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1.1.5 Crop management Mallee System Seedlings and planting represent the most costly stage of establishing a mallee planting, often representing up to 40% of the total establishment cost, estimated at $1650 / planted hectare (URS 2008). It is essential trees are properly planted to achieve high survival levels and ensure young seedlings become established quickly. The stocking (or planting density) depends on the species selected, the site characteristics and its carrying capacity and the proposed uses and desired land management objectives. Seedlings can be planted using either a machine or by hand. Machine planters are towed behind a tractor and operate as a one pass system incorporating all aspects of the site establishment. Weed control is the most crucial element to establishing any tree crop. The competition between weeds and young trees for valuable moisture and nutrients is very high. It is essential trees have minimal, but preferably no competition, to encourage rapid early growth and to maintain growth rates. Harvesting is considered to be a single row operation so inter-row spacing must be at least two metres to facilitate vehicular traffic. Sugar system Commercial sugar cane is propagated vegetatively. Sections of the stalk (approximately 150-300 mm long), called setts and carrying at least one bud are planted in mechanically in rows with spacing between rows ranging from 1.4 to upwards of 2 m, sometimes in dual rows. After a few weeks new shoots grow from buds on the joints of the setts and break through the surface of the soil. Up to 12 stalks grow from each sett, forming what is known as the stool of sugarcane. The resulting cane stalk is typically 2 to 4 m in length and 25 to 50 mm in diameter depending on the cultivar and growth conditions. Sugar-cane is normally harvested annually at ground level and the underground buds then shoot to a produce a ratoon crop. For Queensland, an average of three such rations is grown before the stubble is ploughed out and the land prepared for replanting, or a break crop. Under the more temperate New South Wales climate most crops grow for 2 years before harvest and generally only one or two ratoons are grown. The crop, by virtue of the weight of green material produced per hectare, causes a heavy drain on plant nutrients. Factors influencing the amount of fertiliser applied include crop class (plant or ratoon), available moisture, previous fertiliser history and soil type. Responses from nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilisers on plant crops are different from those of ratoon crops. Usually more phosphorus is applied to plant cane and more nitrogen and potassium to ratoon cane. Irrigated crops or crops grown in reliable rainfall areas can utilise more fertiliser than crops grown in drier areas. A good legume crop ploughed-in prior to planting provides some nitrogen for the plant crop. Both plant and ratoon crops receive nitrogen in the planting mixture and as a subsequent further dressing. Sugarcane needs strong sunlight, fertile soil and lots of water (at least 1.5 metres of rain each year or access to irrigation) to grow. A crop of cane takes about 9-16 months to grow in Queensland. In 11
northern New South Wales (where it is cooler) it takes 18-24 months to grow. Typically, a cropping cycle comprises one plant crop and 3-4 ratoon (regrowth) crops. During harvest, the cane harvester drives along each row and cuts the cane stalk off at the bottom of the plant. The long stalk is then cut into many shorter lengths called ‘billets’ (around 30 cm). Another machine known as a cane haulout drives alongside the harvester, collecting all the billets. The cane haulout collects billets until its full, then drives across the paddock to the road or rail, where it unloads its contents either into a semi-truck (for road transport) or mill bins at local sidings on the nearest railway track (for train transport). Once sugarcane has been harvested, it must be transported to a sugar mill as soon as possible. The longer it takes, the more sugarcane juice stored in the stalks will evaporate - so it is important that it arrives within 16 hours of being cut, to minimise deterioration. Australia’s sugarcane is harvested during the drier months in tropical climates – between June and December each year - depending on the weather. 1.1.6 Farming systems (other crops, field layout, machinery) Mallee System The mallee coppice crops are typically grown in belt configurations, commonly in four rows per belt, but increasingly with two rows, with the inter-belt alleys varying, from 40 to 100 metres or more across. There is a two metre buffer zone either side of the outer rows of a belt, and a competition zone beyond that as shown in Figure 1.4. The width of the cropping zone is driven by the cereal production system (i.e. the seeder and spray boom widths). An inter-row spacing of at least three metres is recommended and the intra-row spacing is typically two metres to maintain a reasonably consistent flow of material into the harvester, which equates to 1,430 mallees per hectare of land directly occupied by the belt. The density of planting has varied as the industry has developed, with some very high densities in early plantings, but current indications are that a wider inter-row spacing not only improves access for harvesting but will improve yield per kilometre of belt. The use of more than two rows is not efficient in most circumstances due to the strong edge effect that develops as competition within the belt increases with age (Peck et al 2011). The productive capacity of the strip of land occupied by the belt is captured by two rows, and adding more rows merely distributes the production of biomass across more mallees and increases competition between them. Establishment is by seedlings and some indicative establishment and ongoing management costs are presented in Table 1.3 from the 2008 Mallee Industry Development Plan (URS, 2008). Costs are likely to be lower if operations are undertaken by the farmer, with total establishment costs typically being approximately $1,000 per hectare, with the purchase of seedlings being about 60% of that cost. Table 1.3 Establishment and management costs for contract operations (adapted from URS, 2008) Cost per planted hectare Establishment, site preparation, weed control and planting $1,100 Seedlings at 1,430 per hectare $500 12
Page 1 and 2: Sustainable Biomass Supply Chain fo
Page 3 and 4: Foreword This report provides an as
Page 5 and 6: include business development (new p
Page 7 and 8: Acknowledgments The authors would l
Page 9 and 10: 4.1 Product Options and Supply Chai
Page 11 and 12: Table 4.2 Assessment of current val
Page 13 and 14: Figure 3.4 Tracked rigid self-prope
Page 15 and 16: Executive Summary What the report i
Page 17 and 18: • Biomass production potential of
Page 19 and 20: • As the Industry expands, the mo
Page 21 and 22: Harvesting, transport and storage s
Page 23 and 24: Biomass processing, supply chain pl
Page 25 and 26: Key barriers to biomass industries
Page 27 and 28: Crop-Biomass Production Production
Page 29 and 30: Figure 1.1 The cropping and pasture
Page 31 and 32: Table 1.1 Mallee species used for p
Page 33: 1.1.4 Growth Cycle Mallee System Ma
