Spotlight on land levelling technology

The drought has proven an ideal time for irrigators and dryland farmers to use land levelling technology to improve low-lying areas in paddocks.

Land forming technology was recently showcased by Hutcheon & Pearce at a grower expo at FarmLink Temora in southern NSW.

Dryland and irrigation farmers from Hillston, Condobolin, Forbes, Peak Hill and Finley inspected a John Deere 8345R pulling a JNR Engineering agricultural scraper, all equipped with the GPS guided terrain enhancement technology, iGrade and T3RRA Cutta.

TECSight Integrated Technology Solutions manager, Sam Horan, said laser buckets equipped with iGrade and T3RRA Cutta have been busy across many irrigation and dryland districts over the past eight months.

“There has been a big pick up in contracting work which we didn’t see coming, especially in the dryland areas,” Horan said.

“Most of the irrigators have had two dry years and moved into contracting jobs, with the dryland work for land levelling really taking off as people are starting to see the value in getting that water out of low lying areas which flood in wet years.”

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Horan said iGrade is John Deere’s advanced approach to land levelling, drainage, grading and plan generation, while T3RRA Cutta is a Wizard-based software that guides users through the 3D land forming process.

“I wouldn’t call iGrade a laser replacement but a laser counterpart,” Horan said.

“Traditional land levelling was done by laser giving a direction and a fall. iGrade is the direct replacement to a flat plane.”

Horan said iGrade is ideal for customers running GreenStar guidance with 2.5cm RTK accuracy.

Developed by T3RRA Design, T3RRACutta software is used in-cab through a tablet console, communicating with the tractor and receivers to control the height of the landforming bucket or blade.

It allows the operator to build drains, roads and levees all in-cab, with guidance lines created and exported directly to the GreenStar display.

T3RRA Cutta provides in-cab data editing and surface generation, day/night modes for 24-hour operation, and surface drain and levee creation.

It features multi-region field subdivision for multi-plane design, 2D and 3D viewing modes and cut/fill map creation.

In-cab rainfall simulation shows how your proposed design affects water flow.

“T3RRA Design is an Australian company based in Toowoomba – this means technical support on the day without having to wait overnight, and less downtime for our customers,” Horan said.

A T3RRA Design representative based in Shepparton (VIC) services southern NSW and Victoria.

Horan said both iGrade and T3RRA Cutta have evolved greatly since initial release.

“T3RRA Cutta is a third party software made for 3D landforming, surveying and implementation of land levelling design,” he said.

“With iGrade, an operator can do a flat plane but T3RRA Cutta allows for multiple steps or a best fit to smooth the surface to get the water to run in the desired direction and flow rate.

“It will level anything you put onto your design – build a road, head ditch or a drain next to a paddock and the bucket will move to that design. There is no need to reset any parameters or move the laser tower around."

He added a big benefit to that is the operator can work anywhere within a 1.5km radius of the station.

“It has the ability to upload data from any machine back into MyJohnDeere operational centre for monitoring the data in one spot.”

Horan said operators would need to purchase a controller for iGrade to mount on the back of the cab.

“An iGrade activation is required to go in that controller – there is no need for AutoTrac as it can be done manually,” he said.

“The tablet is an impact-resistant Panasonic Toughbook which is mounted in the cab, with a cable connected to iGrade.

“A GPS receiver running RTK 2.5cm accuracy is required to be mounted on the bucket. Anyone running RTK will find half the cost is already accounted for.”

Horan said the return on investment is dependent on what the irrigator or dryland farmer aim to achieve.

“In a year like 2016 when we lost a lot of crop to water logging, if those low areas can be removed and yields lifted, the return on investment is almost instantaneous,’’ he said.

“And, in a year like 2018 when yields were down and prices up, it would pay for itself in the first year.”

Horan said the technology appealed to both small and large-scale operators.

“It comes down to the individual grower and what they are trying to achieve – the cost effectiveness does not drive the decision to employ a contractor with the technology,” he said.

“It’s about timeliness and whether the grower has the time to do it themselves.

“But, the increased price of used laser buckets has been driving the market around this technology.

“Do your market research first and compare the numbers on owner-operator versus contractor, work out if it is more viable for you and if you have the time to do the surveying and implementation.”

Horan has some tips for operators using land levelling technology.

“If running iGrade and T3RRA Cutta, or iGrade on its own, ensure the bucket is properly calibrated, the SCV (selective control valve) thresholds are set,” he said.

“There have been misconceptions the bucket and GPS are not working properly but it is usually a set-up issue.

“Make sure there is a return on an investment and it is the right choice for you by involving anyone on the farm and agronomists in the decision.

“Ensure all land levelling equipment is functioning correctly with repairs and maintenance carried out before making a start, as that can affect the end product.”

TECSight provides on-farm training in the iGrade and T3RRA Cutta technology.

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