Lauded as Australia’s first successful settled farmer, James Ruse worked hard to turn his life around after arriving at Port Jackson with the First Fleet on the convict ship Scarborough.

Indeed, according to various historical accounts and biographies, Ruse notched up a long list of firsts along the way.

Ruse was reputedly the first prisoner ashore, piggybacking an officer to the beach to keep his boots dry. He later became Australia’s first settled farmer, the first ex-convict to be granted land at Parramatta and the first settler to become self-sufficient.

A farm labourer and married father of two, James Ruse was 23 when he was convicted of burglary in the Cornwall Assizes – the equivalent of the NSW Supreme Court – and sentenced to death by hanging. This was commuted to seven years and he was originally to be transported to Africa.

After spending more than four years in the prison ship Dunkirk moored at Plymouth, Ruse was transferred to the Scarborough which left England with the rest of the First Fleet in 1787.

Trials, tribulations and triumph

Journals kept by British marine commander Captain Watkin Tench record the difficulties encountered by the early settlers, including the failure of vegetable and grain crops because of drought, a lack of suitable tools, and the absence of livestock manure to improve the barren soils near Sydney.

The Government Farm worked by convicts was abandoned and over the next two years rations of flour, salted pork, butter and dried peas brought out on the ships dwindled as the colony waited for more supplies to arrive.

After Ruse completed his sentence, Governor Arthur Phillip awarded him land at Rosehill in December 1789, which he cleared with the aid of convicts. He was also given seed, tools, six hens and two pigs.

Almost a year later, Tench was part of a survey of Rosehill and the Parramatta River when he visited Ruse and recorded his story.

Ruse described burning the fallen timber, digging in the ashes and hoeing it up, before clod moulding it and digging in the grass and weeds.

“This I think is almost equal to ploughing,” Ruse told him.

“I then let it lie as long as I could, exposed to air and sun; and just before I sowed my seed, turned it all up afresh. When I shall have reaped my crop, I propose to hoe it again, and harrow it fine, and then sow it with turnip-seed, which will mellow and prepare it for next year.”

By then Ruse had married Elizabeth Parry, the first female convict to be emancipated, describing her to Tench as “industrious”.

Their crops included 1.5 acres of bearded wheat – sown at 3 bushels of seed (27.2kg), he expected to reap 12 to 13 bushels (326-354kg) – as well as 0.5 acres of maize and a small kitchen garden.

Ruse planned to bury the crop straw in pits to make compost, but warned that even with the “middling, neither good or bad” soil on the farm, it would fail without cattle to produce manure for enriching the soil.

The first crops yielded only enough grain to provide seed but Ruse had proven it was possible to become self-sufficient and he was rewarded with a grant of 30 acres, known as Experiment Farm, on the lands of the Burramatta Dharug people.

Tench visited Experiment Farm in December 1991, reporting that Ruse lived in “a comfortable brick house, built for him by the governor”. He had 11.5 acres under cultivation which would be sown to maize because it yielded better than wheat, four breeding sows and 30 chickens.

But after a catastrophic harvest two years later, Ruse sold the farm to a neighbour, Surgeon John Harris, and obtained a new grant of 30 acres on the Hawkesbury River flats. 

The family prospered on the fertile land at the junction of South Creek, sometimes known as Ruse’s Creek, and the Hawkesbury – now Pitt Town Bottoms – until repeated floods drove them into debt.

Ruse went to sea, working on whalers and cargo ships, while his wife Elizabeth held down the fort at home.

In 1806 she was listed in the Muster – the 19th Century equivalent of a census – as a landholder with 15 acres, three workers, seven pigs and supporting four children.

For many years historians thought the Ruses, who had five children of their own, had adopted two more, Ann and William.

But descendants used DNA testing to prove in 2019 that Ann and William were the offspring of Elizabeth and James Kiss, a friend of James Ruse. 

After further flooding, Ruse surrendered the land on the Hawkesbury and successfully requested a grant of 100 acres at Salt Pan Creek in the Bankstown area.

By 1813 he owned a house at Windsor and in partnership with Elizabeth later bought a half share in a farm on the Hawkesbury, before taking up grants of 100 acres each at Bankstown and Riverstone. 

The final grant in 1821 was at lower Minto – now Macquarie Fields – where the couple remained until their deaths: Elizabeth in 1836 and James 18 months later after carving the epitaph for his headstone.

Using a hand chisel he inscribed the words:

Gloria in axcelsis

Sacred

To the memerey of James Ruse who departed this life Sept 5th in the year of houre Lord 1837 Natef of Cornwell and arived in this coleney by the forst fleet aged 77

My Mother reread me tenderely with me she took much paines and when I arived in this coelney I sowd the forst gran and now with my hevenly father I hope for ever to remain.

Ruse was buried beside Elizabeth in St John’s Catholic Cemetery, at Campbelltown.

After vandals caused damage at the cemetery in 1994 his headstone was taken for safe keeping to the council-owned Glenalvon House, home of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society, and a replica erected in its place.

It wasn’t until a century after Ruse’s first successful harvest that the Department of Agriculture was founded, with experimental farms established in 1892. The first wheat research started in 1893 with trials of 200 varieties planted at Wagga Wagga.

In the following years, Ruse’s exploits were idealised in the jolly language of the time for
the benefit of school children learning about Australian history.

Remembering Ruse

Alison Hay wrote in The School Magazine in August 1947 that Ruse had been sent to Australia as a convict after doing “some little foolish thing”. 

“For this young, brave farmer, the first months on his little farm were the hardest,” she wrote.

“Kangaroos and wallabies ate the young green wheat, thieves stole his cabbages by night… He was tired, often very short of food, and very lonely, but he never gave up.”

And in an article in Walkabout magazine in 1964, Clifford Tolchard wrote that Ruse was probably mistaken in thinking he had sown the first grain as he had claimed on his headstone.

“But in his humbler sphere Ruse left his mark on Australian history as surely as did the more exalted figures of the civil and military leaders,” Tolchard argued.

“It is fitting that the James Ruse Agricultural High School at Carlingford should be named after the man who was, after all, the first true farmer in Australia.”

Concluding James Ruse’s entry in Volume 2 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography published in 1967, BH Fletcher wrote Ruse was “one whose importance in New South Wales history has been unduly exaggerated and romanticized. Although his early achievements were noteworthy, he soon faded into the background and led an existence that scarcely distinguished him from many of his associates.”

Fletcher might have been obliquely referring, among others, to Lieutenant John Macarthur, who established Elizabeth Farm on 100 acres granted at Parramatta in 1793 and is widely regarded as the founder of Australia’s wool industry.

Nonetheless, Ruse’s persistence, despite countless setbacks from drought, bushfires, floods, thieves and pests, demonstrated it was possible for settlers to successfully farm the land.

The original little Aussie battler pioneered cropping in NSW and set an example for generations to come.

His name was not only given to James Ruse Agricultural High School, which was established in 1959, but also the suburb of Ruse in 1968 and the Parramatta bypass, James Ruse Drive, in 1981.

Sources: Australian Dictionary of Biography, First Fleet Fellowship, Gutenberg, Launceston Then, James Ruse Agricultural High School, National Library of Australia (Trove), State Library of NSW, The Stony Ground: The Remembered Life of Convict James Ruse (2018) Michael Crowley, People Australia, James Ruse: The Humble Adventurer, Walkabout (1964) Clifford Tolchard

To read about the Tenterfield Saddler, an iconic Aussie landmark, click here.

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Tough roads, the risk of breakdown or crashing into wayward animals, an inadequate supply of vehicles and a dearth of fast charging stations are some of the many reasons electric vehicle uptake has been slower in regional and rural areas.

There are also concerns that the Federal Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Scheme (NVES), due to be phased in from January 1, 2025, will inadvertently penalise people who live and work outside metropolitan areas. 

While the peak body for car manufacturers, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), says it strongly supports the introduction of a fuel efficiency standard, it also has warned of price hikes of up to $13,250 for popular diesel or petrol 4WD utes and large off-road SUVs that are essential workhorses for farmers, tradies and agribusiness. 

Reg Kidd, who chairs the NSW Farmers Energy Transition Taskforce, says the federal government appears to be rushing into a one-size-fits-all approach that would disadvantage people with a genuine need for a diesel or petrol ute, or large SUV.

“They’re not really thinking about what people in rural areas tend to drive and the distances they cover,” he says.

“They’re going to be severely disadvantaged unless we get some more transparency from the government about what they’re actually talking about.”

Mr Kidd says he’d also like to see critics stop arguing that rural people do not care about the environment or were ‘backward’ for not adopting electric vehicles.

There are many reasons rural people choose a diesel or petrol 4WD single or dual cab ute for work and a Toyota Landcruiser or Prado for the family, for example. These include:

• Significant distances travelled on dirt, gravel and rough sealed roads or offroad on-farm or at construction sites

• Space for passengers and storage for tools, equipment, luggage, and large quantities of groceries

• Towing capacity for trailers or horse floats

• Sturdy reliable vehicles that can be serviced by many mechanics

• Availability of spare parts

• Strong vehicles that provide greater protection to occupants in a collision with wildlife or wayward livestock

• Large fuel tank capacity (800-1000km) and the ability to be fitted with long-range tanks or carry drums or jerry cans of extra fuel 

• Most towns have at least one service station where diesel or petrol vehicles can be quickly refuelled

Mr Kidd says none of the electric vehicles currently available in Australia fit the bill.

The sole electric ute, the LDV eT60, is rear wheel drive only, can tow up to one tonne and has a maximum range of 330km – which drops when fully loaded and falls further at speeds of more than 70km/h – but at more than $92,000 costs more than twice the price of the diesel LDV T60 Max Pro 4X4.