Page 37 and 38: Almost 80% of the industry now cuts
Page 39 and 40: Bark has relatively high ash but as
Page 41 and 42: Carbon sinks Planting of mallees to
Page 43 and 44: Table 1.5(a) State Land area devote
Page 45 and 46: out the fluctuations in farm income
Page 47 and 48: Mallee system Most of the mallee bi
Page 49 and 50: inconclusive result may have been d
Page 51 and 52: For a sustainable woody crop indust
Page 53 and 54: changed significantly since they we
Page 55 and 56: Figure 2.2 Biosystems Engineering p
Page 57 and 58: Whole-of-crop harvesting represents
Page 59 and 60: During the last decade the harvesti
Page 61 and 62: single row, as this would improve t
Page 63 and 64: 2.2.2.2 Weight Sugar System The Aus
Page 65 and 66: Table 2.1 Harvester Comparison Tabl
Page 67 and 68: The quality of cut may be less impo
Page 69 and 70: ate than a 170 tonne/ha crop of sta
Page 71 and 72: Dry Leaf 6.1 - 3.5 17.0 58.9 53.2 T
Page 73 and 74: Bulk density will be a key consider
Page 75 and 76: Table 2.4 EM levels in cane supply
Page 77 and 78: L/T L/T 60 0.97 0.71 80 0.92 0.66 1
Page 79 and 80: Total 7.5-26 16.5 Mallee System The
Page 81 and 82: • waiting for mill delivery of em
Page 83 and 84: perhaps at 10 - 20 km intervals. Th
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transport arrangements, harvest gro
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contractors and growers, and the fa
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experience of the sugar industry wi
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Table 2.11 Alternative harvest paym
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onto the harvester. BR+F still send
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Repairs and maintenance 2.10 Capita
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Figure 2.14 and Table 2.14 describe
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Sichter et al. (2005)), harvest and
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Transport efficiencies may be possi
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3. Transport and Storage Systems Tr
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same time, the potential problems o
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Figure 3.3 Articulated self-propell
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• The harvester will not have any
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Figure 3.7 Gross mass compared with
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external factors dramatically impac
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Figure 3.11 The effect of haulout t
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3.3 Road Transport 3.3.1 Configurat
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Figure 3.15 shows an example of the
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Road distance one way < 20 km 70 km
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Haul distance is largely outside th
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3.6 Recommendations The nature of t
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• The strategy offered lower tota
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sugarcane billets are such that wit
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• Transfer the whole tree product
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Figure 4.5(b) Energy balance of con
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2010). Table 4.2 presents a summary
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4.4.2 Activated charcoal Activated
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Nett Product Value ($/t) $475.00 $
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Table 4.9 presents an estimation of
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• Oil from leaf @ $2/kg • Synth
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• The mallee oil would be extract
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5. Industry and Business Structures
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is conducted into tariff levels on
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Bx is % brix in first expressed jui
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Hildebrand (2002) estimated that th
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also has a flow on effect to the sp
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Sugar Industry Illustrative Example
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with super size multi-lift bins ove
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farmer vs. harvester) is the next l
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6. Supply Chain Planning and Manage
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Figure 6.1 Building blocks of the s
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weighed against the costs of operat
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• There is close contact between
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6.4 Planning, Management Tools and
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• Harvest and transport logistics
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interface. The system allows users
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Case Study 6.2 - Model Application
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Relationships between sectors and p
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7. Supply Chain Modelling and Econo
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It was assumed that there was a fif
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Table 7.2 Scenario two capital equi
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Table 7.4 Fuel burn rates harvester
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Figure 7.5 Effect of capital equipm
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Figure 7.7 Effect of annual tonnes
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30 1.8 7.0 12.3 17.5 50 1.1 4.3 7.6
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8. Conclusions and Recommendations
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Biomass bulk density has a large im
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Vehicles used for infield haulout w
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This can be compared with harvest a
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While diversification can add value
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Appendix 1: Comparative Assessment
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and transport conditions. Billet le
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that cane production is the most pr
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on sugar only, other proceeds (mola
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References Agnew, J 2002. A Partici
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Enecon 2001. Integrated Tree Proces
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Keating, BA, Antony, G, Brennan, LE
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Ridge, DR and Linedale, AL, 1997. T
Page 221:
Willcox, T, Hussey, B, Chapple, D a
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