Farmers eke out fodder with canned pasture

Vanessa Burrow

November 8, 2006 The Age, Melbourne Australia

"IT'S like a paddock in a can, really," Glenda Wootton says, describing her hydroponic fodder

system.

The Tasmanian farmer runs about 200 head of cattle on 48.6 hectares and supplements their

feed with up to a tonne of barley shoots a day. The shoots are grown in a 100-square-metre

insulated and air-conditioned shed equipped with a hydroponics system.

In total, her hydroponics package has a $150,000 price tag but Ms Wootton is quick to defend

the investment.

"It's like a couple of extra hundred acres," she says. "It's not that much (money) when you

consider how much you would pay for a quality piece of land."

The inventor of the Commercial Hydroponic Fodder System, Peter Doyle, is convinced of the

value of his product, which starts at $130,000, particularly since the onset of drought across

Australia. About 1.2 tonnes of green feed a day can be produced for just 3¢ a kilo, using 500

litres of water, he says.

Inside a steel shed, seed is germinated and the shoots are fed intermittently with a thin film of

water and nutrient mix that recirculates through stacked PVC trays. A pump and sterilisation

system ensure the water nutrient mix remains fresh and disease-free.

Mr Doyle says it is a misconception that growing plants hydroponically requires more water

than conventional farming. Hydroponic growers who recirculate their water actually make

huge water savings, he says.

"There's not a paddock in the world that can produce 1250 kilograms a day on 500 litres of

water," Mr Doyle says.

The Commercial Hydroponic Fodder System and Mr Doyle's associated businesses, Corinella

Herbs and Glen Forbes Hydroponics, have already attracted attention from overseas,

including from the Netherlands, the US, the Middle East and the South Pacific.

But the fierce hydroponics advocate has not been able to interest the Australian Government

in his methods, or attract funding for research into the benefits and drawbacks of hydroponic

fodder.

"If our system is proven, hydroponic fodder systems will be an integral part of any farm

holding livestock," Mr Doyle says.

A report by Roger Sneath and Felicity McIntosh, of the Queensland Department of Primary

Industries and Fisheries, found cereal sprouts to be nutritious, though expensive to produce.

"It is essential to do your sums carefully," the report says. "To be profitable, sprouts would

need to provide consistent, exceptional performance with high-value outputs at minimal cost."

However, the report cites several references from the 1960s and Mr Doyle says new research

would be valuable. Colorado State University, the University of Wageningen in the

Netherlands and Sandia National Laboratories in the US have agreed to research elements of

the hydroponic fodder system.