Brookside Agra Agronomist: Soil Microbiology Key to Crop Health, Production and Yield

September 27, 2016

VIEW SOIL BIOLOGY VIDEO PRESENTATION

In the past, a large percent of crop production was focused on chemical usage, followed by mechanical technology, and lastly biological considerations. Ben Elliott, Vice-President – Agronomy Operations at Brookside Agra/Cardinal Agriculture Services, says the future of crop production hinges on understanding soil biology and structure.

“We are learning about a whole new dynamic to agronomy today in growing crops and it is very exciting,” said Elliott. “From my time in the industry, I have seen people absolutely push back on what we talk about, and now we have evidence that microbiology is viable. In reality, biology has more to do with the health, production and yield in your crop than does mechanical or chemical aspects of it.”

Just like the human microbiome contains populations of microorganisms that colonize the gut, mouth, skin and other areas of the body, populations of microorganisms colonize the soil and all things growing within the soil, said Elliott. There are populations of microbial species that exist on and around the plant, but an overwhelming majority of them exist below the soil line.

“We share some of the same relationships in our own bodies with microbes that we need doing work for us in the soil where we grow crops. Those microbial species in the soil are responsible for ensuring that the functioning systems work efficiently and keep it thriving and healthy. Think of the soil as the ‘gut’ of farming.”

Microbes in the soil, which include bacteria and fungi, are beneficial to the health of the soil, and in turn, vegetation growing in those soils, he said.

“The diseases that occur in your crops are a direct result of the balance of the microbes that are in your soil,” said Elliott. “If we pay attention to the biological structure of our soil, we set ourselves up with a soil environment that can hold more water and nutrients and create a symbiotic exchange of water and nutrients between the plant and the soil.”

O’Fallon, Illinois-based Brookside Agra has developed an all-natural water conservation agent called H2OExcel™, formulated with humic acid-containing biologicals, extracts from desert plants and other non-plant-derived nutrient enhancers, that work to increase biological activity in the soil and defend against soil and plant dehydration. Using H2OExcel on crops, turf and other types of vegetation has been scientifically-proven in multiple independent university studies and field trials to:

  • Decrease water usage by 30-50%
  • Lower costs to maintain vegetation
  • Increase plant strength
  • Reduce crop failure
  • Increase root mass

“H2OExcel is highly efficient and works to naturally change the polarity of water and soil to keep water available deeper in the soil profile. This results in supercharged biological activity within the soil that paves the way for vital nutrients to reach a growing plant and its root zone,” said Elliott.

For example, there are many microbes, such as Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria, that help to naturally produce nitrogen in the soil, one of the most limiting nutrients in crop production and one that is easily lost from the soil system. Plants with access to adequate amounts of nitrogen exhibit dark green healthy leaves and vigorous growth.

H2OExcel helps to promote an environment within the soil where beneficial Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria can multiply and thrive. Microbes in the soil, particularly bacteria, are driven by temperature and moisture.

“These types of bacteria create symbiotic associations with the roots of legumes like peas and beans, and trees such as alder and locust. When these bacteria infect a growing root hair, visible nodules are created which allows the plant to supply simple carbons to the bacteria. The bacteria in turn converts nitrogen (N2) from the air into a form that the plant host can use. When leaves or roots from the host plant decompose, soil nitrogen content is increased nearby,” said Elliott.

For more information about H2OExcel or the agronomy services provided by Brookside Agra/Cardinal Agriculture Services, contact Tony Arro at 618-628-8300 ext. 24 or tony.arro@brookside-agra.com.

Learn More Here: Brookside Agra Agronomist: Soil Microbiology Key to Crop Health, Production and Yield

In addition to FAMI-QS & International Safe Feed Safe Food, Great Plains Processing is looking to add GMP+ Certification.

GMP+ FSA certification

The GMP+ Feed Certification scheme was initiated and developed in 1992 by the Dutch feed industry in response to various more or less serious incidents involving contamination in feed materials. Although it started as a national scheme, it has developed to become an international scheme that is managed by GMP+ International in collaboration with various international stakeholders.

Even though the GMP+ Feed Certification scheme originated from a feed safety perspective, in 2013 the first feed responsibility standard has been published. For this purpose, two modules are created: GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance (focussed on feed safety) and GMP+ Feed Responsibility Assurance (focussed on responsible feed).

GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance is a complete module for the assurance of feed safety in all the links of the feed chain. Demonstrable assurance of feed safety is a ‘license to sell’ in many countries and markets and participation in the GMP+ FSA module can facilitate this excellently. Based on needs in practice, multiple components have been integrated into the GMP+ FSA module, such as requirements for the quality management system (ISO 9001), HACCP, product standards, traceability, monitoring, prerequisites programmes, chain approach and the Early Warning System.

The documents within the GMP+ Feed Certification scheme are subdivided into a number of series. The next schematic representation shows the content of the GMP+ Feed Certification scheme.

For more information please visit the official GMP+ website.

Post Source Here: In addition to FAMI-QS & International Safe Feed Safe Food, Great Plains Processing is looking to add GMP+ Certification.

Challenges of Supplying the Mall Pork Meat

The joy and excitement of supplying the Mall pork meat waned just after one week when i realized that the work was not an easy task. It becomes even more difficult when you do not have the pigs in your farm. The major challenge is meeting the requirement set up by the authorities of the mall. Some of the challenges of not supplying for the past two weeks were;

Scarcity of Pigs

Shortage of pigs during the past festive season was quite unbearable. Pigs were scarce due to a lot of factors i will not want to enumerate here. It helped push up the price of pork which is a good thing. However, obtaining 10 pigs a week on a constant basis actually forced me to hold on with the contract and prepare well.

Pig Business is Serious Money Business

It is not easy buying pigs to supply. You need to have a good capital base to enter into this line of business. Supplying 40 pigs in a month before being paid is not a fluke. You will need roughly GH30,000.00 to be able to supply continuously for one month. unfortunately, i did not have that kind of cash in last December. I was also strongly advised from going for a loan  from  micro-finance companies.

Weight range of Pigs wanted at the Mall

I have been supplying pigs to some pork joint in my neighborhood for about 3 months now and all the pigs i buy have carcass weight of about 45 – 55kg. My clients want pigs with carcass weight within the range of 60- 70 kg. The animals should also not be fatty. Getting such animals is not easy. In large quantities almost impossible.

Way Forward

To supply within the coming week, i need partnership from  serious pig farmers who have the pigs in Large quantities. I am a very busy person and don’t really have time roaming for pigs to buy to supply. So if you are a farmer out there with pigs within the range of 50kg to 80kg and you have 150 – 200 of such pigs, look for my number on this blog and give me a call. We need to secure this opportunity before it is taken from us.

Advise to Fellow Pig Farmers 

Some of us have been joking as pig farmers. We rear 10 animals and we say we are pig farmers. We need to increase our capacity. If we don’t want importation of pigs, then we need to rear a lot. The minimum animals a farmer should have should be 200 pigs on the farm. Demand is growing and we need serious farmers to help supply. We are starting with 10 pigs a week. It will grow to 50 pigs a week by next year because more malls are coming up.

Getting the weight required  means we have to feed the animals well. A farmer should hit this target in 6 months if the animals are fed well. So pig farmers out there, together we can make this work. So please give me a call if you have the animals and lets do business.

First published here: Challenges of Supplying the Mall Pork Meat