A WHEAT crop with an estimated yield of 6.87 tonnes a hectare has taken out the wheat section of the Inverell Ag Bureau’s 2016 Winter Crop Competition.
The competition received nearly 30 entries from farmers at Long Plain, Gragin, Delungra, Myall Creek, and Cherry Tree Hill.
The crops were judged by Glen Uebergang, Northern Tablelands Local Land Services (LLS), NSW Department of Primary Industries chickpea researcher Kevin Moore and North West LLS agronomist Bill Manning.
Mr Moore judged the chickpeas, while Mr Manning handled the faba beans.
Mr Uebergang said crops were fantastic thanks to favourable seasonal conditions.
“The enormous yields, around seven tonnes per hectare for the top yielding wheat and barley crops, will hopefully offset low cereal grain prices,” Mr Uebergang said.
“Chickpea and faba bean crops were also very good, which is nice to see considering the particularly high chickpea prices on offer this year.
“The chickpea section is a new addition to the competition so it was terrific to get more than a quarter of our total entries in the chickpea category. It was also very fortunate that on the Northern Tablelands we weren’t hit with water logging problems which plagued growers in other parts of the state.”
Blair Burton and Nancy McPherson, “The Glen”, Myall Creek, had the best overall score in the wheat with their crop of Buchanan estimated to yield 6.87t/ha, while Anderson Farming, “Robina” Delungra won the agronomy award for wheat.
The barley competition was won by Phil Penberthy, “Sherwood”, Long Plain, with a crop of Scope variety estimated to yield 6.24t/ha.
Geoff and Jarrod Uebergang, Kenyu Pastoral, Delungra, had the best agronomy for the barley section.
Dave Lafontaine, “Utah”, Gragin, had the best chickpea crop with his HatTrick crop expected to yield 2.1t/ha.
Warda beans grown by Matt Taylor, “The Peak”, Gragin, took out the faba beans competition. They were expected to yield 3.1t/ha.
Mr Uebergang said the competition didn’t just focus on yield, but best management practices.
“Growers also scored points for soil health and erosion management and rainfall use efficiency.
“Winning is far less important than the learning experience of seeing what everyone else is up to in the paddock.
“The benefits of taking part in the competition are the real reward for all of the growers who participated.”
