Soil Wealth & Integrated Crop Protection: Koo Wee Rup | Agricultural cooperative
Soil Wealth & Integrated Crop Protection: Koo Wee Rup
Phone: +61 438 546 487
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25.01.2022 Did you tune in to ABC Rural's Victorian Country Hour last week? It was great to share the latest updates from our trial site on the program, including some tips on how vegetable growers can look into applying precision agriculture technologies on their farms. If you missed Thursday's episode, you can tune in around the 36-minute mark here: https://www.abc.net.au//vi/victorian-country-hour/12323488
23.01.2022 Please take a couple of minutes to share your feedback on the Soil Wealth ICP project so we can make sure our work continues to meet industry's needs!
23.01.2022 Key finding #5: It was clear the treated areas of the Koo Wee Rup demo site produced more consistent marketable yield as a result of the precision ag trial. This meant easier grading and packing of celery by staff and the ability to supply customers with a product that better met their specifications, which helps to support overall profitability. ... The harvest from the demo site this year (2020) was so uniform. It was really noticeable when it was coming off the block. It was a fantastic result it beat the best crop off the farm, Schreurs & Sons Director of Field Operations Adam Schreurs said. We’ll continue updating this page with more news from our demo site so stay tuned! In the meantime, more information can be found in the latest demo site case study and podcast below. Case study: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//precision-ag-pays-off-in-b/ Podcast: https://soundcloud.com//precision-ag-pays-off-in-bumper-ce
21.01.2022 Remote monitoring trial and celery planting complete Over the past month the project team have been calibrating the remote monitoring insect station with manual scouting. The aim was to better train the identification algorithm to pick up the correct pest and beneficial species. This has been a great process, but not without the challenges of some cooler and wetter spring and early summer weather at the site. The final beds of the trial block were planted out today. We're n...ow going to use a new set of chemical analysis handheld meters to test nutrient uptake in the trial and control blocks between now and Feb/Mar next year. These instant in-field results will also be compared with lab sap testing. Will the crops in the VRT trial have better and more consistent uptake of nutrients compared to the non-VRT control bays? Stay tuned to find out more!
21.01.2022 We were pleased to see some noticeable benefits to soil structure from the precision ag trial at our Koo Wee Rup demo site, which has focused on variable rate nutrition over the past 2.5 years. This is in combination with ryegrass cover crops and semi-permanent beds in a celery-ryegrass-leek-ryegrass rotation (see first pic). The Soil Wealth ICP team recently collected pre-plant soil tests at the demo site. You can see the noticeable difference in soil structure between the c...ontrol and trial areas (see second pic). Trial Bays 5-12 show the best improvements and most sightings of earthworms - a great indicator of soil health. Check out our video to see the differences for yourself: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//soil-health-a-big-winner-f/ Variable rate nutrition has led to better plant available nutrients and uniformity of yield in the preceding winter leek and summer celery crops. There has also been a reduction in soil-borne disease pressure (e.g. Pythium spp., Rhizoctonia spp.), and it will be interesting to see the DNA pathogen test results from this year. Stay tuned! To find out more about the results and how they could apply to your farm, read our latest case study from the demo site: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//precision-ag-pays-off-in-b/ Or listen to the podcast: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//precision-ag-pays-off-in-b/
21.01.2022 Key finding #4: A digital 'insect scout' was on hand to monitor crops around the clock at our Koo Wee Rup demo site, which acted as a handy back-up system to the conventional scouting in place. The digital scout provided many benefits in terms of remote monitoring, including early detection of relative pest pressure and an indication of the reliability of flights (timing and duration), which has been changing in the region over the years.... Read more on the digital scout and some of the challenges faced during the trial in our detailed case study: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//precision-ag-pays-off-in-b/
19.01.2022 Variable rate spreading and cash crop update The project team has continued monitoring over the past months, with pre-plant soil DNA testing undertaken in September in conjunction with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), following incorporation of the rye cover crop. Variable rate spreading then proceeded at the site in late October, following the earlier gridded soil sampling undertaken by Precision Agriculture and the nutrition program being ...developed by Brown's Fertilisers. Adam then planted the celery cash crop in early November, which will be harvested before the end of the calendar year. Stuart Grigg from Stuart Grigg Ag-Hort Consulting also flew the site with a drone to check the extent of growth and plant health (through NDVI imagery, where green is more plant growth/health and red is less plant growth/health). This will be undertaken at regular intervals over the lifetime of the crop to track progress, and compare crop health and yield with the adjacent control block. Stay tuned for more updates!
