A Queensland banana grower says he’s halved his fertiliser usage by recycling cane waste. Peter Inderbitzen, managing director of Swiss Farms in Lakeland, north of Cooktown, turns cane waste and chicken manure into about 1000 tonnes of compost every two weeks.
He’s using the compost to improve his banana plants and also spread on his broadacre cropping land. However, Mr Inderbitzen says although he’s very pleased with his yields, compost isn’t a cheap alternative to conventional fertilisers.”It’s twice as dear as putting on fertiliser. The sustainability of making compost is very hard because the cost is double, so we’ve got to get around that.”
