How growers across Australia are tackling spray drift and coverage challenges with MagrowTec

Spray drift and poor canopy coverage are not problems unique to one crop, one climate, or one kind of farming operation. They are persistent challenges that cost Australian growers time, chemical inputs, and yield. What connects a seed crop contractor in South Australia’s lower southeast, a mixed grain and cattle enterprise in Central Queensland, a farmer-agronomist on the New South Wales Northern Tablelands, and a cotton and cereal producer on Queensland’s Darling Downs? Each has turned to MagrowTec’s magnetic assist spray technology and found results they can measure.

The technology itself is straightforward: a series of permanent rare earth magnets fitted to the chassis and boom with no electronics, no moving parts, and no interference with existing nozzles or pressure settings. What it delivers is the common thread through four very different operations: more uniform droplet formation, reduced drift, and improved canopy penetration.

South Australia: more workable days in a windy environment

Andrew Kennedy has been spraying crops in the lower southeast of South Australia for over 40 years. Kennedy Spraying Services operates predominantly in seed crop work, specialising in carrots, brassicas, and other high-value production where coverage, timing, and consistency are everything. He first came across MagrowTec during COVID, unable to travel to Europe as he normally would to look at new spraying technology. Within 20 minutes of making an enquiry, he had a member of the MagrowTec team on the phone.

He was the first person anywhere to self-install a MagrowTec unit, fitting the system to one of his custom-built 24-metre MAN spray trucks. The proof came fast. The first job after fitting was a rust fungicide application on a wheat crop. Andrew pulled the water rate back further than he expected he’d need to, and the result was as good, if not better, than a standard application.

In March 2021, Andrew conducted a comparative trial focused on coverage within the lower canopy of a seed carrot crop, one of the most demanding spray applications in his operation. The MagrowTec-equipped sprayer delivered a 52.4% increase in coverage with the first nozzle and a 63.3% increase with the second, alongside a 50 to 60% reduction in drift.

The lower southeast is not an easy environment to spray. Wind is a constant challenge, and workable days can be scarce. With MagrowTec, Andrew can now push into winds of 25 to 26 kilometres per hour with confidence, conditions he would not have previously touched. “In our area, you might only get two days a week,” he explains. “If you can add another half to a full day, that’s time in the field doing what we get paid to do.”

Fungicide intervals have stretched from two weeks out to two and a half to three weeks, reducing passes through the crop and delivering genuine cost savings for his clients. Five years on, Andrew views the MagrowTec boom kit as a necessity. “I think it’s near enough to a necessity in a lot of these units now in Australia. If you’re growing high-value crops or struggling with coverage, MagrowTec will do it every time.”

Central Queensland: one pass instead of two

Further north, the challenges look different. Andrew Powell manages Dysart Farming, an 18,000-hectare cattle and grain enterprise in Central Queensland that has been in the Powell family since 1954. The operation runs 3,000 head of Hereford, Brahman and Droughtmaster cattle alongside 2,500 hectares of cropping, with winter wheat, chickpeas, and summer sorghum all in the mix.

The region brings its own spray pressures. “We generally get some good storms and some gusty winds from the east,” Andrew explains. “Then we’ve got the weeds, which are Feathertop Rhodes, and they’re hard to knock. The Sweet Summer Grass is becoming a real pest as well. We’ve noticed it’s becoming resistant to glyphosate.””

Andrew first encountered MagrowTec at a field day in Capella, where a UV dye and black light demonstration showed the difference between conventional spray coverage and MagrowTec’s performance. “There was a massive difference with all the product hitting the target,” he recalls. Installation took half a day. There are no electronics, just magnets mounted in the manifold behind the tank, with booms fed through in a process Andrew describes as entirely straightforward.

After 12 months in use, the benefits are clear and measurable. Andrew noticed straight away that he could spray in higher winds with the fitting on his self-propelled sprayer. “At 25 or 30km/h, you’re still hitting the target,” he says. Improved coverage means hitting the target once, without returning for a double-knock application. “We have noticed a lot of drift has been reduced, and we’re seeing a lot more coverage. We are still using the same rate, but we’re getting a lot better coverage because the droplet size is more uniform and more product is hitting the target.”

