GUELPH, Ont. — The development of “luxury fertility” isn’t quite enough for a biodynamic farmer from New York state.
Hugh Williams is beginning to use keyline soil management techniques to make additional gains on 65 acres of pasture, orchard and vegetable ground at Threshold Farm in the Hudson River Valley.
“This is revolutionary. It’s going to flip your brain around,” Williams told the Guelph Organic Conference held Jan. 29-30.
The approach uses the Yeomans plow, a type of sub-soiler that pulls at a slight downward angle to the natural contour of the field.
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The intention is to change the direction of water movement so that it moves slowly across the slope rather than directly down the valleys. This increases the sponge-like qualities of fields.
“The water is spread and distributed away from the valleys along the ridges,” Williams said.
“You’re shortening droughts this way and lengthening every rainfall event.”
In a pasture setting under dry conditions, the plow is set to cut through the soil two inches below the hard pan. Livestock are removed for four to six weeks following the treatment, and the area is then hard grazed at the onset of flowering. The process is repeated, each time moving deeper into the soil to allow plant roots to colonize to even greater depths.
Williams said the water moves on the soil surface and within the soil profile.
The technology has critics, who say it is expensive and accomplishes little. For example, two university evaluations of the technology described by author Rachel Gilker and published online at www.onpasture.com in 2013 identified no reduction in compaction or other improvements beyond an increase in earthworm numbers.
However, Williams is a firm believer and responded tersely when asked if the approach is theoretical. He said it’s the type of language that is used to dismiss ideas out of hand.
In a later interview, he said the keyline system’s impact is likely to be most noticeable when used on degraded soil. He said he has been applying compost and using grazing management to improve soil structure and fertility since taking over management of the farm 22 years ago.
He told one of his workshops that soil organic matter levels have increased to 4.5 percent from two percent and soil pH has risen to seven from 5.8.
Williams said the sub-soil treatment provides greater water storage capacity, but he’s also looking to add additional ponds to the farm following the keyline principles.
These are to be located strategically, using the natural contours of the property to reduce the amount of excavation required. As many as six ponds with 50 million gallons of capacity can be created, but Williams said adding three ponds and increasing the capacity of the existing pond may be the most practical choice.
The ponds will be filled using low berms to direct water flow along the farm’s topographical contours. Similarly, water could be distributed using a simple gravity-fed, flood irrigation system.
Australian farmer and engineer P.A. Yeomans developed the keyline design more than 50 years ago.
Threshold Farm is part of a 130-acre, privately owned property. Williams and his wife, Hanna Bail, share management duties and hold a long-term lease through the Columbia Land Conservancy. They pay $20 per acre.
The primary business enterprise comprises seven acres of orchards with apple, peach, pear and other fruit trees. There is also a three-acre garden, summer and winter greenhouse production and a small cattle herd for milk and beef.
The closed cattle herd, which is a combination of Ayrshire, milking Shorthorn and Devon genetics, provides much of the fertility.
“We’ve been breeding the herd for our farm,” Williams said.
“There’s good pasture. We don’t need hard scrabble cattle.”
Manure from their wintering location is mixed with hay pulled from the outside of round bales to produce 300 tons of compost a year.
The farm also grows grain and raises chickens and pigs, but Williams doesn’t view these as commercial enterprises.
The farmland is managed using a closed fertility system with a significant amount of labour supplied by volunteers through the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms program.
He said soil improvements have been achieved without the use of outside inputs other than sunshine, carbon dioxide and rainfall.
The farm is managed using biodynamic principles and preparations designed to stimulate and enhance microbial processes.
Biodynamic management has often been described as an advanced form of organic farming. The concept was developed by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the early 20th century.
Williams, who’s been using these practices since 1972, said Steiner believed a closed fertility system is the essence of a biodynamic farm.
Williams is from Australia, where he was raised on a farm in New South Wales. He and his wife met on Threshold Farm.
