Western Australia, was a vote of confidence for Wa’s mallee industry.

land managers across Wa have long been planting mallees as a commercial resource for the future and as a commitment to combatting salinity, reducing soil erosion and improving biodiversity on Wheatbelt farms. there are currently 13,000 hectares of plantings on 20 per cent of Wheatbelt farms.

Engineeringindustryefficienciesin addition to the engineering feat alone, the launch of the mallee harvester prototype demonstrates the technical ability to dramatically reduce costs on the supply chain from mallee plantings to uniform quality, chipped biomass landing at the processor’s door.

it’s from this wider context of supply chain development that the future farm industries CrC settled on a suite of projects to make mallee biomass a preferred resource for bioenergy and other uses. a cost-effective harvester was a primary target.

Detailed supply chain analysis in consultation with industry indicated the cost of supply to processors must be halved and the harvester component was a key target. the goal was the harvest and delivery of chipped biomass to roadside trucks at 50 green tonnes per hour.

the mallee harvester prototype, invented and manufactured by richard sulman’s biosystems engineering company in Toowoomba, Queensland, is a significant step towards this goal.

the machine is richard’s mobile laboratory that evaluates the design at a sustained performance of 20 green tonnes per hour and

the launch of the future farm industries CrC-supported mallee harvester prototype

designed by biosystems engineering is a significant step forward for the commercial oil mallee industry.

the invention of the harvester follows a proven and proud tradition of agricultural engineering in australia that has made a global impact such as the sunshine combine harvester.

in 1885, Hugh victor mcKay started commercial production of the sunshine harvester and in late 2008, more than 100 years later, the new Holland Cr9090 broke the world record for grain harvesting — CrC’s goal is to produce a world-record beating woody biomass harvester.

the attendance of more than 100 key industry stakeholders at the launch of the harvester prototype on april 13 at narrogin,

By Kevin Gossfuture farm industries CrC

•The prototype oil mallee harvester,designedbyBiosystemsEngineering was launched at Narrogin,WesternAustraliaonApril13,2010

•The harvester demonstrates supply chain costs can be dramatically reduced increasing the commercial viability of the mallee industry

•Further investment is now required to accelerate the mallee harvester’s commercially viability.

key pointsi

Harvester launch paves way for mallee industry success

focus O N P E R E N N I A L S6

i n n o v a t i o n i n p r o f i t a b l e p e r e n n i a l f a r m i n g s y s t e m s

ABOVE: The prototype harvester design by Richard Sulman of Biosystems Engineering is a significant step forward to acheiving the goal of harvesting 50 tonnes of green mallee biomass per hour. (Photo: Richard Sulman)

sets up the design standards for the next pre-commercialisation machine.

already, the harvester has hit a peak of 30 tonnes per hour in its first outing at Condobolin, new south Wales.

Taking the next stepthe harvester is now set to start a series of field trials to test and modify the machine to hit its processing targets. this will ultimately lead to the development of a commercial harvester. the CrC is now looking to accelerate the project with additional investment.

the $6 million mallee harvester r&D project was made possible with a $1.5 million grant from the Western australian government’s low emissions energy Development fund, and the expertise of others who form the CrC’s mallee industry advisory Committee.

the Wa Department of environment and Conservation, the oil mallee Company, verve energy, the rural industries r&D Corporation and the national Centre for engineering in agriculture at the university of southern Queensland have also made valuable contributions in making the prototype mallee harvester a reality.

More informationpeter Zurzolo, Woody Crop Harvest system project manager T: (08) 6488 1429 E: peter.zurzolo@futurefarmcrc.com.au

focus O N P E R E N N I A L S7

the confidence that mallees will become a farm crop has seen

the future farm industries CrC tackle r&D much like other agricultural crops.

a new water and nutrient management project, funded by the australian government’s second generation biofuels program in partnership with Curtin university of technology, Csiro and the Department of environment and Conservation (DeC), is set to improve yields by active water harvesting and nutrient input to maintain coppicing vigour in successive rotations (see Intensive sites set to monitor mallee story on page 2).

as part of this program, a tree breeding project has established second generation breeding populations for three major species selections with field sites in New South Wales, victoria and Western australia.

Additional projects boost mallee industryconfidence

ABOVE: The mallee harvester prototype in action and on display at Narrogin. (Photos: Richard Sulman)

from the broader perspective of industry development, the CrC is undertaking economic analyses including feasibility studies with companies to better define paths to commercial use of mallee biomass and to attract further investment.

farm business analysis shows that wide-spaced mallee belts grown in harmony with crop production could directly compete with current enterprises, covering the opportunity cost for wheat production and allow for competitive differences between mallees and crops. the results of this work will allow the CrC to advise farmers and energy companies about supply side configuration, cost structure and the profitability of mallee production.

RIGHT: Biosystems Engineering’s Richard Sulman, the mallee harvester prototype designer. (Photo: Marisa Wikramanayake)