Farming systems and production management
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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 Investigate skip row configuration in sugar cane: Final report GGP046(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2013) Blackburn, LThe aim of the project was to compare a double skip row sugarcane system with conventional solid plant on 1.8 m row spacing. Comparisons were made of productivity, profitability and water relationships. The skip row area was designated to grow crops which are usually cultivated over a traditional sugarcane fallow period. Ideally these skip area crops would provide break-crop soil health advantages but would also be harvested to contribute to income. One objective of this project was to evaluate different break crop alternatives to see which may be more suited to this situation. Results from this project show that the double skip row cane averaged about 70 % of the conventional cane yield, sugar yield and dollars returned per hectare. This excludes the data from the exceptionally wet 2010/11 summer which was in the wettest 5% of all years. Above-average rainfall years during the course of this trial negatively impacted on sugarcane and skip area crops. Only two skip row area crops were sown and that was to peanuts in August 2009 and November 2011. Again wet weather prevented harvest of these crops. The profitability of the double skip row system is under-estimated because costs were incurred to establish and manage the peanuts but no income was received. The group had hoped to evaluate soybean, sugar beet and possibly corn, but unfavourable seasons prevented this from happening.Item Overcoming barriers to controlled traffic adoption : SRDC Grower Group Innovation Project final report(2007) Aylward, CAt 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.Item Improved harvesting efficiency in farming systems : SRDC Grower Group Innovation Project final report(2007) Tabone, BThe aim of the project was to achieve more efficient harvesting within our group. We monitored the harvesting effort for each paddock to determine the levels of paddock efficiency and increase awareness of the results. The results from two seasons are as different as the weather conditions during the growing and the harvest. It can be noted the through put during both years in both crop configurations is less in the 2006 season. The 2006 season had a damp start and a very wet middle and a dry end (thank goodness) As a result, more engine hours per ton were required to harvest the crop. Wet field conditions and lower bin weights, equates to more trips for the haul outs realising a small increase in fuel consumption. The work efficiency is the relationship between total engine hours and total elevator hours expressed as a percentage. The elevator was running 5% longer while harvesting twin rows in 2006 which indicates a slower forward speed during cutting. To reward on farm efficiency, a new payment system needed to be formulated to achieve a harvester price differential. The payment system most widely accepted is the hourly rate as can be monitored easily and ratified by the growers. The growers would also get an instant benefit from any on farm improvements they made such as pipe crossings making hauls shorter and haul road improvements. Also, conditions change each year which makes it difficult to adopt any other formula which would be as indicative or relative to each situation.Item Incentive price harvesting signals versus traditional payment system : SRA Grower Group Innovation Project final report(2007) Girgenti, AIs to help farmers with the transition from the traditional way that they have paid for their cane to be harvested to an incentive pricing system that related to their farm layout and the management of the cane harvested on their farms. To promote the economic benefits to a farmer by offering an incentive payment system that would encourage them to improve conditions for the harvest as well as the hauling. To increase the awareness of the environmental benefits of how they manage their farm for harvesting. This also means a willingness to try innovative ideas that save both stakeholders money without sacrificing soil health. To improve the farmer/harvester relationship by making our business more transparent to the cost of harvesting. It was also allow farmers to have greater control on the cost of harvesting under an incentive pricing system.p farmers with the transition from the traditional way that they have paid for their cane to be harvested to an incentive pricing system that related to their farm layout and the management of the cane harvested on their farms. To promote the economic benefits to a farmer by offering an incentive payment system that would encourage them to improve conditions for the harvest as well as the hauling. To increase the awareness of the environmental benefits of how they manage their farm for harvesting. This also means a willingness to try innovative ideas that save both stakeholders money without sacrificing soil health. To improve the farmer/harvester relationship by making our business more transparent to the cost of harvesting. It was also allow farmers to have greater control on the