Dolly Parton famously said "we cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails".
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This philosophy is epitomised in the recent actions of Yuna farmer John Warr when he initiated a high-flying technique to combat issues with a portion of his canola crop.
He said sections of canola had grown unevenly and certain patches had failed to grow at all, leaving him no choice but to reseed.
![John Warr from Waringa Aviation practiced over and over using sheets in a paddock to ensure precision with canola seed application from his plane. John Warr from Waringa Aviation practiced over and over using sheets in a paddock to ensure precision with canola seed application from his plane.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/227873742/2c04c323-3ea0-4d79-9cbb-3d31a8991a8d_rotated_270.jpg/r0_0_3024_2918_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Due to the false break in early May we had five or six millimetres of rain on some of our canola and it germinated shot," Mr Warr said.
"And then with the warm temperatures, low humidity and the warm soil temperatures, it sat there for a long time and we found that 60 to 70 per cent of the seeds were non-viable.
"So there was going to be some come up, and some not at all."
As heading back into the paddocks with an airseeder would compromise the healthy seeds and the composition of the soil, another course of action was needed.
"So we thought the best way was to run the aeroplane over it to sprinkle some canola on top from the air," Mr Warr said.
"We've got all our fertiliser placed in the right spot, we got all our chemicals that's already been cultivated into the inter rows, so this seemed like the best action."
It just so happens the Warr family, in addition to its farming land and machinery business, Waringa Distribution, own an aviation business, Waringa Aviation.
Mr Warr said he'd always harboured an interest in aerial application and has been a pilot since he was a teenager.
In 2018 he made his first foray into the aviation industry.
"A couple of mates have their own aviation business in northern New South Wales," Mr Warr said.
"There was a drought over there so they brought their planes over here to the west and operated their business from our home in Yuna.
"They operated out of Yuna for a year and taught me a hell of a lot about what you can do with precision aerial application."
The group and their aircraft returned east once the drought conditions eased.
"They took their planes home and as we felt we needed an aeroplane as a tool, we bought one," Mr Warr said.
"It was just for ourselves, to do our own work, but I had a fair few neighbours ask us to do some application for them too.
"Then the demand got bigger so we ended up buying two aeroplanes to use for spraying, urea application and we've also spread a lot of mice bait over the past few years."
Keeping up with the demand for aerial applications was proving a challenge.
"Trying to find a continuity of pilots was difficult due to the requirement for aircraft was only for four months of the year in WA," he said.
"Two years ago I decided we were going to go all in and make it a successful business, so we ended up buying a business in Moree (NSW) - Rural Air Work."
Mr Warr said Rural Air Work was a well established, rural application business with a fleet of six planes in the heart of aerial application of Australia, which they now use in the Eastern States from November to March during their busy season servicing the cotton and other summer crops, then fly to WA for use with winter crops from July to October.
"We bring the aeroplanes backwards and forwards between the two locations," he said.
At the end of May Mr Warr had a 510 Thrush aeroplane sent over from Moree.
"We bought one of the planes back from the east coast that was already meter rate ready," he said.
Mr Warr explained that the meter rate is similar to what is used on an airseeder, but is controlled by a monitor in the cockpit for adjusting the speed of the meter roller.
![The meter, which is fixed to the bottom of the aircraft, measures precise product dropping into the front of the spreader for even distribution from the air. The meter, which is fixed to the bottom of the aircraft, measures precise product dropping into the front of the spreader for even distribution from the air.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/227873742/620b4e65-28e3-4086-9f61-e186cdae673a_rotated_270.jpg/r117_0_3024_2610_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"The meter roller measures precise product dropping into the front of the spreader fixed to the bottom of the aircraft, the airflow pushes through the spreader that has vanes internally directing the product for even distribution of product."
As Mr Warr hadn't personally used this method of spreading seed, it took some time to perfect the process.
"Application has to be precise," he said.
"We don't want it too heavy, we don't want it too thin and we have to make sure we keep application within the perimeter of the paddock, especially with GM canola, plus seed is quite expensive.
"So we spent two days getting it all set up, we put out 30 metres of white linen sheets on the ground and pegged them out and did lots of trials to get our delivery per square metre and get our rates right."
Mr Warr recognised that other farmers throughout the State have used this method before.
"For us it's the first time we've ever done it," he said.
"We were aiming to get that 15 to 30 seeds per square metre, so we really focused until we got it right and we went across 3500 hectares of our canola.
"We didn't want to disturb where pre-herbicides and chemicals were placed, that's why we decided to spread it on top, and with the rain that was forecast and the little bit of wind, it would be enough to get a bit of soil contact and at least get the canola up and going and fill in those holes."
Neighbouring farmers who had suffered similar canola issues also took advantage of the opportunity to distribute seed by the air.
"Because we got it set up we rang a few of the neighbours and said this is what we're doing if you need some done let us know," Mr Warr said.
"We worked all the way up until the rain started to get it done and we did seven neighbouring properties in the end.
"The biggest key with that application on top is making sure that the soil remains moist for a couple of days - timing is everything.
"If we had an inch of rain and had a hot easterly wind the next day we wouldn't get the result it would have dried out too quick, but we had rain the following day, high humidity and cooler temperatures so it was perfect and stayed wet to the surface for four days for it to germinate.
"We will be able to see it visually out of the ground next week as there is some good rain forecast over the coming days."
Mr Warr said they would definitely be using the aerial technique going forward.
"And as a bonus it's a pretty cheap way of applying seed," he said.
"With the aeroplane you can put on 350 hectares an hour, so it doesn't take long to get across a fair bit of your program.
"As a hectare rate it works out a hell of a lot cheaper than running your seeder over it.
"The biggest thing was peace of mind, knowing that we're now going to have enough plants per square metre to meet the crop's potential."
Helping out the neighbours
Brad and Raylene Burns, farmers from Binnu, seized the opportunity to engage Waringa Aviation to distribute canola seed by plane when they had the chance.
"We had a four millimetres of rainfall in early May on 400 hectares of canola which unfortunately led to a partial germination and some seed burst," Ms Burns said.
"We then had an 8.5mm rainfall a couple of weeks later that had a similar result.
"The survivors were pretty hammered by high temperatures in between, it was a worse case scenario for early seeding of canola so we decided to try 'air seeding' by plane so that we didn't kill existing plants and to try and fill in the holes."
Seed was distributed by plane to 312 hectares of the couple's canola crops.
"We thought it could be a good year to try this as predicted rainfall and temperatures looked good in the 10 days forward," Ms Burns said.
"We've also tried to press some in with press wheels and reseeded to test a few other theories out."