Techniques

Since 1979 David Fisher has run direct-drilling operation in Australia. Once he moved over to New Zealand, he continued farming in such a manner.

The only exception to direct drilling is for a 2 inch cultivation for the occasional spring crop and when needing to level a paddock.

We have found that direct drilling has many benefits. These being an increase in organic matter over time, an increase in carbon levels in the soil, water conservation, minimising disturbance of eco-systems and far less wear and tear on machinery. Probably the most beneficial component of all it is far better time management.

Over 18 years of minimum tillage cropping, organic matter has doubled and carbon levels have reached that of a 30-year stock farm nearby, a type of farming which seems to be the benchmark for carbon.

Since 1997 The farming operation has adopted GPS technology. As we have mostly John Deere Machinery, we went for greenstar.

The auto-steer has proved an extremely beneficial venture as the greater accuracy has saved us in labour, feul, time the tractor is working and made it far easier to carry on where you leave off the next day.

Since 2001 GPS mapping has become an integral part of harvesting. This has given us an accurate reading of what the yield's are at any given place in the farm, over an extensive time period. This is now enabling us to do variable rate fertilizing so that we can apply more fertilizer to really push yeilds in the heavier soils. We are also looking at installing variable rate irrigation systems so that we can do the same using irrigation.

Late 2001 we purchased a Stripper front. This has greatly increased speed of harvesting grains. As there is only a small window for the harvest, it is best to use the machinery that harvests the fastest. Rather than cutting the wheat at the stalk and milling both the head and straw through the combine, the stripper front just strips the grain from the heads of the wheat. This is less work for the combine which means less horsepower and diesel is used and harvest is done much quicker. In 2003 we set a record of 593 tonnes of wheat harvested in 8 hours, albeit unofficial. The Stripper on a 9650 John Deere also managed to harvest up to 106 tonnes/hour through a heavy crop of wheat.

In the season for the 2009 harvest we managed to marry up a John Deere front with a New Holland header. Why you ask? Because we have found that the new thrashing system of the New Holland CX 8090 machine harvests white clover really well, while seed loss is much lower than other machines. However, the John Deere combine has a superior header for the crops that are low to the ground. The answer was to make these two compatible. After much trial and error, there was success.

There are many other discoveries that we have adopted in our farming practice, but these three have been the ones that have given us a greater head up on other farming systems around us. However, there is much more technology waiting to be aknowledged. Until then we hope that this farm can continue to make a profit and help feed the world into the next generation and beyond.