For an operation where the spray rig demands constant attention during a wet year, the time saved matters. “We try to minimise the labour and spend more time on the cattle, less time in the cropping for just spraying.” Andrew says. He projects at least 25 to 30% reduction in chemical and water use over time, with fewer hours in the cab.

Northern Tablelands NSW: science backs the result

Byron Birch farms wheat, chickpeas, sorghum, and cotton near Bellata on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, and runs a contracting business alongside the family operation, B&W Rural. He is also an agronomist, which means when he evaluates a new product, he does it with water-sensitive paper and side-by-side paddock trials, not just observation.

Byron is acutely aware of the drift risk in his district. Cotton is both a crop he grows and a neighbour’s livelihood. “We’re very conscious of the sensitive crops that surround us. We obviously don’t want to do any damage to our own crops or the neighbours,” he says. “This is one extra tool in the shed that might be able to reduce any drift during the summer period when we’re spraying fallows surrounding these sensitive crops.”

The scientific analysis, held with MagrowTec crop scientist Dan Corfe, produced quantifiable results. “Despite lower application volume rates, the MagrowTec system showed a consistent improvement in drop deposition across the canopy at both the upper and lower canopy zones. This equated to about a 26% increase in coverage performance with the MagrowTec system versus the conventional boom,” Corfe explained.

The real-world evidence was equally compelling. Two paddocks were sprayed side by side: one with a conventional machine, one with MagrowTec. A month later, the conventional paddock required a follow-up application with an optical spot sprayer to deal with sow thistle and milk thistle that had come through. The MagrowTec paddock did not need a second pass.

The financial implication of that single result is significant. Byron calculates that better first-pass efficacy on hard-to-kill weeds saves anywhere between $30 and $50 a hectare depending on the target. “This technology is proven. It actually does work. It could save you chemical, it could save you passes. I think in the long term, this will actually be better for the environment and hopefully it’ll save money in the long run.”

Darling Downs, Qld: reliability in a high-pressure system

On Queensland’s Darling Downs, Jan Le Frenz of Dongamere, Cecil Plains, has a diverse cropping operation spanning cotton, corn, wheat, barley, sorghum and chickpeas. Having immigrated from Germany in 1982, Jan has spent over four decades building his understanding of this supplementary irrigation region, where water availability shapes every decision.

In an industry increasingly driven by electronic innovations, Jan was drawn to MagrowTec for the opposite reason. “The thing that attracts me to MagrowTec is that it’s not an electronic gadget. It has inherent reliability and should it fail, we can continue spraying,” he explains. For an operation running million-dollar machinery across critical spray windows, managing insects, weeds, and fungicides across cotton, cereals, and legumes throughout the year, the prospect of a technology failure stopping work is unacceptable. “The day you want to spray is the day you want to spray. Anything that pulls you up is a big problem.”

Jan installed the system approximately two years ago after being attracted by European test results and the non-electronic, no-moving-parts design. Field trials conducted with the MagrowTec team during cotton defoliation confirmed what the European data had already shown. “We could see a different droplet deposition with or without the MagrowTec,” Jan notes. “There was definitely an improved penetration in the canopy.”

For Jan, the value is in precision placement. Having the product placed precisely where it is targeted, rather than allowing off-target movement, aligns with his broader focus on reducing emissions, maintaining soil health, and optimising inputs. The system sits in the background, he says, helping to carry out essential tasks more efficiently. “It hopefully increased the efficiency of that part by a few percentile points.” In an operation where marginal gains across dozens of decisions add up to meaningful outcomes, that is enough.

The common denominator

Across four different states, four different farming systems, and four different primary pressures (wind, weed resistance, drift risk, and mechanical reliability) the outcome is consistent. MagrowTec’s magnetic spray technology improves droplet deposition, reduces drift, and delivers better canopy coverage across a range of crops and conditions.

The results are not theoretical. They have been demonstrated in comparative paddock trials, validated through water-sensitive paper analysis, and confirmed over multiple seasons of commercial use. Whether the measure is percentage coverage gain, dollars saved per hectare, additional workable spray days, or hours freed from the cab, the numbers across these four operations all point in the same direction.

As Andrew Kennedy puts it after five years of daily use: “There is nothing to wear out. There’s nothing that breaks. It just works day in, day out.”

For more information, visit www.magrowtec.com