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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Item Investigating losses from green and burnt cane harvesting conditions : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2020) Patane, P; Landers, G; Thompson, M; Nothard, B; Norris, CA; Olayemi, MDespite much research into the impact of high harvester pour rates and fan speeds on harvested cane yields, there has been low adoption of HBP (harvesting best practice) across the industry. Full adoption across the Australian sugarcane industry could increase industry revenue with no necessity for horizontal expansion (increase in cane land). In order to inform industry of the potential for significant gains, 95 replicated harvesting trials and workshops were undertaken during 2017 and 2018 across 12 sugarcane regions in Queensland and New South Wales. The performance of settings recommended by HBP was compared with each harvesting operation’s standard practice by assessing yield, CCS, bin mass, extraneous matter (EM), fibre, sugar loss and revenue. To highlight the strong relationship between cane loss and excessive pour rates and fan speeds, treatments with higher pour rates and fan speeds and lower pour rates and fan speeds were also trialled. Cane loss, production and revenue data from the fully replicated and randomised trials were analysed to identify differences between industry standard harvesting practices and those recommended by HBP. Harvesters typically operate at ground and fan speeds at on average of 0.9 km/h and 95 rpm above those recommended under HBP parameters. The higher ground speed overloads the cleaning capacity of the harvester in delivering an average 21 t/h more cane though the machine. Consequently, fan speeds are increased to remove the additional EM (extraneous matter) entering the machine, which then removes additional cane via the extractor. This cane often disintegrated in the process, making much invisible. Trials indicated the average sugar loss out of the extractor increased by 0.15 t/ha over the HBP settings. However, there was no significant improvement in EM or bin mass. As a result of cane loss though the extractor, less cane per hectare was delivered to the mill. Mill analyses across the trials identified cane and sugar yields for the recommended practice were 4.9 t/ha (cane yield) and 0.7 t/ha (sugar yield) higher than standard practice. Neither CCS nor fibre levels were significantly different. Increased cane and sugar yields generated by the recommended practice translated to an increase in grower gross revenue of $181/ha., but reduced ground speeds increased the cost of harvesting by $61/ha. Subtracting the additional harvesting costs and levies from the additional grower revenue leaves a net benefit of $116/ha for the grower. Preliminary results of “good” burn trials indicate an improvement of $207/ha in grower gross revenue with lower fuel. Based on the green-cane results, full adoption of HBP could improve annual industry revenue by $44 million for growers at an additional cost of $17 million for harvesting (excluding incentives). Milling revenue would also improve by $25 million per year but this does not account for additional milling or transport costs.Item A new high throughput method for screening for root-knot and root-lesion nematode resistance in sugarcane : Final report 2019/401(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2021) Aitken, K; Bhuiyan, SRoot-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus zeae) and root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne javanica) are the two most important nematode pathogens of sugarcane in Australia. They cause loses of over $82 million to the Australian sugar industry annually (Stirling et al. 2011). Sugarcane varieties have some resistance to root-knot nematodes, but no resistance is present in sugarcane varieties to root lesion nematodes. The most effective way for farmers to maintain high yields on soil that contains nematodes is to develop resistant varieties. The current screening method that is used to identify germplasm that contains resistance takes up to 16 weeks to obtain a result. A new screening method was developed in this project which takes 3 weeks to determine if a clone is resistant to or susceptible to root-knot and root lesion nematodes. This new method has the potential to reduce the cost of screening for nematode resistance and to increase the number of clones that can be screened in a year. This has an impact on the sugarcane breeding program as the more clones that are screened the faster a new resistant variety can be produced. The project also identified resistance in new wild germplasm, Saccharum spontaneum and Erianthus arundinaceus. These clones have the potential to be used in an introgression breeding program to introgress resistance from the wild germplasm into sugarcane varieties. The new screening method developed in this project could potentially speed up the introgression process by enabling larger numbers of clones to be screened thus increasing the chance of success.Item Southern Sugar Solutions : Final report 2017/012(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2021) Halpin, NThe Southern Sugar Solutions project was a novel project that linked research; development and extension activities that were being conducted by DAF with funding support from GRDC to monitor impact on the subsequent cane crop.Item Improving yield and cane quality through implementation of harvesting best practice - 2019 Herbert demonstration : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2021) Patane, P; Nothard, B; Norris, CA; Douglas, A; Pfumayaramba, T; Stringer, J; Olayemi, MIn 2019, the Australian sugarcane industry conducted a month-long demonstration with 12 trials to determine the commercial viability of harvesting best practice. Initiated by a small group of innovative growers and contractors from the Herbert region, the