Growers have finger on pulse

Canola last Friday was fetching $543 a tonne at Newcastle as there has been a little pressure coming on that from an extra large South American soybean crop.

With chickpeas delivered to port currently paying $820/t at Brisbane it’s a premium of some three times the $240/t of APW wheat.

Those kind of numbers are still historically pretty strong according to Ag Scientia analyst, Lloyd George, Melbourne, Victoria, who’s predicting pulse crops to be high on growers’ planting agendas this winter.

“I’m sure canola acreages are going to be up,” he said.

However, talk throughout the industry has canola seed in short supply.

“I’ve heard from multiple sources already that some big users of canola seed are being restricted on how much they can actually buy from major distributors.”

Apparently the wet 2016 season stifled some seed production, plus recent rain in Western Australian growing areas has increased seed demand there to the detriment of eastern states growers.

“Chickpeas have been very good for farmers in the past two seasons and I think will be under big plantings again this year,” Mr George said.

“Even ABARE has flagged a sizeable increase in capacity of canola, but seed might limit how much additional acreage can be planted.”

Central West agronomist with clients within the Macquarie Valley, Campbell Muldoon of Muldoon-Pratten Ag Consultants, Narromine, said the focus would be on canola and chickpeas.

“Growers would still have a wheat paddock, but if seed is available, canola will definitely be the direction in the Central West,” he said.

“Chickpeas are well suited to the self-mulching black soils in this region so they are high on sowing agendas as well.”

The Macquarie canola sowing window is from April 15 and Chickpeas from mid-May, Mr Muldoon said.

Landmark Narrabri agronomist, Hamish Murray, said canola seed unavailability was “very disappointing” to his clients.

“Clearfield variety suited to clients’ production systems has been in a ‘sold out’ position for a month or more,” he said.

However, chickpeas would be the favoured crop.

“But we had a big chickpea year last season, and as a lot of growers are set up on a rotation for agronomic benefits, they are a little bit limited with what they can grow.”

Mr Murray said due to price faba bean acreages would also be back and more than likely replaced by chickpeas.

“Wheat and barley acreages may possibly be the same as last year, although there are a few talking about dropping barley out all together.”

CENTRE Pivot irrigation on 400 hectares has enabled Bobbiwaa Pastoral farm manager, Jason Denniss to make use of double cropping and is expecting a summer mung bean crop on 150ha to yield two tonne/ha.

“Mung beans are returning some $1000/t so that helps the cash flow and as soon as the header comes out in April we’ll sow some barley which we’ll bale for our feedlot while putting some stubble back on the ground,” Mr Denniss said.

In the meantime he is converting a 12 metre-wide Bio-Drill with BOSS single disc units in time for winter crop sowing in the 2430ha program within the next couple of weeks.

“With the big winter crop last year we have heaps of straw on paddocks, so I’m moving to a single disc unit to get through the stubble and hopefully eliminate sowing troubles,” the Narrabri district operator said.

Keeping the high-dollar return crops to the forefront in now full moisture profile Mr Denniss said 300ha would go to canola and 600ha to chickpeas this season.

“There’s good money in canola and with our rotations and weed control we want to keep growing it, but it’s a battle finding seed,” he said.

“After about a thousand phonecalls I’ve now got enough seed to get me out of trouble.”

Some wheat and barley will be included in crop rotations, the barley for the company’s 1000 head feedlot, in which Western Queensland-bred store cattle at 18 months of age are bought out of Roma to be fattened to Woolworths weights.