DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
A CANE grower who slashed his fertiliser rates without affecting yield is about to share his top tips with other growers across the region. Third generation farmer Robert Bonassi says the secret is maintaining healthy soils.
A CANE grower who slashed his fertiliser rates without affecting yield is sharing his top tips with other growers across the Far North region.
Third-generation farmer, Robert Bonassi is focused on fallow crops, mill by-products and soil tests in his transition to cane that is less reliant on artificial fertilisers.
He is one of 39 Wet Tropics growers to take advantage of the Australian Government’s Reef Trust IV tender program, delivered through the Wet Tropics Sugar Industry Partnership.
The program is helping to finance changes reducing fertiliser use on these farms and potentially other farms in the future.
As a result, Mr Bonassi has cut his fertiliser rates by up to 20 per cent over four years, moving from 160kg of nitrogen per hectare to 120-130kg for plant cane and 145kg for ratoons.
He said the take-home message was simple – you needed to maintain healthy soils.
“I’ve learned you can’t drop the ball – you’ve got to keep the soil healthy when you’re reducing nitrogen and phosphorous,’’ Mr Bonassi said.
“We’d always taken soil samples but now we target every block we fallow on a yearly basis.”
Mr Bonassi said regular soil tests also helped to maintain calcium and magnesium levels, with lime applied when needed.
He said it was important to remember “what worked well last year doesn’t always work well this year”.
“At this stage we’re not saving money, but our yield hasn’t been affected and overall it feels like we are getting there,’’ he said.
“This is something I’ve always wanted to do – get the soils back up.”
Wet Tropics Sugar Industry Partnership extension officer Jarrod Sartor said incremental change was the way forward for growers.
“An important message when reducing fertiliser is not to drop it by too much too quickly or without fixing other constraints, or you risk losing productivity,’’ he said.
“By regular soil testing, ameliorating with mill byproducts and lime and using legumes as a break crop, you can constantly improve the soil to better use the fertiliser being placed.”