Onion Crop Variability
Identifying the causes of variability in onion crops at the Centre for Land and Water's MicroFarm in Hastings
A three-year study in its final season is looking at growth variability within onion crops and practical ways for growers
Onion Crop Variability
Identifying the causes of variability in onion crops at the Centre for Land and Water's MicroFarm in Hastings
A three-year study in its final season is looking at growth variability within onion crops and practical ways for growers to locate and monitor where variations are occurring, and identifying possibilities for management changes to make the best of the situation in any given season. The study is sited on the MicroFarm at the Centre for Land & Water, near Hastings, and is funded by Onions NZ and the Sustainable Farming Fund.
The LandWISE MicroFarm is 4ha of arable land in the middle of the Heretaunga Plains. Its paddocks are small but allow conventional tractors and equipment to operate with best practice. This scaled-down version of a cropping farm is being used to develop and demonstrate new sustainable techniques that maximise food production, soil care and input efficiency. A key aspect is that it brings together farmers, technologists, service providers and researchers who oversee the research programme and determine strategic management.
In recent years research projects have largely revolved around process crops such as sweetcorn, beans and peas. Dan Bloomer, part-time manager of LandWISE Inc., says that some years ago they had a small patch of onions and to get a good look at the crop he climbed up the irrigator.
“When you get 7m up in the air and look down is very different to what you see walking around, and I saw massive variability throughout the crop,” he says.
“I could understand some of it but a lot more I couldn't explain. A colleague was playing around with imaging and smart phones and he made an application where we could drive up and down the rows and map the percentage canopy cover. I talked about it with the Onions NZ research manager who thought it would be quite useful and could lead to greater understanding of variability in onion crops.”
“We then partnered with Plant and Food Research with support from industry peak body Onions NZ Inc and the Sustainable Farming Fund to do a project aimed at studying that variability.”
Dr Bruce Searle, a crop scientist with Plant & Food Research, designed a research approach to get the data they needed to make some practical applications.
“We wanted to figure out where the variability comes from and 