Proserpine Young Farmers | Community group

Proserpine Young Farmers

Phone: +61 439 619 082

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25.01.2022 Some PYF members recently had their spray rigs checked by DAF extensions officers Allan Blair and Jack Robinson. Using their new patternator (tool to easily visualise spray distribution), nozzle pressure and flow gauges, and nozzle charts we were able to make sure the sprayers were doing the best job. Liam Davies kindly allowed several other PYF members to come along to see Allan, Jack and Molly go through his spray rig check. We also put some ultraviolet dye in the spray tan...k and sprayed some fallow crop with XR Teejet blue, Hardi air induction blue and Teejet driftguard blue nozzles. It was clear to see the difference in drift between the nozzles as Liam was spraying. While we were waiting for it to get dark, we had time to check out Liam’s fallow cropping trial which is being run with Farmacist through Project Catalyst. This trial includes a range of species which are just germinating. We will be back to visit once the trial is bigger. Once it was dark, armed with special UV torches we were able to see the spray droplets and the difference in droplet size and distribution between different nozzles. It was a great practical way to learn more about how to spray correctly and effectively. See more

22.01.2022 Last night Jack and Blairy from DAF held a pesticide work shop for PYF. We covered the different types of pesticides, modes of action and how they work, spray drift, herbicide resistance, nozzles, regulation, labels and safety. We also got to see different nozzle spray patterns using UV light at dark. Can you guess the 5 herbicides Molly sprayed (6 days since spraying)? Big thanks to Jack and Blairy for coming all the way to Proserpine from South Johnstone to teach us!

22.01.2022 Working the land as a young farmer has its ups and downs, but an inspiring group called Proserpine Young Farmers is helping connect passionate locals under 40 w...ith the latest developments in agriculture, to help build a solid future for their families. The Rural Report was broadcast from a canefield just outside the town of Prossie this morning, you can listen back here: https://ab.co/3cEDoQr

18.01.2022 All things go this morning at PYF’s precision agriculture trial! A huge thanks to Tony Crowley at Farmacist for helping create our variable rate maps and to David McKeering from Central Coast Spreading for taking the time to put out the lime and gypsum strips of our trial. We put out variable rate, set rate and 0 rate strips of lime and gypsum to compare. David handled my requests no worries. Give him a call if you’re in need of any spreading - 4959 3152.

18.01.2022 Under Round 4 of the Smart Farms Small Grants program, the Australian Government is making grants of between $5,000 and $100,000 available to support projects t...hat help farming, forestry and fishing groups and communities increase their awareness, knowledge, skills and capacity to adopt smart and sustainable practices. Through the #SmartFarms program, the government is striving to make Australia’s agriculture, fishing, aquaculture and forestry industries more sustainable, productive and profitable, while also aiming to protect and improve the condition of our natural resourcesespecially soils and vegetation. This will not only safeguard the future of these industries but also assist in protecting Australia’s biodiversity, which will also benefit these businesses in the long run. Applications close 11:00 pm AEDT, 9 October 2020: bit.ly/3lccRxX Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

17.01.2022 On Tuesday PYF had another pricing and marketing workshop with Angus and Shirley from Wilmar. Shirley is new to Proserpine and the Wilmar marketing team. If you see Shirley around make sure you say hello This time we were put to work and had to get the calculators out to practice using grower portal data to calculate how many tonnes you will be paid for.

16.01.2022 PYF AGM this Sunday 2nd August 5.00-5.30pm at the Metropole. New members welcome. Nibbles included. RSVP to Molly (0439619082). Followed by DAF extension officers Allan Blair (Blairy) and Daniel Gonzalez chatting about the Dual Herbicide Sprayer and any other questions you have about weeds / spraying. Starting at 5.30pm. ALL FARMERS WELCOME - not just 'young' ones! RSVP to Molly (0439619082). Potential for Proserpine farmers to access the Dual Herbicide Sprayer for free, come along to find out more.

15.01.2022 https://www.regencane.com.au/ Anyone interested in attending the Regen Cane forum in Cairns Feb 15-17? Sustainable Table Ripe for Change project in Mackay Whitsunday is seeking expressions of interest from growers in the area to attend the event as a group. If you are interested in going but don't yet have a ticket, please get in touch with Tegan McBride [email protected] or 0402 853 903.

