Willem Bezuidenhout produced avocados and mangoes on his 50 ha Mareeba property, called Willbi, before expanding into limes in 2009. The limes have been a success story prompting further expansion into citrus. He said his operation relies on keeping costs under control.

"To get an efficient production system you need to check your costs. We had some problem areas like pumping costs and electricity costs, and we decided to get people in, to give us advice and we saw we could save quite a bit by making some changes on the farm," Bezuidenhout said.

While he didn't realise early on how great those savings could be, he knew the old pumping infrastructure on the property was in obvious need of an upgrade.

"When we got the farm, the pumping system was set for the old tobacco irrigation with the solid set," Bezuidenhout said. "The previous owner did a very good job turning everything over to micro-irrigation, but not the pump itself.

"What we could see was the cost of water and electricity was very high so we knew that we had to change. The kilowatt of the pump was about a 50-kilowatt motor and what we needed was about 25 to 30-kilowatt motor, so we were way over with the pump we had."

Growcom, through the Rural Water Use Efficiency Irrigation Futures (RWUE-IF) project, played an important role in assessing the Willbi system. Throttling back an oversized pump can be a costly exercise.

A pump evaluation showed the energy loss at the valve and inefficient pump operation was really driving up the energy costs.

"After the assessment we could see we'd have to change the pump, and in the same instance we also considered installing solar," Bezuidenhout said.

The impressive solar system was installed on the property along with a 30-kilowatt motor, and the savings are clear.

"At this stage we haven’t got a lot of readings, but we have had the same amount of pumping hours and daylight time. We've worked out that the new system could be a saving as much as $13,000 a year. I’m very happy with that," Bezuidenhout reported.

The video case study can be viewed online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpYAK7kgtE0

In 2017, the RWUE-IF programme will be delivered in the Lockyer Valley. Horticultural growers in the region are invited to take part. For further information or to book a property visit, please contact Growcom Land and Water Field Officer, Kathleen Heuvel, on 0427 138 118 or e-mail.

Growcom's RWUE-IF programme for horticulture is part of the Rural Water Use Efficiency Initiative funded by Queensland's Department of Natural Resources and Mines.