“I think it’s got to be a two-tiered approach here,” Mr Kidd says.

“The truth is they’re trying to force people out of fuel vehicles into electric vehicles, but the electric vehicles that we’re talking about? There’s none suitable for farming, or those in trades at the moment.”

Mr Kidd, an agricultural consultant, and former mayor of Orange, racks up a lot of time on the road. In the week he spoke to The Farmer, he travelled to Nyngan, followed by trips to Warren and Cassilis. All up, he drove more than 1300km across two days. 

“Where would I top up if I had an EV, if there was one available?” he says. “And then I thought about the roads that I was on… what would happen if I broke down? So, I think the technology has got to improve dramatically, the availability of charging spots and how rapidly you can charge also has to increase dramatically. And it will.”

There are no chargers at Warren, Narromine, Gilgandra, or Cassilis, so the same journeys to Nyngan, Warren, and Cassilis in a battery-equipped EV (BEV) would have taken Mr Kidd almost 1400km and an extra three hours or more. 

Possibility of price hikes

The FCAI’s figures on the impact of an emissions standard on vehicle prices have been widely publicised since their release in February.

Liberal and Nationals politicians seized upon them, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton claiming in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the proposed new car and ute tax could increase the cost of “Australia’s favourite family cars by up to $25,000”.

During a later joint interview with Angus Taylor and Michaelia Cash at a Toyota dealership in Perth, Mr Dutton said people would pay $14,500 more for a Hilux under the NVES.

“If you’re living in a regional area, or if you’re living here in Perth and you’re driving out to work each day as a tradie or as a farmer, if you want a heavier vehicle with a bull bar, for example, because you’re driving late at night and you’re worried about animals on the road, you just need a 4WD because you’re going onto a farm or into a work environment where you need a heavier vehicle. You shouldn’t be paying an extra $15,000 or $25,000 for that vehicle, as Mr Albanese is proposing,” Mr Taylor said during that interview.

The publicity caused a storm amongst FCAI members, with EV makers Tesla and Polestar resigning and Volkswagen withdrawing from the FCAI’s policymaking council in March.

Tesla also referred the FCAI to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, expressing concern that the FCAI had repeatedly made claims that were demonstrably false and “engaged in behaviours that are likely to mislead or deceive Australian consumers”.

ABC Fact Check investigated the Opposition’s claims, finding the NVES was not a new tax, and an FCAI spokesman told the unit that industry modelling the claims were based on did not relate to consumer prices.

The spokesman told Fact Check that FCAI modelling looked at scenarios “on penalties and credits that may apply to (car) brands” under the proposed standards.

“This is not a forecast on price impacts,” he said in an email. 

“Price and how penalties/credits are carried forward will be a matter for each brand and how they are impacted under the scheme.”

Government analysis released in February found there had been little or no impact on the retail price of vehicles from the adoption of fuel efficiency regulations overseas, in places such as the United States, European Union and New Zealand.

“The intention of the NVES is to require vehicle suppliers to include more modern fuel-saving technology in the new cars sold to Australian consumers, and for suppliers to provide an increasing range of hybrid variants and EVs,” the report said.

As a nation of drivers, the report said Australians were being denied access to low- and zero-emissions technology, and new passenger cars in Australia use an average of 20 per cent more fuel than new cars in the US.

Miles to go 

NSW motorists are gradually adopting hybrid and electric vehicles, with the proportion of vehicles registered in the state rising from 1.42 per cent in 2021 to 2.64 per cent in 2023. 

Four of the top 10 vehicles sold in Australia last year were 4WD utes or large SUVs, as were three of the 10 most popular vehicles sold in NSW. The top two in both cases were the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger.

A spokesperson for Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the Opposition had mounted a baseless scare campaign.

“We know utes are used differently to passenger cars. It’s why the Standard has a separate category with different targets for light commercial vehicles, accounting for the size and weight of these vehicles,” she says. 

“It’s up to Peter Dutton and the Nationals to explain why they want Australian farmers locked out from making choices that could save them thousands of dollars every year in petrol.”

More fuel-efficient versions of some of Australia’s most popular cars are available overseas, including those with better internal combustion engines that use less fuel, or hybrid versions such as the Toyota Hilux Hybrid 48V and Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid – due in Australia next year. 

The Isuzu D-Max EV is in development and Isuzu UTE Australia has asked the Federal Government to give manufacturers more time to produce lower emission vehicles, as well as reducing fines for exceeding the emissions cap, or risk brands quitting the Australian market.

“Globally, Isuzu’s transition to low- and zero-emission vehicles is underway, with the brand committed to introduce an electric ute” the brand said in a statement. “However, the reality is that due to the infancy of zero-emission technology in light commercial vehicles, it will take more time to develop zero-emission utes and large-SUVs that are both affordable and fit for the specific needs of Australians, including the ability to travel extensive distances, carry a load and tow.” 

Isuzu warned car makers might have to increase vehicle prices to cover fines.

“Vehicle brands that cannot increase vehicle pricing to cover the penalties may be left with no option but to exit the Australian market,” the statement says.

Toyota Australia Vice President of Sales and Marketing Sean Hanley also says ute and large 4WD buyers will likely face price hikes under the NVES, which would punish “middle Australia”.

Mr Hanley says the proposed transition was too quick and more time was needed to make the necessary adjustments.

“It simply doesn’t recognise the technical hurdles, the lengthy time and the substantial cost that will be required to deliver commercial (battery EVs) that are practical, that are capable and, above all, are affordable,” he tells CarExpert.

“Unless the final scheme is less aggressive, it will have a profound negative impact on regional and rural Australia that will reverberate throughout the Australian economy.”

Mr Kidd says everyone, especially farmers, was in favour of improving efficiency, and people would adopt it once the technology was proven and available.

“Once they see something that works, it’s efficient, and it’s effective then people go for it,” he says.

“That’s how people buy things. Some people have the wrong idea and think that these utes and the larger SUVs are luxury vehicles. To people in rural areas, they’re not – they’re workhorses and they’re essential vehicles for where they live.” 

What is the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES)

The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) is part of Australia’s strategy to improve supply and access to new cars that use less fuel, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new cars. 

From January 1, 2025, car companies will be given targets for average CO₂ emissions per kilometre across their new vehicle fleets. 

This CO₂ target will increase over time, forcing companies to provide vehicles with lower or zero emissions to meet stricter targets. 

Companies will still be able to sell new vehicles with heavier fuel consumption, but they’ll need to offset them with more fuel-efficient models.

If companies meet or beat their CO₂ target, they’ll receive credits from July 1, 2025. If they miss it, they can either trade credits with a different supplier, make it up in the following two years, or pay a penalty.

The government’s preferred option, Option B, would cut emissions from new vehicles by 60 per cent over the next five years.

Under that option, companies would be penalised $100 per gram/kilometre over their set CO₂ target.

There would be two CO₂ caps: one for passenger vehicles and many SUVs; the other for utes and vans, which would be classified as light commercial vehicles. In response to negative polling and public campaigns, the Federal Government announced it would classify large 4WDs such as the Landcruiser, Nissan Patrol, Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X as light commercial vehicles.

Sources: Cleaner, Cheaper to Run Cars: The Australian New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Consultation Impact Analysis, Grattan Institute, CarExpert, SMH.com.au, Joint media release: Catherine King and Chris Bowen.

To read about the possibility of renewable diesel, click here.

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Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the new role – which was a pre-election promise made by Premier Chris Minns at the NSW Farmers conference in July 2022 – recognised the importance of biosecurity to the state.

The Biosecurity Amendment (Independent Biosecurity Commissioner) Bill 2023 allows for the establishment of an Independent Biosecurity Commissioner to provide oversight of biosecurity and improve the management of invasive species.

Ms Moriarty, who also holds the Regional NSW and Western NSW portfolios, says biosecurity breaches represented a significant threat to not only the agriculture sector, but the economy, environment and communities.

“We know that farmers work so incredibly hard to fight invasive pests and weeds on their land,” she says. “We need to make sure that other landholders, and that includes the government, are doing the same, so that farmers aren’t doing all this work… pests and weeds as we know don’t stop at the fence.”

A budget of $2.2 million a year has been allocated for the Commissioner’s activities which will be supported by Department of Primary Industries (DPI) staff to avoid duplicating administration.

Ms Moriarty says the Commissioner would operate independently of the DPI, advising the Agriculture Minister and submitting reports to be tabled in Parliament.

“They can operate free of any kind of influence, and we want them to do that. We want them to call out these issues and to give us advice on how to manage them. And we want them to be accessible so that farmers and other landholders can provide feedback and information and that can filter through as advice to me on how to deal with these issues.”

Tara Moriarty, Agriculture Minister

The Commissioner will be appointed for a five-year term and a review will be held every five years into their operations, objectives and functions.

Ms Moriarty says she looks forward to appointing the state’s first Independent Biosecurity Commissioner. “I know it’s something that farmers were really keen on,” she says. “They’ve engaged with us through every step of the way, and I want to make sure that we deliver for them.”

Farmers on the frontline

NSW Farmers’ Conservation and Resource Management Committee member Craig Mitchell, who produces fine wool Merinos and beef at Countegany, in the eastern Monaro region, has a long list of pests and weeds that he’d like to see addressed.

Chief among them are feral pigs and deer that are spreading into new areas of the state and flourishing after numbers skyrocketed during three good breeding seasons.

Mr Mitchell says incentives for farmers to erect boundary fences that would halt the migration of feral animals in search of food and water would be helpful.