17.01.2022 Remote monitoring insect trap installed The project team braved the inclement weather yesterday, and installed a remote monitoring insect trap at the demo site. The system includes a covered trap for larger bugs and moths as well as an external plate with sticky paper for smaller insects. ... The units will take multiple images a day and automatically send them to a software platform viewable on our laptop and mobiles. The real-time data will be used to make decisions on relative pest pressure and how to implement the IPM strategy, including best selection of chemicals and beneficial insect releases. Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we calibrate the unit and move towards spring. We'll shortly be terminating the current rye grass cover crop and moving into celery on the 25 acre demo plot. A big thanks to Lawrence Cowley from One Harvest for their work on driving this initiative, who will also be installing a similar system at their Richmond TAS demonstration site, as well as Sam Eyres from Metos ANZ.
16.01.2022 It's been a busy few months at our Koo Wee Rup demo site, and we're excited to share some new findings with you! Over the past two years, we have partnered with Schreurs & Sons to explore the application of precision agriculture in celery, leek and baby leaf production systems. Firstly we noticed that large areas of the trial site have improved uniformity of nutrient availability, due to gridded soil sampling and variable rate fertiliser spreading.... Variable rate allows fertiliser to be applied at different rates depending on the changes in soil chemistry across the block. The aim is to achieve a more consistent and high-quality cash crop through more precise application of nutrients where the soil and crop needs it. To find out how this has impacted pH and potassium levels at the demo site, check out our case study: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//precision-ag-pays-off-in-b/ Keep an eye out for further updates over the coming weeks.
16.01.2022 A crisp sunny morning today and the celery crop is really evening out, with some minor thrip activity. Recent heavy rains have not affected the crop significantly. The remote monitoring insect trap is now complemented by a separate weather base station.
15.01.2022 In amongst the mud at harvest It's been a cool and wet end to winter at the demo site, with leek harvest nearing completion. The team were onsite this week undertaking planning for Year 2 - with more gridded soil sampling, EM38 and variable rate fertiliser application in the pipeline for September. The remote monitoring insect trap has also been modified to sit closer to the ground in-crop to give a better indication of insect flights in the upcoming spring. This system is a...lso now complemented by 2 soil moisture probes (1 in and 1 out of crop) and a weather base station (out of crop). This will help correlate conditions with insect pest pressure, as well as better monitor and manage irrigation scheduling. We've also refined our drone monitoring program for plant counts, uniformity and harvest scheduling for the upcoming celery cash crop due to be planted soon. Stay tuned for updates as we progress!
13.01.2022 Watch our full-length trial site update video and visual soil structure assessment compared to the control area.
13.01.2022 Here is a short video on the achievements of the Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection projects over the last three years. https://youtu.be/gkRsEL6O6ZE
12.01.2022 Chris visited Victoria in early March to talk with growers about the project and to take samples on vege farms in the south east and east Gippsland. The samples... include above ground weed samples, soil cores and the management history for the sites. Seeds in the soil will be germinated and all the data will give us a picture of the broader weed seed bank and the effect of different management strategies on farms in Victoria. We will be doing the same in each state and the NT. The farm visits were teed up by Carl Larsen (from RMCG and the South-Eastern region of VegNET) and Shayne Hyman (from East Gippsland Food Cluster and the East Gippsland region of VegNET) from the national Vegetable Extension Network (VegNET http://ahr.com.au/news/national-vegetable-extension-network/). A special thanks goes to Carl for helping sample on farms in the South East, and to the farmers who kindly allowed Chris to visit their properties.
09.01.2022 Koo Wee Rup Demonstration Site: Practice Change Case Study The Schreurs family have been farming on the Koo Wee Rup swamps in Gippsland, Victoria since 1963. After noticing a decline in soil condition, resulting in waterlogging and an increase in weed and disease pressure, the Schreurs partnered with the Soil Wealth and ICP team to trial a range of different cover crops to improve the overall quality and productivity of the farm from 2014 to 2017. Schreurs & Sons farm run by ...Adam, Ben and Chris produces a variety of different products including celery, leeks and baby leaf spinach. This case study provides an overview and lessons learnt from trialling different cover crops at the demonstration site in Cora Lynn, Victoria. http://www.soilwealth.com.au//koo-wee-rup-demonstration-s/
09.01.2022 Variable rate spreading undertaken at the trial site in late October, with planting of the celery cash crop undertaken in early November.
