Healthy soil... from the ground up

Regional cane grower Danny Swift understands the success of his crop and longevity of his property depends on the quality of his soil. Over the last five years Danny has been progressively working to improve the health of his soil to increase productivity, conserve nutrients and reduce the amount of run-off into waterways.?

Through careful management, and by reaching out for planning advice and resources, Danny is now seeing significant improvements in soil condition and productivity.?

Starting from scratch to create fertile ground?

Danny grew up on a small cane farm in Mackay. After a time running an earth moving contracting business in Beaudesert and the scenic rim, Danny returned home with his wife Karin, to lease the family farm for two years. In 2019, Danny and Karin purchased their own farm in Lethebrook. The property comprises 88 HA, backing onto mangroves.?

Over the next five years Danny made significant improvements to the property with a focus on building healthy soil. As a result of good management and favourable weather conditions, farm productivity has increased from 4400 tons in 2020, to 7700 in 2022.?

The starting point: poor soil?

The soil characteristics of the property have caused many problems making the farm difficult to operate and manage. The previous owner had used inappropriate tillage techniques, resulting in a very shallow, hard plough pan layer in the soil. The plough pan limits water penetration and root growth. This tillage also exacerbated the hard setting characteristics of the soil making establishing plant cane difficult.?

Finding solutions, setting goals and making progress

After seeking advice from Service Provider Frank Millar from Sugar Services Proserpine (SSP) and other agronomists, Danny understood the best way to deal with the issue was to increase organic matter in the soil and to apply ameliorants such as lime and gypsum where field conditions allow. Poor subsoil drainage however, remained a limitation to the effectiveness of these ameliorants.?

When the Reef Trust VII Project Sugarcane component funding was announced, Frank invited Danny to participate in the project. He quickly realised it offered an affordable opportunity to apply the agronomic practices that would address many issues, help reduce nitrogen inputs and increase productivity on farm.?

Danny started to make his own compost from mill by-products (mill mud an ash), green waste from the local council, as well as any unwanted crop residues.?

He also included the addition of lime and gypsum to the compost to supply calcium and Sulphur to the mix.?

Regular soil testing indicated the need to correct pH and calcium deficiencies, and gypsum to correct the excess sodium levels. Danny started a program of applications of mill mud and gypsum where possible and within budget constraints, followed by multiple passes with deep ripper to shatter the plough pan.?

Future strategy

Danny’s long-term plan is to move to a controlled traffic farming system to reduce soil compaction and increase organic matter content of the soil. He expects this to improve soil health and assist with improved water penetration. This will also mitigate the effects of high sodium and magnesium content.?

A successful application for grant funding from the Reef Trust VII program has allowed Danny to purchase a band applicator. He is now able to apply mill mud and homemade compost, as well as conventional ameliorants, saving on nutrients applied and bringing his long-term plans to life.?

“After working closely with Danny and Karin Swift over the years, I have seen their dedication to better their farm practices. It is rewarding to see that they have benefited from the funding opportunity. Without grant opportunities like the Reef Trust VII project, growers aren’t able to financially afford to adopt water quality practices on such large scales or at all.”?

~ Frank Millar -Sugar Services Proserpine

The Targeted support to maximise soil, biodiversity and vegetation outcomes in the O’Connell and Proserpine basins of the Mackay Whitsunday NRM region Project is funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust.