How regenerative practices can help cut fertiliser and diesel costs
With both fertiliser and diesel prices rising due to the Middle East Crisis, we caught up with Kyle Richardville, from our mentoring team, to discuss how farmers can use regenerative practices to reduce their input costs.
The old saying goes that “turnover is vanity, profit is sanity” and this is just as true in farming as any other business (writes Kyle). And, with so many farmers living on such tight margins, a sudden spike in overheads can soon begin to whittle away profits, with all the headaches and stress that brings.
For those who are heavily dependent on bought-in inputs, such as fertiliser and diesel, global events that are out of your control can suddenly mean the difference between being in the red or the black.
The good news is that it is possible to reduce this dependence by adopting regenerative principles to improve soil health.
Kyle Richardville
A study of over 360 farms in the United States by Understanding Ag (link to study) showed that, on average, arable farms were able to reduce synthetic fertiliser applications by 37% over five years and fuel use by 22% per acre.
The key to making these savings lies in enhancing the natural processes in the soil to increase organic matter and drive function and productivity. Although it is possible to do this on every farm, exactly how it is achieved will vary.
Using regen practices in way that benefits your farm
Exactly how you reduce inputs is going to be different for every farm.
If you are a 100% arable farm, it could include beginning to use practices such as cover-cropping with muti-species leys, no-till, direct drilling, introducing animals into the rotation - or all of the above.
As a livestock or mixed farm, it could be a matter of refining and adapting your grazing management, trying to extend the grazing season, or changing how you select the right animals to thrive in a particular system.
Accurate soil testing is a good first step towards reducing fertiliser use
The variations really are infinite depending on everything from your environmental and geographical situation to family dynamics, financial concerns and personal beliefs.
However, there are a few universal approaches and principles farmers can use to begin experimenting and reducing input costs relatively quickly.
Carry out truly accurate soil testing
An essential first step is to conduct frequent, accurate soil sampling to get a true picture of what is happening on your farm.
Often, this can help cut fertiliser use quite quickly by providing a real reflection of where nutrients need to be applied. If you’re basing the amount of fertiliser you apply on the standard 10-acre grid testing every four years, there is a good chance you could be legitimately over-applying and costing yourself more money than is necessary.
Realise the true nutrient value of your soil
Most soils hold a vast reservoir of nutrients. What you see on a conventional soil test is only the immediately available fraction in the top 15cm. It is no surprise that this topsoil is often depleted, given that conventional agricultural methods focus on ploughing and cultivating in this surface layer, without using practices which can access nutrients lower down.
The answer to increasing fertility and function does not lie in adding more and more chemicals, but introducing the diversity of plants and biological processes which can naturally access those nutrients deeper in the profile.
“We don’t have a nutrient problem on our farms, we have a diversity problem.”
There is 79 million kg of nitrogen in the air above every hectare of land. As farmers we need to work out how to fix that nitrogen into the soil and make it available to plants. Nurturing a diversity of living plant roots in the ground will encourage the soil organisms that are ready to do this work for us.
In the words of Gabe Brown: “We don’t have nutrient problem on our farms, we have a diversity problem.”
Experiment and start small
Making changes on any farm can seem daunting and the last thing we would ever advise is to go ‘cold turkey’ on fertiliser overnight. If you do, you will most likely create an environmental and financial mess.
It is much better to trial different approaches on small areas of the farm gradually and compare the results as you go. As you gain confidence and insight you can begin expanding and adapting these approaches accordingly.
In this way, every farm - no matter what type or size - can begin making changes which will reduce their fertiliser bill over time.
Be honest about yield versus profit
When economic times are tough, it can be tempting to double down on the approach of trying to increase yield as much as possible. When prices are down, conventional agricultural advice will often default to the need to ‘make more money’ by producing as much as you possibly can.
“Aiming for a lower yield goal may result in much more efficient nutrient use by plants and therefore greater profit margins.”
All too often, careful financial analysis will tell a different story. What is the real cost-benefit of throwing on more and more inputs in pursuit of ever diminishing returns? Is your turnover increasing while your margin shrinks?
As daunting as it may seem, aiming for a lower yield goal may result in much more efficient nutrient use by plants and therefore greater profit margins. Even if you don’t want to take this approach across the whole farm, why not trial it on a smaller area and see what the results are?
The connection between fertiliser and fuel use
Many of the practices which improve soil function, and therefore help cut fertiliser use, are also directly linked to a reduction in fuel expenditure.
Just a few examples include minimum tillage and no-till, which require less power and vehicle use to cultivate the soil, mob-grazing - in which animals distribute manure on fields rather than a mechanical spreader - or longer periods of outwintering for livestock, requiring less transport of feed and pen scraping.
As is always the case, making changes in one area of your farming operation can bring compounding and cascading benefits elsewhere.
Regenerate Outcomes works with
farmers to grow profits
We provide one-to-one mentoring to help you cut costs and improve crop and livestock performance.
At the same time, we baseline and measure soil carbon at no upfront cost to generate carbon credits which you can retain or sell for additional income.
Find out more by downloading our Programme Handbook.