How Racecourse Projects uses John Deere data to drive huge results

From the air: Watch a Mackay cane farmer speak passionately about how precision agriculture is delivering a massive saving on one crucial element alone.

There is an old business adage that if you ‘take care of the pennies, the pounds take care of themselves’, and it’s a concept ringing true for Racecourse Projects where minute-level farm data is being used to grow production and profitability across 5000ha of cane land in the Mackay region.

The partnership operation — owned by Proterra Investment Partners, Mackay Sugar and fourth-generation Sarina cane farmer George Williams — uses the John Deere digital ecosystem to seamlessly connect key information collected through 34 John Deere machines and 25-full-time staff.

It then monitors and improves efficiencies to help make long-term strategic decisions.

The bank of information, collated within the John Deere Operations Centre, is vital to the business.

As a priority, it is reviewed weekly during 6am planning meetings and is also a key tool data-hungry board members use to make decisions on the partnership’s long-term planning.

Mr Williams, who is operating partner to the company, said mastering data collection began with ensuring set-up was correct — including carefully laying out field boundaries and guidance lines.

“When we started down this technological road, we were mostly using our technology to drive our machines in straight lines,” he said.

“Progressing from there, we knew the digital set-up was absolutely critical, and we made sure we established our boundaries so we could later manage the business beyond the paddock level and dive deeper into our data.

“The correct set-up also helped us to ensure the data we were capturing would be accurate, and useful at the end of the season.

“Today, this flow of information helps from an operational management perspective, as we can maximise our efficiencies during the day-to-day and make the most from our harvest.”

With the technology and controlled-traffic system in place for machinery, Racecourse Projects has experienced 10 to 15 per cent reductions for fuel during harvesting and cultivation.

Power of precision

Racecourse Projects has propelled through a rapid phase of growth since its inception in 2013, when it began as a 714ha cane farm. Today, the sprawling 5000ha operation is a major cane supplier to the Racecourse, Marian and Plane Creek mills, and part of the Mackay region’s refined and raw sugar exporting network.

Mr Williams described the growth as being “horizontally and vertically” driven, given not only has the amount of land under cane increased, but the operation has also been able to bolster its performance, to now produce 300,000 tonnes of cane a year.

This has grown from about 60,000 tonnes of cane in Racecourse Projects’ first production year.

A key driver of this efficiency gain has been the application of fertilisers, using information collected during the crushing season from the business’s two John Deere CH570s and two 3520 cane harvesters, which are equipped with yield monitors, to create an effective yield map that is shared with an agronomist.

Using these insights, a tailored input approach is created to ultimately result in the need for less inputs, to slash the nutrient bill without impacting results.

“Ensuring we have a thorough variable-rate nutrient management system, means we are placing our nutrient exactly where it’s needed and getting the biggest bang for our buck,” Mr Williams said.

“In total, we have achieved a $65 per hectare reduction in nutrient costs (though individual results may vary), without impacting yields, equating to a 12 per cent reduction in nutrient across our business.

“Our challenge now is to increase on this figure year on year.”

Racecourse Projects operating partner, and fourth-generation Sarina canegrower, George Williams. Picture: Jim Cullen

Monitoring machines

The Racecourse Projects farming operation runs off a controlled-traffic GPS system, and the core fleet is connected through JDLink, meaning almost real-time machine information is available in the John Deere Operations Center.

The information creates a snapshot of progress in the paddock, which Mr Williams can review on his mobile, to both provide overarching business information and to check equipment is performing at its best.

“Through reviewing this information and looking at our yields, we have noticed the link between the harvester’s speed and the loss of cane between being cut and reaching the haul-out bin. We worked out we could lose several tonnes per hectare if the operator was rushing the job and driving too fast,” he said.

“The only way we could address this loss was through the information we received from operations centre.”

Racecourse Projects operating partner George Williams says the John Deere Digital Ecosystem is vital to daily operations across the venture's 5000ha of cane land under production. Picture: Jim Cullen

Data to drive farming future

As Racecourse Projects is within the Great Barrier Reef Catchment area, all operations must adhere to the Queensland Government’s Agricultural Environmentally Relevant Activity standard for sugarcane cultivation and so thorough record-keeping is mandatory.

This includes clear information on all inputs applied in the paddock, which Mr Williams said was streamlined through the John Deere digital ecosystem as all information was recorded automatically.

“We do need to meet the regulations when it comes to our record keeping, but for us, we see keeping our records as vital as it means we can create efficiencies and ensure we are getting the most out of every dollar spent on the farm,” Mr Williams said.

However, Racecourse Projects has taken sustainability, and its role in protecting the Great Barrier Reef a step further.

In 2017, the company was granted Bonsucro accreditation, meaning the farm achieves an international standard of best practice management for sustainable cane farming.

Mr Williams said adoption of precision agriculture methods were critical to operating both sustainably and profitably.

“The price of sugar hasn’t actually changed greatly over time, but the cost of producing sugar certainly has,” he said.

“This means the Australian sugar industry has to become a world leader in sustainability and productivity to remain viable and competitive on the global market.”

For more information, visit JohnDeere.com.au/GotWhatItTakes

Originally published as How Racecourse Projects uses John Deere data to drive huge results