Bob Cooper, Tai Perspectives made contact with me (Fenton Hazelwood) this week in relation to the article he read in the Dairy News publication, on Sustainability:are we doing enough or just paying it lip service. This article was also run in Rural News , August 20 edition.

I enjoyed the refreshing discussion I had with Bob Cooper and asked if he would like to do a guest post on our BASF Blog, of which Bob agreed.

See below the article Bob Cooper has sent through in relation to Southland:

Southlands move to more intensive farming has highlighted the need to understand the nature of biodiversity in farm ecosystems, its role in sustainable production.

Biodiversity, small animal communities and plant habitats on the farm, can assist farmers to deal with pollination, sediment and nutrients in run-off and losses caused by insect pests.

Insects and other bugs will help but only if given a good habitat in which to live. Riparian plantings, restored wetlands and native shelter belts provide a habitat that encourages beneficial flies, wasps, native bees and a host of humus formers on the farm. Mixed pasture swards also provide a better habitat for predatory insects that attack pests injurious to crops.

Monitoring will determine: whether these ‘good guys’ and the soil/plant environment needed to support them is there; the status of farm productivity.

A healthy soil with deep humus, either under riparian plantings or mixed sward pastures, provides a trap for run-off sediments and nutrients, something poorly provided by a standard pasture. This is because it is a better habitat for the many bugs responsible for humus production: millipedes, land-hoppers and slaters.

Humus builders

                     Millipedes                                           Landhopper                                         Slater

This litter layer also provides a home for large numbers of insect larvae, food for birds which help to keep pest numbers down on the farm.

Shrubby plantings are also home for many bugs that attack and parasitise insects that cause damage on the farm. Bristle flies that attack porina moth caterpillars, a range of native wasps including those that attack the clover weevil and leaf roller caterpillars find shelter and food here.

Predatory wasps and flies

                           Bristle flies                                      Ichneumon wasp                    Braconid wasps

                       Porina predator                               Parasitises caterpillars          Clover weevil parasites

Pollination is a vital farm service, more so now that the Varroa mite is in the South Island. Shrubby plantings are a source of food for native bees and bumble bees that assist in pollination.

 Pollinating insects

                                Native bee                                                                   Bumble bee