“There’s pigs all over Monaro at this stage, probably not to the densities they are out west, but they’re here and they’re a problem,” he says.

“What we’re trying to do in our little patch is to try and coordinate a control plan. We do it with the foxes – we all bait at the same time, to get a landscape type coverage with the knockdown. And that’s what we’re trying to do with feral pigs. Five years ago, they were nearly under control in the drought, but they breed so quickly, there’s a wave of them now.”

Perspective and input

The Commissioner will have the power to engage with external experts and private landholders as well as key industry and community groups to gather their perspectives and input.

They will be authorised to request documents and information from public service agencies or State-owned corporations involved with pest or weed management, and the Government and Agriculture Minister will have six months to respond to any recommendations.

The Commissioner also will be required to appear as requested before NSW parliamentary committees – such as budget estimates – independent of the DPI.

During the second reading speech, Ms Moriarty told the Legislative Council that invasive species had profound impacts on the economy, environment and community.

“Each year weeds cost our agriculture sector around $1.8 billion, and pest animals cost over $170 million,” she says. “In addition, there are cultural and public amenity impacts that are difficult to quantify, but are no doubt substantial. There are also significant impacts on our biodiversity and threatened species. 

“Collectively, weeds and pest animals have been identified as a threat to approximately 70 per cent of New South Wales’ listed threatened species. It is estimated that over 1650 introduced plant species have become established in New South Wales, with at least 300 of these causing significant environmental impacts and damage.”

The government has committed $13 million to a feral pig control program – appointing Bec Gray as the state’s first feral pig co-ordinator in October – and $10 million to the Good Neighbour Program to be launched “in the coming months”.

Ms Moriarty said she would refer four proposals – identified as high priority by Interim Biosecurity Commissioner Dr Marion Healy – to the Commissioner on their appointment, asking them to:

• Review any perception of an inconsistent enforcement approach

• Improve communications to occupiers of land about their biosecurity obligations

• Explore involvement of Aboriginal communities in biosecurity pest and weed management

• Review the governance arrangements and structure of the state and regional committee system responsible for pest and weed management.

NSW Farmers’ President Xavier Martin welcomed the bill’s passing and urged the new Commissioner to put a review of the Murwillumbah outbreak of Red Imported Fire Ants at the top of their agenda.

NSW Farmers’ Conservation and Resource Management Committee member Mr Mitchell, who is also a member of the State Weeds Committee, says he would like to see greater coordination of pest and weed control at a larger scale and across state borders where necessary to ensure all landowners were actively involved, not just those experiencing a problem.

“My neighbours and I are in an African lovegrass-free area,” he says. “There are people to the west of us that are fighting the good fight, keeping back the lovegrass, but I’m not doing anything to help them, and their neighbours further west are losing the battle.

“Weeds are a bit like a slow-moving bushfire, slowly creeping across the landscape. If weeds were a bushfire, we’d all be out there helping each other put it out, but this is a weed invasion, and we’re not. We just wait at the fence. We need to think about it differently, and coordinate people’s approach.”

Craig Mitchell, NSW Farmers’ Conservation and Resource Management Committee member

Mr Mitchell was pleased to see the legislation had received bipartisan support, and the Commissioner’s term of five years would take it outside the election cycle.

“They definitely need to be impartial, so that’s a great thing to do,” he says.

Note: Dr Healy, who was engaged in June to advise Ms Moriarty on the appointment of an Independent Biosecurity Commissioner – their role, functions and powers – was not available for an interview.

If you enjoyed this piece on the new Biosecurity Commissioner, make sure you check out our coverage of the Red Fire Ant infestation of NSW.

The post Biosecurity Commissioner to be appointed in 2024 appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

It’s new territory for those on the ground. Despite being used to weathering the ups and downs of agriculture, many say they’ve never experienced anything like it. 

NSW Farmers Cattle Committee Chair Deborah Willis, who produces beef and timber on the mid North Coast, says the short term outlook for the industry is very healthy, thanks to two good seasons and strong export demand.

“We’ve got fat cattle and stacks of feed,” she says. “The price of cows is going up. I think some of the farmers are cashing in as much as they can, while they can and while the prices are up. Others have got the herd rebuild going.”

NSW Farmers Sheep Meat Committee Chair Jenny Bradley, who breeds Border Leicester rams and produces prime lambs in the state’s Central West, says they’ve had three exceptional years in a row.

“It’s quite an outstanding and unique situation to be in,” she says. “There’s been numerous updates and outlooks and it’s all positive. We’ve never been in this situation before.”

Cattle and beef

MLA Market Information Manager Stephen Bignell says the herd rebuild is well underway right across Australia and total numbers are likely to reach 28 million head by 2024.

Cattle numbers in NSW fell to 3.8 million in 2020 – their lowest level in 60 years.

Even with higher herd numbers as producers hold on to more cattle for breeding, Stephen says slaughter numbers will also increase.

After the lowest slaughter numbers in 35 years during 2021, they’re expected to rise to 6.7 million this year and to 7.8 million head by 2024.

Higher carcase weights – the average is now 311kg – are also likely to continue on the back of access to abundant cheap feed.

“As a result, beef production will hit a new all-time record in 2024 of 2.45 million tonnes,” he says. “This will be higher than the 2.4 million tonnes of beef produced in 2019 when there was a liquidation of the herd and slaughter of 8.4 million head.”

Cattle and beef exports are also projected to rise in the next three years, boosted by the UK Free Trade Agreement signed in December, which will reduce duties and tariffs.

Stephen says the MLA projections released in February factored in ongoing issues from the global pandemic, which include staffing at abattoirs and access to refrigerated shipping containers. 

“We’re mindful that logistics, shipping and freight are the three things that will limit processing this year, it might not actually be supply of cattle,” he says.

Live exports fell 24 per cent to 771,000 head in 2021 due to reduced demand because of higher prices, and supply chain disruption.

A survey of industry analysts found they thought prices would fall 11 per cent by June 30, with the Eastern Young Cattle Index expected to be about 998c/kg, as supply increases and demand falls.

The MLA report says half of last year’s production was grain fed beef “for the first time ever” and 50 per cent of the beef consumed in Australia was from lot fed cattle.

Australian Lot Feeders’ Association President Barb Madden says the sector has come a long way since the early days when feedlots expanded as grass fed producers ran out of grass during drought and contracted when the rains came.

“We’re a much more sophisticated industry now,” she says.

“The markets are understanding exactly the purpose that feedlots play, and that is this consistent supply of exactly what they order to specification and delivered on time that meets standards set by the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme.” 

Australian Lot Feeders’ Association President Barb Madden.

Barb says feedlot capacity hit a record high last year of 1.45 million head and more pen space is being built.

“Demand for grain fed beef is strong, particularly internationally where we’ve got this amazing reputation as a clean, green safe product,” she says. “So, I see only positives for the industry moving forward.”

Sheep and lamb

Stephen says the national flock rebuild is more advanced than for cattle, rising from 63 million sheep in 2020 to 70.8 million last year.

An MLA survey in October found 95 per cent of producers expected to maintain or increase their flock size in the next nine months. Sheep numbers in NSW bottomed out at 20.3 million in 2020.

“We’ve still got growth of 4.9 per cent for 2022,” Stephen says “That’ll take the national flock to 74.4 million head and then we’ve got tapering growth to 76.8 million in 2024. So the flock by the end of this year is the largest it will have been since 2013, which is really encouraging.”

Lamb slaughter is also expected to rise this year to 21.6 million head after an above average lambing in 2021.

Pandemic impacts on abattoirs, including reduced workforces and fewer shifts, prevented some of those lambs from being processed in spring and they were held over until this year.

Record lamb production of 540,000 tonnes this year and 567,000 tonnes next year is expected, before softening in 2024 to 549,000 tonnes, due to slightly lower carcase weights. After falling 16 per cent to 128,000 tonnes last year, mutton production is forecast to increase 63 per cent to 208,000 tonnes by 2024.

Live exports fell to 575,000 head in 2021, and the outlook is subdued because of high prices and the ban on exports during the northern hemisphere summer. Nonetheless, live exports are forecast to grow to 700,000 head in the next three years.

“One of the things that we’re also seeing is a shift away from Merino production to sheep meat production,” Stephen says.

“In the last 12 to 18 months, the proportion of Merinos as breeding ewes has fallen from 76 per cent to 72 per cent and that’s the first time in history it’s been under 75 per cent.”

MLA Market Information Manager Stephen Bignell.

What’s next?

Livestock production will benefit from the high levels of soil moisture, abundant pasture, grain in storage and full rivers, creeks and dams generated by two years of La Niña.

Australia has experienced three La Niñas in a row, most recently in 1973-1975 and 1998-2000. But the MLA says it’s statistically unlikely to happen again, and the next two years will probably bring drier summers and a return to more normal rainfall patterns after a wetter than average winter across much of the state. 

“We do expect 2022 to be a wet year,” Stephen says. “And in 2023, even if the season was to turn we have stocks of grain, field dams and fodder available so it will be a reasonable season and producers are unlikely to have to turn off stock with the urgency and in the quantity they did during the 2019 drought.”

Deborah Willis says the positive short term outlook will enable many farmers to pay down debt accrued during the drought, and review their risk management strategy.

“It is hard with all this rain about at the moment,” she says. “But a lot of farmers are actually looking at their preparedness for the next drought. The other thing we can do is concentrate on the factors we can control, such as on-farm biosecurity and traceability through keeping accurate NLIS records of stock movements.”

