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 Adoption of an optimal season length for increased industry profitability : SRDC Final report BSS264(BSES, 2007) Di Bella, LP; Cristaudo, A; Wood, AWThe project aimed to maximise commercial cane sugar (CCS), sugar yields (TSPH) and industry profitability in the Herbert region by exploiting regional variation in CCS, soil moisture and trafficability. There is significant potential to increase total sugar production, and individual grower and district CCS through better management of harvesting scheduling.Item Delivering the capability to evaluate alternative cane supply arrangements across the sugar industry using a whole industry systems approach : SRDC Final report CTA0044(SRDC, 2002) Higgins, AJ; Muchow, RC; Haynes, MA; Peel, SL; Prestwidge, DB; Williamson, MAIncreasing cost/price pressure has forced the Australian sugar industry to seek innovative avenues for increasing profitability. To address this, the industry saw opportunities for increasing productivity and hence profitability through optimising the harvest date of sugarcane. Optimising the harvest date of sugarcane accounts for geographical and crop differences in cane yield and the sugar content of cane for different harvest dates throughout the harvesting season. Whole-ofsystem research within CRC-Sugar produced the statistical and optimisation models needed to conduct options analysis for these alternative cane supply arrangements using case studies in Mackay and Mossman. Options analysis using data from these case studies showed average potential gains in profitability of $119/ha for Mackay and $79/ha for Mossman, at a sugar price of $350/t. To provide the capacity for evaluating and implementing alternative cane supply options in other mill regions, computer tools, user interfaces and standardised databases were developed. The use of this software and documented processes was applied not only to the case study regions but also in partnership with other mill regions, namely Maryborough and the Burdekin. Key outcomes were the reduction in time from start-up to implementation reduced from four years down to one year, an increased uptake from growers and harvesting groups, ease of interpretation of schedules, and increased interest from other mill regions. A computer tool was also developed for the mathematical cane yield re-estimation model, and was used successfully by the Mossman cane inspector during the 2001 harvest season.Item Improving profitability of the Maryborough Sugar Industry by assessing the options for cane supply and season length : SRDC Final report MSF001(SRDC, 2002) Higgins, AJ; Downs, P; Sestak, F; Peatey, G; Haynes, MA; Muchow, RCIncreasing cost/price pressure has forced the Australian sugar industry to seek innovative avenues for increasing profitability. To address this, the industry saw opportunities for increasing productivity and hence profitability through optimising the harvest date of sugarcane to account for geographical and crop differences in cane yield and the sugar content of cane. Whole-of-system research within CRC-Sugar produced the statistical and optimisation models needed to conduct options analysis for these alternative cane supply arrangements using case studies in Mackay and Mossman. The tools developed in CRC-Sugar were used to develop alternative cane supply options in partnership with the Maryborough sugar region. Through exploiting the geographical differences in CCS and cane yield at harvest date, average gains in profitability were $77/ha (sugar price $350/t) versus current equity arrangements. Farms that were found to be significantly early or late maturing, had higher potential gains. Pilot implementation of alternative cane supplies took place during the 2001 harvest season and involved the Maryborough Sugar Factory, where a significant gain in CCS was achieved. Seven other farms benefited from the optimisation work. The Maryborough region will continue to adopt alternative cane supplies in 2002 with a likely increased uptake of the optimisation strategy.Item Quantification of the potential to reduce harvesting losses by utilisation of field edge trash separation technology(2013)NorrisECT conducted a series of SRDC supported trials into the potential to improve industry profitability through the use of post-harvest cleaning at sites in the New South Wales Sugar Milling Cooperative and Isis Mill cane catchments during the 2012 crushing season. The aim of the trials was to determine the potential to improve profitability by circumventing the existing compromise between high fibre levels in milled cane, and high cane loss during harvesting under commercial harvesting conditions. This was achieved through utilising ‘low loss’ harvesting to reduce the cane lost through the harvester cleaning system then a mobile cane cleaning plant to clean the cane before transport to the mill. The impact on tonnes of cane and CCS recovered per hectare, and the transport bulk density were measured. The trials investigated the impact on recovered cane yields and CCS across three treatments, including ‘commercial’ harvesting practices (moderate to high extractor fan speed), ‘low loss’ harvesting practices (low extractor fan speeds, reduced ground speed), and ‘low loss’ harvesting with post-harvest cleaning (using a NorrisECT mobile cane cleaning plant). Total biomass yield (tonnes per hectare), cane yield (tonnes per hectare), load density (kg per m3) were measured in the field, and the respective mills provided corresponding information on Pol, Brix, Ash, Fibre and CCS measurement (NIR). Trial results showed significant increase in biomass and delivered CCS yields per hectare resulting from ‘low loss’ harvesting practices, and a further increase in delivered CCS per hectare (through significant reduction in EM and fibre levels) attributable to post-harvest cleaning. Post-harvest cleaning treatments also demonstrated significantly higher transport load densities. The actual impact on harvesting costs were estimated based on the change in harvester productivity (hectares per hour) and haul out requirement (m3 of biomass per hectare) and benchmarked against a large harvesting dataset. Actual sugar recovery was estimated based upon both CCS determinations and earlier Australian and American work on the effect of extraneous matter and fibre on sugar recovery. The trials have demonstrated that there is potential to significantly increase the industry profitability with post-harvest cane cleaning based on the significant increase in potential sugar production per hectare of land, significant improvement in transport load density and significant reduction in fibre levels in cane milled. It is recommended that further work be undertaken to better quantify the actual impact NET001 Interim Report iii on harvesting and transport costs under commercial conditions, and to better quantify the impact on mill performance and costs, and sugar recovery through reduced fibre and extraneous matter levels.Item Lifting the viability of the Mossman Sugar Industry by improving the cane supply : Final report MCB001(2003) James, MThe project was initiated to investigate techniques to improve the long-term viability of the Mossman sugar-producing area through better harvesting techniques. The overall aim was to dovetail with previous SRDC-funded research by Mossman Mill that had suggested that a cane supply much lower in extraneous matter could potentially eliminate the need for expansion of mill capacity, negating a capital expenditure of at least $9 million dollars. The major brief of this project was to help implement these techniques, whilst ensuring that they did not cause any additional sucrose loss in the field.Due to varying crop conditions throughout the lifecycle of the project, it was impossible to gauge whether there had been any net decrease in the level of extraneous matter in the cane supply. Nonetheless, the project did provide some significant quantifiable benefits to the Mossman sugar-producing region, not the least of which was the further development and widespread adoption of a process called ?Feed-Train Optimisation? which has been shown to reduce sucrose loss and improve billet quality during mechanical harvesting.This project also undertook some novel research into the linkages between billet length and productivity, which indicated a previously unknown linkage between billet length and declining CCS in far north Queensland. The results suggest that a decrease in billet length of just 20 mm can decrease the CCS of green cane by approximately half a unit, and increase extractor losses by 5-10%. These results are considered to be extremely relevant to the current trend of CCS decline in far north Queensland.Trials investigating the effects of billet length upon productivity highlighted another previously unrecorded phenomenon, that average billet length changes with fan speed, and that there is an interaction between this change and the nominal billet length setting of the harvester. This may have implications upon the interpretation of previous research and the future design of machinery.Technological outputs of this research included a computer model of the feed-train and chopper system of modern mechanical harvesters, and the development of a computer system designed to give harvester operators a more intuitive guide to their performance relative to their peers. These are being used commercially.