Condamine farmer's 13-year, 3000ha levelling program shows results

Deep craters, void of life, have marked 3000 hectares of their 5000ha farm for generations.

During rain events these 'melon holes' fill with water and leach nutrients from the surrounding soil, making planting, spraying and harvesting more difficult and expensive.

In 2016, Jake, wife Felicity and his father Scott decided enough was enough and embarked on a mighty mission - to level 3000 hectares of their cropping country using an experienced operator and a 104 tonne bulldozer.

They're only one-third of the way there but the results are promising.

"Levelling has just really transformed this country," Jake Hamilton said.

"We're seeing yield increases of up to 20 per cent in the levelled country, which gives us the confidence to keep going."

Levelling is an expensive undertaking at about $500 a hectare, but the grower has set a goal to be finished by 2029.

"I'd like to have a red hot crack and get everything done in the next six years. That's going to be weather permitting obviously. Dry dirt is a lot cheaper to shift than wet dirt," he said.

"We've done 1000ha and we want to do another 2000ha. It's a bit daunting when you think about it that way."

Mr Hamilton has used calibrated yield maps, satellite NDVI and high-resolution aerial imagery to map water logging on the farm and more recently has used LiDAR (light detecting and ranging) technology, in conjunction with neighbours, to plan the levelling.

Doing the hard work is a Caterpillar D11R dozer, which is usually more at home on mine sites. It starts by cutting 100mm into the grey/brown self mulching clay.

"We do our first pass like that and that's 70pc of the work. Then we'll turn 90 degrees and we'll lift it 25mm and we'll start brushing everything back over the top," Mr Hamilton said.

"We'll do that a couple of times, going up an inch each time, until there's no dirt left.

"The technology we're using is what's called a cut-fill ratio, where we're planning on some settling. We're cutting 130pc of what we're filling, so when we first do the job, you can still see it's not quite even, but then over time that will settle down and it will become more flat after a year or so."

Mr Hamilton said the levelling program would ensure the soil would not be their limiting factor, setting crops up for decades to come.

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