HORSTINGS FARM TO EXPECT A MINIMUM 20% YIELD INCREASE
HORSTING FARMS TO EXPECT A MINIMUM 20% YIELD INCREASE
Picture Credit: Horstings Farm
HORSTINGS FARM – A BRIEF HISTORY
The Original Horstings Farm
The Horstings Farm location, near Cache Creek, dates back to the early pioneer days and was originally the homestead of Judge Fred Calder and his family in the early 1900s.
Decades later, the Horsting Family purchased the property and sold fruits and vegetables at the roadside. Through the years, their produce and fruit stand grew, selling delicious pies made fresh on the farm from fruit grown in the fields and orchards. The farm became much adored by the locals and travellers alike. They retired and sold the property, yet after only a few years, it became vacant, much to the sadness of the many customers who missed the farm…
The Shane Family restore Horstings Farm
Around 2015, Marc and Diane Shane, their nephew Ryan, and his wife-to-be Chelsea saw the potential in Horstings Farm and wanted to restore and expand on its former glory. Collaborating closely with the original Horsting family, they set out to revive the fields, orchards, market, and bakery, supply visitors and customers with high-quality, nutritious food, and have a greenhouse filled with beautiful, lush plants, hanging baskets, and planters for the planting season.
With dedication, they rebuilt the business, restored the quality and character of the farm, and transformed it with their own added knowledge, skill sets, and dreams. The farm reveals more charm each year, inspiring visitors to experience its warmth and character. The family’s joy in seeing happy faces fuels their passion to provide an unforgettable farm experience.
Picture Credit: Horstings Farm
Today, Horstings Farm is a market garden spanning over 85 acres near Cache Creek, British Columbia, Canada. It grows a variety of produce, including field tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, melons, peas, beans, carrots, beets, sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, potatoes, and apples across its 10-acre apple orchards. Additionally, Horstings Farm cultivates haskap berries, raspberries, blackberries, u-pick saskatoons, u-pick strawberries, and more, offering visitors a diverse array of fresh produce.
Visit Horstings Farm today and try one of
their delicious pies!
their delicious pies!
HORSTINGS FARM – A BRIEF HISTORY
Picture Credit: Horstings Farm
The Original Horstings Farm
The Horstings Farm location, near Cache Creek, dates back to the early pioneer days and was originally the homestead of Judge Fred Calder and his family in the early 1900s.
Decades later, the Horsting Family purchased the property and sold fruits and vegetables at the roadside. Through the years, their produce and fruit stand grew, selling delicious pies made fresh on the farm from fruit grown in the fields and orchards. The farm became much adored by the locals and travellers alike. They retired and sold the property, yet after only a few years, it became vacant, much to the sadness of the many customers who missed the farm…
Picture Credit: Horstings Farm
The Shane Family restore Horstings Farm
Around 2015, Marc and Diane Shane, their nephew Ryan, and his wife-to-be Chelsea saw the potential in Horstings Farm and wanted to restore and expand on its former glory. Collaborating closely with the original Horsting family, they set out to revive the fields, orchards, market, and bakery, supply visitors and customers with high-quality, nutritious food, and have a greenhouse filled with beautiful, lush plants, hanging baskets, and planters for the planting season.
With dedication, they rebuilt the business, restored the quality and character of the farm, and transformed it with their own added knowledge, skill sets, and dreams. The farm reveals more charm each year, inspiring visitors to experience its warmth and character. The family’s joy in seeing happy faces fuels their passion to provide an unforgettable farm experience.
Picture Credit: Horstings Farm
Today, Horstings Farm is a market garden spanning over 85 acres near Cache Creek, British Columbia, Canada. It grows a variety of produce, including field tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, melons, peas, beans, carrots, beets, sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, potatoes, and apples across its 10-acre apple orchards. Additionally, Horstings Farm cultivates haskap berries, raspberries, blackberries, u-pick saskatoons, u-pick strawberries, and more, offering visitors a diverse array of fresh produce.
