Davidson family dryland cropping innovation in the Liverpool Plains

A cropping enterprise has found the formula for success through its proactive approach. See how they do it.

In the mix: Kate Gunn in the summer sorghum crop on her family’s farm near Gunnedah in NSW, which also grows wheat and barley in the winter as part of a crop rotation. Picture: PAUL MATHEWS

A PROGRESSIVE family farming business committed to growth through research, innovation and sustainability has helped a large-scale grain-growing enterprise in the NSW Liverpool Plains region manage some major seasonal challenges.

Over the past 40 years Merrivale Partnership has developed a dryland-cropping enterprise that has the flexibility to respond to a range of seasonal constraints, particularly the increasing run of hotter and drier summers over the past decade.

The business epitomises family farming.

Parents Rob and Valli ­Davidson have been growing the business since 1980 and both children, Kate and James, joined the business in 2006 after completing tertiary education, enabling significant growth since then.

Together they manage a mix of owned and leased properties toward the western fringes of the Liverpool Plains, south of Gunnedah.

While their long-term winter/summer cropping program was generally split 50-50, a run of dry years and extreme summer heat forced the family to rejig the rotational mix for the past few years.

The family planted 5000ha of wheat and barley in 2020 and about 1500ha of sorghum has already been planted this summer.

“Last year we had a much larger winter crop planted as so much country had been rested during the very dry 2018 and 2019 years,” Kate said.

“The last few years are definitely not a highlight.

“In 2018 we planted zero winter crop and in 2019 we had a modest winter crop plant, and more modest harvest with low yields but high quality.

“Our summer crops in 2018-19 were both very small yields, where heatwaves burnt the crops.

“Summer cropping has become much riskier with extreme heatwaves exacerbating already drier conditions.

“We are hoping this 2020/21 summer season may be kinder than the past few.”

HELPFUL HOMEWORK

IT’S clear from talking to Kate that riding out periods of such volatility doesn’t happen by accident or luck, but careful fallow management and a commitment to adopt local research, while also gaining a better understand how the local Liverpool Plains climate is changing.

“I guess what makes us unique is we really try to stick to a simple, but fairly solid rotation to enable each crop to fulfil the potential of the season,” she said.

“That is, typically a long-fallow ­rotation, with one crop every 18 months.

“Sometimes we don’t even grow a crop for 30 months if it’s really dry.

“We see this as a sustainable rotation which has served us well in dry times.”

She said while the past three years had been tough for everyone, the family focused on ways it could continue to be progressive.

Investment in a precision weed-spraying technology, WEED-IT, has realised considerable cost savings, she said, and “paid for itself in a very short space of time”.

Soil testing to determine “paddock-specific” nutrient applications is also a big part of the sustainability focus at Merrivale that also delivers cost-savings.

Kate‘s husband, Derek Gunn, principal agronomist with Outlook Ag, has helped the family concentrate on chemical use and tackle the ballooning problem of weed-resistance, which has become an enormous management issue for farmers throughout the Liverpool Plains.

Merrivale is also an active participant in local research work co-ordinated by progressive farming systems group, AMPS Research Inc, a research organisation funded by farmer-owned AMPS Agribusiness.

“We see our involvement with this organisation as a significant way to improve what we do because of its focus on locally relevant research and innovation,” Kate said.

“The work, the trials, the results are all locally specific, and the fact there is grower input designing the program helps produce highly relevant innovations.

“There has been some really great work on varieties and inputs for winter and summer crops in this region, as well as some significant findings regarding nutrient applications in chickpeas.

“There is continuing research work under way examining ‘time of sow’, and new thinking on planting times relative to elevation and aspect.

“Some of the research findings to come out of AMPS have really helped us manage these past few difficult years.”

SOIL FOIL
KATE said her family likes to think it is proactively dealing with climate variability and climate change.

“We are trying hard to manage this by ensuring we stick to a sustainable cropping rotation and frequency, with an overriding focus on soil moisture wherever we can,” she said.

“The heavy black soils here are what have made the Liverpool Plains region historically reliable.

“Building the soil moisture profile for one crop begins as soon as the previous crop is harvested.

“Weed control and retaining stubble are crucial in that.”

She said over the past seven to eight years there had only been one year with above-­average rainfall, with a trend developing of progressively just below-average rain in the years before the recent drought when rainfall was not even half of average.

“There is also local research now trying to capture all rainfall and climate scenarios so we know which cropping varieties to turn to depending on whether we have wet or dry years,” she said.

“As growers we need to know the top end of varieties to enable us to capture the upside in good years, and the best varieties for managing the downside.”

Understanding the season and local limitations were the main reason Merrivale moved away from growing dryland cotton, which they found had become too risky with the drier conditions.

For now they will stick to their “pillar” crops of wheat and barley in winter, again thanks to advances in understanding around certain varieties for certain conditions, and just grow sorghum in the summer.

The family has also worked hard to manage the other major risk to their business, which is marketing, with significant investments in on-farm storage.

Kate said 15,000 tonnes of on-farm silo capacity gave them the ability to ride out market and production volatility, while the purchase of a new grain quality analysis machine enabled more precise marketing.

She said grain quality analysis had been a key part of their marketing for some time.

“Going forward our focus is on building a resilient business model, managing soil health, improving water-use efficiency, and continually improving practices to ensure the country is sustainably managed,” she said.

“Like most farmers, we aspire to enable the next generation to continue producing high quality commodities and for our rural communities to thrive.

“These aspirations are even more important post-COVID.”

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