Soil constraints and variability are common challenges often impacting productivity and profitability for growers in the Coonamble region of New South Wales. One of the most significant issues across many paddocks is sodicity, which can severely limit crop and pasture performance, limiting return on investment.
Working at the Chadwick property L to R: farm managers Fergus Ryan and Charlie Ryan, with Elders agronomist Alexander Deans and Angus Chadwick.
Chadwick Consolidated Group’s property “Muttama Station” west of Coonamble was one such property where variability at scale needed to be addressed. Elders partnered with Precision Agriculture to tackle the challenges. They used an EM38 and ground truthing survey across the entire property to gain an accurate understanding of the constraints.
An EM38 sensor measured the electrical conductivity of soils, which is influenced by factors like water, salt, clay and rock content. The EM38 survey provided a map of variation in the soil. This was complemented by strategic sampling within zones to ground-truth the survey. The results provided accurate baseline data on soil fertility, locality and the scale of constraints.
Elders Coonamble agronomist, Alexander Deans said using this data-driven approach allowed us to plan and address variability across the property and improve soil health.
“Already having an insight into the country at hand was a big help in identifying the most prominent issue being sodic soils,” Alexander said.
“Precision Ag were engaged to add a more prescriptive method to the amelioration and nutrition mapping, as the variability was evident throughout individual paddocks.”
Alexander worked in collaboration with Campbell Underwood from Precision Ag. Together, nutrient requirements were addressed prescriptively as the crop and soil type required. This led to lower input costs and reduced seasonal risk.
“Alexander and the whole Elders Coonamble team have been fantastic to work with,” Campbell said.
“They understand the needs of their clients and that every hectare matters.”
Necessity feeds innovation. With increasing variability in climate, soil and input costs, the team are driven to support growers like Chadwicks and have real positive impact on their bottom line.
The teams are now working with a number of Elders’ agronomy clients in the area, bringing practical, precision ag solutions to more local farmers.
Large scale properties showing soil type variation have huge potential under precision management.
“We tend to attack the lowest hanging fruit first,” said Alexander.
“Properties with highly variable soils lend themselves particularly well to grid mapping to help unlock potential and identify problem areas and nurture the more productive soils to maintain costs and lower the risk profile.”
“This allows us to identify the nutrients with the highest return on investment, and apply them precisely, evening out production zones that would otherwise be highly unpredictable.”
The EM38 mapping imagery of the soil on the property.
While it’s early days in this project, the team are already seeing some significant savings across the soil amelioration and nitrogen programs.
The more constrained soils have shown good fertility and in some circumstances luxury levels, which is a factor of lower plant removal rates.
“Application rates of products such as gypsum, manure and urea have all been applied at far more modest rates than that of a blanket application," said Alexander.
"In turn, this has resulted in savings north of $100 per ha just in product savings alone.”
“We are yet to see the results from the deep ripping and additional amelioration applications to date; however, the nitrogen and phosphorus requirements were applied in a more prescriptive manner which helped with some significant yield gains across production zones and a healthier bottom line.”
Looking ahead, the two companies plan to continue working together on similar projects.
“Campbell and the Precision Ag team have been fantastic partners. They bring in-depth knowledge of New South Wales soils and a progressive approach that delivers real value,” said Alexander.
For growers considering precision agriculture but feel daunted by the technology, Alexander’s advice is simple: don’t be afraid to eliminate the uncertainty.
“The process is streamlined and creates well-founded efficiencies, savings, and productivity gains. As Campbell often says, ‘the most expensive action can be inaction’,” said Alexander.
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