Investment

The Albany port zone, through the GRDCs Regional Cropping Solutions Network (RCSN), have identified that soil amelioration through deep ripping and controlled traffic farming (CTF) to manage issues such as non-wetting topsoils, compaction, waterlogging as a major priority to farmers in the region. Compaction is affecting up to 75% of WAs agricultural soils and conservative estimates of the costs, through lost production, are approximately $333m annually (Bennett, 2014).

The SCF will collaborate with two other grower groups, Southern Dirt and Gillamii, to establish four deep ripping trial sites in the Albany Port Zone. Southern Dirt will manage two trials in the north of the Albany port zone and SCF will manage two trials in the southern APZ with assistance from Gillamii. The machinery required for each soil type and site may be different because we need solutions that are designed to alleviate the major soil constraints in that environment.

An economic analysis will also be undertaken, of the impacts that each deep ripping machine has on farm productivity and, most importantly, continue to measure this difference for three years after treatment. Analysis of the yield gains or losses compared to the untreated control is simple to calculate and will be converted into dollars per hectare ($/ha). Grain quality and grading will be confirmed by CBH in-kind testing and a reference price can be taken from the day of harvest.

The trial results will be widely disseminated through extensive grower group networks across the APZ, the support of other grower groups and researchers in the region.