Over the years we have steadily fallen into bad habits regarding fertiliser application. Underestimating the power of the soil, farmers have accepted the necessity of using manure or chemical fertilisers to improve the yield of their crops/pasture. As a result soil has degenerated and its generative power has been significantly downgraded. Unaware of this and under the opinion that insufficient use of fertilisers causes poor crops, farmers resort to still more fertiliser use, with the result that the soil declines even more.
There is no doubt the use of fertilisers’ produces good results in the initial few years of application. But they gradually have adverse effects when used over long periods because, forced to rely on these artificial substances, crop plants change so that they become less capable of drawing substance and nutrients from the soil. It is a vicious cycle when contuse as farmers change fertilisers or increase applications levels to try to produce the same yield. By substituting some of the chemical based fertilisers for natural microbes like in effective micro-organisms (EM), the soils ecosystem can be restored helping breakdown harmful chemical residues and regenerate natural processes. This system, shown through New Zealand trials, will improve crop and pasture yield while decreasing the volume of chemical fertiliser needed.
What is EM?
EM was developed in Japan 30 years ago and is now a Global technology with an enormous following around the world. EM contains three main families with many different individual species in each family. The three families are; photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and yeasts. One of the strengths of EM is that it is a diverse combination of microbes, and this gives it versatility in terms of a wide scope of applications that it can be used on.
Today EM is used in many systems pertaining to agriculture and environmental management. These range from crop and animal production systems, to livestock and aquaculture units. EM is used widely in environmental management for decomposition and more importantly for recycling of wastes, both solids and liquids.
Why EM?
The Microbes in this technology have demonstrated their effectiveness on ecosystem improvement of the soil micro flora, promotions of crop root development and recovery of polluted environments. This makes EM ideal in soil rejuvenation and extracting harmful chemical residues from our soils.
EM technology is a very low cost and effective microbial technology that can enhance your agricultural system in so many ways.
The EM program on your farm will lead to:
- Improved soil structure, leading to better aeration and water holding capacity
- Improved nutrient availability, leading to lower fertilizer requirements, higher fertilizer utilization of applied inputs
- Lower disease pressure by developing a disease suppressive soil
- Higher yields
- Lower requirements for pesticides
- Improved quality of produce and greater storage ability
- Improved animal performance by creating healthy living environments
- Restoring waterways and enhancing riparian areas
The Future
With restrictions on chemical fertilisers looming in the forefront of every farmer’s minds, now is the time to try applications which allow for less chemicals to be put into the ground. By using EM in conjunction with your current fertiliser blend, farmers can trust that they are not blindly trying a completely new fertiliser program. The benefits will also be great with less money spent on fertiliser and less chemicals applied, farmers can watch as their greatest resource, their soil, improves while also coming to grips with the chemical restrictions on the horizon. EM also has the added benefit of being organic therefore acting as an organic fertiliser in its own right. To purchase EM please visit our online store or call us for more details.
