No-till operations in the Mallee have freed croppers from the vagaries of the weather, according to farmer and agronomist Matt Elliott, who farms at Pier Milan and Nandaly.
Mr Elliott, who also works for Dodgshun Medlin Ag Management, has 5000 hectares under wheat, barley, lentils, lupins and field peas at Nandaly.
He said he went over to no-till in 2004, after the 2002 drought.
“Hardly anyone grew any crops and everyone thought there had to be a better way,” Mr Elliott said. “The advantages are retaining moisture and the stubbles, to stop the paddocks blowing away. We can now sow crops any time we like, we don’t have to wait for rain, so most blokes round here sow by the calendar.”
This season, he had sown Mace and Kord wheat, Compass, Scope and some Spartacus barley, Hurricane and Bolt lentils and Mandalup lupins.
“People have got themselves into a rotation now, they can predict what to sow where and what they sow when,” he said.
After two very dry years, this season had been “terrific”.
We can now sow crops, any time we like, we don’t have to wait for rain, so most blokes round here sow by the calendar.
- Matt Elliott, Nandaly
“We were starting from a very low base – up until July, we had some really good looking crops, but if we didn’t get our spring we would have been in the same boat as we had been in the last couple of years. The spring really brought things home.”
Harvesting has now finished on the properties, with returns of 2.3 tonnes per hectare, for wheat, 3.3t/ha of barley and 2t/ha for lentils.
The lentils had all been sold, while the cereals and other pulses were stored on farm, or at the Nandaly co-operative.
“I think the price outlook isn’t great, and harvest pressure is not going to help that - everyone has come off two tough years.
“There are going to be some guys who are going to have to sell cereal grains, because they are forced to.”
Mr Eilliott said autosteer was used in cropping operations, with variable rate mapping for fertilisers, while its application varied from year to year.
“Last year, we used phosphorous sulphate with urea, targeting around five to six units of phosphorous and six units of sulphur, with 20 units of nitrogen up front,” he said.
“Next year will be different, we are on a replacement system, whatever you take out, you replace next year.”
Mr Elliott said it was fortunate Trifluron still worked in the Nandaly-Pier Milan area, but growers had to rotate it, as “it will stop working, one day”.
He echoed concerns expressed by other Mallee croppers that herbicide resistance was a growing problem.
“I see it around the place, with more legumes being grown, a lot of those group A herbicides are being used, and we have to be smart with that,” he said. Croppers were also bringing hay, which was also a useful weed control tool, into the rotation.
“There are a couple of large processors not far from here, which makes it very attractive.”
The farm could store 3000 tonnes of pulses, while grain had gone into storage at Nandaly, run by 20 regional farmers.
“That’s been a huge help to the farmers in this area and one of our greatest assets, and I would say we are going to fill that this year, which is somewhere around the 80,000 tonne mark.”
The barley went F1, with no bin burn issues, while the wheat would be Australian Premium White (APW) with some Australian Standard White (ASW).
“If we can average the APW, that would be nice, with a few loads of H2, on a few paddocks.”
There was no set rotation on the property.
“We try to have 40 per cent legumes each year, we had 43pc this year, which worked well, as it creates a bit of predictability for the next year.
“I aim for around 40pc of the farm, which is going to grow a really good crop, regardless.”