Simplicity for optimum efficiency - a farm rethinks its approach

British-born Tom Rudge does a lot of things differently on his farm in New Zealand. Over the years, together with his father Michael, he developed an apparently simple system with a clear focus on soil structure, efficiency and continuous development - in every respect.

Mid Canterbury is located in the heart of New Zealand's South Island. Fertile soils and a temperate climate characterise the region. This is where Tom Rudge and his family run a 750-hectare farm, growing wheat, barley and grass for lamb grazing and silage.

From Great Britain to New Zealand

However, the Rudges' farming roots lie on the other side of the world, in the UK. Tom's parents Georgina and Michael ran a mixed farm in Oxfordshire. It was also in the UK that Tom met his wife Anjie who originally came from New Zealand and was travelling in Europe. On visiting New Zealand for the first time to get married, Tom instantly loved the environment and saw the potential. Georgina and Michael originally travelled to New Zealand for Tom & Anjie's wedding and quickly liked the idea of living and farming in this country. They decided to sell their farm in the UK and emigrated with their children and parents. By 2001, three generations of the Rudge family were living together in their new home in the southern hemisphere. "British politics were not in line with our ideas of farming back then," Tom explains. "I didn't like the subsidy system. In my eyes, people started chasing payments instead of realising their own ideas and trying different things. There are no subsidies here, you're on your own. We like that," he adds.

With this conviction, Michael and Tom bought two farms totalling about 400 hectares in the highly productive mid-Canterbury region. When they took over, the average field size was about eight hectares, which made field operations difficult. It took a lot of effort to optimise the use of labour and machinery to work each field efficiently. The average field size is now around 46 hectares, simplifying crop establishment, husbandry, and harvest. Due to continuous expansion, the farm size has grown to around 750 hectares.

Simplification is the key 

"When we first came here, we did everything the Kiwis did. We grew linseed, peas and beans, plus grass, clover and brassicas for seed, in addition to wheat and barley. We kept breeding ewes and even had a herd of deer for venison. It just became too complex, and the costs got out of hand. The decision to simplify the farming business was a question of efficiency, so we started working with a management system," Tom says. “We soon realised that feed barley was paying as well as most of the other crops, and the cultivation risk was comparatively lower. As soon as we knew where the money was going, we were able to streamline all operations and optimise efficiency significantly," he adds. The focus is now on producing wheat and barley for feed, milling and malting, as well as grass. "We fatten up to 12,000 lambs a year. The grass we grow is not only used for grazing but is also sold as silage to dairy farms later," Michael explains. "Our system seems very simple," he adds. "But it took years to develop into what it is today." The cultivation of grass is particularly profitable: "By the time the lambs leave the fields, the grass has already paid off. After that, we let it grow for silage and make one or maybe two cuts and then prepare the field for wheat."

“With the adoption of a simplified system, our rotation now consists of grass, wheat, barley, grass. As we grow almost exclusively cereals, we would expect to have a grass weed problem, but this is not the case. Following the last cut of silage, the grass is sprayed with glyphosate, and we leave the field alone for about 4 months. As clover is also sown with the grass, and whilst the clover is only suppressed by glyphosate, it may continue to grow. If it is a good year with sufficient rainfall in summer, we can graze the clover again. All this comes from one seeding, and we can achieve up to four cash returns on these fields before we sow wheat again in autumn. Our cereal crops used to suffer a lot from weeds. Now we have everything under control.“

The right technology

"By now, we also leave all the straw on the fields. We used to sell it, but that wasn't effective as we deprived the soil of nutrients." The right seed drill is required to cope with the harvest residues. When Michael and Tom came to New Zealand, they brought a 4m disc seed drill with them and quickly realised it was unsuitable for the local conditions. Instead, following a recommendation from an old friend and neighbour, they opted for a tine drill: "We bought what was then a CO 8 (Sprinter) drill and ran it for 16 years. We were always satisfied as we could sow without any problems, even if there were large amounts of harvest residue on the fields." With the acquisition of more land and the introduction of the simpler system, the need for a machine with a larger working width grew and so the Sprinter 12 SW arrived on the farm. "With this machine, we can sow all crops in various conditions, whether direct seeding or in a cultivated field. We also drill our grass with it. The machine remains low-wear and cost-efficient," Tom says enthusiastically.

