Vantage BMS has been your ‘partner in precision ag’ since 1979.
Part of that longstanding history is how we’ve played a crucial role in the Australian agricultural landscape by assisting in the expansion and development of new farming regions.
From the expansion of the Burdekin irrigation region and the Emerald irrigation region in the 1980s to recent developments in cotton, let’s dive into our history and the exciting new developments currently happening in our great country.
Expanding Cane in the Burdekin
While cane growing in the Burdekin region has historically always been strong, its past binding ties to the wet areas along the Burdekin River Delta limited expansion and production.
In the early 1980s, land levelling technology was introduced to the market.
As a result, Burdekin farmers began using this leading technology to level their fields to irrigate their sugar cane using furrow irrigation. This opened areas that had previously been utilised for grazing cattle to significantly higher-value cropping opportunities.
By the end of the decade and into the 1990s, this cropping development was significantly accelerated following the completion of the Burdekin Falls Dam on the Burdekin River and the subsequent expansion of the Burdekin Irrigation area.
As Ayr locals, my late business partner, Kevin ‘Mussy’ Muspratt, and I jumped at the chance to support this development.
We were at the forefront of this boom, providing the laser technology, laser scrapers, and the survey and design services the Burdekin growers needed.
And by 1995, Queensland produced 35.27 million tonnes of cane (that’s 4.61 million tonnes of sugar)—a huge growth from the 25 million tonnes produced just nine years earlier in 1986.
We continue to support the Australian cane industry through custom precision ag solutions like our Sugarcane Yield Monitoring System that enables growers to understand yield variability and we will continue to adapt to suit local growing conditions.
Read Rapisarda Enterprises’ experience using our solutions:
Developing Cotton Across QLD and Northern Australia.
Also, during the 1980s & 1990s period, a similar project was occurring as cotton was being introduced into the Emerald irrigation in the Central Highlands of Queensland.
Like the cane development in the Burdekin, the Emerald region had a similar requirement for our leading Water management and landforming technologies and services.
Vantage BMS proudly supported this development, which ultimately proved a great success with Central Queensland cotton growers now generating around $3 billion for the national economy.
Today, Trimble’s leading technology is currently in use developing new cotton cropping in Western Australia’s Kununurra region and the Northern Territory’s Tipperary region.
And another interesting project three years in the making is cotton development in Northern Queensland approximately 125km north-east of Julia Creek.
Our team recently talked to RSA Contractors about the development and how they’re using an array of Trimble water management solutions to enable bankless irrigated cotton.
With pumping stations extracting water from Flinders River, part of RSA’s work has been digging channels from the river back into two large ring tanks on high ground to store water.
These ring tanks will play a pivotal role in irrigating the surrounding fields in what will be a ‘bankless’ (also known as ‘siphonless’) irrigation system.
Read the full story:
It’s exciting to play a part in the development of Australian agriculture. What will be next?
