Variable rate technology in vegetables – a collective approach
DJM Farming, Fassifern Valley, Kalbar, Queensland
Ben Moore is part of a small family mixed cropping operation (vegetables, grains and fodder) situated in the Fassifern Valley, approximately 90km south west of Brisbane, Queensland.
Ben is a member of a small local vegetable grower group that has been working towards the implementation of precision technologies, in particular variable rate technology for the past 2 years. This group has been involved in a larger project exploring the value that precision agriculture technologies provide to vegetable systems.
The group has been able to purchase a range of technologies that are shared by group members. This includes crop biomass sensors, yield monitors and variable rate equipment. Through the application of these technologies DJM Farming has gained more detailed understanding of the variability within their farming operation.
The range of precision technologies they now have access to has provided them with multiple data layers to assess spatial variability, develop strategies to manage it and obtain cost benefit data to assess the value of any intervention.
The presentation provided some background on the members of the vegetable grower group as well as some detail about DJM Farming’s journey to implement precision and variable rate technologies.