Gong for Ground Breaker
Sowing just got a lot easier
A TOOWOOMBA company has taken out a top grain award for an innovative planting system that makes sowing crops more efficient.
Ground Breaker Precision Agriculture, run by Scott, Nick and Andrew Farquharson, was awarded the $75,000 Piper Prize for Innovation by the Council of Grain Grower Organisations.
The company’s precision tyne planting system won the award for being able to reduce the planting costs of growing canola in Western Australia by as much as 50 per cent.
“Canola is the preferred and the most widely grown break crop in Western Australia, used for its disease and weed management properties under crop rotation,” COGGO chair Chris Wilkins said.
“Grain growers in Western Australia face high costs per hectare for hybrid canola seed, which increases the financial risk of growing canola.
“We awarded the prize to Ground Breaker Precision Agriculture so that they can further develop the planter to improve the efficiency of sowing grain crops, with the initial focus on canola, due to the high cost of hybrid seed.”
Ground Breaker CEO Scott Farquharson said the technology was originally designed for Queensland growers, but its application had spread across the country.
“The precision planting system was originally designed for planting summer grain crops in Queensland, however the planter has been modified to solve the growing issues associated with planting canola in Western Australia,” he said.
“The planter uses a patented tyne system rather than a traditional double disc opener that you see on most growers seeding bars and applies the world’s leading precision technology.”
Other advantages of the Ground Breaker system include the fact that the seeds are more evenly spaced apart, allowing a greater chance of survival.
The company partnered with Bungalla Technologies’ Brad Jones on his WA property, where canola is grown.
Ground Breaker is hoped to be commercially available by next year.
For more information about the Piper Prize, go to www.coggo.net.au.