Compost nurtures farm’s future

Having worked for Kalfresh managing their incoming supply for 10 years, Angus Stainlay knows how important it is for growers to keep to their planting schedules, maximise their yields, and grow the highest quality crop they can.

Three years ago, he became a fulltime grower himself, planting beans and corn in the summer and carrots in the winter on 100 hectares in Aratula, and it’s clear his training and experience in agribusiness drives his growing practices.

Speaking about the beans he planted the day before our visit, Angus laments that the rain has barely let up, but the planting schedules dictate his operations, not the weather.

So, Angus works to understand and control the factors of farming that he can, emphasising the 60-to-70-day lifespan of a crop means ground preparation and planting are most important in setting him up for success.

From whether a seed germinates, to weather and pest impacts, “it’s the death of a thousand cuts,” Angus said.

“There are little things that can go wrong the whole way along and add up to a poor result, so I’m trying to reduce those.”

In monitoring his farm, Angus has noticed a decline in soil health and is making efforts to improve it. Doing so will make strides in ‘reducing those little things that go wrong,’ ensuring a better yield, make his farming operations more resilient to variable weather conditions, and reducing his need for nutrient and pesticide inputs.

Angus is turning to compost to reinvigorate his soil, using a local, accredited chicken manure to introduce good bugs and organic matter to his blocks.

“Originally, I wanted to try green manure crops and just plough them in, but I want to be introducing good bugs from other mediums,” Angus said.

“With the chicken compost you’ll get not only the manure, but also the wood chips, feathers and whatever else that will break down over a period of time,” he continued.

To understand the optimum rate of compost application, Angus will be conducting rate trials so he can use the compost alongside feeding his soil with the organic material he already puts back in, like sweetcorn plants after the crop is finished.

While yield and plant health will indicate if the compost is effective, soil testing will help Angus fine tune his compost application for the benefit of his crops and business operations.

As a grower in the Bremer River catchment, Angus has been assisted in his initial compost investment through the South East Queensland Water Quality Program’s Best Management Practice (BMP) Incentive Scheme.

Funded by the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science, and Innovation, and administered through Growcom’s SEQ Water Quality Program, the BMP Incentive Scheme has supported horticulture growers in the Bremer, Lockyer, and Pumicestone catchments to access financial and in-field support for implementing sustainable farming practices.

These practices need to demonstrate links to off-farm water quality improvements, or improve sediment, nutrient, and pesticide efficiencies.

SEQ Water Quality Program Officer Tanya Luck said that while runoff isn’t a big risk on Angus’s farm, the decline in soil health makes his project an important one for the BMP Incentive Scheme.

“Angus’s close monitoring of his farm means he’s recognised a key need for his property’s ongoing health sooner rather than later,” Tanya said.

“Getting in with compost now means Angus will be less reliant on synthetic fertilisers, and that’s better for his bottom-line and minimising risk for the surrounding environment.”

Angus summed up how taking care of the soil will lead to less inputs, happier plants, and a happier farmer.

“If you can have nice soil tilth and structure, then the plants will be happier and healthier, so you don’t actually need to treat them as much as something that's trying to grow in a bunch of bricks.”

While Angus is due to begin his compost trials imminently, he will be looking at his soil and crops over the next year to 18 months for results.

“The result mightn't be a photo of a bean block where you can see anything, but it might actually be looking at the difference in the soil that's coming out the back of that hiller there compared to before,” Angus said.

Growcom’s SEQ Water Quality Program is funded by the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation.