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Proserpine Young Farmers

Proserpine Young Farmers is a group for young people involved in the agriculture industry in the Proserpine district. 
We are planning a range of activities to improve our knowledge and share our ideas with each other.
If you are under 40 and interested in joining, please follow the below Facebook link.
Like our page on Facebook for updates - "Proserpine Young Farmers" 
https://www.facebook.com/proserpineyoungfarmers/

Jeppesen Farm Tour

Proserpine Young Farmers (PYF) recently headed to Tony Jeppesen’s property at Bloomsbury for their latest farm tour. Tony explained his diverse farming business which includes cane farming and a range of contracting.

 

Tony and Jake kindly gave up their Sunday to share their knowledge of OptiSurface and other farming practices. OptiSurface is a powerful analysis and design software for designing agriculture paddocks to allow precision surface drainage. Jeppesen Farming uses this program for designing paddocks for levelling both on their own farm and as contractors for other farmers. It was clear the importance of proper drainage for good production. It's more high tech than the old laser levelling in one straight line! Many members were very interested in this technology and understanding the process in more depth.

 

It was interesting to hear how the Jeppesen farm has changed over the years to continually work on the most limiting factor to production which started with irrigation, then drainage, pH and now overall soil health. Tony is beginning to increase fallow length and looking to grow a wider range of crops include legumes and cereals in the fallow to improve soil health and overall profitability.

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After significant rainfall the night before we were unable to access parts of the property. However, Tony was able to show us several pump sheds and discuss water harvesting, irrigation and shared some tips on tariffs.

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A big thank you to Tony and Jake!! We really appreciate you spending your Sunday helping share your knowledge with PYF!

DAF Pesticide Workshop

Recently Jack and Blairy from DAF held a pesticide work shop for PYF. We covered the different types of pesticides, modes of action and how they work, spray drift, herbicide resistance, nozzles, regulation, labels and safety. We also got to see different nozzle spray patterns using UV light at dark.

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Can you guess the 5 herbicides Molly sprayed (1st photo - 6 days since spraying)?

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-Paraquat, Diuron, Glyphosate, 2,4-D, isoxaflutole.

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Big thanks to Jack and Blairy for coming all the way to Proserpine from South Johnstone to teach us!

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We hope to see them again in Proserpine for another workshop soon.

Wilmar Pricing and Marketing Sessions

Angus from Wilmar has been hosting pricing and marketing sessions for PYF.

 

Our first session was an introduction to the world of sugar marketing.

 

We recently had our second session where we focused on the basics of sugar futures.

 

For our third session we were put to work and had to get the calculators out to practice using grower portal data to calculate how many tonnes you will be paid for. We also met Shirley Norris who is joining the Wilmar marketing team in Proserpine.

 

We hope to be able to better understand pricing and marketing of sugar to be in the best position to maximise returns. 

Thanks to Angus McKerrow and Wilmar for taking the time to teach us (and feed us!).

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