Stepping up for a farming future

Things do not always work out as expected and time can often slip away from us. Every farm situation is very unique and succession planning can ensure the continuity and prosperity of family farms.  

The new LAND Hub decision support system (desktop and App) provides a tool for the management and planning of farm nutrient application for reductions in potential loses and improved Reef water quality outcomes. It is proving to be an effective tool for the long-term record keeping needed for legislation and succession. 

The LiquaForce LAND Hub project was funded through the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. It offered growers across the Tully-Johnstone, Lower Herbert, and Mackay-Whitsunday regions agronomic support and access to LAND, secure, private and accessible digital storage system for farm, soil and production data, enabling easy long-term monitoring of crop and financial performance over time.  

Feluga farmer Allen O’Kane has been producing sugar cane for 24 years in the Wet Tropics north of Tully. Allen had only been back on the farm for four years when his father Mick passed away along with his 60 years of knowledge. At that time, it was common practice to retain all the information in your head and not keep records.  

Allen O’Kane grew up in a world without computers. He took up the technology challenge and in time was keen to move his data management into the digital space.  

Allen had been searching for a platform that would enable him to keep records and collect data for his cane farming operation. “It was a no brainer to join the LAND project when Maurice Shepherd from Liquaforce Tully offered me the chance,” he said.   

The project offered Allen a wealth of information on all the soil types on his farm, providing him with knowledge of their properties, nutrient requirements, structure and potential. Although Allen knows his farm like the back of his hand, he now has tangible, solid and real data to back up years of experience for his farm, which was something he could see adding future value that he could pass on.   

When talking about record keeping, Allen said “it’s really easy with LAND, and so much faster. Using the app, I can see on my phone which fertilisers and rates are allocated across paddocks and just change the rate as I go and then set it as done when I’m finished the block.”   

With a few small tweaks to his fertiliser applications and identifying and managing some nutrient deficiencies Allen has been able to reduce DIN output on the farm by 140 kg DIN/yr. 

“The industry is looking for ways to help growers manage their nutrients and chemicals and improve production,” said Allen. 

The Cameron family have been farming for three generations. Today, Mark and Rita Cameron own and operate Moon Farming, a 140-ha cane growing enterprise across two properties at Carmila West, Carmila in the Plane Creek district of the Central region.  

Mark and Rita’s aspiration is for a sustainable farming business, with family succession to take over and allow more time for fishing. Time management is critical to Mark as he farms in conjunction with rostered mining work, week on week off. 

In a first for Moon Farming, they joined the LAND project late in 2021 with the motivation to build capacity to develop and work to a nutrient management plan. Prior to this, all farm records had been paper-based.  

The 2023 harvest and operations were proceeding well. However, ill health hospitalised Mark into 2024 for an extended period. In line with Moon’s farming practice change to implement and work to a whole-of-farm nutrient management program, it was important to finalise fertiliser records for 2023 and to roll the program over to 2024.  

With risk of the wheels falling off, daughter Ellie and son-in-law Matt, who live locally on the second property, stepped in, and took control of operations. Working with their LAND agronomist, Matt and Ellie were linked into LAND Hub and the Moon Farming database.  

They faced a steep learning curve, as until then they had not had any experience in using LAND Hub. LAND agronomist Don Pollock said an advantage of working with smart young farmers is that they picked it up instantly, they got it!  

“And all of this while working just on a smartphone, while the laptop is away for repairs. This is an excellent illustration of Agtech being used, and the appetite of young farmers,” said Don. 

Soil samples were required for 2024. With accredited agronomy support and supervised on-paddock sampling plans, Matt and Ellie successfully collected and dispatched the requisite soil samples in record time. With a rapid turnaround of samples, analysis results, and agronomy interpretation, the data are already uploaded into the LAND Hub platform and form the basis for the 2024 season nutrient management plan. 

Ellie said, “For us to work effectively we want data, and we want access to it, we can see how all of this comes together for our informed decision making for our farming. If we don’t have this, we are like dinosaurs.” 

Off-farm employment has always meant that every minute counts: the timing of operations has suffered, and as a result, legumes have not always been included in the fallow. They plan to incorporate more legume-based fallow into the farming system, together with soundly based crop nutrition with the aim to improve soil condition improvement. 

Mark and Rita have decided that Moon Farming will continue to use LAND Hub post the project. “From a senior farm management level, in 2024, it will be noted if there is also more time to use the boat for fishing,” said Mark. 

Younger generation cane farmer John Board has chosen to invest his future in cane farming in the Herbert region for a bright future for his young family. In 2014, he purchased his own small 36-hectare farm. In 2022, through succession planning, he took over the majority of his father’s larger farm. In 2023, he added an additional lease farm to his operations.  

John Board is a busy man, he now manages 280 hectares of cane, helps his father out on his 55 hectares and operates a contract harvester which he shares 50/50 with another operator. 

The LAND project helped John to refine his fertiliser management decisions on the farms and implement some ideas that without the project, would have otherwise been unlikely. Electromagnetic mapping (EM) data and drone imagery was taken across the whole farm providing value for future decision making.  

John said, “With the EM mapping there is a wealth of information about my underlying soils, it shows changes in soil type, and I am now able to investigate that further with the extra soil sampling and then implement changes in my fertiliser program.  

“I also undertook around 40 ha of variable rate application of nitrogen using the VR applicator. The crop from that will be harvested this year.”  

Like most farmers, the aim is to improve profitability through better crop health, production, and maximising efficiencies. John is fully aware that technologies also contribute to water quality improvements on and off his farm. He is using every avenue at his disposal, including nutrient management, mixed species cover crops in the fallow, to manage both nutrient and sediment and looking to value add where possible in the future.  

“The more nutrients we can get into the current crop without any wastage, the better the yield and the less there is to be lost through the system, a win for everyone and everything. Although most farmers are doing the right thing, it’s good insurance to have this data recorded and proven and available if needed,” said John. 

His farm has numerous waterholes and sediment traps, loaded with wildlife, filtering any runoff before it leaves his property. Through changes in his fertiliser application budget John has saved 1,539 kg of DIN/ year from leaving his farm.  

The LAND project has supported nearly 100 farmers managing over 14,00 hectares across the Tully-Johnstone, Lower Herbert, and Mackay-Whitsunday regions to improve their farm management data, record keeping and better manage their nitrogen. Together these farmers have stopped over 34,500 tonnes of DIN and 2,831 tonnes of fine sediment from entering local waterways and ultimately ending up in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon.