As 2022 comes to a close, some of us may be breathing a sigh of relief. What a year it has been.
From one extreme to another, 2022 has been undoubtedly an unforgettable year. Along with unpredictable and devastating weather events, we also saw the return to some normality after two years of COVID-19 impacting our way of life.
In this month’s letter, I take a look at the highs and lows of 2022 in Australian ag.
BACK ON THE ROAD
My late business partner Kevin “Mussy” Muspratt and I built our business on understanding our customers by listening to their needs and providing tailored solutions to them. Mussy and I have always been dedicated to being on-site and meeting with our customers face-to-face, whether that be at field days or on-farm.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our interactions with customers were scaled back with the cancellation of field days and limited visits to our customers. But, for the first time in over two years, the Vantage BMS team attended agricultural field days and could once again visit our customers on location.
And attend field days we did. Right across Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales, the Vantage BMS and Vantage WA tents were full of our local teams and customers discussing the solutions and services we offer.
I’m grateful to be amongst our customers once again and look forward to 2023!
WEATHER
After more than a decade of drought for many states, Australia started 2022 with no region ‘officially’ in drought. Whilst we had an exciting start to the year with many forecasters predicting a great outlook for the year, hindsight is a beautiful thing.
South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales were devastated by flooding from February to April, with other regions around the country hit with major flooding throughout the year.
But, even in the darkest hours of the weather disaster, we saw incredible strength and courage from Australians. Helping neighbours, cleaning up affected areas and banding together are part of what makes me proud to be Australian.
On the other hand, with more rainfall than predicted due to La Nina, we also saw many of our clients have fantastic seasons that were on par with the record-breaking season we saw last year.
CUSTOMERS
The cost of diesel, fertilisers and pesticides soared this year as a result of supply chain issues and international conflict. We met up with some of our customers to see how they implemented precision ag technologies, GPS guidance systems, and water management solutions to manage input costs and increase productivity across their operations.
RJ's Earthworks
Earlier this year, we visited Ryan Johnson and the RJ’s Earthworks team on-site in Lockrose, Queensland. Working closely with RJ’s Earthworks for 10 years, the Vantage BMS team partnered with Ryan to implement our complete end-to-end landforming solution.
To help the contract earthmoving company achieve precise results in landforming for land and farm development, RJ’s Earthworks implemented Trimble’s Autopilot steering systems, FieldLevel™ II and the BMS Cross Slope System. The complete end-to-end solution accurately remodels field topography and provides optimal drainage and erosion control, while saving up to 80% on earthworks.
RJ’s Earthworks Customer Story
Comiskey Transport and Earthmoving
Whether you’re a farmer or a grazier, we believe in end-to-end solutions for every farmer. We took the time to speak with Jason Comiskey of Comiskey Transport and Earthmoving on how they use our custom cutter-barring solutions.
The Comiskeys’ use Trimble’s guidance and steering systems on their D10Rs to rejuvenate grazing land and control regrowth by clearing unwanted shrubs and deep roots with a cutter bar. Utilising Trimble CenterPoint RTX, Comiskey Transport and Earthmoving can control the steering of their dozers to an accuracy of within 2cm, while removing inefficiencies, driver fatigue and double-ups and increasing fuel savings.
Comiskeys Customer Story
Rapisarda Enterprises
Since the 1980s, we’ve been working with the Rapisarda family on their property in Clare, North Queensland. From the beginning, the Rapisardas’ have adopted precision ag technologies and solutions to enhance productivity on their sugarcane and cucurbits farm.
For the 21-22 and 22-23 seasons, Andrè Rapisarda partnered with Vantage BMS to implement Vantage BMS’ custom Sugarcane Yield Monitoring system to accurately measure the cane’s crop yield and to identify areas of the fields that are lower yielding. The system helps with management decisions and streamlines processes for the sugarcane crops to increase yield, lower input costs, and boost productivity.
Rapisardas Customer Story
As 2022 comes to a close, I can’t help but look forward to 2023. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone in the Vantage BMS and BMS LaserSat community.
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