To investigate the sustainability and profitability of cropping rotations and tillage methods on Merriwagga soils.
Key messages
Proper rotations (irrespective of tillage methods) incorporating no more than two cereal crops in sequence with the addition of either a break crop or a fallow once in every three years is ideal. This rotation allows a very productive and sustainable farming system in our environment.
The most profitable system since 1999 has been two years of cereal followed by a break crop such as peas under no till.
No till systems are now becoming more profitable in the trial than cultivated systems under every rotation.
No till will work on our problem soils so long as effective weed control is achieved.
Under a continuous cereal rotation, the impact of weeds, diseases, poor nutrition and subsequently lower yields has lowered profitability
Lead research organisation
Central West Farming Systems
Host research organisation
N/A
Related program
N/A
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to the Barber family, the dedicated committee, and the local site sponsors who donate time, money and products that allow this trial to progress into what we have today.
Trial source data and summary not available Check the trial
report PDF for trial results.
Climate
Derived climate information
No observed climate data available for this trial. Derived climate data is
determined from trial site location and national weather sources.
Merriwagga NSW
SILO weather estimates sourced from https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/silo/
Jeffrey, S.J., Carter, J.O., Moodie, K.B. and Beswick, A.R. (2001). Using spatial interpolation to
construct a comprehensive archive of Australian climate data , Environmental Modelling and Software, Vol
16/4, pp 309-330. DOI: 10.1016/S1364-8152(01)00008-1.
