Pukehina farmer helping change New Zealand’s soil story

Mohi Beckham with Jason Cruse in Scylla Farms' pasture with 30 different species. Photo / Alison Smith.

Poor pasture and long hours forced Pukehina farmer Mohi Beckham to rethink conventional farming.

Mohi was raised in a big family and learnt from his late mum to appreciate the mauri, or life force, of soils and the food that comes as a result.

His brother’s 208ha Scylla Farm reaches into an open valley of mixed volcanic ash, pumice and gley soils that when purchased in mid-2019, were covered in a thick blanket of nutrition-deficient kikuyu grass with cows that were losing weight.

The Bay of Plenty farmer believed a reliance on constant fertiliser application and animals in less than optimum health wasn’t good for the land or the people on it.

“About two years ago I got myself into an ugly spot and didn’t know what was wrong with me. I got myself checked and, with the support of my wife, made changes to my team,” Mohi says.

Scylla Farms has been selected as one of 10 farms in a two-year National Science Challenge Our Land Our Water trial, under the Government’s Revitalise Te Taiao research programme.

The $2.7 million Rere ki Uta, Rere ki Tai trial has the potential to transform New Zealand’s farming industry. It tests whether using farming methods that enhance the mana and mauri of the soil create healthier, more resilient, more profitable farms that are better able to withstand environmental, societal and regulatory pressure. It is hosted by AgriSea New Zealand.

The farm is being transitioned with regenerative and traditional Māori methods, and in October 2021 Mohi stopped applying agri-nutrients as the default, using nitrogen now only as a top-up.

He extended the milking season and let the animals chew through the poor pasture while he got a pasture renewal programme under way.

Supplementing the production from 480 dairy cows with 3ha of avocado, 6ha of gold kiwifruit and 6ha of red kiwifruit, he also switched to a seaweed-based biostimulants programme on trial paddocks that were planted in 25 to 30 different species.

Conventional farming might see four or five species in a pasture, whereas Scylla Farms has a salad bowl that’s regularly left ungrazed for several weeks to set seed again.

Scylla Farms in Pukehina in the Bay of Plenty is part of the Rere Ki Uta Rere Ki Tai trial. Photo / Alison Smith.

The data captured in the trial is well beyond what’s normally calculated for farm soil health in New Zealand.

A normal farmer does a basic soil test down to only 75mm and many rely on the measure of Olsen phosphorous to tell them how much phosphate is readily available for a plant to uptake.

In this project, researchers from Lincoln University, Manaaki Whenua, AgResearch, specialist social science research consultants and farm economic consultants measure metrics across soil health from a much wider perspective - including animal and human wellbeing.

Running concurrently with the study of 10 farms is research on 10ha of Lincoln Research Farm to investigate the connection between sheep milk and meat quality and soil and pasture health, including the impact of biostimulants and fertiliser use.

Mohi says he is already noticing positive changes from cutting fertiliser, using biostimulants and diversifying the paddock crop.

A core sample at the time he stopped applying fertiliser measured roots 500mm deep compared to 1.2 metres a year later, and potassium has risen despite adding none.

“We went from 160 units of nitrogen to 30 last year which was a big saving, and we were probably the greenest farm in this area for most of the summer.

“It’s all about drawing down carbon, helping fungi and soil bacteria. I think farmers use milk as their be-all and end-all and cut corners, and I’ve done that. But we’ll focus on our core ingredients, and that’s where we’ll get our milk from.”

Mohi says another goal is “the laziest way of farming while producing the same amount of milk”.

Free grazing cows and robotic milking with the use of Halter technology, trees for shade and organic matter, and adding a stock of chickens, goats and pigs to help him make compost “helps us be part of the whole cycle of life”.

Halter saves the team about 20 to 25 hours per week. With New Zealand-invented Halter, ergonomically designed smart collars monitor the herd for signs of ill health and provide a virtual – invisible – fence that’s controlled via a phone app.

The herd is also being transitioned from spring to autumn calving so they – and farm workers - get a break in the heat of summer.

Replacement stock is bought in, and Mohi avoids the call of the bobby truck by giving this young stock away or selling them.

Mohi understands firsthand the pressure on farmers. He believes farmers feel increasingly isolated, not connecting with communities as they once did.

“They may send their kids away for private boarding schools, losing another chance to connect locally. It doesn’t so much happen here, but I noticed that when I worked in rural communities that are dominant with farmers and growers.”

To combat isolation, he set up a gym in his barn, welcoming the community to use it. It began with Mohi and a local vet devising home workouts, and now attracts up to 20 regulars from the wider community. There are women learning boxing classes with Mohi, to guys sticking around after a weightlifting session, talking over what’s bugging them.

Mohi has developed a guiding principle rooted in his whānau’s ancestry, that the environment, people and animals must be considered equally.

A wood carving on his kitchen table serves as a daily reminder, and it underpins every decision on the farm. Its triangular pillars are carved with his Māori and Viking ancestry and the third for his wife’s heritage.

“We are the centre. If we don’t stray from our core values, it seems like everything is working well. It helps us with every one of our systems.

“It’s like coaching a sport. You can cheat or you can go back to your main core and concept, and you can win like that. Instead of just looking for grass tomorrow and missing the bigger picture, you relieve the easy stuff, and you can see the bigger stuff a lot clearer.”