Internationally renowned agricultural experts from South Africa, Australia, the United States and NZ will address the conference, expected to attract up to 200 farmers.
“It’s going to be a huge opportunity for NZ farmers to learn about some of the developments and technologies happening both here and overseas and also to bust some of the myths around conventional farming methods,” organiser Bruce Hore said.
Hore, a farmer from Maniototo in Central Otago and now director-consultant of AgriGanics, a business he established in 2009, is a firm believer that farming more profitability is also farming more sustainably, still using conventional farming methods.
“Farmers can improve profitability of their operation while also improving the health of their soil. The two go hand in hand,” he said.
And that’s the key focus of the World Wide Agriculture (WWA) conference.
The agriculture industry had huge growth potential. It was a significant economic player for NZ and it was also helping to ensure farming continued to evolve sustainably.
The aim of the conference was to show farmers how they could increase their yields and improve profitability without spending more money, Hore said.
Hore said farmers around the world were experiencing the same challenges with chemical resistances and weather patterns.
“We have nine overseas speakers coming to the conference, five are farmers and some have more than 40 years of experience. They are experts in soil health, fertiliser, water and animal health in relation to soil fertility.
“This upcoming conference will show farmers how they can save money by using less irrigation and less fertiliser while still increasing production,” Hore said.
Understanding what chemicals were actually in the water going on the soil and how to match that with appropriate amounts of fertiliser, getting the magnesium and calcium right, would use less water.
How to make the best use of the most popular nutrient, nitrogen, and the most neglected nutrient, magnesium, and how both should be more closely considered and used to benefit profitability would be the key focus of presentations at the conference.
“There are ways to get nutrients and water right to be doing the right thing for the environment.
“We are discovering these ways and we are also getting better, more sustainable results in our farming systems and this (conference) will show farmers how,” Hore said.
