Warakirri Agricultural Trusts scooped the inaugural Conservation Farmer Award at the organisation's annual conference in Moree, proving large-scale broadacre production can mix it with the best when it comes to demonstrating its sustainable farming credentials.

The Warakirri Trusts – whose investor is the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust - operates two properties in Queensland, namely Wyobie, near Jimbour, and Myola, near Kuppunn, which jointly carried off the coveted prize.

It was an understandably bullish Wyobie farm manager, Tom Murphy, who said the Trust was keen to dispel the myth that corporate farmers do not manage rural assets sustainably.

"The award proves we are doing the right thing, plus there is a good career in corporate farming," he said.

He recalled the day the CFI panel judges visited Wyobie, checking out its conservation farming practices, its no-till equipment inventory, noting, too, the preservation of its native creek frontages.

But it was on the back of a 400ha '07 winter wheat crop that yielded more than 3t/ha, and a 2000ha sorghum harvest which realised 6.5t/ha, that Warakirri's management strategies really came into their own.

As well, it was something of a personal relief for Tom who had to suffer the disappointment of growing no crops at all during the height of the drought when he was first appointed farm manager.

A quick tour of the property revealed a surprising 15m drop in land levels between each end of the 2700ha enterprise, requiring all its paddocks to be farmed at right angles to any flow of water.

"When it's flowing it's going quickly, so we must try and stop our soil being washed off our paddocks," Tom said.

Stubble retention, therefore, plays a major role both Wyobie and Myola's approach to growing broadacre crops which, naturally, are established using zero-til principles.

Wyobie operates a 9m Daybreak single disc opener/planter for its winter crop regime with a twin-disc 12m John Deere Max-Emerge unit used to establish summer crops on one metre rows.

The 180kW (240hp) JD 8320 tractor runs on 3m wheel spacing, likewise the property’s chaser bins, spray rigs and, of course, the contract headers.

Interestingly, while Myola runs a 36m GoldAcres self-propelled sprayer, Wyobie has just taken delivery of a front-mounted 36m Miller Nitro unit fitted with auto-steer.

* Extract from a full report to appear in Queensland Country Life, July 24 issue.