Zero till boosts Liverpool Plains yield 50pc

The 'incredible benefits' of zero till farming have allowed southern Liverpool Plains farmers Neil and Geoff Barwick, Yarrabah, Willow Tree to boost yields by 50 per cent within two years.

Neil Barwick says this year promises "pretty good yield but lousy prices" but points out that using zero till to get a crop in the years when many other areas in Australia miss out has been financially very beneficial.

"That's the benefit of zero tilling and the beautiful Southern Liverpool Plains area where we are - we can get a good average crop when crops are failing in other places and the price is accelerated so we're able to sell our good average crops at high prices," Mr Barwick said.

The Barwicks use an Excel Stubble Warrior planter which can be configured to plant summer crops in 30-inch rows and winter crops in 15-inch rows.

"This represents excellent value for us because at the same time, we had the Stubble Warrior configured to put out large amounts of urea between rows and starter fertiliser with the seed," Mr Barwick said.

"All this is made possible with the Excel Stubble Warrior pulled by a John Deere 8300 front wheel assist 4WD tractor with Greenstar GPS parallel guidance and John Deere auto steer."

After researching zero till implements, the Barwicks decided the Excel Stubble Warrior would best handle the high trash levels their country produced. They said the extra heavy duty parallelograms and double-disc planting system were able to easily penetrate the soil.

"We need an implement that has excellent strength and down pressure to put the seed into moisture in the seed row where we require it.

"Precise seed placement is absolutely vital in summer crop planting because of evaporation rates.

"Once you disturb the soil, moisture starts to evaporate away very quickly. It is important to press the soil around the seed for quick germination."

Although Mr Barwick has needed very few spare parts for their Stubble Warrior, he says the local farmers are welcoming Excel Agriculture's new spare parts depot in the local area.

Mr Barwick, a devotee of zero till systems for more than 14 years, said the family's 930 hectare zero till farming operation was far less reliant on the weather now that soil structure, organic matter and moisture retention had been improved by putting stubble to work.

"We saw what a handful of the most progressive farmers on the Liverpool Plains were doing with great success in the late 1980s and decided to bite the bullet and go from minimum till to zero till for summer crops and four years later for winter crops," Mr Barwick said.

"It took up to two years to get rid of the compaction caused by the previous 30 to 40 years of conventional farming but virtually immediately we saw incredible yield responses.

"Straight away we saw the amazing benefits of soil erosion control through no soil disturbance and retaining the stubble attached to the soil, keeping our soil bank."

The heavy black self-mulching clay-loam soils of the Liverpool Plains has responded well to the change in cropping practice, producing reliable yields of up to 7.5 tonnes/ha of sorghum and wheat yield averages of 5-6t/ha.

"There was never any doubt in our minds that the cost of specialised planting machinery would pay great dividends - it always has, right from the start," Mr Barwick said.

"With the zero till, we were able to conserve our moisture and, because of no soil compaction, the roots can go down two metres now, searching for moisture. When we got rid of the compaction, the soil soaked up the rain and there was very little ponding."

This year the Barwicks plan to double-crop plant Strezlecki wheat at the end of May/early June into sorghum stubble that will be harvested in late March/April. They'll also plant Hybrid Mercury in late June/early July.

The excellent moisture seeking ability and uniform seed placement of Excel Stubble Warrior's disc openers and tines on one parallelogram make the unit attractive to farmers Australia-wide, according to Dan Ryan from Excel Agriculture sales and marketing.

Excel's sales and service professionals are well respected for their ability to set machines for germination on any soil type where subsoil moisture is present and have earned the trust of clients across eastern Australia.

Excel takes the time to individually set the planter's tine or disc planting depth, presswheel pressure and parallelogram downforce pressure based on farmers' requirements.

Mr Ryan said Excel offers disc and/or tine options on the Stubble Warrior and flexibility in fertiliser, presswheel and seeding configurations.

"The SP-200 model which Neil has, provides ultimate seed placement with its proven double disc opener and heavy duty construction designed to meet the demands of Australian broadacre zero and minimum tillage," Mr Ryan said.

"Our engineers have designed a unique disc opener which can handle large amounts of stubble and the Stubble Warrior can go to seven inches deep with minimal surface disturbance."

Excel implements can be seen at major field days and on farm demonstrations and the company welcomes tours of its impressive Toowoomba factory.