Richmond, TAS
The Richmond demo site in southern Tasmania is hosted by Harvest Farms.
A trial has been established to examine the costs and benefits of organic soil amendments on babyleaf crop yield and quality. The team at Harvest Farms are already using reduced tillage, controlled traffic and cover cropping and would like to examine soil amendments to help maintain or build soil organic matter. This is expected to have a positive effect on overall soil and crop health.
The trial was established in May 2018. Treatments are:
- Dulverton compost @ 2t/ha
- Sea Greens compost @ 2t/ha
- ProPell pelletised vermicompost @ 400kg/ha
- Nil amendments (control).
The amendments were applied by hand, prior to seeding a winter cover crop. Following termination of the cover crop, babyleaf crops will be sown. Vigour and health as well as nutritional impacts of the cover crop and following commercial crops will be assessed.
Compliance with food safety requirements was confirmed with all suppliers prior to applying the amendments.
The site is supported by Harvest Farms and project VG16078 ‘Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection - Phase 2’.
'Live' demo site on the Facebook page
You can follow the progress of the costs and benefits of organic soil amendments on babyleaf crop yield and quality on the Facebook page.
You can still keep an eye on what is happening without signing up to Facebook. However, by joining Facebook and liking the page you will receive updates automatically.