Use less fertiliser, make more money, and have healthier animals

In this episode farm nutrient advisor Melinda Turner and Barrie Riddler talk about their theory that using less fertiliser on New Zealand farms will mean more profit for farmers and better animal health.

They talk about their deep frustrations with the idea that maximum production means maximum profit.

Some of what they say might be triggering to anyone who does not understand the curve of diminishing returns.

Barrie talks extensively about the software model, E2M, that he wrote.

He voices his frustration with how averaging is used to make decisions on farms.

Melinda talks about the connection between soil and animal health.

She talks about a need for plant system modelling in Overseer, and how soil optimal ranges are based on averages that are useless for individual farms, and how she believes farms have to be treated as individuals.

She talks about how there is little understanding of how what happens in soils has an impact on livestock health.

She says she doesn’t use the term regen as it is basically just good farm practice.

Barrie says if a greenhouse gas tax kicks in and software uses averages to calculate future fertiliser use on farms, then the best and most efficient farmers will be penalised the most.

They voice opinions on sale reps.

Some useful information.

A E2M intro and demo

https://youtu.be/kSHcWXJ08Sc

John King explaining diminishing returns  https://youtu.be/F9ytTwU_TUQ

E2M-technical-foreword.pdf (landcare.org.nz)

This is a full and at times complex overview of E2M

Sarahs Country discussion on E2M 

 https://youtu.be/bl3tuI7im3I  

E2M Detailed Overview 

https://youtu.be/SmEx7irZP14

Annette Litherland, Takaka Study

Takaka-Case-Study-3.pdf (landcare.org.nz)

https://landcare.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/E2M-technical-foreword.pdf

And last but not least a explanation by ChatGPT that Barrie provided on E2M:

"E2M (Enviro-Economic Model) is a unique farm-planning tool that can identify how to achieve a particular outcome on a farm within the many constraints that farm operates within—whether it be maximising economic performance or minimising external inputs, nutrient losses, or emissions. It is a full farm systems model, summarising farm operations in fortnightly increments including pasture growth, grazing, fertiliser use, economics, nutrient outputs, and greenhouse gas emissions. E2M works differently to other farm systems models available in Aotearoa New Zealand (and the world)—and this makes it much more efficient and effective than those models.

E2M is based on a linear-programming platform and can model whole farm systems including greenhouse gas emissions. It differs from other farm systems models worldwide as it avoids the restrictions that linear programming exhibits when integrating multiple complex systems."