cost of harvesting under an incentive pricing system.Item Implementing zero-till planting systems in the NSW sugar industry(2007) Munro, A; Ensbey, NThe project ‘Implementing Zero-Tillage Planting Systems in the NSW Sugar Industry’ aimed to introduce a direct drill billet planter to plant extensive areas of trial and commercial cane in the three mill areas of NSW. A group of NSW cane farmers called the NSW farming systems group wanted to evaluate the commercial viability of direct drill billet planters and a Hodge dual row double disc billet planter was purchased. Trial sites were established in the Condong, Broadwater and Harwood mill areas comparing zero-till planted cane with cane planted into conventionally tilled ground. These trials aimed to compare the economics of both systems and to demonstrate the robustness of a zero-tillage farming system. Nine months after planting, biomass sampling took place at the tillage trial that was established on Woodford Island. Yield results indicated no significant differences between the two systems. An economic analysis indicates that a net return of $2627/ha for a zerotillage farming system compared to $2506/ha for the conventional farming system. This equates to a $121/ha saving when adopting the reduced input system. These figures do not take into account labour savings and soil health benefits that are associated with the zero-tillage planting system. Over the past two years 23 growers across the three NSW mill areas have used the Hodge to plant a total of 210 hectares of both trial and commercial areas of cane. It is estimated that up to 200 hectares will be planted with the Hodge in 2007 demonstrating that the system is gaining momentum every year.Item Implementation of improved sugarcane farming systems in the Clare area, Burdekin District, North Queensland : SRDC Grower Group Innovation Project Final report(2007) Hatch, PThe MIG was interested to quantify the benefits of moving from their current 1.52m row configuration to a row configuration that better matches tractors, harvesters and haulage equipment using GPS technology. As a result of conducting this project, the MIG has confidence that preformed beds will improve their long term sustainability and profitability by reducing input costs compared to the current system, at least for the plant crop. In particular, significant opportunities to reduce: •land preparation costs, from $265/ha in the conventional practice down to $131/ha, •general growing costs, from $209/ha down to $108/ha, and •irrigation costs, from $394/ha down to approximately $305/ha, appear to exist. In total, differences of at least $300/ha saving can be made by moving from the conventional system to the preformed mound system (see Appendix 1 for more detail). As a result, all members of MIG have moved over to planting into preformed beds; however some members of MIG prefer 1.52m singles over duals on 2.0m centres. The group recognises that during the course of the project, several errors were made with the trial design; in particular there was no planting of the 1.52m conventional practice with the mound planted systems, no replication of treatments, and fertiliser rates were not the same in each treatment. This has been a great learning experience for the group, which is now better placed to conduct future on-farm research.Item Precision farming with controlled traffic and GPS guidance system : SRA Grower Group Innovation Project final report(2007) Vassallo, C; Vassallo, GAfter working with the Central Region new farming system grower group we decided to take the system to the next level and implement GPS guidance and precision. Our aim was to overcome the problems associated with converting from 1.5 metres conventional to 1.83 meters controlled traffic using GPS guidance, bed forming, minimum tillage, break crops and converting existing equipment to the new system. Some equipment needed to be invented as we proceeded with the new system. The learning from the project was that the 1.83m controlled traffic system needs to be established in a conventional way, rather than preformed beds. The cane needs to be planted deep into the soil, rather than on mounds to establish the stool deep in the soil, into the moisture zone. GPS guidance is of great assistance to establish true control traffic farming.Item Evaluating alternative irrigation for a greener future(2011) Hesp, CThe potential agronomic and environmental benefits of green cane harvesting and trash blanketing, the ongoing issues of nutrients and pesticides threatening the Great Barrier Reef, the rising ground water levels in the area, and water use efficiency issues, prompted the progressive MAFIA grower group to conceptualise a project to trial alternative irrigation systems and compare them with the conventional furrow irrigation system. A lateral move irrigation system was established on the Hesp property, in the Mulgrave farming area in the Burdekin, to irrigate sugarcane throughout a full 4 year crop cycle. This system was compared to conventional furrow and, on a nearby property, a drip irrigation system. The sites were extensively instrumented to measure parameters that would enable the water and nutrient balance to be monitored on the furrow and lateral move