Fluid fertiliser on calcareous soils could soon become more accessible following a research project by an Eyre Peninsula farmer in 2024.
Lock farmer Andrew Polkinghorne will embark on the research trip of a lifetime next year after he was awarded the Caroline Welsh Churchill Fellowship earlier this year.
A farmer of more than four decades, Mr Polkinghorne has been an active participant in many research and development projects and has served as a trustee and board member of bodies such as the South Australian Grain Industry Trust and Agriculture Research and Innovation Eyre Peninsula.
His fellowship study project aims to find out how farmers around the world use fluid fertilisers on calcareous soils and he will travel to Israel, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Canada, and the USA in 2024 for the project.
Mr Polkinghorne said his interest in fluid fertiliser came more than 20 years ago following research done on calcareous soils out of the Minnipa Research Centre by Bob Holloway on his property.
"(Dr Holloway) found if he could apply phosphorus in a liquid form in the seed row, instead of in a granular form, there was quite a significant yield response," he said.
"At our property the yield responses in the trials ranged from 7 percent to 38pc and averaged at 19pc, which was a big difference.
"As a result of that research we changed to using fluid phosphorus in 2003 and in 2005 a group of farmers around the region formed the Eyre Peninsula Liquid Fertiliser Buyers group."
Now about two decades on, the buyers group consists of 38 businesses which tender out liquid fertiliser requirements every year.
"We've been able to achieve some more attractive pricing in the market because one of the disadvantages of the liquid fertiliser is it's more expensive per unit than granular," Mr Polkinghorne said.
"However, the the response more than offsets the price."
Through the group, savings to growers are estimated to be about $5.8 million.
Mr Polkinghorne said his motivation for the trip was to see what else was available internationally and how that could be implemented on Australian soils.
He will start his eight-week long trip in Israel and will learn about alternative forms of fluid phosphorous, logistics, storage systems, application systems, manufacturing systems, farmer use patterns, and environmental benefits.
"There's a fertiliser company in Israel who in the initial instance supplied us with phosphoric acid and have other products which could potentially be quite useful to us here," he said.
"We use food grade phosphoric acid, so there's no heavy metals or anything in it, however, there are other grades of phosphoric acid available in Israel.
"They did have some impurities but those impurities might actually be useful to us, and they're also a less refined product and so may be more cost effective."
Mr Polkinghorne will then go to the Netherlands to look at the impacts of environmental legislation on farmers, particularly the rules about nitrogen applications and to gain a better understanding of carbon footprint.
In Belgium he will visit a company which specialises in making phosphoric acid and equipment to handle it.
"Most of the equipment we use has just been farm developed here and is relatively basic and simple," he said.
"In England, I've got quite a good range of contacts there and I'll be visiting a liquid fertiliser manufacturer but I'll have to try to alter my program a bit because there's a lot more in England that I need to see."
Following that, he will head to North America, first visiting liquid fertiliser companies in Saskatchewan and then heading down to Texas to speak with a company which specialises in equipment for mixing and manufacturing liquid fertilisers.
Upon his return, Mr Polkinghorne is hopeful he will be able to further expand the use of liquid fertiliser by helping make the product more accessible and cost effective.
"There's about 1.5 million hecatres of calcareous soils on Eyre Peninsula, but there are other parts of the country too," he said.
"Some parts of the Murray Mallee, some parts of Victorian Mallee, parts of southern New South Wales and the wheatbelt of WA all have calcareous soils that can benefit from liquid fertilisers.
"Hopefully, this will be widely applicable but it'll particularly applicable to Eyre Peninsula."
Katie Jackson
Journalist at Stock Journal. Born into a journo family in the state's South East, Katie made the move to the big smoke to join the team in early 2022 after seven years spent at various mastheads in the regions.
Journalist at Stock Journal. Born into a journo family in the state's South East, Katie made the move to the big smoke to join the team in early 2022 after seven years spent at various mastheads in the regions.
