A field day with answers
After a period of nine years, the annual Conservation Agriculture Field Day is returning to its birthplace at Parkes on February 23.
This year’s event is the 17th field day since the first held in Parkes in 1995.
Organised by the Conservation Agriculture and No-till Farming Association (CANFA) in conjunction with Central West Farming Systems, FarmLink Research and Central West Lachlan Landcare, the field day is renowned for being one of the few farming events where machinery is still actively demonstrated.
CANFA executive officer, Neville Gould said 50 exhibitors already booked into this year’s field day, with both active and static displays.
“This year the climate change agenda will put the focus on conservation farming practices in a big way and we expect many exhibitors and farmers alike are keen to explore what this means for them.”
“Farmers are genuinely concerned about their land and how their farming systems impact on the resources – the land, water, air and people,” said Mr Gould.
“CANFA has been continually amazed by the resilience and inventiveness of manufacturers and farmers who continue to develop and adopt improved farming systems in response to the challenges that face them.
“The current political and environmental agendas regarding climate change will make it hard to ignore the impact carbon and greenhouse debates might have on conservation agriculture. It’s a great opportunity for us to see how conservation farming machinery and associated technologies will best fit into a carbon-focused environment.”
Under the Federal Government’s Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011, there is an amendment to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to provide a refundable tax offset (RTO) for certain new depreciating assets used in conservation tillage farming practices*.
Those assets considered eligible include:
? Tine machines fitted with minimum tillage points to achieve minimum soil disturbance and less than full cut-out, including narrow points, knife points or inverted ‘T’ points.
? Disk openers (single, double or triple arrangements).
? Disc/tine and disc/blade hybrid machines.
Features of the 17th Annual Conservation Agriculture Field Day include demonstrations of disc and tyne planting machinery, farmer-converted machines, residue management machinery, non-inversion tillage equipment, controlled traffic and precision agriculture equipment, spray application and conservation agriculture technologies, soil carbon measurement, carbon sequestration and nitrous oxide reduction information.
Information is delivered in the form of demonstrations, talks and static information. Gates open at 8.30am and demonstrations start at 9.30am.
The day is sponsored by the Federal Government Caring For Our Country program, North Parkes Mine, Barrick Gold, Essential Energy, Cornish’s, Hutcheon & Pearce, McPherson’s, Lachlan CMA and Rabobank.
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Make soil perform
For farmers to get the complete benefit from adopting no-till farming practices it is time for the focus to turn to soil balance, with particular emphasis on rejuvenating soil microbiology.
YLAD Living Soils, over the last 10 years, has been promoting the essential balance of physical, chemical and microbiology with proven results, in both independent and farmer trials.
Ten years ago soil microbiology was rarely spoken about and no value was placed on the huge role it plays in creating soil structure, nutrient cycling, plant health and disease suppression.
Come and visit the YLAD Living Soils stand at the upcoming CANFA Field Day to learn how you can successfully incorporate biological farming principals into you current program and kick start your microbes.
Based on our work with thousands of successful farmers throughout Australia we have developed a range of solutions to suit all soil types and crop enterprises.
There has been a huge emphasis on machinery improvements and modifications to try and improve sustainability and yields.
However, little importance has been given to the intimate relationship between soil microbes and the plant, a trap that farmers can only be released from by embracing biological principals.
When soil lacks microbiology and the ability to recycle and supply these nutrients to the plant, the plant then becomes very dependent on the farmer ‘feeding’ water-soluble N and P, which can lock-up, leach or evaporate.
When this oversupply of N and P occurs the microbiology cannot perform the role of fixing nitrogen (for free), solubilising phosphorus and staving off disease organisms.
Nitrogen seems to be a nutrient that farmers rely on most, believing that only when they supply large amounts of soluble N will they obtain high yields and quality.
Over the past 10 years this has proven incorrect showing that there are alternatives to achieving a similar or better results.
These alternatives not only supply short term gains but contribute to long term benefits such as improved soil structure, organic carbon increases and meeting environmental parameters.
- Visit the YLAD Living Soils stand at the CANFA Field Day to receive your free information pack and samples.
For further information phone (02) 63 822 165 or email sales@yladlivingsoils.com.au.
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Simplicity is the key for this drill
THE Golden Valley Implements (GVI) single-disc tine conversion makes turning a conventional tine machine into a direct-drill single-disc opener simple.
Simply remove your existing tine shank and replace it with the Golden Valley assembly.
On a standard machine, this process takes about 30 minutes per assembly and means that any compatible machine can be swapped between conventional tine and direct-drill single-disc in a relatively short space of time.
Alternatively, a second bar can be converted so that two machines are always available.
The GVI single-disc assembly was developed by a farmer for farmers with the assistance of agricultural industry experts to ensure that the unit was both effective and low-maintenance.
While relatively new on the Australian market, GVI single-disc assembly has had three years of field testing, including production units which entered service in 2011.
- To find out more about the GVI single-disc assembly, contact Mick Carey on 0428 273 559.
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