Knowledge and technology transfer and adoption
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://elibrary2.sugarresearch.com.au/handle/11079/13847
Research outcomes: Research results and new technologies are communicated and transferred in an appropriate and timely manner across the industry value chain, supporting increased uptake of best-practice and innovative technology. A skilled advisory sector that drives the adoption of new technology. An industry knowledge base that incorporates and makes freely available the most up-to-date production methodologies to industry. Collaborative alliances, partnerships and networks that optimise synergies, integrate knowledge and share best-practices.
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Item Productivity performance of climatological sub-regions within the Tully Mill area : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2019) Stringer, JK; Skocaj, DM; Rigby, A; Olayemi, M; Everingha, YL; Sexton, JInter-annual climate variability has a significant impact on productivity in the Wet Tropics region. Climate also varies spatially, yet the impact on productivity is less well known. Two distinct climatological sub-regions (northern and southern) have been identified within the Tully mill area based on total annual rainfall and annual average daily radiation. The wetter northern sub-region is characterised by lower radiation, lower temperatures and higher rainfall than in the drier southern sub-region. Mean cane and sugar yields were analysed for the two climate sub-regions using block productivity data obtained from Tully Sugar Limited for 2000 to 2017. After excluding 2011 (Tropical Cyclone Yasi), only farms with 15 or more years of data were included. The impact of spring-summer (SONDJF) rainfall and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases on cane and sugar yields in the two climate sub-regions was also analysed. On average, the northern, wetter climate sub-region yielded less cane and sugar yield than the southern, drier sub-region. There were significant differences between SONDJF rainfall terciles (dry, normal and wet) and ENSO phases (El Niño, Neutral and La Niña) for cane and sugar yields in the two climate sub-regions. Cane and sugar yields were significantly lower in years experiencing high SONDJF rainfall or in the La Niña phase. This analysis validates the results of the analyses used to derive the two climatological sub-regions in Tully. Improved knowledge of how climatic conditions influence sub-regional productivity performance will assist industry extension programs and on-farm management decisions.Item The fast fluorescence kinetics; a sensitive tool for early detection of water stress in sugarcane : ASSCT peer reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2016) Olsen, DJ; Shafei, R; Botha, FCWater stress is a major constraint for sugarcane production in many regions of the world, including Australia. Sensitive and non-destructive early measurement of the crop response to water stress would be of great value for producers, advisors, and researchers. Chlorophyll-a (Chla) fluorescence is well established as a tool for measurement of photosynthetic efficiency. Changes in the kinetics of Chla fluorescence can provide valuable insight into the structure and function of the photosynthetic apparatus and chloroplast membrane integrity. The parameter Fv/Fm is often used to describe the effect of stress on the quantum yield of photosystem two (PSII). In this study the polyphasic OJIP fluorescence transient was used to evaluate the response of the sugarcane photosynthetic electron transport system. Chlorophyll fluorescence was measured on three leaves in the canopy of KQ228A over a five-day water stress period, and the response analysed using the OJIP-test. The results show that several of the parameters that can be derived from the OJIP test are more sensitive and a better reflection of water stress than the Fv/Fm ratio. Evidently PSII is much more sensitive to water stress than photosystem one (PSI). In late stages of stress there are signs of a loss in membrane integrity and a disruption of water splitting in PSII.Item Adoption of practices to mitigate harvest losses : ASSCT peer reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2019) Patane, P; Landers, G; Thompson, M; Nothard, B; Norris, CA; Olayemi, MHarvesting Best Practice (HBP) recommends that harvesters maintain pour rates of 80-90 t/h, depending on make and model, and recommends extractor-fan speed guidelines that ensure minimal cane loss with low extraneous matter (EM). Exceeding the recommended pour rate overloads the cleaning capacity of modern harvesters and increases EM in the cane supply. To attempt to counterbalance the EM issue, it is usual to increase fan speeds above those recommended, resulting in greater cane loss. Use of HBP recommendations across the industry is low and full HBP adoption would substantially increase industry revenue. To address this, 43 replicated harvesting trials and workshops were undertaken in the 2017 harvest season across 12 sugarcane regions between Maryborough and Mossman. The performance of settings recommended by HBP were compared with each harvesting operation’s standard practice by assessing yield, CCS, bin mass, 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. Results were presented