No-tillage technique improves soil quality. Photo / supplied
No-tillage grain farming is paying off for Ruawai cropping and bull farmer Paul Bamforth.
He recently won the Auckland and North regional title in the Pioneer Maize Grain for Yield competition.
Bamforth said the opportunity to try new varieties was something that all grain growers do, and helped the sector to continually make improvements on yield and growing techniques.
"It's really nice to win. The main purpose is to get a heads up for the new hybrids that might fit well into our system going forward."
Bamforth owns 320ha, of which 182ha is planted in crops.
He keeps a low stocking rate of his Friesian bulls to make life easier, running 120 rising three-year-olds and 200 weaners. He doesn't use dogs, which he says keeps his farm management easier as the animals are calm, a trait which is helped by good genetics.
His parents bought the initial dairy farm in 1965 and he has added to it since then by buying a neighbouring property. He made the transition to bull farming and "fell into maize by accident really".
He was looking for ideas for winter crops and an initial contract to plant 10ha in maize for another farmer turned out to be fairly profitable so he decided to get more involved for himself.
Bamforth said no tillage involved drilling seed straight into the ground which helps with soil conservation.
"The soil condition has improved and I have a lot of earthworms because the soil is not being disturbed," he said.
Healthy soil was also better able to hold on to moisture, which was particularly important with recent drought conditions.
"The maize needs moisture initially, but once it is established it likes dry conditions."
His biggest fears in grain farming are fire and tornadoes.
"I don't like the smell of smoke anywhere near," he said.
Maize did require a high rate of fertiliser, particularly nitrogen, so Bamforth has been experimenting with different cover crops to grow when the main maize crop has been harvested.
An initial crop of barley has grown so well that he found he could have harvested it.
"Using the barley crop soaks up any excess nitrogen in the soil over winter which is a good thing with the new water quality requirements that are coming in.
"It's good to think about farming for the future environmentally," he said.
Cropping is not traditionally large in Northland, with more farmers tending to grow grass for silage.
The Ruawai and Hikurangi Swamp plains are areas in Northland that are most suitable for cropping, but not much maize is grown in these areas.
"Luckily I don't get a lot of water lying around on my flats. The farm flats are mostly Kaipara marine clay."
Bamforth said the planter used is "fairly high tech" with GPS and monitoring of seeding rate and singulation (dropping one seed at a time down the seed tube).
"I can also monitor trench depth and how much moisture is in the soil.
"A lot of my planting equipment comes from the Precision Planting in the US and they like to do out-of-season trials in New Zealand so we have regular contact. The machinery is all hooked up to the internet and Precision Planting support staff can monitor how I am going in real time."
Bamforth said the Pioneer Maize hybrid used this year, PO937, had been particularly bountiful, yielding 18.41 tonnes/ha in the strip trial.
It has proven to be a superstar for the company this season, with four of the five North Island regions succeeding with the hybrid.
The trial hybrid was planted on November 5 last year and harvested on May 15 this year.
"I'll definitely be using it again this year," he said.