Reward time at Bingara

New England beef producer Don Mack and his family are enjoying the spoils of good seasons and record cattle prices. 

And they deserve to. 

Don and son Jason hand fed 450 breeders every day for 14 months during the peak of the drought on the 3500-hectare family farm Mitiamo, west of Bingara.  

“Initially we went out on the road with the cattle at first in 2018, then brought them back home in 2019 and started feeding them,” Don says. 

“Things just started getting worse and worse back then. We bought ourselves a feed mixer and built a lot of troughs and put all the cattle into small paddocks.

“We soon used all our own reserves of hay and just had to start buying feed in, which was a very expensive exercise.” 

Don says the feed rations were based on straw hay, with additives like barley and even almond hulls. 

“It was a very hefty feed bill by the time 2020 came around. We thought we can’t keep going like this and we were prepared to pull the plug in March that year. Fortunately, it rained in February and that was our first break.”

However, the fourth-generation farmer was not confident that their improved sub-tropical pastures would grow back after the worst drought in living memory.  

“We thought we would never grow anything again. It had all gone. All the paddocks were completely bare and I thought all the topsoil had been blown away, but the pastures did bounce back. 

“We’d had only five inches of rain in 2019. Permanent creeks went completely dry for the first time and all our surface water had gone. Luckily, we had put a bore down in 2018 and found good water.” 

Don, who is Chair of the NSW Farmers Bingara branch, said the turn-around in seasonal and business conditions for the family farm has been “extraordinary”.

“Last year we had our highest ever rainfall ever recorded here with 44 inches. That followed 37 inches in 2020,” he says. “The farm is looking fantastic. And I have never seen cattle prices like this, they are incredible.” 

The Mack family’s grass feed beef is now back on the shelves at Coles supermarkets and rebuilding their breeder herd back up to 650 head is well underway. 

A much-deserved family holiday was on the cards after two very tough years of drought, but then COVID struck down any travel plans. “Home was a good to place be anyway. We started to enjoy seeing green grass again and that was the reward,” Don says.

NSW DPI undertaking 50 red meat research & development projects

Demand for red meat is rising in line with global population growth. Despite having a small proportion of the world’s cattle and sheep, Australia punches above its weight when it comes to exports. In 2020, we were the biggest sheep meat exporter and second only to Brazil for beef exports.

Australian red meat producers are among the most innovative and resilient in the world, coping with extreme weather events and
increasing public scrutiny of their environmental, nutritional, and animal welfare credentials.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries has 50 research and development projects underway as part of a program to further boost productivity, profitability and sustainability in the red meat sector.

Current projects include:

• Comparison of traits across the six key cattle breeds in
southern Australia

• A new vaccine for the tick-borne disease Theileriosis, and better vaccines for Pestivirus, Bluetongue and Q fever

• A prototype to objectively measure sheep body condition scores

• A world-first model for remotely assessing pasture and
livestock condition

• A camera for assessing key eating quality traits in live cattle 

• Collar and ear tag technologies to identify animals with superior intake, feed efficiency and reduced methane emissions.

NSW DPI Group Director of Livestock Systems Dougal Gordon says producers interested in learning more about these projects or being directly involved in future livestock R&D are welcome to contact him at dougal.gordon@dpi.nsw.gov.au

If you enjoyed this feature, you might like our story on shopping for the best farmgate price.

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Both organisations have called on the Federal and State governments to develop a national plan that encourages new plantings of “the right types of trees at the right scale and in the right places” to avert a crisis.

Most timber for house frames comes from commercial softwood plantations and the gap can’t readily be filled by hardwood, which is also in short supply. 

But the hardwood shortage provides a golden opportunity for landowners with native forest on their properties, who aren’t yet actively managing it for timber or for conservation.

The Hurford Group director Andrew Hurford says that was how his grandfather, James, started the family business during the post-World War II construction boom, buying a small steam sawmill and a 400ha forest block at Bungawalbin, southeast of Casino. 

“We still have that forest today,” he says. “It’s produced timber for my grandfather and it’s producing timber for me and my children.”

Andrew Hurford.

The Hurford Group now owns 5,000 hectares of hardwood plantations and farms for cattle and timber from private native forestry (PNF), as well as mills at Casino, Kyogle and Kempsey and a factory at Tuncester, west of Lismore.

Andrew, who is Chairman of Timber NSW, says the logs are turned into high value items like flooring, furniture, decking and cladding, and products where durability is needed, such as bridge timbers, piers, wharfs and public walkways.

Hurfords processes its own timber and buys hardwood logs from other PNF producers across the Northern Rivers region. About half the logs come from state forests through the NSW Forestry Corporation.

Since 2018, NSW Local Land Services (LLS) has been responsible for providing advice and approving PNF plans, while the NSW Environment and Protection Authority retained its compliance and enforcement role.

PNF plans are governed by codes of practice, which set minimum operating standards and contain provisions to ensure ecologically sustainable management. There are different codes for the four main regions: northern NSW, southern NSW, river red gum forests and cypress and western hardwood forests. 

The NSW Government began a review of the codes in 2018. At the time it was estimated PNF accounted for 8.7 million hectares, or 39.7 per cent of the state’s native forests.

Andrew says one of the hurdles to any expansion of PNF is the overlapping and conflicting regulations that apply to different activities on those farms – from grazing cattle to fences, as well as firebreaks, weed and vermin control.

“There’s been some terrific initiatives,” Andrew says. “On the positive side, Local Land Services is well placed to give advice and assist landholders with getting the necessary approvals and knowledge. But on the flip side of that, you’ve got a potentially growing dual consent problem that stems from councils imposing the DA process on people whose land is already covered by LLS.”

Central to the imbroglio is the much-loved icon of the Australian bush, the koala, which is endangered in NSW.

When the PNF Code was introduced in 2007, it prohibited logging in core koala habitat and allowed councils to identify those areas under a Koala Plan of Management (KPOM).

By March 2021, there were nine approved KPOMs across  the state, in the Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Kempsey, Port Stephens and Tweed shires, and the cities of Campbelltown, Coffs Harbour and Lismore.

The hurdles of going private

Patience is an essential quality for anyone involved with PNF, which is traditionally less intensive than commercial plantations. It is predominately done in conjunction with livestock production on farms and provides a valuable source
of income 

Just ask Tenterfield farmer Bronwyn Petrie who last cut timber from the family’s PNF before the codes of practice took effect in July 2007.

Bronwyn raises Angus cattle southeast of Tenterfield with her ex-husband Bill and their son Tim, who is the sixth generation of the family to fell timber.

“Timber harvesting was a regular activity for us but when they introduced the current code, the rules prohibited the co-existence of livestock. Even though we’ve been working that area for over 100 years, it meant we had to choose whether we’re stock people or timber people.”

Bronwyn says bureaucrats visualised that farmland was utilised in zones assigned to a single purpose, such as cropping, grazing or forestry.

“Very few farmers do that with PNF. In our case, the timbered country is really good for grazing in winter,” she says. “And it’s also good in the drought because that’s where we’ve got multiple creeks and the cattle keep the undergrowth down. The codes are overly prescriptive, it’s like someone wants it to sit very neatly on a computer, which doesn’t necessarily work in the paddock.” 

As Chairman of the NSW Farmers Conservation and Resources Committee and a member of the National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council, Bronwyn has spent years lobbying for common sense changes to the rules.

Some of the impediments have been removed, but Bronwyn and others have been waiting for new PNF codes of practice to be released.

The review of PNF codes of practice that began in 2018 was due for completion by September 2019. But it was delayed and became entangled in the 2020 political dispute dubbed the “koala wars”. [See breakout box below]

During last year’s budget estimates hearings, former Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall was quizzed about progress on the PNF review.

Mr Marshall said LLS and the Environment, Energy and Science division were still working on it, and the Natural Resources Commission would be asked for advice before the codes came back to him and then Environment Minister Matt Kean for assent.

Asked whether this would take 12 months, Mr Marshall said he hoped not because he wanted “the changes to be in ASAP”.

He also said he had made it clear to LLS staff that any amendments to the code must include an increase in approval periods for PNF plans from 15 to 30 years and removal of dual consent requirements for PNF.

“They are absolutely key to not just the continuation of that industry but the growth of the private native forestry industry,” he told the hearings on November 1.

Bronwyn Petrie says it was frustrating enough waiting and lobbying over more than a decade for the review.

“The new code should have been released two years ago, but it got tangled up in the Koala SEPP which is really unfortunate because the timber is our bank,” she says. “And then of course, we had fires go through which wiped out a lot of our good standing timber. Now it comes down to argy bargy between departments and ministers to get this thing rolling.”

Andrew Hurford says PNF is not just about cutting timber.

“It’s enjoyable to sit in the backyard of an evening and listen to koalas calling or to see a platypus in your creek,” he says. “They’re iconic species and, if you manage your native forests well, being able to have and enjoy them on your own property is wonderful.”

The koala wars

The stoush between NSW National and Liberal MPs followed Cabinet approval in December 2019 of a new State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) to protect koala habitat, known as SEPP 2019.

It was signed into law on December 20, without consulting affected parties, such as farmers, landowners and timber industries, who were in the midst of battling the Black Summer bushfires.

The new SEPP implemented in March 2020 was given the power to override the Land Management Code and became the fifth piece of legislation designed to protect native wildlife habitat.

SEPP 2019 increased the list of tree species to be protected as koala habitat from 10 species they feed on to 123 species they use. 

It also included maps that identified large swathes of the state as potential habitat, triggering requirements for landholders to pay for expensive koala surveys and seek development consent for many routine farming and PNF activities. 

