety of means, including mulesing, tail docking, crutching and dagging sheep, and dipping and jetting with insecticides. The latter is not possible on organic farms, and other common techniques don’t fit well with Organics. This can make fly strike management a challenge. Animal welfare commentator Dr Michael Morris looks at the issues and the challenges.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/11/Organic-NZ-featured.jpg486726Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2005-03-01 03:17:512005-03-01 03:17:51Organics, sheep husbandry and fly strike
Nitrogen is an important building block of proteins, nucleic acids and other cellular constituents which are essential for all forms of life. Nitrogen is such an important key nutrient element for plants that it warrants careful management, and – if mismanaged – can lead to severe environmental problems.
Organic Growing tutor and Soil & Health co-chair, Holger Kahl outlines the role of nitrogen and how to get it right.
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https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/11/Organic-NZ-featured.jpg486726Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2004-09-01 03:22:272025-07-23 21:02:49Role and importance of nitrogen in your soil
Is anything more aggravating than buying what you understand to be organic food only to discover that it is not organic and that industry has, once again, “meddled” with it?
My wife returned from a supermarket recently having purchased a bottle of “Simply Organic” milk. On reading the label more closely we found it was nothing of the sort. In the fine print we read that, as well as being pasteurised, this so called “organic milk” was also homogenised.
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https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/11/Organic-NZ-featured.jpg486726Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2003-03-01 03:27:012003-03-01 03:27:01Milk – Hazard or Cure?
A shared passion for wine and commitment to Organics has brought about an intriguing business partnership between Kingsley Tobin, award-winning winemaker, and John Hawkesby, late of TV news. Valerie Cowperthwaite talked to them both. (First printed in Soil & Health Nov/Dec 2000 issue.)
When Kingsley Tobin came back to New Zealand in 1990 he was ready for a new challenge. Having run sophisticated restaurants in California and being fascinated by good wine, he realised his challenge was likely to be in the same field, especially given the potential in New Zealand.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/11/Organic-NZ-featured.jpg486726Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2001-11-01 03:31:072001-11-01 03:31:07Joint Venture into Vines
Denise Mark describes exactly how to grow delicious, organic ‘Love Apples’.
Is conventionally grown to your taste?
Imagine a conventionally grown tomato, bred for long shelf life, growing in a plastic bag full of sawdust. Imagine the plant being fed an unrelenting cocktail of calcium, ammonium and potassium nitrates, potassium and magnesium sulfate and potassium sulfite. Imagine chemical sprays dripping from its leaves, killing the pests and diseases attacking it. Now imagine buying this tomato from the supermarket and eating it!
… Wonder why things don’t taste like they used to?
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Biotechnology is not the answer to world hunger. Devinder Sharma explains how government sanctioned greed is the cause of rural poverty in India.
The genetic engineering industry has been claiming that at a time when more than 800 million people go to bed hungry each night, and with their number likely to swell to over 1.5 billion in the next ten years, biotechnology provides the only hope of feeding the burgeoning population.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/11/Organic-NZ-featured.jpg486726Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2001-09-01 03:34:082001-09-01 03:34:08Starvation and Politics
In May this year, Meriel Watts travelled to Senegal in West Africa to take part in Pesticide Action Network’s international conference on “Feeding the World Without Poisons”.
Meriel is a member of the Steering Council of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific. She filed this report on her return.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/11/Organic-NZ-featured.jpg486726Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2001-07-01 03:38:392001-07-01 03:38:39Feeding the World without Poisons
One of the most delicious and nutrient rich foods available, avocados still have an air of mystique and luxury but they’re not that hard to grow. Tim Vallings tells us how to grow the best avos, sustainably!
I’ve been asked how we grow our avocados and why I think they are the best.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/11/Organic-NZ-featured.jpg486726Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2001-07-01 03:36:402001-07-01 03:36:40Avocados – Pears from Paradise
Organic Asparagus: Yield way above conventional
/in Gardening, Magazine ArticlesOn the much lauded Heritage Farms, just out of Cambridge, manager Richard Prew has had a surprisingly large and successful crop of asparagus. It was enough to draw commercial grower Annie Wilson to check things out.