concept of a commercial demonstration sought to determine both agronomic and economic impacts of adopting HBP, including the assessment of possible yield gains without having a detrimental impact on extraneous matter, and economic implication for growers and harvesting contractors arising from revenue and harvesting cost changes. Two Herbert harvesting contractors participated in the demonstration comparing their standard harvesting practices to Sugar Research Australia Harvesting Best Practice (HBP or recommended practice). The results identified an average 4.8 t/ha increase in yield with no additional increase in extraneous matter for the recommended setting. A comprehensive economic analysis was conducted on each of the trials. Detailed harvesting costs and operational information, including machinery, labour, and fuel data, were collected from the respective harvesting operations. Harvesting costs and levies were $37/ha ($0.07/t) higher for the recommended setting due to higher yields, reduced harvester ground speeds and lower extractor fan speeds. Despite the higher harvesting costs, recommended settings obtained significantly higher total revenue ($151/ha, +4.7%). This resulted in an overall net benefit of $114/ha in the adoption of recommended settings (based on a 4.4% higher net revenue calculated as total grower revenue minus harvesting costs and levies). The Herbert demonstrations have proven instrumental in the acceptance of harvesting best practice for the region. The results again confirm that adapting and aligning commercial-scale harvesting practices to crop and paddock conditions have positive impacts on both yield and economic outcomes.Item Understanding interactions between basecutters and other forward-feed components with the cane stalk : Final report 2016/952(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2020) Norris, CP; Plaza, FIncreasing harvesting speed has been necessary to facilitate the large increases in productivity required by the harvesting fleet to manage sugarcane-industry cost pressures. Whilst the power and processing throughput of the harvesters has been able to easily meet this requirement, the design of the ‘front end’ of the harvesters has undergone relatively little functional change since their initial development over 50 years ago. Linking rotational speeds of basecutters and gathering/forward feed components to groundspeed was hypothesised to optimise machine performance and minimise damage over a much wider operating speed range than with current machines. The data indicates that very significant gains can be made by reducing the damage associated with the gathering and knockdown functions of harvesters, and the magnitude of the potential gains warrants significant research focus. Chris Norris conducted this research in conjunction with QUT. Chris is an agricultural engineer with over 40 years’ experience, including 20 years in the sugarcane industry. He previously managed the BSES harvesting research program and has consulted internationally on sugarcane farming and harvesting. This project was funded in partnership between SRA and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Environment through the Rural R&D for Profit program.Item Enhancing the sugar industry value chain by addressing mechanical harvest losses through research, technology and adoption : Final report 2016/901(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2020) Manasta, G; Samson, PThe project addressed the challenges of mechanical sugarcane harvesting, that include damage to the crop, cane loss from the harvester and high levels of extraneous matter sent to the mill. It did this by developing harvester modifications, new sensing technology and decision-support tools, better cane-cleaning systems, and delivering an adoption program to drive Harvesting Best Practice.Item Adoption of practices to mitigate harvest losses : Final report 2019/951(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2020) Patane, P; Norris, CP; Nothard, B; Pfumayaramba, T; Venables, CPatane (et al. 2019) determined that Harvesting Best Practice (HBP) is predicated by two essential objectives. 1. Defining the critical point where harvesting losses can be minimised and delivered yields improved to achieve the best economic return for the grower and harvesting operation; and 2. Balancing losses with cane quality, which is determined by sound billet quality with an acceptable level of Extraneous Matter (EM). Despite significant research into the impact of higher harvester pour rates and fan speeds on harvested cane yields, use of HBP recommendations prior to the commencement of the adoption program across the industry was relatively low. Full HBP adoption across the Australian sugarcane industry could substantially increase industry revenue without the need for horizontal expansion (increase in cane land). In 2019, continuing on from the work conducted by Patane (et al. 2019), Sugar Research Australia in partnership with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries delivered further trials.Item Water table monitoring in the Ord River Valley : SRDC Final report WAA001(SRDC, 2020) Nulsen, RA; Sherrard, JHMonitoring of groundwater levels has been undertaken in the Ord River Irrigation Area using a network of bores established on farms throughout the Stage I area. These bores, many of which were installed as part of this project, complement a network previously established off farm. They have been monitored on a regular basis and changes in levels have been examined in relation to a range of factors including irrigation and crop management practices, rainfall and irrigation infrastructure management, to allow causal relationships to be established and hence potential management strategies to be developed. Monitoring has been assisted through the equipping of many bores with water depth probes and loggers to automatically record changes in levels over extended periods of time.