BROAD ACRE FARMING
'Broadacre farming' is a term used, mainly in Australia, to describe farms or industries engaged in the production of grains, oilseeds and other crops (especially wheat, barley, peas, sorghum, maize, hemp, safflower, and sunflower), or the grazing of livestock for meat or wool, on a large scale (i.e., using extensive parcels of land).
Since the 1950s, the search for profit, has often involved the adoption of labour-saving technologies, increases in farm size, a greater use of chemicals (in our case non-chemicals), specialized machinery, more crop species and varietal changeover, more animal breeds and, since the 1980s, more intensive cropping. Fact is, that when it comes to modern farming, farms are now larger, more complex and more dependent on the purchase of the right technologies and services - and while the farm size increases and farming systems and farm businesses become more complex, more sophisticated management is required. This also goes for more production and marketing alternatives, more input options, more combinations of production systems, an increasing array of opportunities for new technologies and more off-farm investment opportunities, all increase the demands and stress on management.
For farmers to constantly ensure that they have access to the newest farming system technologies at reasonable prices, or on equitable terms, often becomes an important issue, because new technologies are expensive to develop and require significant experience, knowledge and often investments in human capital and R&D infrastructure - which farms often do not have - so whether governments and farmers can regularly afford these investments, particularly biotechnology developments, is an important issue that can, and will, affect the viability of any agricultural operation - no matter the size.
ECONOMY OF SCALE
As an economy develops, technological change and increased productivity contribute to rising income levels - and along with that, naturally, comes the consolidation of farming operations, because farming is a business, and profitability at the end of the day, does come down to the economy of scale.
At the larger scale, corporate agricultural businesses can afford to invest in solutions, employ specialist expertise in a myriad of disciplines such as livestock husbandry, agronomy, land development, irrigation design and development, marketing and investment planning, to cite just a few examples.
Access to this range of specialist skills can only be achieved cost effectively through scale and it is these specialist skills that contribute to above average industry performance.
In response to various economic, social and environmental challenges and opportunities farmers need to adjust their farm management and farming systems. They often have to alter the input and enterprise mix, adjust household expenditures, invest off-farm, adopt new technologies and increase the production efficiency and scale of operations. Fact is that many farmers or investors, particularly those managing large operations, increasingly rely on professional consultants to assist with enterprise, financial and marketing management. Most farm businesses constantly have to employ new technology and research and development findings and innovation to continue increasing their productivity and profit.
Profitable broadacre agricultural businesses and farming systems are likely to be characterised by:
-
Maintained diversification of enterprises (cereals, pulses, oilseeds, pastures, livestock, fodder shrubs and off-farm investments) or specialist, capital-intensive ventures (grain production specialists, animal finishing specialists).
-
Production growth from yield improvement with a restricted increase in the proportion of the landscape sown to crops (grain and fodder).
-
Revenue growth based not only on productivity improvement, but also on production of commodities that attract price premia. Most large agricultural businesses need to maintain an emphasis on exports, productivity improvement, product and market development. Modern farming will continue to invest in improvements in technical and scale efficiency, and pursue input and product innovation.
-
Increasingly farmers will share as equity partners in the development and application of new technologies.
-
Farmers will also participate contractually in supply chains, and at times be an equity partner in those chains.
-
Greater commitment to sustainable farm practices.
-
Greater use of contract services (e.g. machinery management, plant and animal health services, information management services, labor training and management).
-
Greater dependence on electronic technology, electronic management, e-commerce and precision farming technologies.
-
An ability to provide traceability. The ability to manage and trace inputs and outputs of the farm business is likely to become an increasingly important feature of farm management.
-
Food safety, identity preservation and environmental concerns will dictate the need for this form of management.
-
Adaptive management. The portfolio of enterprises in many agricultural businesses in the future will, in many cases, be greater. The switch in relative emphasis between various enterprises may be more rapid and the demands on management, knowledge and skill will be greater. Accordingly, 'whole-of-life' learning will be needed if farmers are to capitalize on opportunities or protect the profitability of their businesses.
-
Greater dependence on strategic, co-ordination and business skills of agricultural managers as businesses become larger and more complex.
-
Greater separation of land ownership and land operation due to greater use of leasing, contract farming and spatial technology to set and audit cost-sharing of input expenditure.
EXAMPLES OF FARMING SYSTEMS
Besides the traditional farming systems, as we know them, there are other emerging types of farming systems. How rapidly they emerge and grow in relative importance will depend on many factors.
Zonal farming
Farming system analyses usually show significant profit advantages from tailoring rotations to different land management units. Emerging spatial technologies will permit various types of various types of zonal farming.
For example, more detailed soil mapping, interfaced with yield, weed and pest monitoring, will allow more variable spatial applications of production inputs. Hence, although a paddock may be sown to a single crop the input regime across the paddock may differ to maximize net returns. Also rotation selection may be better attuned to the nature of a land management unit.
A possible variant of zonal farming may be where a farm is divided into cropping and livestock zones. The cropping zones may have few fences and be set up to facilitate controlled traffic, increasingly robotic, crop production. Sheep may be excluded, almost permanently, from the cropping zones to minimize soil compaction and spread of weed problems. The pasture zones of the farm may include fodder shrubs, saltland pastures, shelter belts and perennial and annual pasture mixes; along with feed-lotting facilities.
