Rain has arrived.

Well the rain has come, and in a big way, we have had about 200mm and it is still falling, it is actually very welcome at the moment. We have been having high 30's temperature wise but it has been the wind that has been really sapping the moisture from the crop. It has been flat chat irrigating up until yesterday,and we were only getting around so this rain will fill the profile nicely.Another positive is that we have levelled the fallow paddock and with this moisture we will plant cow pea in the break.On another note I have been asked to write a column in a state wide newspaper once every quarter giving my opinions on what is happening in the Sugar cane Industry here in Queensland, probably something that I never thought I would do, just goes to show you where Nuffield can take you.Still in the process of planning my trip finding it difficult to make contacts , but I suppose if it was easy everyone would be doing it.

3 operations in one pass.

This is the final pass of our nutrient/weed management strategy and this is technology at it best.In this operation we are spraying glysophate under the shields, broad-leaf herbicide targeting vines above the shields inter row and applying the last top up of nitrogen as a liquid at the base of the stools, and the tractor is auto steering. It is testament to my brother Terry's determination to make this system work, the thing is that as far as we are aware this application with three separate operations that are all banded sprays is probably one of the first in the sugar industry. It is a example of what is possible if you ask enough questions and persevere. The really good thing about this technology is how accurate it is, and it automatically cuts nozzles off when they reach a pre determined point at the end of the rows whether they be all at once or staggered in the case on angle drills.The big pay off is in cost reduction, efficiency of applied chemical, and almost zero potential for off site environmental impacts.This a pretty tech post however, it is a pretty big deal, for our farming future.

A New Year.

Well it's been a month hope everyone had a good Christmas, I am another year older and hopefully wiser.We have still been going during this period applying the last top up of nutrient and knocking down some weeds at the same time, with the shielded sprayer that my brother set up. I have included a photo of our tractor set up with our laser ready to level the second last paddock to be converted over to 2m, a necessary evil but the paddock has been at 1.53m and has been harvested wet for 4 out of 5 years.The other picture is our late plant that I have documented all last year with the final row profile and being irrigated between the rows of cane in the uncompacted soil, you can see how the water is right at the cane plant and is much more efficient for plant growth and water use.I am starting to organise my individual study trip, so if you guys can offer some places to go to study inter-cropping of any sort I will give it a go.