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ARDC
Lanitza runs a large boutique fruit horticultural property south of Grafton in
NSW, Australia. The property currently has sweet persimmon and red flesh grapefruit
crops with plans to diversify into at least four other fruits based on the Topoclimate
farm planning information produced by Topoclimate Services.
“The Farm Planning process on this
property has confirmed to ARDC that they are growing the right crops in the
right places.” Gary Hutchinson (Consultant, TSPL) says with
some pride.
“Their grapefruit trees for instance
are producing 42% more fruit than trees elsewhere in Australia at the same age.”
Gary says. “ They
are producing over 15kg of commercial sized fruit from three year old grafted
trees when, under normal Australian conditions, trees do not commence
commercial production until they are four years of age.”
The
microclimates of the site clearly suit grapefruit production but the mapping
also identified some areas where it was clearly too cold for grapefruit
production and there was significant risk of frost damage to the trees.
ARDC
have adjusted their planting programme to avoid these areas based on this
information“ Gary
says, ”and have saved themselves from putting significant
planting costs at risk by understanding the temperature patterns of their
orchard better.”
The savings from this information alone have saved ARDC more than
$20,000 in planting and management costs which alone have fully justified the cost
of the farm plan" said Frank Smith, a ARDC company director, " and we are using the soils and
microclimate information from the plan for all of our planning decisions".
"We have
also listened to TSPL's views of marketing of our fruit and this has already
improved our returns from our persimmon crop by over 32%" says
Frank. "We are now
strong advocates for good farm planning and the use of the Topoclimate Farm Planning System -
it's bringing us immediate good results!"
ARDC
have also used the planning process to protect areas of high environmental
value on the property. The ARDC Lanitza Topoclimate
Farm Plan has identified areas of the 951 ha Lanitza property
with high natural resource values such as old growth forest, large ponds
(billabongs) and areas with high aboriginal heritage values. The ARDC Lanitza
Farm Plan allows for protection of these areas in partnership with the local
community and government.
The
company is keen to preserve areas of old-growth forest on the property which
lie on the north bank of the Orara River and include examples of wetter mixed
rainforest on the banks of the river ground cover of birds nest ferns hanging
on the basaltic rock outcrops merging into drier white gum eucalypt forest further
from the river in co-operation with the Australian National parks and Wildlife
Service who have identified and mapped this resource .
There
are also a number of large billabongs on the large stream, Qwyarigo Creek,
which runs through the ARDC Lanitza Property. As well as being part of the
water resources available for further development of the property, the ponds
provide high quality habitat for waterfowl and platypus. The plan allows for a
balance between the productive needs of the property and protection of the
wetland habitat .
The
ARDC Lanitza property also has some significant aboriginal heritage areas on
the property and adjoins one of the more sacred aboriginal sites in NSW, an
area now known as the Bull Paddock, where male initiation ceremonies were held
in the past. The heritage sites on the property include cave art, rock carvings
and burial mounds. The ARDC Farm Plan allows for the continued preservation of
these areas including a buffer zone for further protection.
The Environmental Values Module of Farming
Smarter will show you how to identify and plan for the
conservation of areas and sites with environmental and heritage values.
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