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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1992 - 199912000 - 20083

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Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Cane losses

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    Improvements in base cutter design and cane feeding : Final report NCE004
    (SRDC, 2002) Harris, H
    This project followed on from Project US2 (Cutting of sugarcane), which showed that conventional basecutters and knockdown angles contributed to cane damage and loss by way of disk contact, multiple layered cuts and stalk bending.
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    Overcoming barriers to controlled traffic adoption : SRDC Grower Group Innovation Project final report
    (2007) Aylward, C
    At the commencement of this project, the available solutions for keeping harvesting traffic centred on wider row spacings while adequately filling cane bins are not effective. This was due to unsuitable harvester elevator design, which results in a larger proportion of the field area being compacted, defeating the purpose of controlled traffic farming. The issue of getting cane into bins in wider row spacings is more problematic than was currently recognised by those promoting the adoption of CTFS in the sugar industry. The existing harvester elevator suits 1.5m row spacings. Simply extending the whole elevator is too expensive and increases weight, as do bolt on elevator extensions, which reduces harvester stability on uneven fields, being a major safety issue. This problem has plagued several of our group members and visitors from other areas such as Maryborough, have nominated this safety issue as a major reason growers will not adopt wider row spacings. Several of our group members (in a harvesting Co-op) have spent $5000 repairing slews, bearings, pivot points etc due to the additional wear and tear caused by the weight of a bolt on conveyor. Other group members have reported reduced bin weights which have raised concerns for mill transport scheduling staff. In 2004, three of our group members trialled powered paddles on their harvesters. All successfully overcame the weight and stability issues, they were cheap to construct, they were effective in allowing machinery to remain centred in the interspace, thus minimising compacted area, and they were effective at maintaining suitable bin weights in both wide row spacings (CT) and narrow (1.5m) row spacings of farms in conversion to CTFS. However, because of different elevator designs on the different harvesters, only one paddle operated successfully, the other two increased cane losses through recirculation and also through the secondary extractor. Group members realised we need assistance from experienced harvester engineers to successfully over come these problems. SRDC funding was sought to assist with these costs. This project aimed to continue work commenced by group members in 2004 harvest season.
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    Demonstrate the true value of harvesting best practice and provide the basis for the sharing of the additional revenue created by its adoption
    (2008) Markley, J
    The Cooperative Systems project (SRDC Project MSA003) considered how a cane quality incentive scheme might be incorporated into a cane payment. The report discussed the measurement and feedback of cane quality data to harvester operators and growers to ensure that the information delivered sends the right market signals and compensates the parties for the costs involved in achieving particular targets. A good example is extraneous matter. Extraneous matter can be reduced by simply increasing the fan speed on the harvester’s extractor. However this will also increase the loss of sound cane in the field, which is not the desired effect. Instead the harvester operator should slow down and adopt other “best practice” harvesting measures, but this will increase harvesting costs for no real benefit to the harvester. This project aimed at identifying the true costs of adopting Harvest Best Practice “HBP” and to provide the basis of a cane payment option to share the additional revenue and costs generated from HBP between the grower and harvester operators. This was to be achieved through the development of a web based cane loss indicator. This indicator would be used by growers and harvester operators to monitor the cane loss and harvester throughput and for agreement to be reached on payment options that would deliver the best results for the grower, miller and harvester operator. The project involved the installation of GPS tracking devices and associated equipment to harvesters that recorded the position of the harvester in the field as well as ground speed, direction and primary extractor speed. This data is then sent from the harvester tracking device to Mackay Sugar computer servers via the Telstra CDMA 1X mobile data network. Initially due to commence in the harvest season of 2005 the project was delayed for 12 months mostly due to concerns with the Telstra mobile network, however this was rectified in early 2006 and the project strated in the harvest season of 2006. Mackay Sugar consulted BSES staff and Gary Sandells (Harvest Solutions) to design and undertake suitable field trials to best measure cane loss through the most common primary extractor fans being utilised on a variety of cane harvesters. In all, nine trials were conducted to determine cane loss for the new 1500mm Cameco extractor fans and Vortex extractor fans being utilised in the later model Case cane harvesters. Cane loss, calculated by deducting the clean cane yield at the highest fan speed from the clean cane yield at the lowest fan speed, showed additional cane being delivered at the higher fan speeds in eight trials (in one trial there was a decrease of 14 t/ha). On average, an additional 13 t/ha of cane was delivered at the higher fan speeds. This additional cane delivery shows that generally there is no significant cane loss at higher fan speeds. Similar results have not been found before – traditionally, as the fan speed increases, so does cane loss. This set of harvest cane-loss trials has produced some unexpected results in terms of cane loss in relation to fan speed. Additional trial work needs to be completed to better understand the relationship between fan speeds and cane loss when using the new generation extractor fans. The initial aim of this work was to develop a web-based cane-loss indicator. This was to be done by combining the existing cane-loss work that was undertaken with the smaller, standard extractor fans and this new work with the larger extractor fans and the new vortex type extractors. As the results from this set of trials are contrary to previous work, it is not possible to use this data to produce a web-based cane-loss indicator.
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    The contribution of mechanical cane harvesting to the productivity plateau
    (1992)
    The invention of mechanical cane harvesters has been important in the development of the Australian sugar industry. Mechanisation of the harvest has brought many benefits. However associated with mechanical cane harvesting there are aspects which impact on crop productivity matters and hence on industry profitability. These issues are being addressed in BSES research and extension programs.