Australia
May 8, 2013
Soil testing and using an extensive liming program to maintain a good soil pH balance are proving crucial to the Glass family in making the most of the money they spend on soil and crop inputs.
Rex Glass and his wife Tracey, with their son Corey and his girlfriend Krystal Benjafield, farm in Calingiri.
They have another property in Wongan Hills and lease a third farm, also in Wongan Hills.
Details of their ongoing work to identify and address soil constraints are outlined in the May-June edition of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) magazine Ground Cover.
Strategies used by the Glass family have been recognised as best practice – soil testing to a depth of 300mm, site-specific liming applications taking account of subsoil requirements and a long-term approach.
Mr Glass said that soil pH was essential in maximising the cropping potential of their soils and that adequate rates of lime needed to be applied.
“We have found that if you are working from a low base, 1 tonne per hectare of lime does almost nothing,” he said.
“It takes 2t/ha to achieve any improvement and it takes time for the lime to work down from the surface.”
When the family added the Wongan Hills property to their holdings in 2004, the pH was as low as 3.7 in some areas, particularly on the yellow sandplain soils.
Two surface applications of lime at rates of 2t/ha were followed by a further 2t/ha deep-ripped.
Mr Glass said that while the surface applications took four to five years to work their way through the soil profile, they started to pay for themselves in the couple of years after application, particularly where pH-sensitive crops such as canola and barley were grown.
Addressing the subsoil acidity had delivered a range of benefits including allowing crops to access the moisture held deeper in the soil profile.
In 2012, with only 230mm of growing season rainfall, the family produced their highest yielding canola crops ever, and equalled or bettered their benchmarks for other grains.
The Glass family is involved with a three-year research project, funded through the Australian Government’s Caring for Our Country Program and involving the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) and Precision SoilTech, encouraging growers to take a deeper look at their soils.
Meanwhile, the GRDC is funding a five-year soil acidity project in its western and southern grains regions which aims to double lime use in these regions.
Other WA articles featured in the latest edition of Ground Cover include:
- A feature on the Kenny family’s efforts to find the most efficient and cost-effective tactics to combat non-wetting soils on their farm at Badgingarra;
- Results from 2012 trial work, initiated by the Esperance Regional Cropping Solutions Network (RCSN) initiative and led by DAFWA, investigating the nitrogen requirements of different canola systems in low rainfall areas;
- Marchagee grain producer Clinton Hunt’s use of a new GRDC-funded Liebe soil amelioration (lime profit) calculator;
- New research indicating that barley varieties commonly grown in WA have an increased risk of susceptibility to powdery mildew;
- A case study on work by the Smart family to eradicate wild radish on their Chapman Valley property.
The May-June edition of Ground Cover will be delivered to growers early in May.
To sign up for Ground Cover or download articles via the GRDC website visit www.grdc.com.au/groundcover
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