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Marvin Gaye might have got his news through the grapevine, but in the QS forum kiwi vines are where all the juicy, cover crop goodness is at! A new kiwifruit discussion group started late last year on Jostle, thanks to Stephen Newman who was wanting to take a different management approach in the family-run orchard but felt the need to prove to contractors that his ideas would work. βThatβs the main challenge - whatever I opted to do, it needed to be successful. When you try something like planting multiple species cover crop, if you muck it up you canβt do anything for another year. It can take three years before you figure out the basics. I wanted to learn that process and share it with other people who might go down a similar path, and hopefully save others a year or two. It turns out Iβve learned a huge amount from others in the group." The discussion group is a hive of activity with orchardists discussing cover crop trials, surface infiltration, biochar and bio-stimulant applications and much more. The cover crop pictured above is from Cathy Brown, a kiwifruit grower and dairy farmer in the Bay of Plenty. The QS online community is a private discussion forum and digital noticeboard for those exploring biological or regenerative farming systems across New Zealand. Itβs a space to share knowledge, skills and experiences, as well as ask and answer questions. Click here to add a bit of Marvin Gaye to your day βοΈ
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