The advantage of this system is that it may facilitate division of labor within a family-farm or corporate farm structure. For example, crop specialization and sheep specialization is facilitated. It simplifies the management and measurement of the costs and returns of the business. It generates clear spatial ownership and authority of management within a partnership business structure. The relative profitability of sheep and crop enterprises is clearly demonstrated. It can facilitate the leasing out of parts of the farm.
Enterprise Specialization
Currently, most farmers manage a mix of enterprises. Although, farming systems in the future may remain characterized as a mix of enterprises, it may be that the land owner of the future will opt to specialize in fewer enterprises. Such a manager would establish what land management units on their farm most suit particular enterprises they wish to specialize in. The remaining land management units of the farm then could be leased out. The farmer might also lease from neighboring farms particular land management units most suited to their enterprise specialty. So a farmer may specialize in saline land management, or canola, chick pea and wheat production, or field pea, durum wheat and manufacturing barley production.
Farming as a time-defined business venture
The philosophy of farm management on these farms may be described as the "Lotto" approach: "15 years and we're out of here!". The farm families involved may make a conscious decision to commit 15 or so years of their working life to farming; building up their wealth as a business venture, only then to cash in or transfer to another agro-project. These farms would require farming systems that offer high return. Often these farm families may be prepared to invest in intensive management and new technologies provided that high returns are anticipated.
For some other farm businesses, family demands or changes in aspirations may dictate that the farm business is sold and that only in retrospect could the farming business be called a "time-defined business venture".
Capital Innovation
Some farming systems may emerge to be underpinned by innovative sharing of capital costs. For example, through controlled traffic systems, variable rate technology and data loggers; it may be possible for adjacent groups of small farms to benefit from economies of machinery size. The high work rates of these machines, combined with their on-board technology may enable a group of farms to share the cost of the machinery on the basis of a user-pays agreement. Housing and maintenance costs could be shared on the basis of an auditable proportion of use.
Some farming systems of the future may be based on equity-financing rather than the debt-financing of traditional agriculture. For example, 'green' venture investments may enable the farmer to provide the land resource while external equity partners may fund inputs and management to generate commercial and environmental outcomes. The financing vehicle of unit trusts is a common way of accommodating different equity partners and payment vehicles.
Contract Farming
The emergence of more domestic marketers and the increased importance of the domestic market may give rise to more contract farming. Contracts offered by some marketers may include price premia underpinned by requirements for quality assured production systems, mandatory licensing of farm managers and adherence to delivery schedules.
Farmers who opt to be part of these supply chains will be required to adopt prescribed farming systems and management methods. Farmers who avoid these contracts may face lower-priced, and often, more volatile marketing arrangements.
PRECISION FARMING
Precision agriculture is one of many modern farming practices that make production more efficient. With precision agriculture, farmers and soils work better, not harder.
Growers are able to take large fields and manage them as though they are a group of small fields. This reduces the misapplication of products and increases crop and farm efficiency. Precision farming uses research about weather patterns, soil temperature and humidity, growth, and many other factors. Precision farming focuses on rotating crops to improve diversity, and monitor irrigation rates so that salts do not accumulate (and when it does, then we have other input solutions for that). Precision agriculture is also practiced to properly apply nutrients, water, seed, and other agricultural inputs to grow more crops in a wide range of soil environments. Precision agriculture helps farmers to know how much and when to apply these inputs.
Other geo-referenced site-specific practices may include:
-
Electromagnetic soil mapping
-
Soil sample collection
-
Crop yield data collection
-
Aerial imagery
-
Crop or soil color index maps
-
Soil types
-
Soil characteristics
-
Drainage level
-
Potential yields
Each of these geo-referenced data layers helps subdivide a large field area into smaller management zones. Using small management zones reduces waste while increasing production potential.
One example of a precision agriculture practice is to evaluate the natural soil variability of a field. If the soil in one area holds water better, crops can be planted more densely and irrigation can be sparing. Or, if the plot is used for grazing, more cattle can graze than a similar area of poorer quality soil. By studying these factors and using precision agriculture, farmers are able to produce more food at a fraction of the cost. Farmers also conserve soil for sustainable food production. Precision agriculture results in a stable food supply, which results in a stronger community.
Among these many approaches is a phytogeomorphological approach which ties multi-year crop growth stability/characteristics to topological terrain attributes. The interest in the phytogeomorphological approach stems from the fact that the geomorphology component typically dictates the hydrology of the farm field.
There is a lot of technology used to make modern agriculture more efficient. For example: tractors and harvesters can come furnished with global positioning systems (GPS) and GPS-computers. The GPS aids in planting accurate rows of crops, as well as applying fertilizers. It also helps the farmer's in his ability to locate their precise position in a field allowing for the creation of maps of the spatial variability of as many variables as can be measured (e.g. crop yield, terrain features/topography, organic matter content, moisture levels, nitrogen levels, pH, EC, Mg, K, etc.).
Precision agriculture has also been enabled by technologies including crop yield monitors mounted on GPS equipped combine harvesters, the development of variable rate technology (VRT) like seeders, sprayers, etc., the development of an array of real-time vehicle mountable sensors that measure everything from chlorophyll levels to plant water status, multi- and hyper-spectral aerial and satellite imagery, from which products like NDVI maps can be made.
