Precision cover cropping to enhance horticultural operation

In the picturesque Scenic Rim, against a backdrop of the Great Dividing Range, the Rieck family have for decades cared for the rich soil that bears their vegetable crops, but it’s a labour of love that takes constant commitment.

Michael Rieck personifies such commitment, taking over his family’s 200-acre farm in 2001 at 18 years old. In the nearly 25 years since, he has worked to continually learn and improve his growing practices, counting his neighbour and Kalfresh Founding Director, Rob Hinrichsen as an invaluable mentor.

Rieck Farming grows a rotation of predominantly vegetables, with carrots as the main winter crop, and green beans and sweetcorn through spring, summer, and autumn. A small window of onions and some Lucerne hay Michael grows with his cousin, rounds out their operations.

Michael wants to make the most of the resources he has on-hand, experimenting with different techniques and equipment he already has on farm to maximise benefit for his crop, operations, and of course – the land that is his home and livelihood.

The Fassifern Valley where Kalbar is located is prime growing country thanks to the rich alluvial deposits that have accumulated, but it takes careful work to keep that good soil on farm, and despite such work, sometimes the weather has other ideas.

The alluvial deposits come at a cost, with the farm being on what Michael describes as “a pretty decent floodplain”, and Warrill Creek running behind the property. In a rain event, it’s likely sediment will be taken off farm.

Michael works to keep a cover crop in his inter-rows. He prioritises the practice for multiple reasons.

During rainy periods, having a cover crop means less sediment is moved off farm, held in place by the crop’s roots. Reducing this off-farm sediment movement benefits not only the health of Warrill Creek, but also reducing costs to Michael’s operations in getting any loss sediment back onto his paddocks.

Also, planting a cover crop means Michael can get back out in the field sooner after a rain event, reducing crop losses.

A cover crop also has benefits in the hotter, drier periods too. Michael remarked that in the middle of summer, bare soil is “just baking”. The use of a cover crop cools the soil and aids in moisture retention.

This blanket not only cools the soil, but keeps the weeds down naturally, meaning Michael can reduce his herbicide use. Another win-win for Michael’s crops and the creek.

The challenge in maintaining this best management practice, however, has been in achieving an efficient and precise application of the cover crop seed.

Just as the cover crop is one solution with multiple benefits, Michael is looking for a many-birds-with-one-stone approach in his application to minimise equipment purchasing and maintenance costs.

Instead of purchasing an expensive separate seeding unit, Michael—as a Bremer catchment grower—applied for funding through the SEQ Water Quality Project’s Best Management Practice Incentive to invest in a more cost-efficient alternative.  

The $5,000 grant has assisted Michael in purchasing a six-line manifold head that he can use to adapt the existing distribution head on his tractor. He plans to use his existing fertiliser hopper to distribute seed into six inter-rows at once. Michael said the precision approach would be used for fertiliser application as well.

Similar to an air seeder used on bigger seeding units in grain production, he is adapting a technique from the adjacent industry to enhance his horticultural operations.

The precision approach is necessary because previous attempts to put cover crop into his inter-rows using his spreader didn’t go to plan.

“The first year I put the seed on too thick with the spreader. It was just a blanket cover drop over the (planting) hills. I did struggle to plant into the seed that was growing on top of the hill,” Michael said.

The multi-faceted benefits and efforts to reduce costs and resource use makes the Rieck Farming project a prime example of what the BMP Incentive is striving for in Southeast Queensland.

SEQ Water Quality Officer for the Bremer and Lockyer catchments, Tanya Luck said the assessment panel was impressed by the extensive benefits Michael’s proposal outlined.

“This is a well-rounded proposal. Michael has put forward a cost-efficient idea for the precision placement of cover crop and fertiliser that will have multiple positive environmental and business outcomes.

“Ultimately, it reduces sediment loss to Warrill Creek, reduces nutrient leaching through the soil profile, protects the soil during climate extremes whether they be wet or dry, reduces chemical use, and uses one piece of equipment for multiple functions,” Tanya said.

Just as he has benefitted from the tutelage of industry stalwarts like Rob Hinrichsen, Michael looks to pay it forward with what he learns in putting his new piece of equipment into service.

“We have a close relationship with our neighbouring farms, and sharing the same growing conditions and challenges, we are certainly happy to share what we learn.”

Michael is looking to have the new application system running before the end of summer. We look forward to checking back in to see it in action.

Growcom’s South East Queensland Water Quality program is funded by the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation.