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Capturing rain in bucketfuls
A BCG CSIRO Healthy Soils Water Use Efficiency Workshop held on Tuesday 28 April saw advisors from as far as Adelaide travel to Birchip to hear CSIRO’s Neil Dalgliesh speak about water use efficiency and its increasing importance in our current farming systems.
Employing the famous bucket terminology, Neil covered topics such as the different plant available water capacity and plant available water of soils with different density, structure and texture. How crops vary in their ability to extract water from a given soil was also discussed. CSIRIO’s Trish Hill presented how soil cover, tillage and compaction play a major role in water use efficiency and crop growth. While French and Schultz’s soil water calculation was reiterated as a useful rule of thumb to determine potential crop yield from available water, Yield Prophet was highlighted as a superior tool.
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Yield Prophet’s Tim McClelland spoke of the value of the simulator, demonstrating how its innovative approach gives farmers the extra confidence they need to make big decisions such as in-crop nitrogen application. One participant commented: “The workshop was really worth attending. I now see the great importance of preventing crop lower limits dropping below zero. Negative values leave farmers with a major disadvantage which can be avoided or minimised in worse case scenarios.” L – R: Yield Prophet’s Tim McClelland, CSIRO’s Neil Dalgliesh and CSIRO’s Trish Hill. |
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BCG will conduct several different Healthy Soils workshops over the coming months. Possessing healthy soils is necessary to increase water infiltration and maintain profitable and sustainable agriculture.
For more information contact Janine at BCG on (03) 5492 2787 or janine@bcg.org.au