Sticking to controlled traffic has continued to pay dividends for Maryborough pineapple grower Jeff Atkinson.
At the heart of the operation is a common-sense approach that, if all crops were planted under 2-metre centres, then machinery could be used for multiple crops. The tactic serves the operation well as the farm produces pineapples, sugarcane and soybeans on a basic rotation.
The changeover to one standard row width took about five years and plenty of dollars, but Mr Atkinson said he wouldn't turn back. "We've cut our fuel consumption and tractor hours by a third," he said.
The soybeans are rotated mostly with the sugarcane.
The 2m centre-controlled traffic, now all done under GPS guidance, means hardened headlands and wheel tracks leave room for easier paddock working.
"A lot of the blocks of cane haven't had ripper tine in them for up to 12 years in the wheel tracks, and the pineapples are the same," Mr Atkinson said.
The wheel track spacings also allow the pineapples to be irrigated via an overhead system in dry times, however the past year has delivered near ideal pineapple production conditions.
