GrainsWest Spring 2021

Spring 2021 grainswest.com 31 ANDREW WATSON Boggabri, New South Wales, Australia Andrew Watson’s farm runs parallel to a section of the 700-kilometre Namoi River which, when the operation began, possessed bare banks due to stock watering and erosion. There was not a gum tree in sight. Today, he and wife Heike have spent their farming careers revegetating the banks, which now teem with brilliant birds, micro-bats, insects and native grasses. This totally revived ecosystem also features impressive gum trees. Watson was an early adopter of integrated pest management, and quickly came to appreciate the power of beneficial insects and predators. An ag economist by training, Watson understood birds and bugs could earn him money or, at the very least, help mitigate negative margins. “We are taking it to the next extent,” he said of his long-term play via beneficials. “We are prepared to take a little bit of yield detriment to prove this works.” Prior to the introduction of GMO cotton varieties, neighbours in his area sprayed cotton 15 to 18 times each growing season. With his program, combined with beneficials, he cut that number in half. “Year in, year out, when I’m not spending money on applications, our average return on most crops is good as anyone,” he said. “We give away yield, but not necessarily profit.” In sections of old growth vegetation, due to their habitat suitability, Watson’s land is home to four times the national average of micro-bats. The winged mammals happily eat their entire body weight in insects every day. Multiple small bird species such as wrens also prey on common pests such as aphids, heliothis caterpillar moths, silverleaf whitefly, mites and fall army worm. Spraying is always a costly proposition andWatson says he would spend about $55 ASD ($22 CAD) per acre for an insecticide and the aerial application of it. These days he still takes to the skies, but with drone technology at about the same cost per treatment. With work carried out by third-party Parabug Australia, powerful drones may cover 35 to 40 acres per battery charge. Affixed to the drone’s backend is a clear cylinder with holes around its circumference. Beneficials are loaded into the cylinder. Above the canopy, the tube rotates, slowly releasing the insects to begin their fight against predators. While this is incredibly popular in the strawberry and greenhouse industries of Australia, it’s relatively newwith row crops. This past year, he dropped one mite species onto his corn crop to combat another type of mite. The beneficials worked well and he believes he was the only one in his entire region who did not spray for the pest. “But the question is: did we save more beneficials because we haven’t done any broadacre spraying in our corn for insects?” he said. “We are still in a learning phase, there’s not a lot of research.” Other beneficial-friendly methods he uses include the set up of open buckets that contain sweet nectar mixed with insecticide at the headlands of fields. During weekly checks, Watson is pleasantly greeted by a hoard of dead diamondback moths at his feet. In addition, he utilizes manure, cover crops and a no-till farming system that leaves beneficial insects undisturbed and encourages maximum biodiversity. His methods have also received some unlikely attention, as well. Australian clothier MJ Bale, which manufactures formal and business casual attire for men, recently shot an advertising campaign at Watson’s farm to discuss sustainably produced cotton. Watson is now in similar talks with his corn miller about what the farm may offer it to help market to consumers. Although it’s not making him any financial returns yet, he knows that in order to capitalize on such opportunities, it pays to be ready. And he’s ready. “We can see a future where we’d have sales and someone wouldn’t because of this,” he said. AndrewWatson uses drones to aerially apply beneficials onto his crops. The drone’s tube has small holes and, when in flight, rotates to slowly drop the beneficial insects that fight various pests in his crops. Photo:CourtesyofAndrewWatson