Leading Australian farmers mingled with the world’s top soil scientists at The University of Queensland’s Gatton campus on Wednesday (July 16).
The President of the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation, Dr Jeff Tullberg, hosted delegates attending the 16th world congress on home turf. He has been a lecturer in farm mechanisation at UQ Gatton for many years.
The field day was part of the week-long conference which concluded at UQ’s St Lucia campus on Friday (July 18).
The UQ Gatton day with a focus on precision agriculture and controlled traffic farming featured addresses and a panel discussion with conference keynote speakers and farm innovators.
“Australia is a world leader in controlled traffic farming and the field day provided a good opportunity for scientists to view field trials at Gatton and meet with farmers using the technology” Dr Tullberg said.
A highlight was the appearance of a prototype John Deere tractor with an extended three-metre wheelbase, shipped to Australia from the US for field trials and evaluation.
Darling Downs farmer Jamie Grant was enthusiastic that a major tractor manufacturer was preparing to offer the wide wheel base as a factory option for controlled traffic farming.
Mr Grant will be one of the first producers to evaluate the prototype model on his property at Jimbour.
“We’ve been growing crops such as cotton, sorghum and barley under a precision farming system for more than 10 years now,” he said.
“It took a while for the technology to gain acceptance, but there are a lot of people adopting it now.”
Media: For more information, contact Dr Jeff Tullberg (telephone 07 5460 1354 or 0417 134 372) or Anthony Smith (telephone 0409 265 587).
