Could you do it? Could you do it knowing there were a myriad of other challenges and constraints working against you?
Brad Egan could. He could even win awards along the way.
“Cost of inputs are up; we’re seeing serious market volatility and land prices keep increasing. So, we need to make more off less,” said Brad, the 2022 Young Farmer of the Year and recipient of the 2022 Award for Excellence in Innovation.
Brad’s mindset is the product of his environment — he has a never-give-up-optimism and shoots from the hip when it comes to problem solving.
He recently addressed the Riverine Plains Innovation Expo, sharing his story about how the adaption of precision ag, digitised data records and backing gut instinct with facts has resulted in huge gains in a marginal part of the world.
“We grow 3600ha of crop at Scaddan, 700km south-east of Perth, with a 10-year average rainfall of just 390mm.
“We grow wheat, barley, canola and field peas and I get to work alongside my mum and dad, Elaine and Gavin, and my partner Laura.”
With a Bachelor of Agriculture from Curtin University in his top pocket, Brad went home in 2017 and wanted to delve into data; he also wanted to delve the entire property to incorporate clay subsoil into the sandy top soil, but more on that later.
“Digitised records make it easier to consolidate all farm information so that you can make data-driven decisions,” Brad said.
“Dad was pretty keen on pen and paper and keeping multiple books in machinery around the farm, so I had to get him on board too.”
According to Brad, if you put good data in, you get good data out and once he had won the battle of digitising the farm records he could drill down to see all sorts of results, such as which crop was most profitable and whether they were leaving protein on the table when it came to nitrogen application.
Adaptability is essential to survival in a changing environment so the Egans got busy adapting to a suite of innovative farm technologies.
Controlled Traffic farming, strategic soil testing, protein meters on headers, variable rate soil amelioration, variable rate urea application and clay delving.
Delving uses specially designed machines to rip deep into the soil profile and pull up the clay-rich subsoil, incorporating it into the sandy soil.
“We started delving in 2013 and in the last 10 years crop yields have increased 45 per cent and rainfall has decreased 15 per cent. We’ve taken sand and added clay and we’ve achieved a loam,” Brad said.
However, in 2019 the Egans were faced with (in Brad’s words) an absolute shocker of a drought paired with a frost and were advised to conserve their spending in 2020.
“We had planned a big delving project and my gut instinct was telling me we should push on with it. But I had to get the data to validate this instinct.
“Given the data we were collecting on-farm I was able to do a cost benefit analysis on the potential yield response and capital return. This taught me the importance of good data.”
During his presentation, Brad was able to show his fellow farmers the wins he achieved and the failures he experienced.
“Don’t be afraid to have a crack and make a mistake, it’s just a trial!”
Since winning the 2022 Young Farmer of the Year award, Brad has experienced a whirlwind of speaking gigs and attended countless farm conferences pushing the message that environmental and economic sustainability echo each other.
And it all starts with good data collection.
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