Bartle Frere Bananas has invested in a host of innovative technologies to ensure it is preserving one of the seven natural wonders of the world
Far North Queensland family-run banana production business Bartle Frere Bananas has been operating for over 30 years with the environment always front of mind.
Named after the tallest mountain in the state, Mount Bartle Frere, the business was founded by Gavin Devaney’s parents with 80 acres close by to the 1.6km peak.
It was based there for around a decade before moving to the southern side of Innisfail, approximately 100km south of Cairns.
Devaney now runs the business on 250 acres of land, encompassing rivers and rainforest that meet the Moresby River – only 30 km from the Great Barrier Reef.
Given its close proximity to the world’s largest coral reef system, Bartle Free Bananas is doing everything it can to be more environmentally friendly.
Smart farm
Bartle Frere Bananas purchased a neighbouring 60-acre sugarcane block in 2019, successfully transferring it to a banana farm.
Partnering with Hort Innovation, the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australia’s horticulture industry, Bartle Frere Bananas piloted this block as a smart farm to learn new ways of mitigating the environmental impacts of its farming practices.
A range of innovative technologies were installed on the property, including advanced sensors, an integrated data dashboard and real-time monitoring of nitrate leachate.
An underground vegetated drain was also built, designed to absorb nutrients and retain soil, to see if water could be de-nitrified prior to meeting the Moresby River.
“Hort Innovation wanted to see if I would be willing to install a TriOS sensor, to remotely read and sensor that water in real time, every five minutes,” Devaney says.
Measuring nitrate concentration of leachate leaving the farm, the advanced sensor was paired with a rated flume and real time pressure transducer to measure flow rate and total volume of leachate passing through the subsurface ag pipe.
The combination of sensors now provides constant data to support Bartle Frere Bananas’ fertiliser and irrigation decisions.
It can track the groundwater at the head of the drain and understand what is coming out of the farm and what is leaving the property. This means the business can tell how de-nitrified the water is.
“We were able to find the right levels for water runoff, how the water runs and where its runs to,” Devaney says.
Central intelligence
Devaney aimed to access all this data in one place, which led to the development of a specially designed user interface.
Created by data solutions company Hitachi Vantara, Bartle Frere Bananas uses a dashboard to monitor leachate and sediment to ensure it is environmentally friendly – all monitored from a digital control tower.
Using information from the tower every morning, Devaney can access the weather forecast to know how he must irrigate on specific days.
This has led to significantly improved irrigation practices, as Devaney is able to determine when, where and how much is required.
“There were areas that I believed I was overwatering, but it turned out I was actually underwatering,” he says.
By implementing this change, Devaney says the business now has healthier plants and reduced water usage.
Data from the dashboard also helps ensure that the business’ Cavendish bananas are getting enough fertiliser to grow properly, but not too much where it leads to waste in deep drainage and run-off.
“Runoff water can be a problem in our location, because we’re farming along the edge of the Great Barrier Reef with major rivers flowing through our property,” Devaney says.
“We’re also located in one of the highest rainfall areas in Australia, so being able to track that runoff water allows us to see if we are losing any nitrogen from fertilisation.
“With the way we fertilise, I was able to prove that Bartle Frere Bananas wasn’t losing any nitrogen through the groundwater.”
Manual labour is one area of the business that has been improved, as Bartle Frere can track if jobs are being done properly, while advanced sensors allow the business to track its vehicles, leading to further benefits.
“We have 13 or 14 trackers on our machinery that monitor all the jobs done on the property,” Devaney says.
“Having these remote sensors means we don’t have to physically check specific areas with machinery, so we’ve minimised our soil compaction.”
Looking to the future, Devaney believes his data driven smart farm operation is just the start of where the agricultural industry is headed.
“Working with Hort innovation has given us a chance to actually make changes to our practices on the property,” he says.
“This has benefited us financially but also helping us to become more environmentally friendly.”