A MACHINE that weeds not just between rows, but between plants, is on top of vegetable grower Tim Harslett's wish list.
In Denmark recently as part of his Nuffield scholarship, Tim said that while inter-plant weeding was still in the development phase, it was part of a suite of measures being tested in Europe and applicable in Australia's war against weeds.
"Weeding between plants is now possible because of the accuracy of GPS equipment," Tim said.
"They (the Danes) have also developed infra-red and digital detectors that can differentiate between leafy crops, such as lettuce, and weeds."
Tim said the technology could potentially work for any type of crop, however it was yet to be made available commercially.
Europe, he said, was the home of world-best-practice in horticulture.
Among the many businesses Tim visited was a farm in Denmark mechanically harvesting mini cos lettuce, like those he grows on his family's farm near Stanthorpe, in southern Queensland.
With two million lettuces harvested over a 25-week growing season, he is keen to introduce mechanical harvesting.
Tim said he planned to build a machine himself, based on the Danish model he saw, with a few key parts imported from Europe.
Cutting labour costs was often the main reason for mechanisation.
"However, I think the real financial benefits will come from changes to our agronomic practices to achieve a more consistent crop," he said.
"Machines can't handle variation in produce the way that people can, so to use mechanical harvesters, we must have a much more consistent crop."
While this would also mean a higher quality and therefore higher-value crop, there were also less tangible benefits.
Mechanisation could eliminate some of the more undesirable and repetitive labour tasks, helping remaining staff work at a more constant speed.
"With fewer staff there are also fewer management issues," Tim said.
And there will be benefits from reduced chemical use.
"Restrictions on chemical use in vegetable production and, in agriculture generally, will be a major challenge for the Australian industry. Farmers should already be looking for alternatives.
"We need to evaluate these methods on-farm, and we need to do this regardless of the social and environmental pressures on chemical use."
Tim said he found research about genetic modification amazing, even though the implementation of GM remained uncertain.
"Europe is quite anti-GM, but they are still doing the research and it opens your mind to what might be possible," he said.
"Pigs, for example, are inefficient absorbers of phosphorus from the grain feeds they eat, which leads to high phosphorus levels in their manure. But researchers at Denmark's University of Aarhus have discovered a way to modify barley that makes it easier for the pigs to absorb the phosphorus from the plants, reducing phosphorus levels in manure and increasing their feed conversion potential."
Applications for next round of Nuffield scholarships close next Thursday.
For more information, visit
www.nuffield.com.au
Copyright © 2009 The Weekly Times
