10 minute read
Champion growers
More than a trophy—it's a way of life
BY ROBYN DEVINE
A strong sense of family, a deep understanding of soil types and the courage to diversify has shaped Bundaberg growers Bob and Wayne Baldry into champion growers.
Third-generation sugarcane grower Bob Baldry has been working on the farm since leaving school at 14, now in his eighties he remains an integral part of the farm. His son, Wayne, acknowledges the great legacy both his family have made to the district.
Bob has witnessed some major changes in the industry since his grandfather grew flowers on another farm in the Bundaberg region before Bob’s father started growing cane on the current family farm.
“When I was still going to school, in the August school holidays, it was spring planting, everyone chipped in,” Bob said.
“You would cut the cane into billets, then you’d chuck them in a hessian bag and put it in the waterhole overnight, ready to plant the next day. We had three horses pulling the planter and dad used to sit on there and drop the billets in one by one.”
Bob can remember far enough back when all the cutting was done by hand—Bob has seen it all during his time on the farm and enjoys mixing the old ways with the new.
Wayne’s sense of fun shines through as he acknowledges the value of the old machinery, albeit its lack of modern comforts.
“The irony is when we have a bad strike in planting, if you have had a copious amount of rain,” Wayne explained.
“We still have the drop planter to use, it’s on a spring load, you use your feet to dig it into the ground and drop the billets in one by one, to fill the gaps with what may have failed.
“It’s not the most comfortable ride as its on cast iron wheels but it does still get used, once every five or six years if you get a bad strike.”
Bob had 50 acres and at that time in the industry it was considered a big farm, now that’s only a hobby farm. The Baldrys have gradually expanded to 300 acres.
Bob’s wife Carol didn’t grow up on a farm, she worked in an office but that didn’t stop her becoming deeply involved in the farm’s day-to-day operations.
“Carol worked with me all my working life,” Bob said. “She used to pack rockmelons from October to Christmas every day of the week.”
Wayne explained there wasn’t money in just growing cane, so it was lucrative to diversify crops.
“If you didn’t diversify then it wasn’t viable, we have done a lot of crops during our time, rockmelon, watermelons, cucumbers but we transitioned away from small crops, it’s too hard, sometimes you make money but other times you don’t, and you need extra staff during the busy times,” Wayne said.
“Now I’ve got the macadamia trees in, I don’t need a lot of staff as I can handle 10,000 trees on my own.
“You do get busy between growing 7,000 tonne of cane and the mac trees, it can get a bit frantic, but at least I don’t have to manage staff.”
As all growers are aware regular changes in a commodities’ market impacts the decisions made on farm and the decrease in the current value of macadamias means the positive global sugar price is attractive for Wayne, although he is fully realistic about the volatility of the industry.
“At the moment if you look at what sugar is doing the prospects are good, but we have seen this high price before, obviously not like this—it’s out of the ordinary. But who is to say in five years’ time where it will be, these things always adjust.”
Wayne joked if he could find a way to plant cane around the macadamia trees he’d do that too to take full advantage of the current sugar price.
“With sugar, the variability of weather comes into play as well as what is happening in the other sugar producing countries, we will have to wait and see,” Wayne said. “We will keep watering, go as hard as we can while the prices are this way.”
The Baldry farm is split between the rich vibrant legendary red soil of Bundaberg, often classified as one of the best growing soils in Australia, and the grey loamy soil of the low country providing challenges for farming practices.
“The only reason we get any good crops out of the low country and make money out of it, is because of what we do, not because of what that country is, whereas the red soil is half the work, and we get twice the profit,” Wayne said.
“We are trying to farm on country that is salty, we are close enough to be in a riparian zone, on the edge of the river with the coastline just over the horizon. That is the end of the line as far as water starting to leave the farm. It’s not very good country at times, we cop a lot of rain and wind.
“Salt also gives us a hiding down on that country, I planted mac trees where we had trouble growing cane and I’m having a similar problem with the trees, but they make me more money than cane did.
