As winter has finally turned to spring and the last lambs and calves are born, farmers are planning ahead to the supplementary feeds required when plant growth slows again. In this webinar, Sam will discuss how humates are a fantastic addition to the soil when summer crops are planted. Continue reading ODPG Webinar: Humates, Soil & Summer Crops
If you have something to say about the use of Glyphosate in the environment, here are two links to online Glyphosate actions – one a call for submissions, and the other a petition to reduce usage Continue reading Have Your Say on Glyphosate Usage
“Setting up local food waste collection and composting depots would mean farmers have ready access to high quality ‘living’ compost, right on their doorstep, while helping urban dwellers combat an ever-increasing food waste and landfill crisis.” Liam Prince Continue reading Food Waste Management and Farming
This year, the Organic NZ Award ceremony took place online, thanks to uninvited guest, Covid-19, celebrating and honouring the hard work of our organic producers. Continue reading Organic NZ Awards 2021
Many high country sheep and beef farms are already carbon-neutral or very close, as research at AUT discovered last year. It’s just a case of proving it, like Lake Hawea Station did, to become the first carbon-neutral farm in New Zealand. Continue reading New Zealand’s First Certified Carbon-Neutral Farm
With shearing underway on many sheep farms, we’ve unearthed a vintage video about the Bowen Shearing Technique from 1958, featuring a demonstration by Kiwi legend himself, Godfrey Bowen. Continue reading Shear Hard Work
This short, fascinating TED talk featuring experiments by neuroscientist, Greg Gage, shows how plants communicate with each other, and can even count. Watch an impulse from a Venus Flytrap trigger a reaction from a Mimosa, and find out why flytraps don’t close their jaws on first sensing movement, but are capable of measuring time. Continue reading The Beautiful Biology of Plant Communication
The ODPG has the privilege to host Biochar Network NZ (BNNZ) on our next Webinar for members, with a total of five speakers focussing on how to get the best value from Biochar. Continue reading ODPG WEBINAR: Biochar
One of the oldest organic institutions – the New Zealand Soil & Health Association – was set up in this country in 1941, and so this year marks 80 years since it first began! Continue reading 80 Years of Organics in New Zealand
Firstly, do not start if your heart and soul is not in it… Continue reading How to Start Regenerative Agriculture
It was the first day of July after an early morning frost, the sun was shining brightly and there wasn’t a breath of wind. Sitting on the hilltop of an area just grazed by the cows, I took some time off to sit down and take in the spectacular view. As peaceful as it felt, everything around me exuded life… Continue reading Cowpats and Our Ecosystem
The Ericksons “make it a point to pay close attention to all four realms of soil function: soil biology, minerals, energetics, and the plant-soil relationship.”
Find out more about how the Jenny and Steve got into farming and how they run their farm and compost business in this Thriving Farmers Podcast. Continue reading Soil Management, Compost Tea, and Farming – A Podcast with The Ericksons
To help make sense of how carbon fits within our farming systems, Phyllis Tichinin – soils consultant, eco-nutritionist and former organic dairy support farmer – will be joining me for this webinar. The main focus will be on the connection between fertiliser applications, pasture qualities, methane emissions and soil carbon. Continue reading ODPG WEBINAR: Soil, Cows and Carbon
With cereals, organic meat and milk, eggs and honey and a zero-plastic commitment, the Good Farmers New Zealand range has the potential to expand as more ‘good farmers’ with small to medium-sized farms sign up to supply the collective. Continue reading Good Farmers New Zealand
We would like to say a big thank you to every single one of our Commercial Members for joining the ODPG this year. They enable us to support our organic and regenerative farmers with advice, resources, webinars, workshops and conferences. Please do offer your support back by choosing their products and services wherever you can… Continue reading Supporting our Suppliers
A search engine which channels a large part of its profits into planting trees is gaining traction. Though Ecosia has been around for a while now, eco-conscious people are currently flocking to use it due to the ever-accelerating threat of climate breakdown and their eagerness to make a change. Trees are one of the best climate change weapons we have to hand with their ability to reduce carbon levels, and if simply searching the internet can lead to more of them, it’s a no-brainer to make the change. Continue reading Plant Trees by Searching the Internet
Deconstructed wool particle products are the subject of a three-year commercial viability programme which may help to reinvigorate New Zealand’s wool industry and increase its global market. Read more… Continue reading New Uses for NZ Wool
With fertile soil now being lost at a rate of 24bn tonnes a year, pollution of the world’s soils will only get worse if urgent action isn’t taken, concludes a new UN report. And this will have a devastating effect on our fragile ecosystems and human health. Continue reading Urgent Action Needed for Soil Pollution
The Billion Agave Project – In Mexico, a group of farmers are regenerating their desert land with agaves, deep-rooted nitrogen-fixing companion trees and holistic grazing. Continue reading Greening the Desert with Agave
Ever get shivers when listening to certain kinds of music? Well it turns out that humans are not the only species to feel the pleasure of an emotive tune. Continue reading Chicken Shivers