Success Stories

DOES BIOLOGICALYL-CHEMICALLY INTEGRATED FARMING HAVE A SUSTAINABLE OUTCOME?

Within 5 years sugar cane yields plummeted from 130 t/ha to 90 t/ha
This happened despite recommendations of conventional chemical recommendations to increase Nitrogen to 285 kg/ha
As soon as Ca /Mg ratio was addressed by applying the first gypsum - yields started to increase drastically.
Within 8 years Ca increased to 71%, Mg decreased to 18.3% and Na decreased from 6.1% to 3.3% while pH decreased to 7.2
In 2007 and 2008 farmer decreased Nitrogen to much - doing a trial on how low he can go on Nitrogen application
In 2011 Started to work on Soil life by administering Aerated Compost tea
In 2012 he is almost back to what he harvested the first year after planting
This exactly portraits the sustainability of this "Concept" where the fertility of the soil was recuperated after conventional farming methods caused the yields to decrease within 6 years to a point where it wasn't viable to continue with the current crop - replanting was necessary
This graph also portraits the fact that it takes time for soils to regain their fertility after years and years of conventional chemical farming.

Sugarcane crop successfully cultivated on a Biological program. Azospirillum was incorporated as a nitrogen fixing source while compost tea was used to mineralize the soils which were balanced according to the Albrecht model. A yield of up to 220 tons of cane per hectare has been harvested in this specific instance - in comparison to a mill average of around 90 tons/hectare. The average yield per hectare for sugarcane farmers on the Soiltech programme is between 105 – 152 tons of cane/ha. Depleted soils do take longer to recuperate but after 3-5 years we normally see drastic improvements.

Potato harvest after compost tea and the Albrecht model were used to mineralize the soils. During the production time of these potatoes it was only necessary for three chemical foliar applications to control pests and diseases in comparison to the 10 – 14 applications normally used on this farm.

Beneficial fungi in a tomato field after compost tea has been administered through the drip irrigation and the soils were balanced according to the Albrecht model. Tomato bunches produced on this field – where minimal conventional chemical foliar applications were used. Less than 70% of normal chemical foliar applications were applied, as control on pests and diseases were done biologically by carefully selecting task specific micro-organism/s.

Silage maize cultivated on a Biological management program – with Aerated compost tea and soils balanced according to the Albrecht model being the back bone of this program. No phosphate (P) or potassium (K) was incorporated in the program as there has been enough present in the soils. Only 60% of the normal nitrogen application was administered as Azospirillium was used to fix atmospheric nitrogen in to a plant usable form.

Granadillas produced on a Biological management program – with compost tea to aid in the mineralizing of nutrients. The foliar and root disease control was mainly done with compost tea and carefully selected, task specific micro-organisms.

An example of what a bunch of bananas could look like if cultivated on a Biological management program. Compost Tea was used to establish maximum biological diversity in the soils of this orchard. Soils were balanced according to the Albrecht model and nematode control was done on a complete biological program. Yields on this specific block exceeded 70 tons/ha

Note the active root growth in these banana trees – roots are almost on top of the soil between the organic materials that are being broken down actively by the life in the soil. Earthworms will return to living soils like this.

Bunches of these banana trees are almost touching the ground without the pseudo stems breaking, after the overhead support system failed because of the weight. This is a clear indication of strong and actively growing cells.

COMPOST TEA USED VERY SUCCESSFULLY TO BREAK DOWN ORGANIC MATERIAL

Quarter of pivot where green manure was treated with compost tea after first discing operation. This photo was taken 3 weeks after the compost tea was applied and just after the second discing operation.	Second quarter of the same pivot after second discing operation has been finished - but no compost tea was applied to aid in the breaking down of the green manure.

Examples of life returning to the soil when nature friendly farming practices are being applied. Fungi and macro soil life is returning as well as the "earthy" smell of healthy fertile soil.

Young sweet peppers on a biologically integrated programme.Yield of moe than 80 tons/ha are achieved regularly by applying this concept to the soils.

Litchi trees on an integrated biological programme where foliar applications were used to stimulate flowering. This was done by manipulating the pH of the spraying solution at certain growth stages of the trees.