This project aims to establish 4 demonstration sites in the Esperance Port Zone that are used by growers to increase their knowledge and adoption of deep ripping and controlled traffic farming to alleviate non-wetting soils, compaction and waterlogging on different soil types in the port zone to improve crop production.

To do so the project will measure the grain yield and gross margin outcome of each soil ameliorant treatment at each site.

2018 Season

• Deep ripping to alleviate compaction and allow better water absorption has improved crop yields at 4 of the 5 EPZ Ripper Gauge demonstration sites in 2018.
• Not all ripping responsive soils required ripping to the same depth.
• While early season dry conditions were challenging and total growing season rainfall was low at the Dunn Rock demonstration site, the deep tillage treatments applied to the site’s sandy gravel over clay soil were a profitable means of increasing barley yield.
• Early season conditions were dry at the Cascade demonstration site. The results collected suggest deep tillage to 300mm or 600mm in the heavy sodic soils present at this site did not improve wheat yield. The rip to 600mm strip achieved an operating gross margin of less than half of both the control strips and the rip to 300mm treatment.
• While the mixing effect of the TopDown achieved a gain of 0.28t/ha when compared to the control, gains in yield were not as large as the effects of deep ripping, spading or a combination on the gravelly sand over clay soil type present at the Coomalbidgup site. The latter tillage treatments improved wheat crop yield by 0.51t/ha to 0.78t/ha when compared to the control strip average of 3.75t/ha, equating to a gross margin increase of between $54/ha and $174/ha.
• The loamy clay to circle valley sand over clay soils present at the Salmon Gums site showed an increase in crop yield of almost 0.91t/ha from ripping to 450-540mm depth. While both the control and shallow deep ripping (ie to 300mm depth) treatments yielded 2.5t/ha of wheat, the deepest tillage treatment yielded approximately 3.4t, equating to a gross margin increase of $316/ha.
• Tillage of the Neridup site’s sandy gravel over clay soils to 300mm increased canola yield compared to the control by 0.41t/ha which equated to a gross margin increase of $179/ha. Tillage to 600mm reduced canola crop yield by 0.35t/ha when just ripped and by 0.9t/ha when exposed to ripping to 600mm combined with a Topdown.

2019 Season

• Tillage treatments applied in 2018 to alleviate compaction and allow better water absorption (ranging in ripping depth from 100mm to 600mm) did not significantly affect crop yield when compared to site controls, regardless of the predominant soil type present at the site or the ripping equipment used. This is likely due to the much dryer than average rainfall conditions that prevailed at all sites in 2019 and the impact of severe frost at two of the demonstration sites (Salmon Gums and Cascade).
• Although the ripping treatments did not significantly improve or reduce crop yield at any of the Ripper Gauge demonstration sites in 2019, gross margin analysis did indicate tillage to 600mm depth plus use of a Topdown slightly improved operating profit at the Neridup site, when compared to the site control. Ripping to 540mm depth also improved financial performance at the Salmon Gums site when compared to the control.
• Ripping to 300mm and 600m depth reduced financial performance at the Coomalbidgup and Cascade Demonstration Sites, compared to the site controls. Two of the tillage treatments also reduced operating profit at the Neridup site compared to the site control.