Protecting Wetlands together...Precision Ag On-Farm Trial

The Beyond Bolac Catchment Action Group and Precision Agriculture have collaborated and welcomed four experienced cropping farmers to the trial: George Coutts, Graeme Vallance, Nathan Blomeley, and Simon Gabb. Each have provided a 200ha cropping area with wetlands, to be included in the trial, which aims to demonstrate how Precision Ag (PA) strategies can contribute to the protection of natural assets like wetlands while also enhancing cropping yields.

Grid soil sampling will begin in the trial areas in mid-December once the current crop is harvested. This will provide each participant with a deeper understanding of their soils and the variation across the paddocks, enabling the Precision Ag team to create custom prescription files for each area avoiding waterlogged areas. During the next planting season, machinery will be able to travel through these wetland areas without applying any seed or inputs, saving costs, and avoiding underperformance due to waterlogging.

The Precision Ag team will track the performance of each crop within the trial area to evaluate whether they can achieve a high yielding crop without the need to cultivate the wetlands using the targeted Precision Ag approach. Two on-farm field days will be held in June this year to showcase the trial and provide farmers with the opportunity to learn about Precision Agriculture as a tool to boost farm profitability while preserving wetlands.

To find out more, and see who is involved with the trial,  check out this video https://youtu.be/OSspyLojgl4?si=B7pKsc1564fWmt-B