Section 2 - Sugar Research and Development Corporation

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Section 3
GROWER GROUP INNOVATION PROJECTS
As part of SRDC’s commitment towards improving collaboration and innovation,
it invests in Grower Group Innovation Projects (GGIPs) that enable growers to
build capability to conduct their own research and development in their own
region. SRDC calls for contracts and assesses the projects, however the Grower
Group Network is managed by Grower Group Services (GGN001), a project led
by three part-time offi cers that oversee the conduct and reporting of projects,
group training and program coordination. This section highlights GGIPs
completed in 2010–2011.
Developing a sediment trapping system in the
Silkwood drainage area – Silkwood Drainage
Board
Soil erosion by water is a research priority,
especially for farms within the Great Barrier Reef
Catchment area. In the North Queensland Wet
Tropics catchment area it is essential to have an
effi cient and effective drainage system to enable
crops to be free of water logging and excessive
fl ooding.
Sediment trapping systems are considered an
effective farm management solution to mitigate
the effects of paddock cultivation, high rainfall
and slope erosion that results in sediment loss.
The Silkwood Drainage Board members
took on this project to develop ideas for best
practice in sediment fl ow control within a Wet
Tropics sugarcane farm drainage system and to
encourage farmers to include sediment trapping
in their farm drainage system.
They observed that: sediment traps work better
with higher concentrations of sediment that
are poorly dissolved because the initial heavy
rain impacts on the ground quickly created
dissolved sediment; and that sump traps are ideal
for coarse sediment capture, which is bottomfl
owing or poorly suspended and are especially
useful when the farm drain fl ows directly into
a main stream.
The group created a fi eld booklet that documents
the fi eld work and results from the project that
can be used to incorporate drainage system
design in farm management plans (GGP027).
SRDC Annual Report 2010–2011
Improving Billet Planter Effi ciency –
North Clarence Innovative Planting Group
The North Clarence Innovative Planting Group
project built and trialled a self-propelled,
compact, single operator dual row billet planter.
When tested alongside a conventional planter
the self-propelled unit proved more user friendly
as it was shorter and therefore had a smaller
turning circle, which was benefi cial within the
trial site headlands, and enabled easier inspection
and monitoring of the machine.
The machine carried more cane billets in the
holding bin, which provided longer planting
times and less refi lling saving time and fuel
consumption.
Planting rates, eye count, set placement and
billet feeding/metering/delivery were similar
between the two machines and there was
no vast difference in strike rate and/or set
placement.
The new planter reduced labour cost, fuel
consumption, maintenance and increased safety
for the operator who did not have to ride on a
moving machine and be exposed to the elements
(GGP038).