Cropping

Dual-purpose canola crop breaks Australian record

Grain Central, February 24, 2021

Pictured in the record crop of windrowed canola are CSIRO Agriculture and Food’s John Kirkegaard, Delta Agriculture’s James Cheetham and Princess Pastoral Company’s Peter Brooks.

A NEW South Wales mixed farming business has claimed an Australian record 7.16 tonnes/hectare canola harvest, crediting the honour to a practice called dual-purpose cropping, pioneered in canola by CSIRO.

The crop was grown on the Hawkins family’s Oberon property, Mayfield.

Mayfield manager Peter Brooks said it was the result of more than a decade of working closely with CSIRO, backed by Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) investment, to develop the dual-purpose canola cropping system.

“In 2019 the farm was heavily in drought and practically a dustbowl, so this is beyond our wildest expectations,” Mr Brooks said.

“We’ve had great conditions in 2020, but achieving this yield didn’t happen overnight – it was a culmination of 15 years of working with CSIRO to improve our systems.

“We followed what the science said we should do to improve our enterprise, and it all came together last year.”

Bold science, agronomy

CSIRO farming systems researcher Dr John Kirkegaard, said what made the record crop extra remarkable was that 20 lambs per hectare had grazed it for eight weeks earlier in the growing cycle – hence the “dual-purpose” between feeding livestock and growing a crop.

“An event like this is a mixture of bold science meeting excellent agronomy, and brave farming to push the envelope,” Dr Kirkegaard said.

“Grazing the crop in winter provides income early in the season and when managed carefully comes at no cost to grain yield.

“But to achieve significant grazing and a record-breaking yield is remarkable and a credit to Peter, his on-site manager Troy Fitzpatrick and the rest of their team.”

Grazing recovery

Farm agronomist James Cheetham from Delta Agribusiness, who consulted with Mr Brooks and the team at Mayfield, said the crop of Hyola970CL winter canola was sown early into a strong paddock.

It had a very good recovery from grazing with ideal growing conditions.

“Dual-purpose crops also help farms to manage their operations during times of drought, due to the extra winter feed which forms a significant part of farm revenue,” Mr Cheetham said.

“What we’ve found exciting from an agronomic perspective is that this occurred in a region where canola isn’t very common, and it could provide inspiration for a lot more farmers to grow dual-purpose canola.”

Multiple benefits

Dual purpose crops reduce the need for additional off-farm feed to be purchased, while resting pastures traditionally grazed by livestock.

This allows a farm to better utilise its on-farm resources, without depleting them – enabling quicker recovery from events such as drought.

An economic analysis of dual-purpose cropping found that businesses can benefit by $100-$200 per farm hectare due to grain income and increased autumn and winter grazing while pastures are spelled.

These additional gains are transforming farm incomes and moving many farmers towards mixed-enterprise farming operations.

The previous Australian record saw a Tasmanian farmer harvest 6.17t/ha in 2017. In 2020 an English farmer recorded 7.19t/ha to claim the world record.

Source: CSIRO

 

 

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  1. Des Pfeiffer, February 25, 2021

    Game changer for mixed farmers wish it was available in the 80s&90s when I was trying to survive the Keating recession we had to have

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