A promising future for automated irrigation could be on the horizon following recent impressive results in a Wilmar Sugar and Renewables trial.
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The trial of the Burdekin Irrigation Project, which was held on a 130ha cane farm on Stockham Road in the Burdekin, was irrigated using full automation since early last year.
Agricultural Productivity Manager Peter Larsen said the first-year results showed the volume of water used was reduced by one-third following the automated irrigation, compared to traditional irrigation methods.
He noted there was also a significant reduction in nitrate runoff and losses to groundwater.
The cane yield was 136t/ha - the same yield as what was achieved on the areas under traditional irrigation.
"These are very good results for the first year of the trial and we're keen to see if they can be repeated in future years of the crop cycle," Mr Larsen said.
The automated irrigation system was installed as a joint project with Sugar Research Australia (SRA) and other industry partners.
"It uses state-of-the-art technology to automate turning pumps on and off, and opening and closing valves - tasks that would typically be carried out by a farmer or farmhand," Mr Larsen said.
"This means irrigation sets can be changed automatically, anytime of the day or night, without someone having to drive down to the farm to open and close valves.
"Instead, they can control the irrigation schedule remotely, from a computer, a smartphone or a tablet."
Wilmar Farmhand Robert McArdle, who oversees the irrigation at the Stockham Road farm, said the technology was easy to use and created greater efficiencies.
"With this system, we can change water in shorter sets, manually or automatically, using an iPad. You can control the irrigation from anywhere in Australia or the world. As long as you've got internet, you can do it," Mr McArdle said.
SRA Burdekin District Manager Terry Granshaw said the Wilmar farm was an ideal location to trial the Burdekin Irrigation Project because it had even row lengths and similar soils across the whole farm.
"We've set this farm up as a demonstration site, with the aim of creating a greater understanding of how technology such as this can benefit the sugar industry through improved irrigation efficiencies, reduced run-off and deep drainage to groundwater," Mr Granshaw said.
"By working closely with the Wilmar Farms team to analyse the results of the trial over the five- year crop cycle, we will collect good, commercial-scale data to share with other farmers."
Wilmar's General Manager Agriculture Ian Davies said the use of technological innovation was in line with Wilmar's drive towards more efficient and sustainable farming operations.
He said Wilmar Farms was extremely happy with the results so far, and was developing a capital program to roll out automated irrigation across its Burdekin operations.
Work is currently under way to install automatic irrigation on two more farm blocks, totalling 250ha, next year.
The Burdekin Irrigation Project is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government's Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation with collaboration between Sugar Research Australia, Farmacist, AgriTech Solutions, Burdekin Productivity Services, Burdekin Bowen Integrated Floodplain Management Advisory Committee, James Cook University, the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fishers, and NQ Dry Tropics.
