Central Queensland is such an unfriendly environment for sorghum, Rod Collins says, that only the greatest attention to detail – and use of the best technology – will deliver a successful crop.

An agronomist with Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F) in Biloela, Mr Collins works in the sorghum stream of the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s (GRDC’s) Central Queensland Sustainable Farming Systems (CQSFS) project.

He joined Jambin grower Selwyn Schmidt in discussing the challenges of cropping in Central Queensland at the recent Fifth Australian Sorghum Conference on the Gold Coast.

The GRDC, which invests about $1.3 million a year in research directly related to sorghum, was “platinum” sponsor of the three day conference, which was attended by more than 180 growers, researchers, seed company representatives and other grains industry people.

Mr Schmidt told the conference Central Queensland cropping land was ageing, leading to greater dependence on fertiliser nitrogen and other trace elements. Fertility decline was the top concern of the regional Research Advisory Committee to the GRDC.

Farm profitability was declining as land and crop input prices rose, while rainfall was becoming more irregular, if it wasn’t decreasing altogether.

“However the CQSFS has been a great success and, without the adoption of current cropping systems that the project has helped develop, dryland farming would not pay in Central Queensland,” Mr Schmidt said.

Mr Collins told the conference serious sorghum production in Central Queensland was about understanding guiding principles largely defined in the sustainable farming systems project and developing ways of achieving them that suited a particular farm enterprise.

Growers needed to understand crop rooting depth, the amount of available water their individual soils can store and their nitrogen, phosphorus, zinc status.

The system should be opportunity cropping with the seasonal outlook taken into account. Flexible row spacing – one metre solid, one metre single skip, 1.5 metre solid – would be matched to seasonal outlook, starting moisture and soil depth.

Flexibility in row spacing and plant population is essential for those growers with highly variable soil types.

Minimum equipment should include a planter capable of precision seed placement, separate seed and fertiliser delivery and ability to alter row spacings. For weed and insect control a grower would need a high clearance sprayer and a shielded sprayer for inter-row weed control.

The aim should be to maximise stubble retention and the implications of wide rows on stubble distribution should be considered. Post harvest grazing or baling should be avoided where possible.

Pre harvest spraying with glyphosate to ensure even plant dry down was a key factor in maximising soil water storage for the next crop.

Controlled traffic with guidance was a given to manage soil compaction, while on-farm storage would improve marketing flexibility. So would forward selling.

“The main gaps in Central Queensland sorghum production are precision planters, fertiliser placement, high clearance sprayers, predicting nitrogen response on brigalow soils and gaining economic responses response to phosphorous fertilisers, weed control – particularly of grasses – in wide rows, adequate storage and forward selling,” Mr Collins told the sorghum conference.