Published Monday, 22 December, 2008 at 09:23 AM
Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries
The Honourable Tim Mulherin
Canefarmers encouraged to consider investing in precision controlled traffic farming
Sugarcane growers are experiencing significant savings in crop preparation time and lower fuel costs by adopting precision controlled traffic farming.
Primary Industries and Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin said canefarmers could make significant savings in labour hours spent on farm operations by introducing precision controlled traffic farming (PCTF) systems.
“By using a simple model we were able to compare historic and current practices. The data demonstrated that using PCTF achieved a 39 per cent reduction in tractor hours and a 58 per cent reduction in fuel costs compared to conventional farming practices,” Mr Mulherin said.
He said the PCTF required changing the cane row spacing which would mean greatly reduced soil compaction.
“The process merges controlled traffic farming with satellite based tracking using tractor mounted GPS auto steering, so that every vehicle entering the paddock uses the same crop row configurations.
“This means the crop grows in a zone that has not been compacted by passing vehicles as tractor or harvester wheels travel over a dedicated area or traffic zone every time,” Mr Mulherin said.
Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries principal experimentalist Neil Halpin said converting farm machinery to a 1.8 metre row configuration meant a tractor working the paddock would travel 5,555 metres of row per hectare compared to 6,250 metres of row/ha with 1.6 metre spacing.
“Changing from 1.6 to 1.8 metre spacing, together with the implementation of reduced tillage, saw a 39 per cent reduction in tractor hours of operation, while computer modelling predicts savings of another 16 per cent by the adoption of zonal tillage post-cane and pre-legume sowing,” Mr Halpin said.
In an on farm case study on a Townsville farm owned by the Russo brothers, shifting to reduced tillage and PCTF saved 47 litres per hectare, or a 58 per cent reduction, in fuel use, he said.
“Adopting these technologies should be seen as an investment to improve economic viability and a counter to increasing fuel and associated carbon emissions,” Mr Halpin said.
In Mr Mulherin’s electorate of Mackay, canefarmer Gerry Deguara has been one of the big innovators in adopting new farming technology on his 600 hectare property.
In the central region of Mackay, Proserpine and Plane Creek about 20 percent of the total area planted is using PTCF, amounting to ten percent of the total cane plantation.
Mr Deguara led the way in pioneering PTCF and many farmers in the region are looking to do the same.
The details on PCTF were presented in April at the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists Conference in Townsville.
The report by Mr Halpin, DPI&F economist Trish Cameron and Childers canegrower Peter Russo addressed key considerations associated with the decision to adopt PCTF by studying changes in productivity, financial benefits and cost savings.
Mr Halpin and Mr Russo used the Farm Economic Analysis Tool (FEAT) to review the Russo Brothers historic, current and potential farming benefits to determine the effects of PCTF in sugar cane.
Mr Halpin said the historic scenario examined in the report is the industry practice of growing cane on 1.6 metre rows, no GPS auto steer and full cultivation.
For the current scenario, 1.8m rows and tractors and harvesters with GPS auto steer were used. Mr Russo designed and manufactured a zonal tiller that allows a one- pass land preparation to make PCTF a practical option. The current system also used some conventional land preparation when going from sugar cane to legume crops.
Mr Halpin said the potential scenario is determining where the farming system can go in the near future, with the only difference between current and potential scenarios being the application of the zonal tiller between cane and legume crops.
He said the combination of PCTF, reduced tillage and the adoption of the new practices required under precision controlled operations had seen the Russo Brothers farm gross margin increased by 11.8 per cent.
Mr Halpin said the fixed costs of the GPS auto-steer technology were not normally included in a gross margin analysis, however as a fixed cost, that sum could be recouped from only 27ha of cropped land due to improvements in whole-of-farm gross margins.
He said the new data showed adopting the new PCTF systems made good business sense and should be viewed as an investment in new technologies that improved economic viability.
Media: Matt Watson 3239 3120
Primary Industries and Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin said canefarmers could make significant savings in labour hours spent on farm operations by introducing precision controlled traffic farming (PCTF) systems.
“By using a simple model we were able to compare historic and current practices. The data demonstrated that using PCTF achieved a 39 per cent reduction in tractor hours and a 58 per cent reduction in fuel costs compared to conventional farming practices,” Mr Mulherin said.
He said the PCTF required changing the cane row spacing which would mean greatly reduced soil compaction.
“The process merges controlled traffic farming with satellite based tracking using tractor mounted GPS auto steering, so that every vehicle entering the paddock uses the same crop row configurations.
“This means the crop grows in a zone that has not been compacted by passing vehicles as tractor or harvester wheels travel over a dedicated area or traffic zone every time,” Mr Mulherin said.
Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries principal experimentalist Neil Halpin said converting farm machinery to a 1.8 metre row configuration meant a tractor working the paddock would travel 5,555 metres of row per hectare compared to 6,250 metres of row/ha with 1.6 metre spacing.
“Changing from 1.6 to 1.8 metre spacing, together with the implementation of reduced tillage, saw a 39 per cent reduction in tractor hours of operation, while computer modelling predicts savings of another 16 per cent by the adoption of zonal tillage post-cane and pre-legume sowing,” Mr Halpin said.
In an on farm case study on a Townsville farm owned by the Russo brothers, shifting to reduced tillage and PCTF saved 47 litres per hectare, or a 58 per cent reduction, in fuel use, he said.
“Adopting these technologies should be seen as an investment to improve economic viability and a counter to increasing fuel and associated carbon emissions,” Mr Halpin said.
In Mr Mulherin’s electorate of Mackay, canefarmer Gerry Deguara has been one of the big innovators in adopting new farming technology on his 600 hectare property.
In the central region of Mackay, Proserpine and Plane Creek about 20 percent of the total area planted is using PTCF, amounting to ten percent of the total cane plantation.
Mr Deguara led the way in pioneering PTCF and many farmers in the region are looking to do the same.
The details on PCTF were presented in April at the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists Conference in Townsville.
The report by Mr Halpin, DPI&F economist Trish Cameron and Childers canegrower Peter Russo addressed key considerations associated with the decision to adopt PCTF by studying changes in productivity, financial benefits and cost savings.
Mr Halpin and Mr Russo used the Farm Economic Analysis Tool (FEAT) to review the Russo Brothers historic, current and potential farming benefits to determine the effects of PCTF in sugar cane.
Mr Halpin said the historic scenario examined in the report is the industry practice of growing cane on 1.6 metre rows, no GPS auto steer and full cultivation.
For the current scenario, 1.8m rows and tractors and harvesters with GPS auto steer were used. Mr Russo designed and manufactured a zonal tiller that allows a one- pass land preparation to make PCTF a practical option. The current system also used some conventional land preparation when going from sugar cane to legume crops.
Mr Halpin said the potential scenario is determining where the farming system can go in the near future, with the only difference between current and potential scenarios being the application of the zonal tiller between cane and legume crops.
He said the combination of PCTF, reduced tillage and the adoption of the new practices required under precision controlled operations had seen the Russo Brothers farm gross margin increased by 11.8 per cent.
Mr Halpin said the fixed costs of the GPS auto-steer technology were not normally included in a gross margin analysis, however as a fixed cost, that sum could be recouped from only 27ha of cropped land due to improvements in whole-of-farm gross margins.
He said the new data showed adopting the new PCTF systems made good business sense and should be viewed as an investment in new technologies that improved economic viability.
Media: Matt Watson 3239 3120