“The maps were highly inaccurate and included farmhouses, the Newcastle CBD foreshore and farmers’ sheds, dams and irrigation channels and would force farmers to obtain vegetation approvals from local councils under the non-rural vegetation SEPP instead of Local Land Services,” Bronwyn said. 

Then-National Party leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro threatened in September to break the coalition if the SEPP wasn’t changed to remove its overreach. Eventually a peace deal was brokered.

The 2019 Koala SEPP was repealed in November 2020 and replaced by SEPP 2020 which largely reinstated the measures under SEPP 44 that had applied from 1995 to 2019.

In March 2021, John Barilaro, Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Environment Minister Matt Kean announced in a joint statement that land zoned for farming or forestry in regional NSW would be exempt from a new Koala SEPP.

Other provisions included removing the ability of councils to rezone agricultural land to an environmental zone and eliminating dual consent provisions for PNF in local environmental plans.

Interim measures were put in place until new land management and PNF codes of practice were ready.

If you enjoyed this feature, you might like our story on China’s imposed farming related tariffs.

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Celebrated plant breeder William Farrer, who was appointed the department’s Wheat Experimentalist in 1898, went on to release numerous Australian-bred wheat varieties. Uptake of the first – the rust-proof and drought-resistant Federation variety – was swift. It helped quadruple the area of wheat grown in NSW and held the title of the most widely planted wheat in the country from 1910 to 1925.

Tools and techniques developed since then revolutionised agriculture, and the productivity of our farms steadily increased until the late 1990s – when it stalled. This prompted much discussion about how to reinvigorate productivity growth once the Millennium drought had broken.

Looking ahead to 2030

In 2017 the National Farmers’ Federation announced an industry-wide target to grow the value of Australian agricultural production to $100 billion by 2030. 

The NSW Farmers Association last year released its own blueprint for reaching $30 billion in output by 2030, and Meat & Livestock Australia launched its CN30 Roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality in the red meat industry by 2030.

The NSW Government is backing those goals, so far committing almost $100 million towards the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) world-class Food and Fibre Program.

NSW DPI Director General Scott Hansen says the program recognises that incremental change will not be enough to achieve the ambitious 2030 targets. 

Scott says achieving that kind of growth will require step changes – significant shifts – in production systems, as well as developing new products and opening new markets.

“R&D is going to be a critical component to this,” he says. “It’s not going to be enough to continue to make small gains with current technology. We’re going to need some big step changes to bring our industries forward in leaps and bounds.”

NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle agrees, saying the ambitious 30 by 30 target will not be reached without leading edge R&D and extension.

“We are fortunate to have the DPI in NSW, with over 600 DPI scientist and technical staff, many who are ranked in the top 1 per cent of world research in ag science,” Pete says.

“If we are to reach 30 by 30, it is critical that strong support is maintained for DPI’s R&D.  We also need to ensure our extension systems are effectively cascading new innovations onto farm.

“NSW Farmers still has policy on its books from 1995 that we conduct a militant campaign to protest any forecast cuts to NSW Agriculture – let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Pete says that the Association has been supporting members to embrace agtech innovation in a number of ways.  

“So far in 2021, 250 farmers have attended a NSW-Farmers run drone course,” he says.

“Pleasingly the NSW Government also supported NSW Farmers’ Agtech Rebate proposal, with $48 million being committed in the recent State Budget and we continue to advocate for improved digital connectivity through both State and Federal investment.”

The DPI’s Food and Fibre Program includes upgrades for research infrastructure that has, in some cases, been in use for more than 130 years.

It will fund new glasshouses, exotic disease diagnostic instruments, on-farm sensor and data technology networks across DPI institutes, and new facilities for aquaculture and fish breeding research, and plant pathology laboratories.

The aim is to deliver a new generation of scientific breakthroughs in drought tolerant crop varieties, data-driven on-farm decision making, fast-tracked genetic improvements in beef and lambs, and new biological methods of pest control.

Scott is especially excited by the rollout of controlled environment facilities, including glasshouses and greenhouses, which will help accelerate research into horticulture, grain and pasture crops.

Already an experimental line of desi chickpeas, CBA2061, which has novel herbicide tolerance, has made it into the National Variety Trials in four years, almost half the usual time.

“The facilities allow us to remove the variability of seasons in our research projects,” Scott says. “We can have growth in plants 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of the season they’re in, enabling us to do what would otherwise be up to seven years’ worth of work within a one-year period.” 

Releasing breakthroughs for adoption “in a timeframe that’s never been seen before” has become one of the hallmarks of the 21st Century.

Scott says agriculture has always had its share of early adopters – farmers prepared to embrace new and proven methods of doing things better or faster, and responding to changes in customer requirements.

“There aren’t many farmers who are still farming today the way they did 10 years ago,” he says. “And the tools that we’re hoping to produce will find a way into the hands of a farming fraternity who are equally looking for new and different ways to keep themselves moving forward.”

While the DPI has evolved since its inception 131 years ago, Scott says one thing hasn’t changed: its role in helping to solve some of the community’s more significant challenges.

“Once upon a time the big challenge was food security,” he says. “Back when our department was first started, the challenge was to come up with production systems, techniques and varieties and livestock genetics, to enable a growing colony and a growing population to be able to be self-sustaining. Obviously, we’re a long way away from that.”

Modern challenges include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, offsetting them with carbon sequestration and making progress towards net zero carbon.

There’s also the increasing prevalence of health conditions such as diabetes, nutrient deficiencies, food intolerances and allergies. 

Scott says this opens up opportunities for NSW scientists using genetic tools to selectively enhance and produce new foods that can act as medicine to treat or prevent disease. 

Researchers using genetic selection and gene technologies have worked with growers to successfully breed chickpea varieties that can mature in one-third of the time, avoiding frost and heat stress, and using less water. 

“We can now turn our incredible science capacity to working with health professionals and coming up with solutions to some of the community’s big challenges,” Scott says. “We know primary industries have the tools, the smarts and the solutions to be able to do it, so that’s a really exciting space for us to expand into.”

Instead of adding vitamins, minerals and other additives to processed food – think Vitamin D in margarine, thiamin and folic acid in bread, or iodine in table salt – the crops themselves could produce a high performing raw food. This might include gluten-free wheat, allergen-free eggs, nuts and seeds, or fruit and vegetables containing stimulants that help the body regulate blood sugar.

Scott says another challenge will be making sure NSW DPI research also delivers benefits for the broader community, not just farmers and rural and regional communities, and addresses big picture problems such as climate change.

A run of emergencies and natural disasters – drought, bushfires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic – in recent years has put pressure on the state government’s coffers. Also strapped for cash are universities, private research organisations and peak industry bodies experiencing a decline in statutory levies. 

“We need to make sure everyone sees the merit in continuing to co-invest with industry and the federal government in providing funds for rural R&D,” Scott says. “The taxpayer and the general community are wanting to ensure that the work we do in partnership with industry is not just improving the productivity and efficiency of production systems and thereby helping farmers achieve their economic goals, but also that we’re doing so in a way that helps achieve the targets of carbon neutrality by 2030.”

Case study: breeding engagement and fishing
for talent

The Gaden Trout Hatchery, on the banks of the Thredbo River near Jindabyne, has been a popular tourist attraction for more than 50 years. Officially opened in 1953, it was run by volunteers from the Monaro Acclimatisation Society until NSW Fisheries took it over in 1959.

The hatchery breeds and grows out five species of freshwater fish for restocking the state’s inland waterways: rainbow trout, brown trout (pictured), brook trout, tiger trout and Atlantic salmon. 

The key research objective is to understand the effectiveness of re-stocking with hatchery-reared trout in NSW.  This includes investigating the impact of timing and fish size on the success of restocking dams and rivers for recreational fishing.

Funds from the DPI Food and Fibre Program have been earmarked for increasing the hatchery’s capacity and boosting the number of species it can house to include small native fish, such as galaxiids.

Additional funding will revitalise the visitors’ centre and enhance its value as an educational facility for schools and tourists, who can see the work involved in breeding research and take part in practical fishing clinics.

It’s a community engagement role NSW DPI Director General Scott Hansen is keen to see replicated at other research stations across the state.

“Producers can see with their own two eyes and talk to the researchers involved to understand new breakthroughs or new tools and technologies that are being produced,” he says. 

“Equally, we want the local community to visit so they can keep in touch with the new things our farmers and our primary industries are doing.”

Scott says pandemic-related border closures and lockdowns have fostered a reconnection between city and country, as urban dwellers unable to travel overseas have spent more time exploring and holidaying in regional NSW.

This has provided a tremendous opportunity for agriculture to claim its identity as a modern, sophisticated data-driven industry.

“We think there are opportunities to encourage students into thinking about careers as no longer just an agricultural career, or a science, engineering, technology, teaching or arts career,” Scott says. 

“Whatever career path they choose, at some stage that career path will provide valuable contributions for our primary industries sector. 

“We want students to have an early appreciation of that, so it increases the chances of us getting the right people thinking about agriculture at the right stages in their career.”

ABOUT the NSW Department of primary industries (NSW DPI)

NSW DPI is the largest provider of rural R&D in Australia, with a portfolio of about $100 million annually (half externally sourced); employs more than 600 scientific and technical staff.

It injects more than $500 million into rural and regional NSW economies annually through salaries, operations, and investment in world-leading research.

NSW DPI is ranked in the top 1 per cent of institutions around the world in the fields of research in plant and animal sciences, agricultural science, and environment and ecology.
It’s also ranked 14th globally among government organisations responsible for agricultural, plant and animal science.

If you enjoyed reading this story, you might like our feature on innovations in our cotton industry.

