Mapping Soil EC Below Trash

SECMAPPER (Soil Electrical Conductivity Mapper):  a new machine for mapping soil electrical conductivity patterns below green cane trash blankets and crop stubble

Objectives:

• The EMMIT Grower Group, supported by the Terrain NRM and the Burdekin Productivity Services Ltd, will develop, test, and evaluate a soil EM mapping machine to collect soil conductivity data below thick trash layers (e.g. green cane trash blankets and leguminous crop stubble) which currently present a severe limitation to the use of the currently available VERIS 3100 soil EM mapping system.

• The group will forge new, cross-regional linkages between innovative growers in the Herbert and Burdekin in the design, construction, and testing of the proposed machine, and will build grower capacity in fundamental precision agricultural techniques.
  
  

The project will deliver a new tool for detailed soil mapping over a wide range of soils, environments, and farming systems.  The output from the SECMAPPER will be compared with crop yield maps, will raise questions regarding the key drivers of soil variability, and will support the wider application of precision agricultural practices in the sugar industry

Project Activities:

• The group plans a two-year project in conjunction with Terrain NRM and the Burdekin Productivity Services Ltd with two main objectives:
  
  (1) design and build SECMAPPER, a soil electromagnetic mapping machine, that will be a stand-alone, tractor-mounted unit for collecting soil conductivity data below thick trash or stubble layers;
  
  (2) test, evaluate, and modify the machine through operations on grower group and other farms in the Herbert and Burdekin where Veris 3100 data are available from soil EM mapping activities associated with BPS001 and commercial projects.
  
  
• The new project will demonstrate the efficacy of the new machine across a wide range of soils and farming practices in the two districts, including: flood and overhead irrigation, rain-fed systems, green cane trash blankets, burnt cane trash, leguminous fallow crops, and high residue non-cane stubbles.
• The eight sites will be studied after the 2010 harvest at 6 sites in the Burdekin, and after the 2011 harvest at 8 sites in the Herbert; site characteristics relevant to GGP909 are listed in Table 1 (appended to the end of this proposal). Where pre-existing Veris 3100 data are unavailable for comparison with the SECMAPPER results for a site, the growers will rake or burn the trash from a sufficient part of the paddock to allow access of the Veris 3100 machine after the passage of the SECMAPPER machine.

Contact Person: Alan Pace  0417 757 402