07.01.2022 Key finding #3: Our trial of precision ag technologies at Koo Wee Rup has helped to produce faster in-field monitoring of plant nutrient uptake, which in turn has helped to inform production decisions. It resulted in more precise nutrition and drainage management, which led to improvements and greater consistency in the celery crop's nutrient uptake during the summer growing season. ... A comparison of field and lab sap testing showed the value in faster in-field monitoring across a number of sample points in the trial area. Find out more in our case study: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//precision-ag-pays-off-in-b/
07.01.2022 Farm walk debrief Schreurs & Sons and the Soil Wealth ICP team have partnered to explore the application of precision agriculture in celery, leek and baby leaf production systems. The demonstration site is located at Adam’s Cora Lynn farm, about 80km south-east of Melbourne. We're aiming to improve nutrition, irrigation and drainage management, and insect pest and beneficial monitoring as a basis for soil and crop health. To achieve this, we’ve used technology like EM38 mapp...ing, gridded soil sampling, variable rate fertiliser spreading, remote monitoring insect pest and beneficial identification traps with cameras, as well as drones. Adam, his agronomist, Stuart Grigg, and demo site coordinator from the Soil Wealth ICP team, Carl Larsen, have been busy planning and implementing the trial at the site over the past 12-months. The activities have included: - Gridded and pre-plant soil testing - Development of a nutrition program and variable rate spreading - Monitoring of drainage and crop health using drones - Plant tissue testing - Installation and use of remote monitoring insect traps - Yield assessment. The results and analysis from each of these activities were discussed at a farm walk this week. Over 30 people braved the cold, wet conditions to hear from industry experts, walk the trial plot and see the results first-hand. Missed the farm walk? Catch up on the key findings with this case study: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//exploring-the-application-/
07.01.2022 Have you had a chance to read the latest edition of Vegetables Australia magazine yet? It features an update on our precision ag demo site trial at Koo Wee Rup, so take a look on page 58 of the bumper Spring edition https://bit.ly/2FMDb1R You can also read the article online here: https://bit.ly/3jaKT3q Thanks to AUSVEG for sharing our results!
06.01.2022 Pre-plant soil testing The Soil Wealth ICP team were out undertaking pre-plant DNA pathogen soil tests yesterday, as well as baseline soil chemistry and N-check tests to cross-check against the Precision Agriculture gridded soil sampling and EM38 mapping. The Year 2 results will be compared to the Year 1 results to assess progress towards more precise nutrition management in the trial block.... Celery will then be planted in the trial block in the next couple of weeks.
04.01.2022 Key finding #2: We're pleased to report a reduction in soilborne disease risk and severity at our Koo Wee Rup site. Soilborne diseases can cause significant damage and crop losses to vegetable growers. The most important, and potentially destructive, pathogens of celery are Sclerotinia spp., Pythium spp. and Rhizoctonia spp.... We noticed the reduction in soilborne disease risk and severity was more pronounced in the trial area compared to the control. The most significant reductions were in Pythium spp. (to moderate levels) and Rhizoctonia spp. (low levels) in the trial area. We've put together a detailed table of changes in soilborne pathogen concentrations from 2018 to 2019 in our case study here: https://www.soilwealth.com.au//precision-ag-pays-off-in-b/
02.01.2022 Exploring the application of precision agriculture in celery, leek and baby leaf production systems We're really excited to announce the new focus of this existing demonstration site under Phase 2 of the Soil Wealth and ICP project. The overall objective is to improve nutrition management, irrigation and drainage management and insect pest and beneficial monitoring as a basis for soil and crop health through using precision agriculture technology. ... This includes gridded soil sampling, EM38 mapping, drones and remote sensing technology for insect pest and beneficial monitoring. You can read more about the refreshed site here: http://www.soilwealth.com.au/demo-sites/koo-wee-rup-vic/ Stay tuned to this page for updates over the coming months and years!
