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When the Mackillop Farm Management Group held its forum on precision agriculture recently in the tiny South Australian town of Frances, more than 60 people turned up – 10 more than the town’s population.

[Photo (left) by Melissa Marino: Chris Klose with his newly upgraded silo complex at his Lucindale property. Orginally designed for his broad beans, he now also expects to increase feed grain storage, providing greater flexibility.]

The healthy turnout demonstrates that the group, based in south-east SA, is on the right track, says its chairman Chris Klose.

“My goal is to get new members to come along and be exposed to new technologies,” says the 37-year-old Lucindale cereal grower and livestock producer. “I enjoy seeing new faces at events: from new people you can get new ideas.”

Chris says the group is continuously looking for innovative approaches to bring to the attention of the membership. “By presenting new ideas we remain relevant,” he says.

Chris’ attitude reflects that of the broader members of the Mackillop group (most are aged under 40), and which in July celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a dinner for 114 people, complete with former AFL star Mark Ricciuto as guest speaker.

Founded with the intention of getting the concerns of high-rainfall zone (HRZ) farmers onto the national research agenda, the group was initially focused on raised beds, but has since moved on, championing no-till, precision agriculture and other advances for the HRZ.

Today, it runs National Variety Trials and about a dozen other trials each year funded by groups including the GRDC. It has brought numerous specialists to the region from interstate and overseas and hosted two study tours, always with a keen eye on innovation.

“It’s turned into a general research organisation investigating all methods of increasing crop production,” Chris says.

Despite the fact that 10 years on some of the initial Mackillop members would no longer regard themselves as being in a HRZ, the group’s range has also grown, now covering farms across three million hectares over a spread of rainfall zones and soil types, which each present their own agronomic challenges.

It now has 115 business members representing some 160 growers across south-east SA and western Victoria as well as 15 sponsor companies.

Chris, a third-generation Lucindale grower and surveyor, who has been back farming for about as long as the Mackillop group has existed, credits it for reinforcing his decision to move from full cultivation to minimum-till on his 760ha property, of which 260ha is under crop.

“Basically I got tired of burning diesel ... just going around in circles for the sake of it,” he says. “I changed to minimum-till before I was a member of Mackillop, but since joining, and now becoming chairman, it has only reinforced my view that this is the way to go.”

Chris crops about 70ha each of wheat, barley and broad beans, with a smaller area of about 30ha for an oat/clover mix in winter and a maize summer grain crop.

He has embraced precision agriculture, introducing auto-steer last season to complement his GPS technology used for seeding and spraying. This not only saves him energy, but allows night spraying when the wind dies down, increasing efficiency and reducing waste.

He has also recently increased storage capacity on his farm, adding four 140-tonne silos to provide flexibility, cater for feed demand from an anticipated growth in dairying in the area and reflecting his confidence in expanding the cropping side of his business.

“I’ve doubled my cropping regime and I’ll probably leave it at that at this stage, but I’m looking for more land to give me a better economy of scale,” he says.

Chris, who studied surveying, not agriculture, at university says learning about general agronomy through the Mackillop group has been very helpful. So too, the fellowship the group has provided, particularly in challenging years.

“I believe part of farming is getting off the farm and meeting new people and seeing new ideas. Getting off the farm can be just as productive as being on the farm.”

Chris says the Mackillop group has seen a shift in farming practices across the region, particularly in the uptake of minimum-till systems, and has helped and supported growers as they adopt new systems and technologies.

Current Mackillop group projects include deep-ripping trials to investigate the breaking up of hard pans by bringing up low-lying clay to incorporate with sandy topsoil, and GRDC-funded stubble retention trials that are measuring impacts on yield.

In another project, supported by the Yorke Peninsula Alkaline Soils Group, bee hives are being placed in white clover and bean crops at flowering and the impact on yields studied. First-year results indicate that increased pollination of flowers by bees can lead to yields increases of up to 50 per cent, Chris says.

Trials are also underway into drag lines beneath centre pivots to apply water (and nutrients) directly to crops below the canopy through hoses rather than through an overhead sprinkler system. This would reduce evaporation wastage, he says.

Reducing waste and working more efficiently is a key concern of growers in the area, as illustrated by the Mackillop group’s research focus and the keen interest shown in the recent precision-agriculture workshop. “It was basically a ‘get to know GPS’ day, which demonstrated the different functions and accuracies of available equipment and how it could be used in yield mapping.”

A GPS receiver and yield monitor on a header generates a yield map that corresponds with differing soil characteristics across a paddock. It allows a grower to map productivity and apply fertilisers according to where they will produce a gain, rather than a ‘blanket’ application across the whole paddock.

“People are interested because it’s the way farming is going. You have to be smart and efficient.”

More information: Chris Klose, 0429 667 005, email