Broadacre Farming - Wheat

The Petrik biological farming system has had great success without the use of manure. However, where manure is available the results of Petrik biological farming methods do stand out.

Sections of the 2009 NSW wheat crop at Merryvale Partnership Tambar Springs were planted on manure and some of this was strip treated with the Petrik dry powder formulation Bxd at the lowest rate of 250 g/ha. The biology stood out all the way through the crop with aerial photos showing much more canopy early compared to identical manure treatment with no biology applied.

There were three strips of Bxd applied in the field below. These can be clearly seen in both the aerial photo and yield map. The aerial photo was taken by a remote control aircraft and the image is made up of a number of separate photos. You can see the software did not quite stitch the photos exactly, as the lines in the image should all be straight.

The applied biology did seem to move out from the treated areas, possibly through the root systems of the plants, making the untreated sections become quite narrow by harvest. The average yield advantage was 16%.

Up until recently, in Australia, Setbest has generally been considered a horticulture product. In 2009 we applied a half rate of 1L/ha to 20 ha of Durum wheat to assess the potential. The product was both applied and harvested by James Davidson of Merryvale partnership who supplied the yield data. This resulted in an 11% yield increase which at the relatively low $250/ton 2009 wheat price represented a 360% return on investment.

Broadacre Menu | Sorghum | Soybean | Wheat | Canola