The right rice for rain fed paddocks makes inroads on the North Coast

Wayne and Eliza Petty and Wayne’s brother Kevin, farm at Urbenville, elevation 370 meters, and will begin harvesting their Tachiminori rice crop this week, after sowing in early December.

The season was not especially kind, with too much moisture at planting – seven rows per bed using a Great Plains double disc opener –  and so much heat and dry in January and early February that the crop went into remission.

But rainfed rice is a tough grass and it bounced back when conditions allowed. The upper Clarence enjoyed summer rain showers that didn’t reach other parts of the coast and the Petty’s rice passed through its critical panicle initiation, at which point the plant stops producing biomass and begins forming its grain head.

Going into March the crop looked the business.

Only at the finish did the weather fail the Urbenville district, with unusually warm and dry conditions preventing best grain fill.

“In a normal year February and March are too wet which would have suited us well,” said Wayne, who farms a variety of crops with equipment he modifies to suit his specific needs.

Ground preparation prior to sowing involved composted feedlot manure from Wyallah Beef near Texas, Qld applied at the rate of three tonnes to the hectare before urea at 150 kilograms a hectare.

One of Wayne’s paddocks had some special prior attention, although not the kind he would wish on his worst enemy.

After a season of soybean he planted chickpeas as an experiment and lost the lot to hail the week before harvest. That legume crop was disced back into the soil, which varies on the property from black loam to light sand.

The Pettys will grow rice again, although there will some competition from summer corn. Wayne plans to install irrigation on some of his paddocks which will help supplement future crops through unseasonably hot Jamuary weather.

District rice consultant Steve Rogers has previously stated that the cost to plant and produce dryland rice, including sprays, harvest and shipping equate to around $1000/ha but can be down as low as $600/ha if best management practices are in place and producers own their own equipment.

Where no crop is currently grown, for fear of waterlogging, upland rice might fill a void in an otherwise incomplete farming system.

Elsewhere on the North Coast dryland rice is producing a good harvest, with an estimated 4000 tonnes which makes a change from last year when a brutal February wreaked havoc with grain yields.

Steve Rogers, rice consultant with the Green Group, which has a northern rivers presence, harvested his own crop at Tuckurimba on the Mid-Richmond, with respectable yields of nine tonnes to the hectare, proving the crop’s worth.

The Dorey family, Broadwater, pulled 148t of Tachiminori off 19ha which went 7.8t/ha wet weight or 7.6t/ha dry.

“We prefer to harvest around 18-20% moisture content because there are no splits,” Own Dorey said.

Grain over 20 per cent moisture will attract drying charges but the company, which is looking to expand its storage capabilities, will accept rice under 20% moisture with no charge but will pay on the ideal figure of 14% moisture.

There is a future in dryland rice on the Far North Coast, with crops in the Richmond and upper Clarence Valleys paying their way.

Next year Mr Rogers said there wouold be a rain fed rice crop in the Tweed Valley and his company is looking to expand its footprint further south in coming seasons.

Key to marketing the product, which includes Tachiminori, Langi and Sherpa varieties, is the push to emphasise sustainable growing practices, particularly water use.

“I went to a sustainable rice growing conference in Thailand last year,” said Mr Rogers. “Most of what growers in that country are trying to achieve we are already doing here in Australia.”

In coming weeks the Green Group will take North Coast dryland rice into the major supermarkets in the form of healthy lunch box snacks.

“The future for this rice is to value add,” said Mr Rogers.