IT has been 210 days without rain at Skuthorp's pineapple farms but they've got something up their sleeve giving what would have been a lesser crop an Australian first edge.
James Skuthorp, Pinearama, Yeppoon, recently won a horticulture award for chemical and fertiliser innovation.
While the system isn't a new concept, having already been trialled in Australia, the Skuthorps are the only pineapple farmers using it on a large scale.
The prize was awarded by Fitzroy River and Coastal Catchments Inc to the Skuthorps who produce around 800 tonnes of pineapples annually supplying 50/50 percent to the fresh market and cannery locally through Tropical Pines.
Mr Skuthorp said in the past waiting for rain events is troublesome when trying to apply fertiliser and chemicals to a crop.
He said often it would be too dry and there wouldn't be enough moisture in the soil and the products would evaporate and on the other hand there could be too much of a downpour and the chemicals would wash away.
He said they had been thinking about a change for years and the original idea was a basic one - a system that would apply fertiliser and chemicals direct to the root system without relying on a rainfall event.
"It's been a dry for ten years now and you can always get up and move on, or the alternative is to try and do something with what you've got, and that's the option that we went with," Mr Skuthorp said.
"We would try and fight it another way."
The innovation is effectively a large-scale dripper system directing chemicals and fertiliser direct to the pineapples' roots. After a successful trial on one hectare of hybrid pineapples last December they have since applied the system to make a total of eight hectares.
"If you had a problem with say cane grubs when it was dry you couldn't do anything about it because the rainfall wasn't there to let the chemical down to the grubs.
"You wouldn't guess it but there was a big wet last summer and we couldn't spray for phytophthora root rot with the boom spray because it was too wet on the road ways and you couldn't drive around to do anything.
"With this system you can actually use the rain to benefit it and you don't use much water at all really.
"Mainly it is to be used with the rain and of course it hasn't rained since we started.
"What we did was simply set up another ute with a tank on the back with the chemicals and fertiliser, and we simply just plug it onto the lines."
Water is an imperative part of the crop absorbing the fertiliser and chemical and a 100,000 litre tank feeds bore water down to the dripper system which is made up of a total of 56.7km made up of T-Tape, 2 inch poly and four inch main pipes.
"At the moment we are still experimenting with that but we are doing 50pc over the top, 50pc under the ground with fertiliser and the entire chemical underneath."
He said they use the system on each plot (they are broken up into three) every four weeks.
It has cost the family around $40,000 to install the system, which is the first time in Australia it's been used on pineapples however farms in Hawaii have been using a similar system for irrigating pineapple crops for years.
So far the system has been a success with Mr Skuthorp saying it has both financial and environmental benefits and they are getting around mother nature.
He said they have been surprised at the quality of this season's crop.
"Certainly through this drought it's been better than what we expected and we actually were surprised. I didn't do it for watering purposes, but it's definitely been a major benefit for the plant with climate conditions we've had."
They have already seen positive changes in their crop proving that the system is paying itself off and according to Mr Skuthorp chemical use has been slashed by a third.
"The sizing of the fruit will definitely improve and just to increase one size you are looking at up to an extra 50-60 cents per pineapple."
"Pineapples range in size from 18 to 6 in a tray and if you can get your sizes up from say a size nine to a size eight your dollar increase on your yield is quite considerable."
"It all pays off when you turn out a better fruit.
"Especially having that security, the system gives you a lot more security than we've ever had before because if the weather is against you you can do something about it.
"That's really important with the unseasonable weather changes we've had these last ten years."
Mr Skuthorp said another plus the system has had on the crop is the fact that the hybrid variety generally has a weak root system but since using the dripper system the roots are improving out of sight.
"They have improved in volume and we are finding the fine feeder roots have increased quite considerably."
He said another benefit would be down the track banking in on the possibility of growing more fruit from the one plant.
"There is a possibility of definitely improving the first ratoon with this system and there is a possibility of going onto a second ratoon."
"We actually went up to Townsville last year to look at some farms that use a similar system and went to one of Queensland's biggest rockmelon growers."
"We thought if this bloke can do it on this big scale we can certainly do it on our smaller scale."
"We feel this has been a step in the right direction in looking after our land and water for future generations, as well as incorporating more cost-effective farming practices."
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