The Waikato is the main asparagus growing area in the North Island, chiefly because it has areas of flat, fertile, well drained sandy loam – soil suited to the needs of asparagus, which is a long-lived perennial and likes good fertilisation.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Perfect pasture – grazing management
/in Farming and Horticulture, Magazine ArticlesDr Tim Jenkins, of the Biological Husbandry Unit outlines strategies to develop great pastures
Grazing management can include a regular pattern of shifting livestock onto clean pasture. In some cases this may be as often as shifting each day. This is an effective way of ensuring good pasture diversity too, especially if paddocks can be left long enough for the more preferentially grazed and slower to recover species to recuperate from the grazing. This will involve a high level of permanent and possibly temporary fencing (with back fencing). (A further advantage of such fencing is to reduce losses of nutrients through dung and urine transfer – fewer stock camps etc).
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Organics, sheep husbandry and fly strike
/in Farming and Horticulture, Magazine ArticlesOn conventional New Zealand farms fly strike is kept under control through a variety of means, including mulesing, tail docking, crutching and dagging sheep, and dipping and jetting with insecticides. The latter is not possible on organic farms, and other common techniques don’t fit well with Organics. This can make fly strike management a challenge. Animal welfare commentator Dr Michael Morris looks at the issues and the challenges.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Role and importance of nitrogen in your soil
/in Gardening, Magazine ArticlesNitrogen is an important building block of proteins, nucleic acids and other cellular constituents which are essential for all forms of life. Nitrogen is such an important key nutrient element for plants that it warrants careful management, and – if mismanaged – can lead to severe environmental problems.
Organic Growing tutor and Soil & Health co-chair, Holger Kahl outlines the role of nitrogen and how to get it right.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Milk – Hazard or Cure?
/in Health and Food, Magazine ArticlesIs anything more aggravating than buying what you understand to be organic food only to discover that it is not organic and that industry has, once again, “meddled” with it?
My wife returned from a supermarket recently having purchased a bottle of “Simply Organic” milk. On reading the label more closely we found it was nothing of the sort. In the fine print we read that, as well as being pasteurised, this so called “organic milk” was also homogenised.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Joint Venture into Vines
/in Farming and Horticulture, Magazine ArticlesA shared passion for wine and commitment to Organics has brought about an intriguing business partnership between Kingsley Tobin, award-winning winemaker, and John Hawkesby, late of TV news. Valerie Cowperthwaite talked to them both. (First printed in Soil & Health Nov/Dec 2000 issue.)
When Kingsley Tobin came back to New Zealand in 1990 he was ready for a new challenge. Having run sophisticated restaurants in California and being fascinated by good wine, he realised his challenge was likely to be in the same field, especially given the potential in New Zealand.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Growing Organic Tomatoes
/in Gardening, Magazine ArticlesDenise Mark describes exactly how to grow delicious, organic ‘Love Apples’.
Is conventionally grown to your taste?
Imagine a conventionally grown tomato, bred for long shelf life, growing in a plastic bag full of sawdust. Imagine the plant being fed an unrelenting cocktail of calcium, ammonium and potassium nitrates, potassium and magnesium sulfate and potassium sulfite. Imagine chemical sprays dripping from its leaves, killing the pests and diseases attacking it. Now imagine buying this tomato from the supermarket and eating it!
… Wonder why things don’t taste like they used to?
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Starvation and Politics
/in Magazine Articles, RegularsBiotechnology is not the answer to world hunger. Devinder Sharma explains how government sanctioned greed is the cause of rural poverty in India.
The genetic engineering industry has been claiming that at a time when more than 800 million people go to bed hungry each night, and with their number likely to swell to over 1.5 billion in the next ten years, biotechnology provides the only hope of feeding the burgeoning population.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Feeding the World without Poisons
/in Magazine Articles, RegularsIn May this year, Meriel Watts travelled to Senegal in West Africa to take part in Pesticide Action Network’s international conference on “Feeding the World Without Poisons”.
Meriel is a member of the Steering Council of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific. She filed this report on her return.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Avocados – Pears from Paradise
/in Gardening, Magazine ArticlesOne of the most delicious and nutrient rich foods available, avocados still have an air of mystique and luxury but they’re not that hard to grow. Tim Vallings tells us how to grow the best avos, sustainably!
I’ve been asked how we grow our avocados and why I think they are the best.
The following content is only available to members. Join us for access.
Proudly published by the Soil & Health Association NZ
Proudly published by the Soil and Health Association NZ