Don Myers has a relatively small sugarcane property with 105 hectares under cultivation at any one time, mostly with sugarcane, so buying a high-rise tractor to do his spraying, especially in the wet conditions, was not an option.

That's when the fitter-bytrade's mind started to tick over the idea of building his own.

"We have had two really wet seasons here and you couldn't get in to spray the cane," Mr Myers said.

"I had been thinking about this for a while, and when I found out I could receive some funding through Reef Rescue, I thought I would make it happen."

And make it happen he did. The sprayer began work on the property a month ago.

The ingenious design uses an old wrecked quad bike as its base, and a frame and spray rig was built up around it.

The frame raises the machine 162 centimetres and it is designed for 1.8 metre width rows, covering four rows in one pass.

The spray booms can be extended and folded up by pulleys from the bike and the entire spray rig can be lifted or lowered to suit the height of the crop.

The sprayer uses two 120 litres tanks fed by two 95PSI electric pumps and is fitted with special nozzles and droppers to reduce spray drift.

To negotiate the wet terrain the machine is relatively light and has dual wheels on the rear for added flotation.

"I am really happy with how this has worked," he said.

"It has cost between $6000 and $7000 but to buy the machine would have cost over $50,000.

"I can see modifications I would like to make to it, and I think I could make one cheaper now as well, because a lot of the test runs are out of the way.

"But the machine runs well and can get through 7ha at 9km/ph at 30litres/ha."