Visit Horstings Farm today and try one of their delicious pies!
HORSTINGS FARM’S IRRIGATION + FERTIGATION JOURNEY
Initial Challenges using Irrigation Reels in Cache Creek
In the early stages of Horstings Farm, Marc used seven irrigation reels and granular fertilizer to manage their open-row crops. While this method worked, it could have been more efficient, wasting water, fertilizer, and time and sacrificing the crop quality they could achieve with a more efficient system.
WASTED WATER
Horstings Farm is located in a valley near Cache Creek, which means it battles against the highest evapotranspiration rate in Canada and heavy winds. Irrigation reels have a 65% application rate. This, paired with the heavy winds, resulted in huge amounts of water wasted and unevenly watered crops – some areas being completely dry. Excessive water and time would be spent doing additional rounds to water the entire field.
EXCESSIVE, IN-ACCURATE FERTIGATION
The Shane Family used granular fertilizer to fertilize the field. They would take soil samples to determine the crop’s nutrient needs for the whole season. Then, they bought fertilizer by the pound per acre and spread it across the entire field at once. However, this method wasn’t precise because it didn’t account for individual plant needs. Plus, spreading fertilizer across the whole field resulted in wasted money – unused fertilizer in between plant rows, and the excessive water spread above often washed away a good amount of the fertilizer.
Irrigation reels have a 65% water application rate.
Drip Irrigation has a 95% application rate, all directly targeting the root zone.
Irrigation reels have a 65% application rate.
Drip Irrigation has a 95% application rate, directly targeting the root zone.
Drip Irrigation + Fertigation Solution
Marc Shane transitioned from using irrigation reels to drip irrigation on plant rows with plastic mulch. Additionally, they switched from granular fertilizer to delivering nutrients in liquid form through the dripline using Mazzei venturi injectors, chosen for their simple, easy-to-use design. This approach allowed them to optimize crop management while conserving water and nutrients.
WATER SAVINGS
Drip irrigation boasts a 90-95% application rate, delivering water uniformly to all plants in specific rows. This precision minimizes water wasted in between plant rows, saves water with a 30% better application rate, and reduces the amount of water carried away by winds.
LABOUR AND TIME SAVED
Switching to drip irrigation saved Marc the time needed to keep up with the high evapotranspiration rate with an inefficient reel. The drip irrigation system also operates automatically on a timer, reducing the time spent managing the field even more, time that could be spent with the crops and making informed decisions to enhance quality.
PRECISE FERTILIZATION
The Mazzei injectors deliver liquid nutrients directly to the plant rows, saving the granular fertilizer that used to be wasted between rows. They also let them adjust the fertilizer program based on the plants’ needs at specific times, using targeted soil and plant tissue samples. This pulse-feeding method gives the plants nutrients in separate bursts, allowing for flexibility and immediate observation of how they respond to their targeted feed as they absorb the fertilizer within 12 hours.
Drip Irrigation + Fertigation Solution
Marc Shane transitioned from using irrigation reels to drip irrigation on plant rows with plastic mulch. Additionally, they switched from granular fertilizer to delivering nutrients in liquid form through the dripline using Mazzei venturi injectors, chosen for their simple, easy-to-use design. This approach allowed them to optimize crop management while conserving water and nutrients.
WATER SAVINGS
Drip irrigation boasts a 90-95% application rate, delivering water uniformly to all plants in specific rows. This precision minimizes water wasted in between plant rows, saves water with a 30% better application rate, and reduces the amount of water carried away by winds.
LABOUR AND TIME SAVED
Switching to drip irrigation saved Marc the time needed to keep up with the high evapotranspiration rate with an inefficient reel. The drip irrigation system also operates automatically on a timer, reducing the time spent managing the field even more, time that could be spent with the crops and making informed decisions to enhance quality.
PRECISE FERTILIZATION
The Mazzei injectors deliver liquid nutrients directly to the plant rows, saving the granular fertilizer that used to be wasted between rows. They also let them adjust the fertilizer program based on the plants’ needs at specific times, using targeted soil and plant tissue samples. This pulse-feeding method gives the plants nutrients in separate bursts, allowing for flexibility and immediate observation of how they respond to their targeted feed as they absorb the fertilizer within 12 hours.
“You can’t stay the same. You have to progress, and you have to adopt technology that makes sense for your business and for the environment.”
– Marc Shane, Horstings Farm
“You can’t stay the same. You have to progress, and you have to adopt technology that makes sense for your business and for the environment.”
– Marc Shane, Horstings Farm
LOOKING AHEAD: MORE SAVINGS AND 20% MORE CROP YIELD
Extreme precision with the Fertikit 5G unit
Due to its large scale, Horstings Farm sought to further enhance efficiency and precision. Drawing inspiration from the success of their Netaflex dosing unit in the greenhouse, they aimed to replicate this precision in the open field. They opted for Netafim’s Fertikit 5G unit to be used in the spring of 2024.
The Fertikit is a highly precise system that maximizes the usage of available water flow rates and pressures on the main irrigation line, ensuring the highest efficiency and providing the crops with the optimal amount of water, acid and nutrients with its integrated EC and pH sensors. Instead of a simple process like the Mazzei’s – which takes up and distributes any amount of fertilizer it’s given, the Fertikit’s dosing can distribute the right amount of nutrients in measured doses manually or automatically.
Growsphere Max All-in-one
The Fertikit 5g comes with an advanced control panel, Growsphere Max. This panel takes information from soil moisture sensors near the plant’s root zone and weather stations, tracking data such as solar radiation and wind direction. It uses this data to provide irrigation recommendations and alerts (in addition to/ instead of the nutrient and pH levels). Growsphere can automatically control the systems’ pumps, valves, and fertigation unit and has flow and pressure monitoring capabilities, allowing Horstings Farm to immediately detect anything wrong with the irrigation system.
This system promises significant savings in water, fertilizer, and electricity used to run pumps while reducing labour.
Horstings Farm anticipates a minimum 20% yield increase with the Fertikit 5g, building on the savings already achieved from the Mazzei and drip system.
LOOKING AHEAD: MORE SAVINGS AND 20% MORE CROP YIELD
Extreme precision with the Fertikit 5G unit
Due to its large scale, Horstings Farm sought to further enhance efficiency and precision. Drawing inspiration from the success of their Netaflex dosing unit in the greenhouse, they aimed to replicate this precision in the open field. They opted for Netafim’s Fertikit 5G unit to be used in the spring of 2024.
The Fertikit is a highly precise system that maximizes the usage of available water flow rates and pressures on the main irrigation line, ensuring the highest efficiency and providing the crops with the optimal amount of water, acid and nutrients with its integrated EC and pH sensors. Instead of a simple process like the Mazzei’s – which takes up and distributes any amount of fertilizer it’s given, the Fertikit’s dosing can distribute the right amount of nutrients in measured doses manually or automatically.
Growsphere Max All-in-one
The Fertikit 5g comes with an advanced control panel, Growsphere Max. This panel takes information from soil moisture sensors near the plant’s root zone and weather stations, tracking data such as solar radiation and wind direction. It uses this data to provide irrigation recommendations and alerts (in addition to/ instead of the nutrient and pH levels). Growsphere can automatically control the systems’ pumps, valves, and fertigation unit and has flow and pressure monitoring capabilities, allowing Horstings Farm to immediately detect anything wrong with the irrigation system.
This system promises significant savings in water, fertilizer, and electricity used to run pumps while reducing labour.
Horstings Farm anticipates a minimum 20% yield increase with the Fertikit 5g, building on the savings already achieved from the Mazzei and drip system.
“If you’re serious about yields and improving your product, I think you should seriously consider looking at a Fertikit. You can grow a great product without it, but you could just be that much better with it.”
– Marc Shane, Horstings Farm