to each harvesting group to inform their decision-making and promote HBP adoption. Cane loss, production and revenue data from 28 replicated and randomised trials were analysed to identify differences between industry standard harvesting practices and those recommended by HBP. We found that harvesters are typically operated at ground and fan speeds that are on average 1 km/h and 95 rpm above those recommended. The higher ground speed delivered an additional 22 t/h of cane into the machine on average but overloaded the cleaning capacity of the harvester. While the higher fan speed helped to remove the additional EM entering the machine, it also removed additional cane through the extractor with most being disintegrated, making it invisible to stakeholders. Testing indicated that mean sugar loss out of the extractor was increased by 0.15 t/ha compared with HBP settings, while there were no significant differences in EM or bin mass. Due to the additional cane being lost, less cane was delivered to the mill per hectare. Mill results across all trials identified that mean cane and sugar yields for the recommended practice were 5 t cane/ha (5.4%) and 0.8 t sugar/ha (5.7%) higher than standard practice. Neither CCS nor fibre levels were significantly different. The increased cane and sugar yields generated by the recommended settings boosted mean total grower revenue by $220/ha, equating to $173/ha after subtracting the additional harvesting costs (including fuel) and levies. Extrapolating these findings across the Australian green-cane-harvested area, full adoption of the recommended practices could deliver an additional 1.3 Mt of cane and 202,000 t of sugar valued at over $86 million for industry ($57 million in additional revenue for growers alone).Item Development of an Intelligent Tool to allow real-time evaluation of harvesting practices as part of a framework for improved harvester payment systems : final report 2016/951(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2019) Norris, CPThe project has resulted in the development of a cane loss indicator which can be a valuable tool to assist the harvester operator to optimise harvester performance as crop conditions change throughout the day. The system differs from previous attempts at cane loss monitors in that it does not attempt to identify individual billet loss, but rather looks at the energy dissipated in the processes of extracting cane and leaf and the effective dissociation of the billets as they are processed by the harvester extractor fans. The relationship between power consumption and actual cane loss utilises both keyboard inputs and parameters measured on the harvester. Data collection for the development of the algorithms and their calibration was undertaken in conjunction with field trials, where conventional cane loss measurement protocols were used to give the base data. Initially manual data collection strategies were utilised, followed by high accuracy data logging. The relationships observed between derived cane loss and measured cane loss in these trials allowed fine tuning of the algorithms, including the “weighting” of different measured inputs. Analysis of all datasets of electronically logged data indicates the repeatability of the cane loss values derived by SCHLOT under typical harvesting conditions to be high and, where variance was observed between the SCHLOT estimate and the field testing protocols, the SCHLOT number could be argued to give the more accurate determination of actual cane loss. In operation, the SCHLOT cane loss monitor gives highly useful feedback to the operator, and this drove significant changes in operating strategies by the harvester operator. The ability to remotely log cane loss in conjunction with other parameters such as harvester speed in near real time offers very significant benefits for the Industry with respect to the implementation of Best Practice Harvesting.Item Measuring the profitability and environmental implications when growers transition to best management practices : final report 2014/015(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2018) Connolly, C; Renouf, M; Poggio, M; Thompson, MThe development of sugarcane Best Management Practices (BMPs) aims to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of sugarcane farms. However, there has been limited research that has examined both the economic and environmental implications of BMP adoption on commercial farms in Australia. To alleviate this problem, this project has undertaken a literature review and six case studies on commercial farms in the Wet Tropics analysing the farm profitability and life cycle environmental implications of BMP adoption. After completion, case studies were distributed and extension materials were presented to industry.Item A boiler simulator for improved operator training : final report 2016/001(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2016) Mann, APA boiler simulator training package ready for use by industry has been developed during this project. After some fine tuning to accommodate site specific details and interaction with existing factory control systems (if requested by the sites), the simulator will be ready for use by factories for operator training.Item Sugar industry productivity and data recording spatial data hub for research and extension : final