AGF Seeds Will Bazley and RASQ Crop Competition Champion Crop winner Wayne Anderson. Photo: AGF Seeds

KINGSTHORPE farmers, Peter and Wayne Anderson from Arcadia Rural have set a new record with their high yielding irrigated barley crop in the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland Crop Competition.

The relatively new variety developed in France, Fandaga, yielded 9.41 tonnes per hectare, smashing the previous irrigated barley record by almost 2t/ha.

The record-breaking crop also secured the Andersons the RASQ Champion Crop award, scoring 259 points.

Reserve Champion Crop went to Paul Elsden from Elsden Farms at Brookstead with an irrigated maize crop, variety Pioneer P1837, that yielded 15.89t/ha.

Mr Elsden also took home the reserve spot last year with another irrigated maize variety, Pioneer P1756.

The awards were presented last month at the Toowoomba Royal Show.

A strong competitor, Elsden Farming, topped the irrigated legumes section with a soybean crop, variety New Bunya, which yielded 4.5t/ha.

New entrants Neil and Sasha Schimke from the Lockyer Valley showed the burgeoning cotton region could compete with more experienced growers in the Darling Downs.

The Schimkes came in second place with a 6 bales/ha dryland crop, just behind class winners Ralph Grey from Green Drake with 6.5b/ha.

Competition chair Andrew Speed said while numbers were down, quality of entries was very strong.

He said the Andersons’ maize crop was a high point of the competition, and showcased the skill of the growers and their team, as well as the quality of the country and potential of the variety.

“It’s definitely broken the record from the previous best crop by a couple of tonnes a hectare,” Mr Speed said.

“I believe 200 points would be close to the previous record and anything above that beat the previous record.

“It is well above, so it’s a huge crop.”

Variety behind win

Wayne Anderson said he believed it was the traits of Fandaga that pushed the yield and gave them the win.

Planted after a crop of carrots, this was the first time the Andersons had trialed the variety.

Released in Australia for 2022 and distributed by AGF Seeds, Fandaga is a medium-height feed barley bred in France for high and consistent yields and disease resistance.

“It’s very refreshing that some of these varieties are so good,” Mr Anderson said.

Mr Anderson said the family planned to “grow it again” and believed the variety could do even better.

“All things being equal, if we grow it again, I think we could better the yield.”

AGF Seeds northern New South Wales and Queensland Will Bazley said he inspected the crop before harvest and saw its potential.

“It was out there looking at it and we knew it was going to be a very good crop,” Mr Bazley said.

He also praised the experience and skill of the Andersons as a major factor in the success of the crop.

“They’re Mickey Mouse operators, there’s no doubt about that.

“They’re top notch, they don’t cut any corners, and they’re in some of the best country in Australia.”

Table 1: RASQ Irrigated, Dryland and Field Wheat and Barley 2024 Crop Competition results.

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