irrigated fields. Importantly, an intensive economic analysis was conducted to provide a guide to the economic evaluation of the three systems. Overall the results of the trial indicated that it was indeed possible to grow large sugarcane crops under the lateral move and drip irrigation systems, and that these crops could be subsequently harvested green. It was shown that the lateral move and drip systems also provided opportunity for improved water use efficiency over the furrow irrigation system and that the subsequent flow on benefits from this was reduced loss of nutrients via deep drainage and irrigation runoff. The economic evaluation, using actual inputs costs from the trial sites, show that the furrow and lateral move had similar operating costs which were significantly less than the drip system. However, it should be pointed out that this economic study looked at the adoption of a new irrigation system versus an existing furrow irrigation system. If the analysis was to examine a greenfield investment comparison, then the economic results could significantly change because of the extra capital investment required to establish a furrow irrigation system. In this analysis, environmental benefits resulting from improved water, nutrient and pesticide use are not accounted for in dollar terms, but if included would recognise the value of more efficient farming systems. While every effort was made to provide reliable information from this study, constraints associated with conducting the trial, within an existing “whole of farm” operation, meant that it should be considered more as a pilot study rather than a rigorous scientific trial. For this reason care should be taken in extrapolating the data from this study to other properties or areas where different circumstances and constraints could alter the perspective significantly.Item Validation of fibre cropping in rotation with sugar cane by Mackay Fibre Producers : SRA Grower Group Innovation Project final report(2008) Muscat, JThe ultimate aim of this project was to investigate the feasibility of improving the profitability, sustainability, and robustness of the sugar industry in the central region through the incorporation of fibre rotation crops. MFP (Mackay Fibre Producers) and its partners have investigate production and processing systems of Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), Sunn Hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa) in the central region. Through out the life of this project the group members have been enthusiastic in relation to answering the many questions that are attributed from these new crop options. The local and whole sugar industry community have also been keen to keep abreast of the findings of this project. Fibre cropping in rotation with sugar cane has been extremely successful with a number of key finding emerging, one of the key finding is Sunn Hemp which is a new legume rotational crop option, its traits like root knot nematode resistance, its drought tolerance, it high bio-mass and nitrogen fix and short cropping cycle all attribute to its ability to become a real legume cropping option for the sugar cane cycle. Another finding is the effect that Kenaf has to address packametra spores in the soil in a normal Kenaf cropping cycle. The science of why this effect happens, is a research question still to be answered, the evidence that MFP group has compiled is that in two different trial sites in different years there was a significant reduction in packamtrea spore counts. One of the important findings is the economic impact that fibre crops have on the following cane crops, there is a significant improvement in gross margins and will impact positively on growers bottom line. When developing a new crop option in any industry there are many challengers to over come and this has been no difference in the case of fibre crops. For a new crop option the agronomics are important and will determine the cost of production, this is coupled with the yield achieved as both of these aspects are important for the future viability of that crop option. Marketing of that particular crop option also plays a significant role to its future viability, in the case of the Fibre crops, marketing will play an important role to its sustainability and its future role in the sugar industry.Item Nutrient management from variable rate technology in a control traffic system by the Oakenden Grower Group : SRDC Grower Group Innovation Project final report(2008) Muscat, JThe aim of the project is to determine the benefits of nutrient management system in a controlled traffic farming enterprise in an environmentally sustainable manner. The project will determine the cost benefits by comparing the conventional nutrient application to variable rate application. It will determine the difference between narrow chute planting and wide chute planting. The project will compare different legumes and the impact on the following cane crop. Oakenden Grower Group has documented a fact sheet to enable growers some insight when choosing a GPS system in a question and answer style information sheet. The Oakenden Grower group was keen to understand the economic impact of these trails which are highlighted in the trial results.