1 part conventional, 2 parts biological and a dash of biodynamics

Today I arrived at the wonderfully warm home of Cam and Rocky McKellar's - a suggestion by a fellow Nuffield Lindsay Hargreaves, and what a great one. Cam and Rocky farm in New South Wales, cropping corn, chickpeas, wheat, sunflowers and cattle. Cam and Rocky also have a large farm scale compost operation. Cam uses a mixture of 'conventional', biological and is now experimenting with biodynamic farming methods.

Cam makes good use of the cattle to strip graze forages and stubbles as part of the weed attack, cultivation and nutrient cycling.

Cam adds some bulky solid nutrients such as lime into the compost which is spread at around 3t/ha with a conventional muck spreader. Cam makes his own liquid nutrient blend to apply through a sprayer +/- any pesticides as necessary as the crop requires it. Based on leaf tissue analysis and brix meter readings.

They're also using kelp and zinc treated seed for an initial crop boost and fulvic and humic acids in with roundup and fertiliser application. Organic matters have been rising and soil life building whilst inorganic inputs have been diminishing.

Cam also showed me the old wool shed and shearers accomodation - unused for around 20 years, it was really interesting to see some of the areas farming history still alive on farm.