The post R&D and the bright future of agriculture appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

The moratorium, specific to GM canola when it was first imposed in 2003, has been rewritten and extended several times during the past 18 years. In March, NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall announced it would be allowed to lapse on 1 July.

The move gives farmers a greater choice of which crops to grow and provides certainty for researchers and seed companies that the path to market will be smoother for new
GM varieties.

NSW Farmers Association Ag Science Committee Chair Alan Brown says it will allow the state’s growers to remain competitive with their overseas counterparts.

“The world has moved on, as far as GM goes in food crops. We’ve had GM crops in cotton and canola for some while now. In the medium term, if there are developments in food crops, we will be able to access them. We won’t be left behind, which I think is important.” 

Alan Brown, NSW Farmers’ Association Ag Science Committee Chair

Until now the only GM crops grown in NSW have been cotton and ‘blue’ carnations (since 1996), canola (since 2008) and safflower (since 2019).

Alan, who is also NSW Farmers’ Wagga Wagga and District branch Chair, says he’s hopeful plant breeders will now be able to use GM techniques to boost crop performance by incorporating features such as drought tolerance, improved nutrition profiles and better yields.

“But the key outcome for NSW Farmers is there will be safeguards put in place, so that those who don’t wish to have the GM technology on their properties will be able to continue without it,” Alan says.

“If there’s a trade advantage in not having GM, people will still be able to access that.”

New methods, new markets

One example is the Riverina Oils and BioEnergy crushing and refining plant at Wagga Wagga, which supplies certified non-GM canola oil to food manufacturers and food service customers.

Thomas Elder Markets analyst Andrew Whitelaw says the history of GM crops in Australia shows there have been few problems caused by cross contamination or market access issues, thanks to our advanced storage and handling systems.

“We have a big market at the moment for non-GM canola into Europe. The reality is that we’ve been doing that for a long time and the majority of that canola comes from Western Australia, where the bulk of our GM canola is grown. So, if it’s worked so far, then I don’t really see why it wouldn’t continue working.”

Andrew Whitelaw, Thomas Elder Markets analyst

Australian Oilseeds Federation Executive Officer Nick Goddard says grain growers have mostly used GM canola in a tactical way, to manage weedy paddocks.

“It’s quite different to cotton, where it was just broadly adopted across the board because it provided immediate benefits in terms of reduced chemical applications and reduced labour,” Nick says.

“The real opportunity for GM and all new breeding technologies is in being able to create and access new markets for renewable plant-based products.”

Improved genetics means a faster turnaround

CSIRO Agriculture and Food Chief Research Scientist Surinder Singh says scientists have always taken a long-term perspective in their crop research, regardless of government policy. 

Creating a new variety using conventional breeding techniques can take plant breeders 10 to 20 years. Using GM techniques significantly speeds up the process. 

And while the NSW moratorium didn’t stop that research, Surinder is optimistic that lifting the ban will accelerate the process of delivering improved genetics to farmers.

The CSIRO has developed two GM oilseed crops, and both were approved in 2018 for cultivation and use in stockfeed and human food.

Nuseed markets the GM canola, which is the world’s first plant-based source of long-chain omega-3 oils traditionally found in fish. The oil is used as an ingredient in fish feed for farmed salmon (Aquaterra) and for human consumption (Nutriterra). Nuseed estimates one hectare of the canola can produce as much omega-3 oil as 10 tonnes of fish.

Go Resources holds the licence to commercialise a stable super high-oleic acid safflower which produces oil suitable for industrial and edible uses. Now available at Woolworths supermarkets under the Heart Smart label, it claims to be the only cooking oil with a 4.5 health star rating.

The process of developing and bringing the two crops to market took about 15 years. 

“We did the research in about four or five years, but then the regulatory approvals and all that take a long, long time,” Surinder says.

The way GM technology is used has evolved in the past decade with the advent of genome editing which targets specific sections of DNA and allows them to be permanently modified.

In the case of a wheat variety susceptible to rust infection, it could be tweaked or the gene removed to make it resistant to the pathogen, without inserting any new DNA from another source. 

Surinder says current research to make crops more resilient to climate change and the challenges of drought, temperature, heat stress and salinity, is “fairly advanced”. 

“They could be released in the next five to 10 years, but that depends on how readily the investment is there to actually get these crops through the regulatory approvals, which is a very expensive procedure,” he says.

A debate spanning decades

Debate continues over the role of genetic modification in food almost 30 years after the first crops of GM tomatoes, potatoes and corn were grown in the United States.

Released in 1994, the Flavr Savr tomatoes were engineered to have a longer shelf life and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) incorporated into potatoes and corn gave those plants protection against insect pests. 

Their commercial success was mixed – Monsanto shelved the tomatoes – but they paved the way for the development of multiple varieties of food and fibre crops, including Australia’s first GM crop, Bt cotton. 

Developed by the CSIRO in partnership with Monsanto, Bt cotton is resistant to a major pest, the heliothis grub, also known as cotton bollworm. Launched in 1996 under the trade name Ingard, it has since been superseded by newer varieties offering herbicide tolerance as well as resistance to insects.

Adoption in NSW, where most of Australia’s cotton is produced, was relatively swift. By 2012, almost all cotton was GM and the use of insecticides had decreased 97 per cent. 

According to Cotton Australia, the flow on benefits include lower labour and fuel usage – crops now receive up to three pest sprays per season instead of 10-14 – improved soil quality, reduced production costs, increased yield and reduced risks.

Politics and well-fed Westerners

Much of the criticism of GM is tied to politics and ideology. Concerns include the potential harm to human health and damage to the environment, negative impacts on traditional farming practices, excessive corporate dominance, and the “unnaturalness” of the technology.

Internationally-renowned microbiologist Jennifer Thomson has written four books on the subject of GM crops since she began working in the field in South Africa in 1978. Her latest book, GM Crops and the Global Divide, was published in January.

In the book, Jennifer refers to the prejudices of “well-fed Westerners” and attributes part of the rise of antagonism to GM crops, especially in Europe, to government mishandling of two disasters in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s: the mad cow disease outbreaks, and HIV- and hepatitis-tainted blood transfusions.

The hostility was further fanned in 1999 by a media storm and tabloid newspaper headlines which referred to GM as “Frankenstein food”.

Greenpeace dumped four tonnes of GM soybeans outside the official residence of then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street and its activists took to vandalising GM crops across the globe, including a trial crop of wheat at a CSIRO facility in Canberra in 2011.

The Greenpeace Australia website, which says “Climate change is the defining issue of our generation”, shows its priorities have changed in the past decade. The most recent references to GM crops are from 2012, and a Greenpeace spokesperson declined to comment for this story. 

Jennifer says it’s essential for Australian scientists to do more to communicate the benefits of their work for farmers and consumers. 

“Scientists need to get into the limelight, and explain what disinformation is, what is misinformation, and what is true,” she says.

“With global warming and climate change, you’ve got to do more with less. We’re going to have less suitable land to produce crops.”

Improving the bottom line

A 2011 UK study found the average cost of discovering, developing and authorising the biotechnology trait of a new plant between 2008 and 2012 was $US136 million.

That sounds like a lot of money, but it’s dwarfed by the potential economic benefits
of adopting GM crops.

In a statement, NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall says adoption of GM technology is forecast to deliver up to $4.8 billion in total gross benefits in the next decade. 

It could save farmers up to 35 per cent of their overheads and boost production by almost 10 per cent.

“The potential agronomic and health benefits of future GM crops include everything from drought and disease resistance to more efficient uptake of soil nutrients, increased yield and better weed control,” he says.

“This is also great news for consumers as by lifting the ban we are empowering companies to invest in GM technology that has the potential to remove allergens such as gluten, improve taste and deliver enhanced nutrition.”

Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia’s Kangaroo Island are the only Australian jurisdictions to retain GM-free status.

Keeping Australia safe

The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) was established in 2001 to license field trials and approve the commercial release of GM organisms that posed no unmanageable risks to humans or the environment.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) regulates the sale and use of food from GM products. It has so far approved eight GM food crops: soybean, potato, wheat, rice, canola, sugarbeet, safflower and corn.

Earlier this year, FSANZ approved the use of GM soy leghemoglobin, a protein used by Impossible Foods to manufacture its meat-free burgers and sausages.

The agriculture industry is embracing innovation in a big way, with vertical farming a key area of growth. Find out more about it here.

The post A farmer’s choice: to GM or not to GM? appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

It faced strong early opposition from local residents and the Upper Lachlan Shire Council, with concerns expressed about landscape, traffic and land value impacts, bird flight paths, radiation, television reception, loss of privacy and security, and poor consultation. But after a decade of operation attitudes towards the Crookwell Wind Farm had changed markedly – and 23 years later it is now promoted as a popular tourist attraction.

It’s a pattern that’s been repeated across NSW, and interstate, according to Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Andrew Dyer.

Wind development complaints

Several reports on community attitudes to wind projects and renewable energy between 2010 and 2014 highlighted a gap between well-documented high levels of support (80 per cent or more) and the clouding of public discussion by vocal opponents.

Andrew says there was a long queue of people with concerns and complaints about wind developments waiting when he opened the office of the National Wind Farm Commissioner in November 2015. Most of those complaints were about operating wind projects, particularly noise, vibration and health issues.

As part of his remit, Andrew worked with programs commissioned by the Federal Government to independently review the science of wind developments, including two longitudinal research studies into wind projects and human health, looking at the effects of both audible and inaudible sound.

