Liquaforce showing positive yield and nitrogen run-off results in trials

15 years ago, a family-run Ingham rural supply business took a step into research and development, developing liquid fertilisers that are increasing yield and kicking some serious goals on nutrient run-off.

INCREASING yield and reducing nitrogen run-off is the golden egg for reef-side cane growers, and an innovative Ingham company has developed fertilisers that are achieving just that.

Having worked as an agronomist and extension officer across industry bodies and BMP programs, Luke Hargreaves is enthusiastic about the results he is seeing in his current role in sales and agronomy with Liquaforce Australia, servicing customers on 20,000 hectares of cane crop from Mackay to Mossman.

Luke said the independent company, with “sustainable coastal farming” at the heart of its mission, had developed a range of liquid fertilisers. For a rural supplies and cropdusting company operated by the Liddle family since 1978, it began evolving 15 years ago, shifting to develop its own solutions to yield decline and better land stewardship.

“A big part of our formulation is based on organics: we use things like molasses, seaweed in combination with your traditional NPK-type fertilisers,” Luke said.

“The methodology is about supporting the soil biology. We aren’t introducing biology, we’re feeding the endemic biology, and through that, we are maintaining very high nutrient use efficiency ratios, and we’re making the normal NPK-type nutrients go a lot further into the crop cycle by using that endemic biology.”

Bacterial and fungal soil biota can efficiently capture and store nitrogen, later releasing that to the plant as they complete their life cycle.

He said Liquaforce had committed many years to R&D and, since 2015, had funded several comprehensive science based trials to measure those efficiencies, along with participating in third-party research.

“We are the only liquid fertiliser company in Australia investing in R&D, and we are a small company punching well above its weight,” he said.

Data on nitrogen losses show a 24 per cent reduction for leaching and up to 50 per cent for run-off.

“These reductions mean that more fertiliser is retained in the crop root zone for a longer period, with research showing that 39 per cent of the nitrogen from the BigShot liquid fertiliser blend was still in the soil 119 days after application, compared to just 27 per cent with granular fertiliser,” Luke said.

He said, in 2018, Liquaforce took advantage of a wildcard entry into Sugar Research Australia’s three-year Tully and Ingham enhanced efficiency fertiliser trials.

Across the 2018 and 2019 harvests, growers using the BigShot fertiliser could see an overall increase in yield for tonnes of cane at an average for the two years of 8.8 per cent tonnes of cane and 8.45 per cent tonnes of sugar per hectare.

“That resulted in an overall dollars-per-hectare gain on average of $203 against all competitors,” Luke said.

He said, factoring in a $100 reduced cost on other EEFs, it meant around a $300 per hectare profit.