”For a time, we considered doing direct seeding exclusively, but I never wanted to commit myself completely, for in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with targeted tillage. Well-managed cultivation will not destroy all the soil life, which can rebuild itself quickly, provided that targeted consideration is given to soil biology. For example, we use Azotobacter, Pseudomonas, Trichoderma, and Bacillus – simply everything we know that is useful to us. I also add a food source such as molasses, fish products or seaweed.” To optimise weed management, a shallow cultivation pass is carried out with a tine or disc implement. “This is very strategic tillage. We always have in mind to keep water in the soil.”

Building up organic matter & utilising nutrients

Soil moisture retention is critical from two points of view. In New Zealand, strong hot north-westerly winds occasionally prevail. This foehn dries out the soil considerably. It is therefore important to use targeted tillage to prevent soil moisture loss.  All the more so as Tom and Michael, compared to most farmers in the region, do not irrigate their land. This is another deliberate measure to control costs. “The accelerated irrigation boom started when we had already been here for a few years,” Tom remembers. The average rainfall in the region is 850 mm per year. It is therefore not dry but depends much more on at what time of the year it rains. “For irrigation to pay off in our simplified system, we would have to double our production, which would compensate for the water costs, but wouldn't make us more profitable. My objective was to improve the structure and retain moisture in the soil.”

Therefore, Tom particularly focuses on nutrient management, not least because fertilisers represent one of the most significant costs on the farm. This is the reason why, in recent years, they rethought their basic strategy. “We carry out soil tests in all fields yearly to know where we stand,” Tom explains. ‘The findings made us change our strategy and switch to the Albrecht system as it particularly focuses on the ratio of calcium to magnesium.” The conversion resulted in tangible benefits: “We realised that we were able to noticeably improve soil water retention capacity by specifically increasing the magnesium content - a huge advantage under our non-irrigated system,” Michael says. In addition, using SAP tests throughout the growing season provides valuable insights into crop health and nutrient needs. More recently, YEN benchmarking has been adopted to understand grain yield limitations better.

Liquid fertilisation

The quick effect of the nutrients is crucial, primarily as the farm works without irrigation and the forecast rainfall often holds off. “With liquid fertiliser, two or three millimetres of rain are sufficient to get it directly into the soil. This would not be possible with granulated fertiliser. So we use our fertiliser more wisely.’ At the same time, the farm is experimenting intensively with foliar fertilisation. Initial field tests show that savings of up to 50 per cent can be achieved, particularly in the final fertiliser applications, without any yield loss. “You have to be brave to experiment, or experiment to become brave,” Tom says. “This really helped us to advance in recent years. Nutrient efficiency will probably be our biggest focus in the future.” We collect rainwater and produce the liquid fertiliser in-house.

Not least, the efficiency of the nutrient application depends on the technology. The farm therefore decided to purchase a large crop care sprayer - a HORSCHLeeb 12 TD. “We didn't do it to cultivate more hectares, but to work more efficiently,” Michael emphasises. The larger tank avoids frequent filling on the farm - and thus saves valuable time while working. Moreover, the sprayer has been specially designed to deal with challenging wind conditions. We have strong winds and often must spray in less-than-ideal conditions. That used to be a problem – but not anymore,” Tom says. Due to the active boom control system, the Leeb sprayer can also work in these conditions with a target area distance of 40 cm - and ensures perfect application. “You have to see it for yourself to believe it,” Tom says enthusiastically. They also tested this themselves - with reactive papers, different nozzle types and variable operational speed. “We did a lot of testing and ended up with O3 nozzles with about 100 litres per hectare. That's our optimum configuration,” Tom says. The targeted application is not only practical for fertilisers, but also for fungicides. The adoption of the Leeb 12 TD has made a significant difference to our operational efficiency.“ One man can now be at least 2.5 times more productive when compared to our previous system.

Research for continuous improvement 

“As farmers we intend to become not only more efficient by adopting new technologies but also more environmentally sustainable,” Tom says. “Looking ahead, there's a lot we don't know and have yet to learn.” Tom is involved in a group of twelve other farmers from different regions of New Zealand. “Some farms are coastal, others in the hills; some irrigate, some don't.” Each participant tries to carry out one experiment per year so that the group has a total of 13 different results. The farmers also regularly share their experiences.