Tackling soaring prices and lack of supply

In the latest edition of VicNoTill’s From The Ground Up member magazine which has just been sent out to all members, board member Don Piper gives us an insight into how he’s working through the rising fuel and fertiliser prices. These are the types of conversations our members are having every day, and all are welcome to join our national network of farmers helping farmers and be part of the conversation. The more people we have in our network, the richer and broader the knowledge and conversations become.

Issue 77 From The Ground Up, Autumn 2026

By Don Piper, Violet Town VIC

With some late December rains then nice soaking rains recently things seemed too good to be true.

Enter the conflict in the Middle East and the flow-on effect of oil supplies globally.

Due to Australia’s debatable ‘on-shore fuel reserves’ and reliance of off-shore refining we have seen a rapid escalation in diesel and petrol price, along with reduced availability.

In our corner of the country in Victoria, we have had to re-think our plans to tackle the challenges in our farming system head on through cultivating a few paddocks to grade them and improve drainage.

This has been put on the back burner as we could only secure 2000 litres of an 8000-litre diesel order.

Thinking laterally, I’ve got a heavy disc chain to go over the paddocks rather than ploughing and grading which will help with paddock roughness a little and save a spray for weed control. It’s not going be as effective, however, it’s going to be an improvement with a fraction of the diesel use.

Disc seeding is another tool I’m pleased we have in our system, which results in less fuel usage, along with stripper fronts at the other end of the season.

There have been some trial results Dan Fox shared from 2016 of a stripper front in barley of 1Lt/tonne harvested with stripper front vs 2.5Lt/tonne with a draper front.

I’m also grateful to be on this path because being able to load up foliar applications at sowing means a reduction in passes because insect or fungal issues can often be avoided when you have a healthy/balanced plant. I’m finding this approach is saving me both expensive fungicide sprays and passes in season.

Fertiliser supply and price

I had some serious trouble sourcing synthetic granular fertiliser this season. I had some ordered that was being blended with a compost and chook manure pellet then the MAP and urea supply evaporated.

I have now been able to secure some MAP fertiliser for sowing and plan to use that down the tube. I’ll use slightly more UAN at sowing than previously planned to fill the gap of a small amount of urea that was also going to go down the tube.

Along with a good package of liquid products with Col Bowie’s and Ky Shapcott’s help we have a pretty good plan of attack to maximise a minimal amount of fertiliser to combat soaring input costs.

Considering the current prices there is no better time to look into the use of high-quality liquids to bolster a sowing program or beginning a foliar program to take full advantage of the inputs you use.

Humates and carbon sources with urea or UAN stand out as providing some really easy gains.

Knowing where your plants are at

Soil testing more frequently and getting at least two leaf tests in season has become a huge part of our program.

I can see where the plant is at and we have seen in past seasons that a very small application of a particular nutrient in a mix can unlock other nutrient imbalances and give a massive crop health result.

It’s hard to imagine our program without leaf tests now.

Through the use of carbon silica product and other liquids we have reduced our synthetics markedly over the past three years which is going to work even more in our favour this season.

These products allow for a much higher nutrient uptake from fertiliser and promote healthy resilient plants that can thrive on lower inputs that are only applied when required.

Applying nitrogen via foliar means a little goes a long way, especially when integrated with leaf testing and soil testing.

It can also be an advantage to not have plants high in nitrates as they become very susceptible to redlegged earth mites and aphids.

All in all, I believe it’s a great time to try something new.

I encourage others to explore how to better maximise the impact of the inputs you’re using with a focus on increasing plant resilience to get you through this challenging supply season and beyond.

• If you would like to have more of an indepth chat about what is working for me, don’t hesitate to give me a call, my number is on page 2.