A Kairi couple are trialling a roller crimper on their broadacre cropping property to explore different avenues of improving soils and reducing fertiliser inputs.
Alex and Alicia Bertola are cane, maize and peanut producers based on the Atherton Tablelands.
A soil health field day sparked the idea that led the farmers to swapping their ripper for a roller crimper and bare earth for mixed cover crops.
Roller crimpers knock down cover crops, crimping the stems in several places, stopping the sap flow and forming a mulch matt to suffocate weeds. The crimped crop can then be planted directly into with the following cash crop.
The Bertolas are working with environmental management organisation, Terrain NRM, to trial the methods in four hectares of their corn crop and one hectare of peanuts.
The process began in August last year when the couple planted their first cover crops; field peas, tillage radish, vetch, oats and rye after harvesting peanuts.
In late September, the couple followed up with a roller crimper. The process involved laying the crop flat and crimping stems to stop the plants from growing to create a mat of organic matter for weed control and moisture retention.
Mrs Bertola said they later planted into what was left of the cover crop.
"We strip-tilled in January and planted corn straight into what was left of the cover crop,'' she said.
"The corn is coming up now and it's looking good."
A desire to farm more sustainably is what prompted the tillage method changes.
"We want to build up organic matter and drop fertiliser costs - we're right at the beginning of our journey so there's a lot to learn,'' Mrs Bertola said.
"The goal is to gradually decrease fertiliser usage over a number of years and to see the same yields or, even if they're less, the same profits given a reduction in input costs.
Changes to ground preparation methods have also halved the number of machinery passes.
"We normally plough, rip and/or disc our paddocks depending on what we are planting," Mrs Bertola said.
"With this system we use the roller crimper, then the strip tiller. Ideally that's it. That's what we've done for the corn trials.
"With the strip tillage equipment, it also means we are now leaving two thirds of the land in this trial paddock undisturbed and largely uncompacted."
Mrs Bertola said it is a learn as they go process.
"Next time we'll shorten the amount of time between planting the cover crop and the new crop going in because the blanket didn't last quite long enough and some of the cover crop had time to seed and re-grow," she said.
"We'd also like to try a cash crop as a cover crop."
However, as peanuts are a low-growing plant that are dug up, the process is different.
"This time around we had to spray for weeds, but next time we'll trial getting the peanuts in as soon as possible after roller crimping," Mrs Bertola said.
"Hopefully the trash will stop the weeds long enough for the peanuts to emerge and fill in the rows.
"We're seeing what we can do to make it work.
"In the corn we also trialled a neighbour's cows in part of the trial paddock, as a way of terminating the cover crop while adding microbes through their dung."
Terrain NRM agronomist, Sally Fields, said crimp rollers and strip tillage had been trialled in the Wet Tropics before, largely in the cane industry, but hadn't been used widely in broadacre crops.
"There is good application potential on the Tablelands, with its fertile soils, high rainfalls and differing micro-climates,'' she said.
"It's a big step for farmers so it's great to see landholders like Alicia and Alex making changes after going to local regenerative farming workshops, doing their own research and talking to others who are pushing the window for better results on tired soils.
"Strip tillers and roller crimpers are part of the tool kit available for building the health of your soil and, in turn, building the nutrient density of the crops grown."
However, Ms Fields said it's not a one size fits all.
"It's about adapting methods to suit your individual farm," she said.
"The goal in the long run is less overheads and better outcomes for growers and for the land."
The Bertola's farm will be used as a demonstration site through Terrain's Digging Deeper soil health program, which is funded by the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.
Want news highlights delivered to your inbox? Sign up to the North Queensland Register newsletter below.
Zoe Thomas
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