report 2015/045(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2015) Crossley, RThe Australian sugar industry was an early adopter of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and has considerable spatial data of where the crop has been grown. In some cases, data extends back for more than 20 years. When combined with the productivity data kept by the milling organisations, the data represents a considerable resource that could be used for research projects such as historical productivity analysis and bio-security response. This data was difficult for research providers to access and use, however, as it was fragmented amongst multiple databases and archived files, and was stored in different formats using different codes to indicate varieties and classes. The Sugar Data Hub project collated available data together into a single common spatial database, and enhanced the data by relating its productivity data for previous years regardless of previous block names, and to other data sources such as soils and weather. Although the original concept of the project was to store this data centrally and provide access to that data by agreement from the data owners, privacy concerns precluded this model of distribution. Instead, this data was provided back to the owners for distribution to the research community. Data quality varied across the industry, depending largely on the effort that the mill and farmers/ harvesters took in accurately consigning the bins to the mill. Considerable benefits can be derived from the data collated in this project to the industry, including (a) consistency of data between regions, (b) the ability to access historical production data for a location, and (c) the ability to relate the production data to other spatial information such as soils, agro-climatic regions and GPS data from harvesters.Item Tissue culture - managing impediments to adoption in Tully : final report 2014/093(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2017) Villaruz, JThe world is moving and changing every year, it is timely to investigate technologies available outside our current industry practice. When the opportunity arrives we need to take it and explore the possibilities as an industry. Therefore SRA, PEC unit and TCPSL staff developed a collaborative approach between the growers, industry, local tissue culture laboratory, local engineering shop and the TCPSL team to operate a Tissue Culture project called “Managing Impediments to Adoption in Tully”. The new skills learnt from day to day activities and grower demonstrations have been commercially adopted by the industry. This project helped TCPSL staff to improve their knowledge and skills, and allow grower and staff to share their experience and ideas in-order to achieve the goal. SRA and Tissue culture laboratory and nursery are heavily involved to support our needs in these trials. To start, an investigation took place as to the ability of local tissue culture laboratories to manage demand if other laboratories outside the district were unable to. There is a possibility that the Tully growers can access their materials through their local laboratory with SRA and TCPSL direction and control. Mission Beach Tissue Culture Laboratory was one such local business. This lab started to trial separation of plantlets from petri dish, to seedling development stage to nursery and on to the hardening stage.Item A pilot for business planning for young farmers and partner in the sugarcane industry : final report ACF002(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2014) Puglisi, G; Sheppard, AThrough ACFA’s Next Gen program, it was identified that given the aging demographic of cane farmers it is important that young farmers, the future decision makers of the industry, are provided with the tools and skills needed for them to succeed in their farming businesses. This need was echoed through the Next Gen regional representatives and a desire was expressed to ‘up-skill’ to ensure that they have the tools required to run a profitable cane farm business. The Business Planning & Cash Flow Management courses were run in six locations from Mossman in Far North Queensland to Ballina in Northern New South Wales and were open to all young cane farmers looking to create or work on their existing business plan. Other topics included in the workshops were fixed & variable expenses, break-even analysis, insurance requirements, business structures, SWOT analysis as well as income & cash flow projections. The courses were delivered by Ray Dukamp of Basic Training Solutions, who has 15 years’ experience in training in Business Management and had previously successfully run similar programs in the grazing industry.Item Boosting productivity in Maryborough by assisting cane growers to understand their soils : final report MSF007(2014) Dougall, A; Estbergs, A; Sugars, MThis project was based around producing a soil map of the Bauple area which is south of Maryborough. The soil map will be a valuable tool for improving productivity in the area because it can facilitate better farm management, for example variety selection by soil type and more specific management of different soils. We used this mapping project as an extension tool to teach growers about their soils and how to better manage them, this resulted in four main extension activities: