SHORT: Feeding cane by building biology - Michael Waring on soil health and nitrogen cycling in the tropics

This is the first in a series of short episodes we’ll be releasing over the coming months featuring farmers profiled in our series of regenerative cropping Practice Guides. Check out the full suite of guides at Michael Waring is a North Queensland sugarcane grower with decades of experience improving nitrogen cycling and soil health. Michael walks us through his journey from adopting controlled traffic, multispecies cover cropping, reduced tillage, and biological inputs. Michael shares the nitty-gritty of how he trialled, and eventually achieved, a multispecies cover crop mix that can survive the tropics’ brutal wet season. He explains how he’s cut nitrogen rates dramatically without sacrificing yield, and how new biological tools are helping him unlock phosphorus sitting in the soil. For sugarcane growers, and any farmer wanting to cut costs, reduce runoff and build a healthier farming system, this episode is for you. We talk about what worked on-farm: the tweaks, the failures, and the long game of testing ideas until they stick. Michael’s message is simple - there’s no silver bullet, but there are simple steps you can take to get started. Read the full Practice Guide on Improving Nitrogen Cycling and Efficiencies at soilsforlife.org.au If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, leave us a comment or a like! It helps us to reach others.

You can listen to SHORT: Feeding cane by building biology - Michael Waring on soil health and nitrogen cycling in the tropics online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

SHORT: Feeding cane by building biology - Michael Waring on soil health and nitrogen cycling in the tropics is an episode from Soils For Life by Soils For Life.

This episode is 00:24:34 long.

This episode was published on Aug 5, 2025.

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