It began at a soil health field day – and now Kairi farmers Alex and Alicia Bertola are on a roll.

The cane, maize and peanut producers have swapped their ripper for a roller crimper and bare earth for mixed cover crops as they explore different ways to improve soils and reduce fertiliser inputs.

Cover crops

The Bertolas planted their first cover crop in August – of field peas, tillage radish, vetch, oats and rye – after harvesting peanuts. They followed up with a roller crimper in late September, laying the crop flat and crimping stems to stop the plants from growing to create a mat of organic matter for weed control and moisture retention.

“We strip-tilled in January and planted corn straight into what was left of the cover crop,’’ Alicia said. “The corn is coming up now and it’s looking good.”

The Bertolas are working with Terrain NRM to trial these methods in four hectares of their corn crop and one hectare of peanuts, and the farm will be used as a demonstration site through Terrain’s Digging Deeper soil health program.

Farming more sustainably

Alicia said a desire to farm more sustainably was behind the changes, which also include trials of worm casting juice and seaweed extract.

“We want to build up organic matter and drop fertiliser costs – we’re right at the beginning of our journey so there’s a lot to learn,’’ she said. “The goal is to gradually decrease fertiliser usage over a number of years and to see the same yields or, even if they’re less, the same profits given a reduction in input costs.”

Machinery passes halved

Changes to ground preparation methods have halved the number of machinery passes.

“We normally plough, rip and/or disc our paddocks depending on what we are planting. With this system we use the roller crimper, then the strip tiller. Ideally that’s it. That’s what we’ve done for the corn trials. With the strip tillage equipment, it also means we are now leaving two thirds of the land in this trial paddock undisturbed and largely uncompacted.

“It’s a learn as we go process. Next time we’ll shorten the amount of time between planting the cover crop and the new crop going in because the blanket didn’t last quite long enough and some of the cover crop had time to seed and re-grow. We’d also like to try a cash crop as a cover crop.

“With the peanuts it’s a bit different too. Being a low-growing plant that you dig up, we’re seeing what we can do to make it work. This time around we had to spray for weeds, but next time we’ll trial getting the peanuts in as soon as possible after roller crimping. Hopefully the trash will stop the weeds long enough for the peanuts to emerge and fill in the rows.

“In the corn we also trialled a neighbour’s cows in part of the trial paddock, as a way of terminating the cover crop while adding microbes through their dung.”

Trials in the Wet Tropics

Terrain NRM agronomist Sally Fields said crimp rollers and strip tillage had been trialled in the Wet Tropics before, largely in the cane industry, but hadn’t been used widely in broadacre crops.

“There is good application potential on the Tablelands, with its fertile soils, high rainfalls and differing micro-climates,’’ she said.

“It’s a big step for farmers so it’s great to see landholders like Alicia and Alex making changes after going to local regenerative farming workshops, doing their own research and talking to others who are pushing the window for better results on tired soils.

When it comes to soil, the O’Kane brothers like theirs as soft and crumbly as cottage cheese.

It’s a strictly gorgonzola-free zone at Chris and Michael’s sugarcane farm where four years of new practices – from mixed species fallow crops to biofertiliser, minimum tillage and mound planting – are changing the soil’s structure and its crop-growing potential.

Cheese references have become technical terms these days for an ever-increasing number of farmers who are just as focused on what’s happening underneath the earth as what’s growing up above it.

The O’Kanes have reduced their artificial fertiliser rates by more than 30 per cent as a result – dropping from 156kg to 108kg of nitrogen per hectare with minimal impacts on their crops or production levels.

“We’ve done our homework – we’re not scared of trying new things but we don’t rush in either,’’ Chris said. “If we believe something’s going to work, we’re up for giving it a go.”

The third-generation cane farmers are embarking on another big change this season, forming mound rows for fallow crops that will become long-term cane rows. It’s all about reducing soil compaction.

“Traditionally at planting time we would cultivate the whole paddock by discing, ripping and rotary-hoeing,’’ Chris said.

“This year we will be moving to zonal cultivation using one implement, a bed renovator, to prepare the bed only where the cane set is to go.

“With the help and guidance of farmers in the Ingham district we are modifying our billet planter into a mound planter. So once planted, the paddock is finished as far as cultivating. There is no more filling in to get the right ground profile for the harvester.”

Chris said learning from growers in other districts had removed any concerns about potential issues like reduced cane strike rates, stool tippage and loss in production.

Learning from others about biofertilisers has also helped.

“Once you’ve been shown, it’s pretty easy to catch on – we’ve been brewing for four years now,’’ he said. “We apply bioferts to each paddock twice a year, spraying nine rows at a time with a mixture of effective micro-organisms and trace elements. It’s a recipe we were given. We need 20,000 litres for the farm – it takes about three days to make 10,000 litres but the beauty of it is it stores well so it can be made when there is time.”