In its first four years of operation, his office received more than 360 complaints: 70 were related to 14 operating wind projects and 234 about 58 proposed wind projects. By December 2019, 97 per cent of all complaints received had been settled.

“Most wind farm complaints are resolved by providing factual, correct information to the complainant, either directly by our office, the project proponent or the state government. Accurate information usually clears things up,” Andrew says.

“Most complaints we receive these days are about proposed projects, so it’s often driven by a fear of the unknown. And many relate to being fair to all parties.”

Among the aggrieved are farmers who had agreed to host turbines and expected to receive regular payments from the project, but missed out when projects were reconfigured to have fewer, higher capacity turbines.

“They got nothing at all,” Andrew says. “And they went from being ‘best friends’ of the project to very unhappy neighbours. One of the things we champion with industry is to treat neighbours with respect and make them part of the ‘winning team’. Many neighbours these days are party to what’s called a neighbour agreement, where they receive some level of compensation or payments for the fact that their view’s going to change, they’re going through two years of noise, dust and disruption during construction, and recognition they’re not going to get the host income stream they had once expected.”

Wind energy in Australia is a long-term game

Another positive change has been the shift away from cavalier front-end developers pressuring farmers to sign up as hosts, then selling the project to another company to build it.

“Developers are now taking a much longer-term view of the need for effective community engagement, and more appropriately investing time, effort and focus on proactively explaining things properly,” Andrew says.

“You can imagine a lot of misinformation flies around the community if you don’t have someone on the ground to convey the facts and resolve concerns; unchecked, it can get quite out of hand.”

Genuine community engagement has been a hallmark of CWP Renewables projects across NSW since 2007.

Head of Development Ed Mounsey says the company’s approach has been to seek public feedback on its proposals at an early stage. This allows them to use it to reshape projects where possible.

Ed says attitudes towards wind farms have changed significantly since the early “wind rush” days of 10 years ago, when they were still something of a novelty.

“As we’ve continued to develop more projects, sometimes in areas where there are existing projects, we’ve certainly seen the benefit of context,” he says. “The context of ‘okay, I now know what it is, I can touch it, I can see it, I can hear it. I know what the construction and operational impacts are like. As a potential host, I can see what the roads, revegetation and weed management look like’. They’re all really good examples to present and allay any fears that a host or a neighbour or a general community may have had.”

Ed Mounsey, Head of Development, CWP Renewables

Sapphire Wind Farm

CWP Renewables owns Sapphire Wind Farm, between Glen Innes and Inverell, and manages Boco Rock Wind Farm, near Cooma. It has two more wind projects under construction – Crudine Ridge near Mudgee, and Bango near Yass – and a further 3.5 gigawatts of wind developments, solar farms, and battery and hybrid projects in the planning stages across NSW.

The $588 million Sapphire Wind Farm is the largest in the state, producing 270 megawatts (MW) of energy – enough to power 115,000 homes – from 75 turbines since 2018. Approval has been granted to develop a 200MW solar farm and 32MW battery facility nearby.

Ben Swan describes his operation as a typical New England mixed farm. Ben produces fine wool sheep, crossbred lambs, Hereford and Angus cattle, as well as both summer and winter crops. One of his properties also hosts five 3.6MW turbines that are part of the Sapphire Wind Farm.

As is often the case, the finished project looks a lot different to the initial proposal announced in 2009. Approved in 2013, finance was secured in 2016, and construction completed in 2017.

“Initially we were going to be in the middle of the project, and it was a lot bigger,” Ben says. “The project had a much bigger footprint right back at the start. At its peak I think there were 23 or 24 affected landholders and 159 towers from 0.5 to 1.5MW.  Years later it ended up as 75 larger 3.6MW towers and nine landholders, so the same amount of power out the end of the plug, but with a far smaller footprint.”

The 200-metre towers on Ben’s land were constructed during the first stage, giving him a front row seat, and he says he “couldn’t be happier with how it happened,” even with the disruption.

“On some days there could be 200 or 300 vehicle movements and men everywhere and trucks,” he recalls. “It’s a big process. But they were true to their word. They made roads on the farm that are better than most shire roads and good gates and good causeways. There were mess ups, but nothing massive, nothing we couldn’t overcome.”

Ben considers the quarterly payments for hosting the turbines a bonus, saying they were a big help when he was hand-feeding stock during the drought. 

The cattle remain unperturbed, snoozing in the shade cast by the towers, and the tenants living in Ben’s houses have reported no adverse effects. He often takes visitors to the towers and gets a kick out of their reaction.

“No one can understand the scale until they actually get to them,” he says. “And then when they stand under it they’re surprised by how quiet they are. On a windy day when the thing’s going full speed, there’s an occasional whoosh, and a clang and a clunk as the blades change direction. But you don’t have to go far and you can’t hear them at all.”

Ben frequently receives phone calls from people worried about wind farm proposals in other areas.

“There’s a whole heap of negativity and most of it’s just from lack of education,” he says. “We’re proud of the fact we’re part of renewable energy, and we’re contributing to that. We’re also proud that we were one of the first wind farms to have a Community Fund.”

Ben is on the committee that distributes about $180,000 donated by Sapphire Wind Farm each year to community and sporting organisations. Grants have funded a range of activities, from resurfacing tennis courts and building upgrades to the purchase of sports equipment and marquees. 

Sapphire Wind Farm notched up another Australian first in 2018 with its community investment initiative, allowing Inverell and Glen Innes Severn shire residents to directly invest in the project.

Glen Innes Severn Mayor Carol Sparks says it took about four years for the locals to “get on board” with wind farms. Visits from Andrew helped. 

“Once people understood they could actually graze their sheep and cattle around the area with no problems, they were reassured,” she says. “The proponents are definitely getting better at addressing some of people’s concerns.”

Seeing is believing

There is another wind project near Glen Innes, White Rock, which has 70 turbines. A further two 25-turbine wind developments are proposed for sites 10km west of Glen Innes and 40km to the south.

They’re all in the New England Renewable Energy Zone, the biggest of five zones identified in the NSW Government’s Electricity Strategy and Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap released last year. 

The roadmap is intended to unlock $32 billion of private sector investment in large-scale electricity generation, storage and transmission by 2030, to replace the four coal-fired power stations scheduled to close within the next 15 years.

A Department of Planning, Industry and Environment spokesperson says there were 14 wind projects with 614 turbines operating across NSW in January, five (168 turbines) under construction, and 10 (848 turbines) in the planning stages.

As Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, Andrew is now responsible for receiving complaints about large-scale solar farms, battery storage and major transmission projects as well as wind energy in Australia. 

Andrew advises landowners thinking about hosting a large-scale project to visit other sites under construction to experience first-hand the extent of the works and impacts on the land. He also recommends they read his annual report, which contains sections dedicated to project hosts and neighbours, and the comprehensive Renewable Energy Landholder Guide, produced by NSW Farmers.

Enquiries and complaints about energy projects can be made to the Commissioner’s office by calling 1800 656 395, or by visiting: nwfc.gov.au

The future of renewables in Australia is looking up, evident in this special report.

The post Winding back the war on wind energy in Australia appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

While managed investment schemes kicked off the almond boom in north-west Victoria from 2003 to 2008, expansion in the NSW Riverina during the past decade means growers in that region now account for 35 per cent of trees.

Nutting it out

Fourth-generation farmer James Callipari was among the early wave of almond producers in the Griffith area.

As fruit and vegetable growers, his family began looking for less perishable alternative crops, and James joined a group of farmers on a visit to look at almonds in South Australia in the mid-2000s.

“The vegetable market was at the stage where either you had to get a lot bigger to become profitable, or you had to get out. The almond industry attracted us because the product itself was more shelf stable – it wasn’t necessary to pick it today and sell it tomorrow. There’s a bit more flexibility.”

James Callipari, NSW Almond Farmer

At the time the Riverina was firmly in the grip of the Millennium drought, and water was both scarce and expensive.

The Calliparis moved to another property equipped with subsurface drip irrigation, which they were able to use for almonds. They planted the first trees in 2006, and by 2017 had filled 220ha of the 275ha property with five varieties of almond trees. Half are Nonpareil – the most popular snacking variety – and the rest are pollinating varieties: Carmel, Price, Monterey and Wood Colony.

It takes three years for almond trees to bear their first crop and another four years to reach full production of about 9.2 tonnes per hectare of nuts in shell; about 3.2 tonnes of that is almond kernels, while the rest is hulls and shells that are used for cattle feed, compost, mulch and biochar. 

The industry average for water consumption by mature almond trees is 11-14 megalitres per hectare, similar to other high-value crops such as citrus. James says he’s been able to keep it to less than 10ML/ha most years thanks to the higher water holding capacity of his soils, and aided by tree sensors and irrigation line sensors. The industry funds ongoing research into methods of further improving water use efficiency.

As well as almonds, the Calliparis grow Valencia and Navel oranges, wheat, and recently finished harvesting their first rice crop in three years. Like many farmers, they have a combination of high security and general security water entitlements.

Supply and demand

James says a combination of factors has encouraged more Riverina farmers to plant almonds. They include consistent high prices, increasing domestic and global demand, the high level of mechanisation, access to multiple sources of water for irrigation and the opening of the $25 million Almondco processing plant at Hanwood in 2017.

Until then, Almondco growers had to truck their nuts 580km to be dehulled and deshelled at Lyrup, near Renmark, in the Riverland region of South Australia. 

“There’s a significant saving to have it 20 minutes’ drive instead of six hours,” James says. “Having it on our doorstep is really good for the industry.”

With 33 per cent of Riverina plantings yet to bear fruit and more trees going into the ground each year, Almondco has already doubled its shifts and plans to expand the Hanwood plant in the next two years.

