Minimum tillage Minimum tillage and cropping on the contour is an immediate step towards alleviating some of the wind erosion, water erosion and non-wetting problems. During seeding and harvest, machinery now turns around at the edges of the paddock to keep support traffic out of the cropped area. The weight of the machine is distributed across packer wheels at the back. After only one year in operation, Lachlan already sees several advantages in this system. The packer wheels create small water harvesting banks which greatly increase the yield in areas seeded across the contour compared with areas where cultivation had been up and down the slope.
Soil structure is maintained through minimum soil disturbance.
Stubble is still anchored in recent vehicle tracks within paddocks, areas which would have turned to powdery dust by mid February. Lachlan maintains that he has a lot to learn about chemical usage and minimum tillage and advises anyone in their first year of using the system to get practical advice from other farmers in the district. While minimum tillage provides some protection from the elements, a whole farm plan capable of providing protection in extreme climatic events is being implemented as finances permit. The Whites aim to use as much of their water as possible before it leaves their property, controlling it through banks, dams and trees. They are concerned that water flowing through agricultural land will contribute to waterlogging and salinity on the lower slopes before it reaches the creeks.