Kilter leading the way in Irrigation Tech

By: "Farm Tender" News
Dairy News
Feb 21, 2019
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By Steve Whan - CEO at National Irrigators' Council

Mike Neville wears his enthusiasm on his sleeve for the work Kilter Rural is doing, on its nearly 10,000 ha of Northern Victoria. He talks of the sleepless nights wondering if a new crop was going to be successful and, with great pride, about Kilter’s work rehabilitating degraded soil and reintroducing native vegetation to grazing country.

This is not a family farm, this is a nearly 10,000 ha agricultural operation funded by investors in Vic Super, Victoria’s industry super fund servicing the State’s public sector employees. Being a super fund investment there is a big focus on medium to long term returns to help members retire in comfort, but as well as successfully delivering that, the Kilter operation also manages to make environmental sustainability a cornerstone of the operation and its philosophy.

Mike is Kilter’s General Manager, Agriculture and Ecosystems and he said in one interview "our aim has been to invest in irrigation infrastructure, manage water and soils and put aside land of environmental value to improve it, as well as deliver returns to our investors".

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To do that Kilter rural has developed about 4,100 ha of the property as high efficiency irrigation growing a range of crops including some certified organic. National Irrigators’ Council members took a look as some of the work during meetings held in Swan Hill in February 2019, with Mike and his team as guides.

Kilter has had a strong focus on improving the soil on their properties, increasing the carbon content with a range of methods including beneficial crops and use of Melbourne’s green waste. Their success in that field has been recognised by Soils for Life.

Driving past side by side paddocks, some that had been through the Kilter transformation and some in their ‘original’ state, made the contrast stark. Weather beaten and heavily grazed soils turned, through good management, into highly productive areas with high crop yields.

With water allocations scarce at the time we visited, we saw some of the properties’ most efficient irrigation in operation. Sub soil drip systems growing valuable crops of tomatoes rotated with Australia’s (and potentially the world’s) southern most cotton crop. Cotton, Mike told us, is not only a valuable crop but it’s roots also help to break up the soil allowing more carbon to penetrate for soil improvement. Lucerne is also used as an income earner while being strategic to the soil remediation process.

New and redeveloped gravity systems are also utilised.

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Like many intensive operations this one is hugely beneficial to local communities. The development itself has helped ensure the irrigation infrastructure in the region is viable ensuring it continues to service other producers, and over the last five years it has injected more than $25 million into the local economy.

Kilter’s return to investors is based on production, property improvement and on a strong water portfolio – it aims for a very healthy 8%. But it’s ESD credentials are also a vital part of the company’s philosophy and important for its investors.

55% of the Kilter property is managed for biodiversity, forestry and environmental grazing. Reintroduction of native vegetation is a key part of the management with 1,030km of direct seeding and more than 110,000 seedlings successfully established.

In 2018 the company submitted its first environmental condition account to the Wentworth Group for accreditation and in 2017 the ‘balanced water fund’ received one of Australia’s top environmental prizes.

With some extreme political voices always willing to condemn what they call ‘big corporate agriculture’ it was very interesting for NIC members to see for themselves the capacity a corporate operation like this has to deliver great returns and real environmental outcomes.

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Like many irrigation operations, this one is a partner in delivering a healthier Murray Darling environment. It joins thousands of family farmers who ensure that their land, their riparian zones and even valuable private wetlands, will be in a better state when they leave, than when they got there.

Picture - National Irrigators Council CEO, Steve Whan, checking out harvested tomatoes bound for dicing or tomato paste from Kilter Rural's properties near Swan Hill