Agriculture Technology Podcast · RDO Equipment Co.

Ep. 208 - Planting Solutions with RDO Equipment Australia

·23 min·1 clip

Controlled traffic covers 80-90% of Australia’s growing area, and some growers treat it “very close to a religion.”

1. Agriculture Technology Podcast Ep. 208 centers on planting and seeding solutions in Australian agriculture. 2. Tony Kramer hosts the conversation with Stephen Fromm, who says he is the CEO of RDO Australia and also calls himself a “planter specialist.” 3. The episode asks how Australian growers manage moisture, controlled traffic, and equipment fit across very different crops and regions. 4. Fromm says Australia grows “trees to cotton, vegetables to sugar cane,” and that his last six to eight years have been focused on planting. 5. He says irrigated country often uses one-metre or 40-inch row spacing because cotton pickers are built around that setup. 6. Fromm explains that corn can also be planted on one-metre spacing, while wheat or winter crops may go into two 50-centimetre rows on one-metre beds. 7. He describes dryland systems using 60-inch spacing, single skip, double skip, and “super single” configurations. 8. Fromm says single skip plants one row and skips one, giving about 66 per cent of the area planted. 9. He says double skip leaves 50 per cent planted and super single leaves 33 per cent planted. 10. He ties all of those patterns to moisture conservation and flowering-time water availability. 11. Fromm says controlled traffic covers about 80-90% of Australia’s growing area. 12. He says Australian growers are highly regimented about keeping machinery on fixed lines and even avoid driving light vehicles off them. 13. Fromm says the reason is compaction, since Australia does not have snow to help offset those problems the way some other regions do. 14. He says John Deere equipment in Australia often runs in 12, 24, or 36 metre sets, with planters traditionally built as 12 metre machines. 15. He says some controlled traffic lines have stayed in place for 10 years, 15 years, or 20-plus years. 16. He also says lines may be renovated after wet years when cotton pickers or chaser bins rut them up. 17. Fromm says custom builds are a large part of RDO Australia’s business because growers want John Deere equipment adapted to local conditions. 18. He gives Monosem examples including a grower who wanted six rows of broccoli and then 12 rows of corn, plus large 36-row and smaller 12-row builds. 19. Tony’s interview style is practical and technical, with Stephen answering in a detailed, field-by-field format. 20. Listeners who work with planting equipment, row spacing, or controlled traffic will get the most from this episode, while casual listeners looking for general farm talk may skip it.

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