New soil scanning services a step forward for WA ag
Brad Wisewould and Jack Arundel, Carbon Ag, with one of the Veris iScan high definition soil mapping and furrow sensing units that will be mounted on growers’ seeding bars during the upcoming seeding season.
THE WA agriculture industry’s search for an accurate system to measure soil carbon on farm properties looks to have arrived following the announcement of new scanning services available to growers and advisers that collect carbon data and other key soil measurements over entire farms.
Emerging carbon products player, Carbon Ag, recently launched the Veris iScan high definition soil mapping and furrow sensing module, which is available to mount on growers’ seeding bars for the 2021 season.
The system complements the Veris U3 trailing platform, which was showcased during the recent GRDC Grains Research Update in Perth, as well as the P4000 hydraulic, four-sensor probe for deep soil coring, available as a complete mounted vehicle package.
Brad Wisewould of Carbon Ag said there had been robust discussion across the industry about accurately measuring soil carbon for many years and traditional soil testing unfortunately could not provide the complete picture.
He said the Veris technologies mapped entire paddocks to provide key soil indicators across farms, and also to help with further identification and fine-tuning of management zones within paddocks.
“There hasn’t been a tool available for broadacre growers to hire that maps their farms during the seeding process, effectively creating a baseline carbon store for their property,’’ Brad said.
“With the iScan unit mounted on bars, we hope this can establish a dataset that will start to identify carbon baselines for growers from 2021.’’
Brad said some early grower users of the U3 trailing platform already this year also had been impressed with its ability to identify areas of non-wetting soils in paddocks that could then be specifically targeted for amelioration.
Available for hire in limited supply at $5 per hectare, the iScan system measures electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic carbon (SOC), moisture and temperature to a depth of 60 centimetres.
The U3 drive platform, also available for daily rate hire and requiring a vehicle and operator, comprises sensor probes that measure soil pH as well as EC and SOC.
“It maps paddocks and identifies zones for variable rate applications of lime and gypsum,’’ Brad said.
He said the P4000 hydraulic probe, available at a daily rate as well, can then “ground-truth’’ the different management zones devised by the iScan and U3 systems in paddocks.
“The P4000 takes soil cores to a depth of one metre and the sample remains in the core for accurate testing at different depth levels. The core sample is not mixed before testing.’’
“An infra-red camera is sent down the soil core to measure soil organic carbon from 0 centimetres to 1m and it also measures compaction and insertion force.’’
Results of the soil core testing can assist to tighten or loosen the relevant paddock management zones created.
Brad said Carbon Ag had decided to provide training and support to growers and industry representatives so they could undertake their own testing with the systems themselves.
“Growers and advisers have a better handle on where and how they want to conduct their own testing.’’
He said in addition to investing in the soil scanning services, the company effectively was also investing in technologies that could measure possible Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) for growers.
“These systems can accurately identify the amount of ACCUs available per paddock per farm.’’
“The maps generated by the U3 and iScan units are accredited by the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) for soil stratification purposes.’’
Meanwhile, Carbon Ag also has now established a manufacturing facility at Kwinana, where it distributes its range of carbon-based products to growers.