Strawberry and ginger grower, John Allen, grows around 600,000 strawberry plants and 28 hectares (70 acres) of ginger annually in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast.

"Our terrain is flat and the soil is a sandy Wallum-type soil, inherently poorly drained and inherently infertile," Allen said.

The significant challenges presented by his soil type have prompted him to turn to technology for solutions.

Allen is now using EM38 technology to generate maps, which give a good analysis of the state of his soil. "The EM38 soil mapping is an electromagnetic survey of the soil profile. We went down to a depth of 1.5 metres, which told us the EC of the soil. This is influenced by the amount of clay in the soil and also the amount of water."

He is also working with Growcom to generate NDVI data for his property, mapping levels of vegetation across the farm.

When the NDVI data was overlayed with the EM38 soil profile information, it was clear there was a link between the state of the soil and the amount of crop produced.

The clear message coming from the NDVI and EM38 work is the importance of soil health, with Allen already putting in place plans to look after his biggest asset.

"Particularly with our ginger crop, our concentration is on soil health. It's all about the microbial content of our soil," he said. "We will be moving towards higher carbon soils, more green manures, more carbon-based fertilisers, less chemical fertilisers and hopefully that's going to reflect on the run-off from the farm, and the nutritional leaching from the farm."

Allen said the technology, which has given him a better understanding of the limitation of his soil, will also allow him to make better management decisions around nutrition, irrigation and even drainage.

"I think there is good potential there," he said. "It gives us another layer of information and another method of surveying our crop. I expect that we will use the information to vary our nutrition program, to vary maybe irrigation; certainly the NDVI will help us with that."

Watch the full video online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjCLbrMbItQ

3D Drainage and Erosion Management Planning information session

Hort360 will host an information session next Tuesday on taking property planning to the next level.

Date: Tuesday 22 November

Time: 9:30 am-11:30 am

Location: Cameron & Mary Lister’s Farm. Access via Old Gympie Rd, Glasshouse Mountains between Sahara Rd & Fullertons Rd. Look for the Hort360 signs.

Guest speakers include:

• Bob Howard – Owner, GES Property Mapping and macadamia grower;
• Erosion Management Action Plans – providing knowledge to growers about their farms that allows them to manage their property more effectively;
• Jade King – Agronomist, Coochin Creek Fruitgrowers Cooperative;
• Using LIDAR layers in conjunction with pest scouting records, crop and orchard management, spray management and fertiliser requirements;
• Tony Gilbert – CEO, Qld Drones;
• Identify crop stress well before the human eye using NDVI technology, leading to faster, more effective treatments;
• Nick Watts – Project Director, Growth Agriculture/Innovative Ag;
• How the new product SeroX can benefit growers and their farms;

For more information or to register, visit the Growcom website. 

Growcom's Hort360 program, the best management practice program for horticulture, is designed to give growers a 360 degree view of their farm business operations, identifying potential risks, capitalising on business opportunities and highlighting unnecessary farm expenses.

The soil management and water quality modules are currently being delivered in south east Queensland and all horticultural growers in the Lockyer, Bremer, mid-Brisbane or Pumicestone sub-catchments are invited to take part in identifying areas of high risk in soil and water quality management. As part of this process a free property map will be provided.

To book a property visit, please contact Hort360 Facilitators, Rowena Beveridge on 0417 783 313, e-mail; or Anna Geddes on 0413 902 218, e-mail.

The sediment and nutrient management programme is conducted in collaboration with the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.