Sugarcane advisors from districts between Mossman and Tully gathered in Innisfail in September for a first look at the new Wet Tropics Sugarcane Explorer, an online tool developed to assist sugarcane growers to generate farm soil maps. The tool was developed by GP One Consulting in collaboration with SRA and the University of Southern Queensland through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare program, and is designed to complement the new Soil-Specific Nutrient Management Guidelines For Sugarcane Production In The Wet Tropics set to be released later this year. SRA’s Dr Danielle Skocaj, who led the development of the tool, said it was a great way to provide soil survey information – digitised from hard copy maps – in a more accessible form for growers and advisors.

“The app is coupled with the thorough information that Professor Bernard Schroeder, Andrew Wood, David Calcino and I have put together in the new Wet Tropics Soil Reference booklet,” Dr Skocaj said.

Commenting on the app, Professor Schroeder, lead author of the new publication, said the tool added real value to the booklets. For more information on the new Wet Tropics Soil Reference booklet and the Wet Tropics Sugarcane Soil Explorer tool, stay tuned for the Summer edition of Cane Matters which will be published before Christmas. Acknowledgments: This project is supported by Sugar Research Australia (SRA) and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. The Wet Tropics Sugarcane Soil Explorer app was developed by GP One Consulting on behalf of Sugar Research Australia. SRA would like to thank the Cassowary Coast Cassowary Coast Reef Smart Farming project for hosting the advisor training session with GP One Consulting. Download the Wet Tropics Sugarcane Explorer user guide here

Watch the video about the Wet Tropics Soil Booklet and app here