Australian crop farmers spend around $3.3 billion annually managing weeds, and herbicide resistance is becoming a growing problem. But one SA farming family’s invention is helping to make some of the countries worst weeds a problem of the past.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00While weeds are a pain in our backyards, on farms they're a nightmare.
00:08An arsenal of chemicals, insects and even controlled burns can help, but some of the
00:13most pervasive weeds have become resistant to herbicides.
00:17The herbicide resistance of weeds is a well known fact, but there's nothing resistant
00:23to Australian steel.
00:24Kangaroo Island farmer and engineer Dr Nick Berry set his mind to creating a different
00:30solution, a weed-destroying machine.
00:33It sits at the back of the harvester, killing annual ryegrass, wild radish, wild oats and
00:39broomgrass seeds.
00:41We direct all of the chaff and the weed seeds into those shoots, put it through the seed
00:45terminator and smash the bejesus out of it and spread it back on the soil.
00:49Researchers say the innovative technology has an added benefit of protecting farmland.
00:54We've had other practices where farmers have burnt their weed seeds and straw and of course
01:01what that does is it leaves the soil bare and you've got opportunities then for erosion
01:07over the summer time.
01:08The family business has received a $3.1 million grant from the federal government to export
01:14into European and North American markets.
01:17Manufacturing creates secure, well-paying jobs.
01:21That's why we're backing it.
01:22It's important that Australia is a country that makes things.
01:25Mr Ashenden says it's been rewarding to see their product help the farming community.
01:30They are saving time, they are saving money and they're leaving their land in a better
01:33place than what it was before.
01:35The seed of an idea now going global.