Hi everyone, my name is James Kuhnemann. I am a fifth-generation farmer, working alongside my brother and uncle at our farm in the Central Darling Downs in South Southern Queensland. My mother and father are also still involved.
Our farm comprises 1,100 hectares, all under cultivation. Our Summer crops include grain sorghum, maize or mung beans (depending on the year), and our Winter crop is wheat as a cover crop on sorghum stubble. We farm on Waco / Norrille self-mulching black cracking clay soil.
Our average yearly rainfall is 800mm andI’m optimistic about the season. Our last harvest finished two months later than ‘normal’ so we are now playing catch up with our annual program. We are currently fertilising for our summer crop, as well as wheel track renovating and drag bucket paddock repairs. As we do roughly 95% of own maintenance in-house, we have also started our pre-season machinery maintenance program.
The big challenge for us at the moment is the threat of crop decimation by fall army worm. Fall army worms are a big issue for grain growers in The Downs. Since the loss of access to Anhydrous Ammonia, crop fertilising now takes twice as long to complete and has become more labour intensive. Availability of urea was very concerning last year but, so far, we had no issue with supply to date.
Weed resistance has also been a continuous issue. Last year, we decided to invest in a camera spray unit and our team see the adoption of this new technology as a game changer. The camera spray unit is a piece of new technology that we have wanted in the toolchest for a long time, and makes Spring look a lot less daunting. We have seen some great results.
Paddock access is also a challenge for us following the last few years of well above average rainfall and the flow-on effects of damage caused by the overland flow.
I believe that the global population increase presents an opportunity for Australia to harness additional export markets and cement itself as a reliable supplier of clean, green food to the world. New farming technology and machinery automation developments provide another opportunity – like what I mentioned with the new camera spray units. Locally, the Central Downs is a hub for feedlots with ever increasing capacity. This presents an opportunity for Australian growers to have increased access to direct domestic markets for animal feed.
I am excited about the future of Australian agriculture, and keen to adapt technological advancement into our farming practices wherever possible. Robotics is an area of particular interest. I am future focused and look forward to adopting more innovative tools and techniques to improve productivity and streamline operations on the farm.