Vegetable farmers Roy Roddau and his son Clinton grow sweet corn and English potatoes and run a few cattle in Kia Ora in the Southern Great Barrier Reef Catchment.
For the Roddau family, improving efficiency is an important part of remaining sustainable. A new fertiliser spreader is helping them apply the right amount of product, reduce waste and save time in the paddock.
With assistance through the Hort360 Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Best Practice Fund, an incentive program under the Queensland Government funded Hort360 GBR Best Management Practice (BMP) Project, the family were able to invest in a new spreader fitted with scales, giving them greater control over how much fertiliser is being applied.
The difference is particularly noticeable at the end of each run.
“With the old one, you would do a run and then you'd have to turn around and go back up the paddock,” Clinton says.
“Some runs you would have to do it twice to use the product up, not knowing how much you had in there. So, you weren't getting an even application on the paddock either.”
The new spreader uses scales to measure the fertiliser being applied, while allowing the operator to set the speed and calibration.
“It saves a lot of time because you set your speed, your calibration, and when you get to the end of the paddock, it runs right out right at the end, you don't have anything left,” Clinton says.
“You get the right amount on the paddock so you're not wasting it, overdosing or underdosing.”
The spreader also gives the family greater control when working around gullies, with the downstream side able to be switched off to help prevent fertiliser being applied into gullies and watercourses.
“When you're buying fertiliser, you buy it to put on the ground, not into the watercourse,” Clinton says.
“So, it saves fertiliser and then saves it going into the watercourse dams, which is better for the environment.”
For the Roddau family, the benefits extend beyond getting a more even application. Using less fertiliser and spending less time going back over paddocks also helps reduce their day-to-day running costs.
Roy says adopting new technology can be costly, but grants can help growers make investments that improve the way they operate.
“Adapting new technology, it's costly, but there's no other way. There's no shortcuts. These grants help farmers greatly, basically investing in your future,” he says.
For the Roddau family, the benefit is straightforward: less fertiliser wasted, less time spent going back over paddocks and more of the product going where it is intended.
“It's a win-win for our farm as well as for our pocket because we're not buying fertiliser to waste it,” Roy says.
“It's not getting thrown into watercourses or in gullies. It's going where you want it. It's all going where it's got to be. That's what it's all about.”
Watch Roy and Clinton’s full story to see how a new fertiliser spreader is helping improve application accuracy, reduce waste and save time and money on farm.
The Hort360 GBR project is funded through the Queensland Government’s $330.5 million Queensland Reef and Catchment Water Quality Program, backed by QFVG and growers.
