BOOMING chickpea prices could lead to an increased area planted to the legume in the north of the state.
Heading into a season with an expected higher area of legumes planted, producers are reminded not to underestimate the benefits of stubble cover for their farms.
One of the major benefits of having stubble cover is that it can protect soil from erosion, according to Local Land Services (LLS) senior land services officer Bill Manning, Gunnedah.
Mr Manning said the stubble helped hold down the soil and steadied the speed of run-off, meaning water travelled more slowly and was less able to carry soil with it.
The other major benefit of maintaining stubble in fallows was the water moving more slowly increased moisture infiltration.
LLS North West senior land services officer Brooke Sauer, Moree, said people would still plant wheat or a cereal crop for risk diversity, as well as the option of stubble cover.
"There's a fine balance between cost effectiveness, price and what's part of a normal rotation when planting," she said.
In terms of disease, stubble cover can bring about positive and negative effects, depending on what type of crop you're growing.
Mr Manning said if a producer was planting chickpeas, standing stubble would deter aphids, which carry viruses that could affect the pulse.
"A negative can be that stubble can be a source of crown rot for wheat," he said.
Crown rot is the number one disease that affects northern growers' cereal crops that Mrs Sauer said affected farmers year in, year out.
For this reason, most producers wouldn't plant a wheat crop onto a paddock that's previously been planted with wheat as it wouldn't help eliminate the disease.
Mrs Sauer said a lot of farmers have had no-till practices on their farms for years, so most of them retain stubble cover for a long time due to its multiple benefits.
With wheat being the crop that produces the most amount of stubble cover, Mrs Sauer said some farmers opted to plant wheat in a five-year rotation to ensure they maintained some level of stubble cover.
Mrs Sauer said when producers were hit with high populations of weeds, including large numbers of resistant weeds that couldn't be controlled by chemicals, many worked their country and laid down nitrogen early.
Mr Manning said nearly all producers would benefit from having standing stubble in their fallows, which was better formed from cereal crops.
"The issue with pulse crops can be that the stubble from them is high in nitrogen and can break down very quickly, " he said.
The best thing to do when growing a pulse crop is to plant the crop into a fallow with standing cereal stubble, he said.
After that crop's been harvested, Mr Manning said ideally, a producer would plant a cereal crop in the paddock the following year to re-establish some stubble.
Mr Manning said producers tended to use the price of crops to select what they would grow for the season and stubble tended to be a secondary consideration.
He said it was important for producers to not underestimate what standing stubble could do for their soil and future crops.
"All crops have positives and negatives, it's trying to manage the system to get more positives and fewer negatives," he said.
Maintaining stubble was easy for farmers, he said.
"The only thing you need to do is simply leave it there," he said.
Spicy rotations at Spicers Creek
MOISTURE preservation is the biggest benefit from stubble cover at "Spicers Run", Spicers Creek in the Central West, the Mason family has found.
Sam Mason, with his brother Joe and father Michael, run a mixed cropping enterprise, mainly consisting of wheat and canola, as well as a sheep operation.
To assist with their sheep production, they also sow feed crops, such as oats and barley.
The Masons' rotation usually consists of planting canola first, then sowing the paddock with wheat then back to canola the following season.
In the fourth year, they put in a wheat pasture crop.
"Pretty much every year we're sowing into either canola or wheat stubble," Mr Mason said.
Mr Mason said the major benefit they had found from having good stubble cover in their paddocks was increased moisture retention.
"It gives you a chance to put early feed crops in on limited moisture," he said.
"It helps you a lot when moisture's marginal."
Mr Mason said the stubble also helped reduce erosion from water and wind.
This season, the Masons have sowed predominantly Wedgetail wheat, as well as some Gregory and Lancer.
According to Mr Mason the season was looking reasonably good and they were fortunate they had a good break to get their crops in on time.
