Global CA-CoP CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF
PRACTICE
for sustainable production intensification
and land management
Amir
Kassam
Moderator
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca
Hi Amir
Jeff Esdaile’s recent reference to the effects of glyphosate on soil biota reminds me that one of the most definitive studies in that regard was done by Landcare Research in New Zealand in 2002. Landcare Research is a Crown Research Institutes, which is primarily funded by the NZ Government.
I apologise for not forwarding this information earlier, especially since the no-tilled soil studied was on my own property and had had 18 consecutive years of double cropping by Cross Slot low-disturbance no-tillage including glyphosate application at 3 litres per hectare with each drilling. The double cropping rotation involved 2-years of summer peas for the freezer followed by a winter forage crop that fed lambs and then 2-years of summer barley for grain followed again by the winter forage crop.
At the time, this was the longest consecutively Cross Slot drilled soil in New Zealand and Landcare research wanted to see what long-term effects 36 consecutive Cross Slot no-tillage events had had on soil health.
At the time (1984 -2002) it was assumed that 36 consecutive application of glyphosate at normal application rates would have had an insignificant effect on the soil. So no specific attempt was made to isolate possible glyphosate effects from drill effects. But the results reported in this study show that neither the 36 consecutive Cross Slot no-tillage events nor the 36 consecutive applications of glyphosate had had a major negative effect on soil health anyway.
Landcare Research measured a wide range of soil health indicators including effects on biota and the results were compared with (a) an 18-year permanent pasture field alongside on the same soil type that had had no soil disturbance at all nor glyphosate application, and (b) a similar soil close by that had had 16 years of single cropping (maize for grain which, in NZ, is in the ground for 6-7 months) using conventional tillage with no glyphosate application and was then allowed to fallow until the next maize crop was sown.
Indeed, the tillage effect appeared to be much more negative than the combined Cross Slot no-tillage and glyphosate effect.
I have attached the full paper, which is self-explanatory and seems to me to dispel any “evidence” that glyphosate has a negative effect on biota.
Kind regards, John Baker
Dr C John Baker, ONZM
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman
Baker No-Tillage Limited
P.O. Box 181
Feilding 4740
New Zealand
Ph. +64 6 323 1119 (d.d. extn. 801)
Cell. +64 21 715 205
Securing Global Food Production
-------- Forwarded Message --------
| Subject: | Glyphosate |
|---|---|
| Date: | Fri, 29 Dec 2017 07:27:36 +1100 |
| From: | R J Esdaile <[log in to unmask]> |
| To: | [log in to unmask], (Hon) David Brownhill <[log in to unmask]>,
Gordon Brownhill <[log in to unmask]>, Jon
wilkinson <[log in to unmask]>, Robert
Freebairn <[log in to unmask]> |
-- R JEFF ESDAILE Agricultural Consultant, 3 Somerset Place, Scone NSW 2337 Australia. Ph. 61-2-6545-1407 Email: [log in to unmask] Alt email: [log in to unmask]
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