With the guidance of a local company the Bellingen RSL Golf Club has cut its chemical bill by two-thirds, saving thousands of dollars and doing its bit to help the local environment. Course superintendent Noel Kerr said that with the help of a program devised by Bellingen company Agrisense, he had been able to substantially reduce the use of fertilisers and fungicides on the course. 'I used to spray every month, but I haven't sprayed any fungicides in three months', Mr Kerr said. We've been using Agrisense for the past 12 months and its definitely been terrific.

I'm a big fan.Marc Percival said that Agrisense offers biological and chemical soil analysis, remedies to restore life to soil and ongoing monitoring. The remedies are based around a biological liquid brewed from various composts, as well as a high level of aeration. Many of what are considered the normal practises of farming or horticulture put stress on your soil biota. Ploughing, using pesticides, driving on the soil and compressing it, they all change the soil's biota.

The big thing that has disappeared from the soil since we have been tilling is fungi - most soils are very bacterial. He said tests had shown the Bellingen Golf Course greens had a biological imbalance, typical of most golf courses in the area. Disease comes about because of imbalance Mr Percival said 'but Bellingen Golf Course has had no outbreaks of disease since they've been using our program.'

Bellingen Golf Course,