I doubt that many farmers using " the old ways " would still be in business today. Australian agriculture is one of the most innovative industries in the country and has undergone massive changes over the last twenty years. The days of cultivating soil for crops and twelve month fallows that where standard farming techniques when I left school have been replaced by zero till, computer controlled farming systems. Legumes and oil seed crops are rotated with cereal crops to provide natural nitrogen fixation in the soil and to provide a disease break from soil born pathogens.
Narrow knife point, tungstan tip tynes cut a slither through the ground for seed placement, with fertilisers placed several cm. below the seed. Press wheels then close over the knife cut, leaving a small "V" shaped channel to direct what moisture falls onto the seed. The tractors towing seeders are steered by computers, using GPS. technology with pin point accuracy. The seeds are placed in the middle of the row of standing stubble from the previous years crop, which provides shade and protection for the young seedling. Infra red technology is now being incorporated into weed spraying equipment. It identifies individual weeds which are then sprayed by a small blast of weedacide, leaving surrounding crop plants unsprayed. This results in a 90% reduction in herbacide use.
Harvesters are fitted with yield map technology which prints out a map of the paddock, showing above average and below average portions of crop. This can then be mated to fertiliser application equipment, to target fertiliser at those sections of the paddock, most in need and reducing fertiliser use on better performing sections of the crop paddock.
There are many other innovations including techniques borrowed from organic and bio-dynamic farming systems being incorporated into modern agriculture. This is leading to dramatic improvements in crop yields in the face of declining growing season rainfall, due to climate change. In the remote, semi arid area where we have a farm, croppers are achieving yield INCREASES of around 50% when compared to " old sytems ". On my own farm, the guy who crops it for me looks like he will still make a good profit from his crop, grown on 125 mm. of rain for the year.
The problem I see is not that farmers are using " old systems " but that the media and city people are simply unaware and unimformed at the incredible revolution that has taken place on farms in the last couple of decades. If the rest of Australias industries where as innovative as our farmers, Australia would be an incredibly wealthy place and a world leader in technical innovation.
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