Farming systems and production management

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://elibrary2.sugarresearch.com.au/handle/11079/13844

Research outcomes: Growers and harvesters benefit from the ongoing research in productivity improvement, production management and agronomical techniques. Developed technologies and management practices that enhance productivity and demonstrate a high rate of return on investment.

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Precision agriculture options for the Australian sugarcane industry
(2007) Bramley, RGV; Davis, R; Bartels, R; Schmidt, E; Bruce, R
Precision agriculture (PA) has been embraced in other Australian agricultural industries. With the increase in adoption rates of new farming system principles including controlled traffic within the sugarcane industry, many growers and harvesting contactors are turning to PA to improve their profitability and productivity. Recognising the high level of interest among members of the Australian sugarcane industry in the potential of PA, the Sugar Research and Development Corporation called for projects to review and analyse technologies that are applicable to sugarcane farming and harvesting. SRDC commissioned two studies following this call. The first was undertaken by CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and examined research and experience with PA in a range of cropping industries worldwide over the last 15 years including sugarcane in Australia, Mauritius, South Africa, the USA and South America. The second study was undertaken by the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture in partnership with FSA Consulting. Their report describes how PA technologies operate, their uses, opportunities, limitations, risks and costs with respect to precision farming in the sugar industry. The report also describes how PA technologies can be integrated into a management system that will have both economic and environmental benefits for sugarcane production and harvesting. Both papers are provided in this publication. These findings were presented at an SRDC-hosted Precision Agriculture workshop on 11 May 2007. The purpose of the workshop was to identify what aspects of precision agriculture would benefit sugarcane farming and harvesting and to determine the priorities for R&D. The reviews were presented by Dr Rob Bramley (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Adelaide) and Rod Davis (FSA Consulting in partnership with NCEA, Toowoomba). Approximately 60 people attended representing growers, millers, BSES Limited, productivity service organisations, CSIRO, QDPI&F, universities, agricultural consultants, CANEGROWERS and agribusiness. The workshop sought to generate priority issues for further R&D to support the Australian sugarcane industry’s adoption of PA technologies. These priorities have been identified below.
Precision agriculture; an avenue for profitable innovation in the Australian sugar industry, or expensive technology we can do without? : SRDC Final report CSE018
(2007) Bramley, R; Webster, T; Thorburn, P
Precision Agriculture (PA) is an all-encompassing term given to a suite of technologies which promote improved management of agricultural production through recognition that the potential productivity of agricultural land can vary considerably, even over very short distances (a few m). The key technologies involved are yield monitors, remote and proximal sensing, the global positioning system (GPS) and geographical information systems. This project was conducted in response to the recognition by the Sugar Research and Development Corporation (SRDC) that the Australian sugar industry needs an informed basis from which to make decisions as to appropriate investment in PA. The project took the form of a review of published literature on PA and two industry workshops: the first conducted mid-project to provide the Industry Reference Group with an opportunity to review project progress and to make input to the recommendations emerging from it; the second conducted at the completion of the project to inform industry of the conclusions drawn and to promote industry input into SRDC’s priority setting with respect to future PA research. The review briefly discusses the philosophy underpinning PA, looks at PA research and application in a range of cropping systems, including sugarcane production, from around the world and considers the key drivers of short range spatial variability in these production systems. Constraints to the adoption of PA and its likely economic benefits are also considered in light of experiences from around the world. The opportunities that PA offers to the Australian sugar industry are identified, along with recommendations of further research, development and extension to facilitate its productive and profitable adoption. It is concluded that sugarcane production is ideally suited to the adoption of PA. However, a number of key tasks in Research, Development and Extension (RDE) are identified which will be required to enable its implementation in the Australian sugar industry.
Review, analysis and discussion of precision agriculture technologies : SRDC Final report NCA009
(2007) Davis, RJ; Schmidt, EJ
The development of a range of new technologies has brought agriculture and agricultural equipment to a whole new level of sophistication. First hypothesised in the early 1990’s, Precision Agriculture (PA) is a crop management philosophy, which utilises these technologies to produce crops in a more sustainable fashion. The Australian sugar industry is faced with a long term trend of reducing value of production and increasing input costs. The industry has rapidly adopted GPS based guidance technology with many cane growers now having access to high precision GPS technologies. However, there remains a wide range of uncertainties and conflicting opinions that make the next step for PA a daunting prospect for cane growers, therefore the adoption of PA has been slow. PA has gained a significant amount of publicity in recent years, especially in other farming systems such as cotton, grain growing and viticulture. There has been a flood of rapidly developing technologies and techniques (often very costly) that have confronted growers claiming to aid in all aspects of farm management. With a few notable exceptions, PA is still a relatively new concept in the sugar industry. However, it will happen in the sugar industry. PA technologies have the potential to improve the commercial viability and environmental sustainability of sugarcane production and harvesting. To a degree, PA, within the sugar industry has been driven by the advent of various new technologies, particularly the coupling of real-time positioning using global positioning systems (GPS). The rapid adoption of GPS guidance and tractor steering technology and the direct benefits of reduced overlap and increased productivity have made cane growers acutely aware of the potential benefits of new technologies. With the initial adoption of these technologies, cane growers are seeing the benefits of more efficient operations with some cane growers claiming that they have halved their labour requirements. There is thus an urgent need to increase knowledge of PA across the industry to ensure that adoption decisions are made on an informed basis that learns from other agricultural industries both domestically and internationally.