Almondco managing director Brenton Woolston says the facility’s first stage was based on forecast production from existing plantings of the cooperative’s more than 20 members in the region.

“Since we made the investment in primary processing infrastructure in the region, there’s been a lot more plantings in the area,” he says. “Having a processing site in the Riverina certainly stimulated our existing growers to plant more, and some new growers to get into almonds. We haven’t encouraged or advertised that almonds should be planted – this has been a natural economic progression.”

Almondco is supplied by more than 150 Australian growers and has members in NSW, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. 

Water woes

Mention the words almond farms, corporate farms and managed investment schemes in some circles, and you’ll cop an earful.

Dairy farmers in particular blame the development of corporate almond farms for pushing the price of both permanent and temporary irrigation water beyond their reach and forcing them out of business.

Environmentalists criticise almond farms for increasing the volume of water extracted from already stressed river systems in the Murray-Darling Basin.

And many mum and dad investors and suppliers are still nursing financial wounds from the collapse of managed investment schemes, such as Timbercorp. One of the biggest schemes – it developed the world’s second largest almond grove – Timbercorp was the first to go belly up, owing $980 million when administrators were appointed in 2009. 

Yet it was the almond industry’s peak body, the Almond Board of Australia (ABA), that called for an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry into water markets in the Murray-Darling Basin as water prices surged during severe drought in 2019.

The ABA also appealed for a freeze on new water use licences by NSW, Victoria and South Australian governments, pending a review of the system’s capacity to deliver water to support more development, “without adverse third-party or environmental impact”.

NSW Farmers has called for a halt in new irrigation development approvals downstream of the Barmah Choke until an audit is carried out to show that the water can be delivered without third party impacts.

Australian Nut Industry Council chair Brendan Sidhu, a former ABA chair, says the only impediments to the future expansion of the almond industry are climate – almonds prefer a Mediterranean climate that provides chill hours during winter to stimulate bud break and flowering – and access to suitable land and water.

“We all understand (water) is a finite resource, so we have to use it wisely,” he says. “What’s really worrying me is the annual crops are now outnumbered by permanent plantings. New South Wales is still going hell for leather, which is a bit of a worry, because come the next Millennium drought or a big drought like that, it’s going to be horrendous.”

Scaling up production

Most almond producers have traditionally been family-owned smaller farms in areas that began as soldier settlements. Indeed, a recent report from the Almond Board of Australia (ABA) estimates that 55 per cent of all almond properties are less than 49ha in size.

According to the ABA, the total area planted to almonds grew from 3,546ha in 2000 to 26,589ha in 2010 and 53,014ha in 2019. More than half the new plantings between 2015 and 2020 were in NSW.

Production is set to increase from this year’s record 123,000 tonnes – with a farm gate value of almost $1 billion – to 180,000 tonnes in 2025-26. Depending on future plantings, it may even reach 200,000 tonnes by 2030. The volume of exports increased 25.7 per cent to 76,556 tonnes in 2019-20; China and Hong Kong took more than half after imposing tariffs on almonds from the US.

And while corporate farms have been responsible in the past for much of the heavy lifting – many of them processing and marketing large volumes from their own groves – Brenton says that’s not the case in new Riverina developments.

“What we’ve seen is private family-owned orchards at scale,” he says. “Riverina growers don’t seem to mess around with 20 acres or 30 acres. If they’re going to make that investment, they generally get into it in a lot bigger way than we’re used to in other growing regions.”

California continues to produce 80 per cent of the world’s almonds, but in his annual report ABA chair Peter Hayes says the growing demand for Australian almonds has been a success story for many years.

“And 2019-20 is no different, with consumers recognising their health benefits, enjoying almonds in many new manufactured products, and moving to plant-based diets as concerns over animal welfare gain traction,” Peter says.

The post Inside Australia’s almond industry appeared first on The Farmer Magazine.

John, who leads projects in viticulture, dairy and broadacre crops, such as cotton, grain and rice, says farmers have already improved productivity by adopting ways to more precisely measure what their crops need and apply water at the optimum timing.

The next step is to automate those systems for even greater improvements.

“No matter what irrigation industry you’re in, if you’re going to be here for the long term, you’re going to need to be very efficient and very productive around how you use your water,” John says. “That’s obviously a big driver for automation, as well as making sure that you’ve got a competitive advantage over others who may be looking to use that water.”

John says automation in surface irrigation systems, particularly in cotton and rice, has really taken off in the past few years, and a significant number of farmers are on the verge of adopting it at scale.

The benefits are multiple: as well as saving water and boosting yields, automation delivers equally valuable time and labour savings, more accurate measurements, and eliminates the 3am wake-up call to manually change over irrigation gates or start siphons and pumps.

“They’re the big drivers for it,” he says. “You’re also starting to see the next generation of young farmers come through who are a lot more tech savvy, and more interested in the potential of automation to give them a higher quality lifestyle and attract people to the industry. If you’re using the latest technology, that’s a big drawcard.”

Tim Kemp

The rice industry in particular has focused on improving how efficiently it uses water, encouraging major changes in management practices. In the past 20 years, average rice yields have more than doubled to 11-12t/ha – reaching up to 15t/ha – at the same time as cutting water consumption by about 60 per cent.

Looking ahead and being smart

AgriFutures Australia, which manages the rice industry’s research, development and extension programs, has set a target of further improving water productivity by 75 per cent over the next five years.

Rice Extension co-ordinator Troy Mauger says the switch from aerial sowing of ponded rice to drill sowing reduces water use by 1.5-2 megalitres per hectare, or 10-20 per cent, depending on soil type. Delaying permanent application of water can save another 1ML/ha. 

Plant breeders are also working on shorter season varieties that use less water, and allow double cropping with winter grain crops.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the requirement for rice to be ponded, with 25cm or more of water, during the two- to three-week microspore period, to protect the panicle from cold that can reduce yield.

Troy says most growers use drop boards to raise and lower the water level on each bay and marker pegs or floats to indicate water depth.

“It’s all pretty manual. If we can automate the control structures for each bay to maintain the water level, it’s a labour saving, and it helps with water use efficiency because you don’t have excess water to drain.”

Troy Mauger

John says current research is now focused on linking smart sensing, forecasts and automation systems. Sensors within a field or orchard can measure variables such as soil moisture level, temperature, crop water uptake and plant growth, and feed that data back to a central point where it’s analysed along with satellite images to automatically control irrigation.

“Within the research we’re doing at the moment, the seven-day forecast is getting very, very good,” says.

“Potentially there will be the opportunity to run things in a fully autonomous fashion. We’ve already got trials where we’re doing that on broadacre irrigation systems. But those systems will always communicate back to the farmer what decisions they’re planning to make, and if the farmer wants to intervene then they have the ability to do so.”

Deakin University irrigation researcher Dr John Hornbuckle

Putting irrigation to the test in Peats Ridge

Tim Kemp has introduced an automated irrigation system to his orchard at Peats Ridge, west of Gosford. Tim and his wife Elise grow avocados and citrus on almost half of the 48ha farm that has been in the family since the 1920s. Unlike some fruit growers who started with flood irrigation – using gravity to propel water along the rows – the Kemps have always piped water from their dams, which collect rainwater and runoff.

“We’ve been irrigating since power came to the mountain back in the 1930s and 1940s, and got more and more efficient as time went on,” Tim says. “The irrigation here has only ever been supplemental, but the problem is if you don’t have it you’re not viable because of the soil types. It’s a sandy loam and some of it is quite sandy, so it dries out very quickly. We might get a rainfall event and then, especially in the summertime, we’ll be irrigating again two or three days later.”

During the 1980s, Tim’s father Robert put mains and sub-mains underground, and went from travelling irrigators and overhead sprays to under-tree micro sprinklers. Tim has since upgraded to pressure compensated sprinklers under the avocado trees and dual drip lines under the citrus.

Since 2008 Tim has used soil moisture monitors, feeding information back to the computer every 10 minutes, to guide decisions about irrigation scheduling, which he prefers to do himself.

“It took a while to learn to trust it,” he says. “Especially because we went from a fairly old system, where you had to go around and manually turn taps on and then turn the pump on and then turn the pump off and turn other blocks on. That’s one of the reasons why I still don’t use the moisture monitors to schedule the irrigation. I just like to have that control, because moisture monitors don’t take into account the weather forecast or anything like that. Also, avocados are very water sensitive, so you’ve got to be particularly careful with them.”

Tim Kemp

Even so, Tim estimates the time saving has been huge. Whereas 20 per cent of his week was spent on irrigation, that’s down to about 2 per cent now. And the water savings have allowed the Kemps to expand the area planted to fruit trees without increasing the total volume of water they use. 

There’s also the added bonus of being able to log in through TeamViewer and control the irrigation system from anywhere in the world. 

“It’s all connected to the internet, so I can schedule from wherever I like,” he says. “A few years ago we were lucky enough to go to the US, and I was putting the irrigation on from San Francisco Bay. That was pretty handy.” 

Tim is keen to see what new technology becomes available, but says lack of access to the mobile network limits what they can use.

The current AquaLink system uses line-of-sight radio telemetry to communicate between the four field stations and the base station at the house. 

“We have quite a lot of bush and it’s a bit up and down here, so you’ve got to be careful where you put the stations,” he says. “A lot of the new stuff is controlled by the cloud and different mobile set-ups, and if you don’t have a mobile signal, the system doesn’t run. That’s a real hindrance at the moment. I can’t use any of that stuff.”

If you’re interested in the future of farming, you might like to read this article on smart farms.

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