“I just don’t grow that beautiful big tree that we have up on red soil, I grow a squat little fellow that still produces but he needs a lot more love. It’s no different to cane, it’s half the work on the red soil.”
The hard work and deep understanding of the farm’s soil types and the ability to change farming practices according to soil types and the cane’s needs has seen Wayne and his father acknowledged with the District Champion Award at the Bundaberg Sugar Industry Dinner and 2022 Season Productivity Awards with an average of 16.83 ts/ha.
The awards represent the high standard of cane production in the district and the key is to encourage growers to reach for the best outcome for their farm. The Baldry’s have hit the mark two years in a row. Wayne is philosophical about the awards.
“Productivity is the key to making money, awards are great, but the reality is you do this because it makes you money and makes you viable. It’s good to encourage the district to have a high standard,” Wayne acknowledged.
“It comes down to what you learn over your country as well as being in control of the farming practices. For example in our low country we still burn standing cane because we have trialled not burning but when you get six inches of rain, lodging goes stagnant and then it becomes a drainage issue. We have learnt it doesn’t work if we want to make money from it, so we still burn.
“The biggest issue for me is regulation from outer parties about how we are going to produce sugar and the implementation of Reef procedures coming to the area from the north, that’s one of the reasons I want to get out of cane farming.
“I think it’s going to be difficult to have a regulation on how much nitrogen you are allowed to apply on blocks, it’s not going to be easy on certain years when rainfall comes into play. We don’t apply fertiliser because it’s cheap or it’s fun to do, we do it because that’s what makes us viable.
“With the implementation of the Reef regulations I have tried numerous organic fertilisers on cane, but they don’t work as they don’t have the N enough.
“This year we’re using urea based fertiliser as we are unable to access our regular CAN fertiliser due to supply issues. We till the fertiliser into the ground, it has been the perfect product for our place.
“We are trialling some slow release products, that appears to be where the future of fertiliser is going, but the trouble is its new to us, I’m back at square one again, needing to understand when the application period is and when to irrigate, around all our known weather variables.
“Using our normal fertiliser products I know already how much I need and when to apply to get the right tonnage and CCS on this place and the results verify that, but when I go to a new product it all becomes guess work again.
“We’ve always grown green manure cover crops and I’ve probably walked a spray line over about 150 acres of ground this year because it’s the way we water in the fertiliser lightly and quickly. We do it early before any potential rainfall events that can be three inches in two hours, so we keep control of that nitrogen.
“I have complete control of everything I do on this place until I get 12 inches of rain in two days, then I don’t have control, but no grower can have 100% control when you get weather events like that.”
Wayne said his weed management was the same thing.
“Dad will drive over the top of the block and if he sees a weed then he hops out and chips it out. When I go through using butterfly arms for broadleaf weed I’ll go at a speed that I can see if there is weed in the area, and I’ll just turn it on when I need to. By using the correct amount of application and using it at the right time I have control.”
Wayne said implementing the practices required by the Reef regulations was time consuming and he feels that in the long run growers may need to pay someone to deal with that part of the business.
Wayne said the challenges also arise when trying to placate the different regulators.
“It’s conflicting when they argue they don’t want things leaving the farm but then we are not allowed to hold it. Right at the back of my place I want to put in a sediment trap, to claim water and reuse that water on farm. At the moment you are only allowed build up to 18 mega-litre holes, they can’t be adjoined they need to be a separate hole. If you build those holes as a sediment trap to stop things leaving there is a moratorium on it, because you are stopping overland water flow.”
Wayne accepts that his time growing sugarcane is fast coming to a close, but he has enjoyed the lifestyle.
“I’m getting out, the future opportunity is to hopefully sell and get out. I’m a bit jaded. We’ve gone pretty hard here and it’s not just about making money, it’s about having pride in what you’re doing. You have to enjoy what you do as a farmer. I always liked the flexibility of the lifestyle but if you are not enjoying it the way you used to—then it’s time for a change.”
