In September 2020, the Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection (ICP) project team produced a case study that focused on the Three Ryans farm in Western Australia. Vegetables Australia has published excerpts of the study and spoke to Jake Ryan to discuss the benefits of being involved in the Soil Wealth/ICP project.

Gary, Tracey and Jake Ryan operate Three Ryans farm in Manjimup, approximately 290 kilometres south of Perth.

Their 500-acre growing operation encompasses vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, red and white cabbage and green and red kale. In addition, the Three Ryans’ property includes 1,000 sheep, 62 heifers and 4,000 chickens.

Jake Ryan oversees the vegetable growing aspect of the operation and has been interested in soil health for years. He studied agribusiness at Western Australia’s Curtin University, and has engaged in a wide variety of resources including YouTube videos, books and podcasts to gain further knowledge of soil health and the regenerative ag movement.

Jake is also part of a new generation of vegetable growers that recently came together and joined the Warren Improvement Group in Western Australia. The group is currently working with the Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection project, which is jointly delivered by RM Consulting Group and Applied Horticultural Research.

With assistance from the Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection project team, the Three Ryans decided to try the cover crop and strip till combination to see what benefits there are for their vegetable farm. In November 2019, an on-farm strip till demonstration plot was established in a broccoli crop, with positive results.

Soil Wealth ICP Phase 2 (VG16078) is a strategic levy investment under the Hort Innovation Vegetable and Potato Funds.

Gary and Jake Ryan.

A cost- and time-saving initiative

At the Three Ryans, broccoli was grown in either cover crop plus strip till or conventional till following a short fallow. This allowed a direct comparison of the two soil prep approaches.

The cover crop and strip till combo has cut the Three Ryans’ work drastically when compared to the fallow plus conventional cultivation used beforehand. The biggest impact was the reduced tractor passes to prepare the ground for transplanting of the broccoli crop.

“We used to do five or six passes with the tractors, now we’ve gone down to two passes. We just roll a cover crop and then put strip till into it,” Jake said.

About 50 per cent less irrigation was required to prepare the ground for transplanting in the strip till area – the strip tilled area retained moisture better, which has led to savings in irrigation costs.

“The soil in the strip till area was more friable and appeared to have a better structure compared to the soil in the conventionally grown area. The strip till area was also noticeably wetter during the broccoli growing season compared to the conventional area. We may be able to irrigate less when growing crops using the strip tillage method,” Jake said.

Savings were made not only in a reduction in the number of passes required across the paddock, saving fuel and man-hours, but also in equipment.

“A smaller tractor is required for the cover crop and strip till machinery, compared to when we prepare the ground using conventional methods. Being able to use smaller tractors that cost less to purchase, maintain and run, is an additional benefit of using strip till in our farming system,” Jake explained.

“Broccoli yield was about the same in the strip tilled and conventional areas, which is a good start for a first go at strip till. In a further six plantings, yields have improved compared to our expected broccoli yield as we fine tune everything.”

The health of the soil has also increased through the cover crop and strip till combo.

“During the trials, we did an earthworm count that was conventional tillage versus strip tillage in side-by-side plots. There were five earthworms per shovelful in the conventional and in the strip till, it was up to 25 per shovelful, which is really positive,” Jake said.

Despite being on some steep land, no soil movement in the alleyways of the strip till area occurred, even after 50 millimetres of rainfall. Over the winter, the soil under subsequent strip tilled crops has held together well with no obvious erosion.

Strip till.

Growing success

Gary, Tracey and Jake were impressed with the substantial time and cost savings of the strip till method, combined with observable improvements in soil health. The cover crop plus strip till combination makes the transition from cover crop to broccoli much more manageable and helps lock in the benefits from cover crops.

The demo trial allowed the Three Ryans’ growing operation to work through the practical challenges of replacing its usual fallow and conventional cultivation, with a cover crop plus strip till combo.

After the demonstration trial, it has transitioned to growing all vegetables using this method.

“The benefits of cover cropping and strip till will be great for our farm. We intend to keep using the method in the future and will experiment with different types of cover crops, when they are sown and the timing between stopping cover crop growth and the transplanting of the vegetable crop using the strip till method,” Jake said.

Jake recommends becoming involved in the Soil Wealth project. It has had a beneficial impact on not only his operation, but on others in the Manjimup region. There is growing interest in moving towards a strip till approach, with one potato grower even purchasing a strip tiller after seeing it on the Three Ryans’ property.

“There’s a wealth of knowledge within the Soil Wealth team, through Kelvin Montagu and Doris Blaesing and everyone else involved – they’re all switched on in their field,” he says.

“There are plenty of things out there that you want to trial and give back to the community by demonstrating the changes that you can make in the horticulture sector. I think there are a lot of things we can do better than what we’re doing currently.”

Cover crop + strip till combination: The key benefits

• Strip till makes cover crops more manageable and helps lock in the benefits of cover crops.
• Reduction in costs:
  • Less paddock preparation required
  • Can use smaller tractors – less compaction, less capital, less weight and cheaper maintenance
  • 50 per cent less time required for watering the ground prior to transplanting.

• Broccoli yields similar to conventional cultivation
• Weed suppression
• Soil holds more water
• Improved soil structure
• Increase in earthworms.

Find out more

To read the whole case study, please click here.

For more information about the Soil Wealth/ICP project, please contact project leaders Dr Gordon Rogers on 02 8627 1040 or gordon@ahr.com.au and Dr Anne-Maree Boland on 03 9882 2670 or anne-mareeb@rmcg.com.au.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable, fresh potato and processing potato research and development levies and contributions from the Australian Government.

Project Number: VG16078

Cover image: Broccoli strip till area.