10.01.2022 Know someone from Prossy who would be keen to go to Case IH StepUP! 2020? We might be able to help - get in contact with Molly today - 0448105171 http://nextgenstepup.com/

09.01.2022 All smiles at the pricing and marketing workshop Angus from Wilmar put on for the PYF last night! Just the first in a series of workshops where we are learning the basics (and eventually not so basics) of sugarcane pricing and marketing. Thanks to Angus McKerrow and Wilmar for taking the time to teach us (and feed us!).

07.01.2022 We had our second workshop with Angus from Wilmar on Tuesday night. We focused on learning the basics of sugar futures. Definitely going to need to read the great resource Angus put together for us again - heaps of useful information! A timely topic with sugar prices going up recently - great to learn about how we can lock in a (hopefully) good price for the future to help provide some price protection to our businesses. Looking forward to getting into more detail next time. Thanks Angus!

06.01.2022 Learning lots on our Burdekin Trip! On Friday we went to SRA and learnt some tips and tricks about irrigation efficiency from Gavan Lamb and checked out plant breeding with Catherine, chatted with Alex Olsen from Autoweed about green-on-green spray technology and went to the grand opening of a new irrigation company Irrigation Efficiency Solutions. On Saturday we visited Dennis Pozzebon who has automated his irrigation across his farm. He was able to turn on and off pumps, an...d change flow rate at a touch of a button on his iPad. Steve Attard from Agritech Solutions met us a Dennis' and talked about irrigation efficiency and automation options. Damon and Chris Hesp have a lateral irrigator and plenty of green machines, they chatted to us about their farming system and things they have been trying over the years including reducing tillage and green cane trash blanketing. Heath Salter also has automated irrigation on his farm which he chatted to us about. We also were able to see rice and soybeans being grown in rotation with cane. We stopped off to see a pump station in the Burdekin River where they pump water up into one of the channels which is part of the Burdekin River Irrigation Area (BRIA). On Sunday we were able to see sub-surface drainage being installed at Armin Wessel's. Armin also chatted to us about how he has improved his productivity dramatically in the last 5 years. We stopped in at MH Premium Farms where manager, Andrew Cross, discussed their farming system, showed us some machinery, including a 5 row fertiliser box. Andrew grows grains in the cane fallow, and has substantial grain storage and drying facilities. Paul Villis kindly hosted us for a sausage sizzle lunch on Sunday and talked to us about his farming system. Paul also grows grain crops, including mung and soy beans, has his own grain header and grain storage facilities. He has also built his own liquid fertiliser machine which applied dunder sub-surface. On Monday we had a tour of Pacific Reef Fisheries prawn farm. Wayne explained the whole process to of growing and harvesting prawns. No one had been to a prawn farm so it was really interesting. They are trialling a bioremediation facility where waste water is pumped through a system with algae which uptake the nutrients. The algae can be harvested and exported off site for a range of uses. Our last stop was to chat with Bryan Granshaw at vantage BMS about Trimble's range of precision ag products and services. Bryan focused on Trimble's SIS (Soil Information System) product, which was really interesting especially with many of us looking to move more into precision agriculture and variable rate. Big thanks to all the farmers, Wayne from Pacific Reef Fisheries, Bryan from Vantage BMS, Alex from Autoweed, Steve from Agritech Solutions and SRA staff for showing us around and teaching us all something new.

04.01.2022 PYF had a great day at Jeppesen Farming. Tony explained his diverse farming business which includes cane farming and a range of contracting. Tony explained how he has dramatically increased yield over the years by working on improving the factor most limiting to growth, then the next, then the next... This included irrigation, drainage, pH and soil health. Tony is planning on longer fallows and growing a range of crops including legumes and cereals. We also were given a tour ...of various pump sheds with discussions about tariffs and irrigation efficiency. Jake explained and showed us the Optisurface program they use for designing paddocks for levelling. It was clear the importance of proper drainage for good production. Its more high tech than the old laser levelling in one straight line! A big thank you to Tony and Jake!! We really appreciate you spending your Sunday helping share your knowledge with PYF!