Contents - Australian Grain

Transcription

Contents
www.ausgrain.com.au
September–October 2012
Australian Grain
PO Box 766
Toowoomba 4350
P: 07 4659 3555
F: 07 4638 4520
E: grain@greenmountpress.com.au
www.ausgrain.com.au
Advertising enquiries
P: 07 4659 3555
F: 07 4638 4520
E: grain@greenmountpress.com.au
Editor
Lloyd O’Connell
Associate Editor
David Dowling
Production and Design
Mick Allan
Office Manager
Catherine O’Connell
CONTENTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS are the
responsibility of the advertisers. All statements and
opinions expressed in Australian Grain are published
after due consideration of information gained from
sources believed to be authentic. The following
of advice given is at the reader’s own risk, and no
responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of the
matter published herein. No portion in whole or
part may be reproduced without permission of the
publisher.
Copyright 2012.
Published by Berekua Pty. Ltd.,
40 Creek Street, Brisbane
Registered by Australia Post Publication No.
PP 424022/1581. ISSN 1449–2970.
Published bi–monthly.
Grain Yearbook published in April
Editorial
2
New discovery of how carbon is stored in the Southern Ocean 4
Biofuels from biomass
6
Manage speed to eliminate spray drift
10
New interest in an old herbicide to help in resistance battle
12
Strip till system to cash in on corn
14
Classic Tractor Tales…
The joys (or otherwise) of tractor driving!
16
Marketing…
Wheat futures jump
Where to for 2012–13 wheat prices?
Canola market outlook
21
22
23
Cash flow and equity lending – what’s changed and why?
24
Two bin solution a no brainer
27
Protein for profit – your guide to measuring protein on farm – Part 2 28
Farming in Foreign Fields…
Taking pride
30
GRDC International Research Review…
A roadmap for the best management of herbicide resistance
Negative cross-resistance may help in weed control fight
32
33
District Reports
34
Focus Sections
Southern Australia Focus
Covering cropping systems of Southern Nsw, Victoria, South Australia,
Western Australia and Tasmania
Consultants’ Corner…
Australian wheat for china
i
FRONT COVER
Weeds, diseases, snails and slugs top GRDC panel’s ‘hit list’
Cashing-in on corn
Flying higher with new jet fuels
Print Post Approved Publication No. PP 424022/1581
SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER, 2012
INSIDE
Volume 22, No. 3 — $6.60
New
interest
in old
herbicide
Where to
Cash flow
for 2012–13 and equity
wheat
lending
prices?
Queensland
maize grower
Peter Howlett
plans to cashin on a strong
grain price this
summer with his
one pass strip
till/dual nutrient
placement
system.
See page 14.
iv
v
vii
Study reveals good news about the GI of rice
Farmers’ rights on wind farms outweigh turbine-free skylines
viii
Northern Focus
Covering Northern Nsw and Queensland
Consultants’ Corner…
Crown rot, parent lines and holy grails
i
Sorghum and sugarcane sweeten the biofuels story
v
Cotton remains ‘king’ – but profitability challenged
viii
Australian Grain — 1
Editorial…
Lloyd O’Connell
W
ith recent corn prices hovering
at record $8 plus per bushel
levels – and a barrel of crude oil
costing less than $US100 – it is increasingly
difficult to make the ethanol from corn
kernels’ numbers ‘stack up’. And there’s
a very good argument to say that, in the
absence of government subsidies and longterm biofuel use mandates, the numbers
have never stacked up.
I recall visiting a newly constructed US ethanol plant in
eastern Kansas in 2007. The plant produced around 42 million
(US) gallons of ethanol a year and needed to consume around
400,000 tonnes of grain – corn and sorghum – to achieve that
annual output. The plant managers pointed out that given the
prevailing (February 2007) corn to crude oil price to ethanol
price relationships, these input/output figures were about
as low as you could go to be able to run a financially viable
ethanol business.
In early 2007, corn was around half the current price and
crude oil was about $US60 per barrel. The per gallon US price
of ethanol today is about the same as it was in February 2007.
Even with continuing US governernment subsidies and
biofuel use mandates, the eastern Kansas ethanol plant
we visited in 2007 has recently been forced to shut down
operations.
A transitional technology
More than anything else, the US determination to produce
biofuels from ‘food’ grains has been all about a relatively quick
means of lessening the dependency of the largest economy
in the world, on Middle Eastern oil. The European Union has
followed a similar path. But while heavily susbsidised biofuels
plants have been springing up around the world for the past
decade, some very good R&D is pointing to a biofuels’ future
much less dependent on food grains as the feedstock.
In this issue several articles report on some of this research
as the world transitions towards biofuels based on cellulosic/
biomass technologies. The US Department of Agriculture
– and other research organisations around the word – are
increasingly targeting biofuels from commercial biomass which
is in turn produced from farms, rangelands and forests without
disrupting the availability and marketing of food, feed and
fibre.
Our page 6 article investigates the production of biofuels
from perennial grasses grown on land that is either unsuitable
– or only marginally suitable – for cropping. Transgenic research
is also giving scientists the capability of keeping grasses in
their juvenile state. This leaves starch in the plant stem – rather
than traveling up the plant to support the flowering growth
stage – which means there’s more energy available for biofuels
production from the plant biomass.
Here’s hoping September brings some much-needed rain
to your patch to help cash-in on some of the best grain prices
we’ve ever seen.
2 — Australian Grain
www.ausgrain.com.au
In this issue…
The joys (or otherwise) of tractor
driving!
Tractor driving ain’t what it used to
be! Stating the obvious? Certainly. But
let’s be honest. Climbing up into the
cloistered confines of a modern tractor,
adjusting the rake of the luxuriously
upholstered arm chair, selecting the
filtered air-conditioned temperature of
choice, and so on can hardly be termed as hard farm yakka.
See article �� Page 16
Where to for 2012–13 wheat
prices?
What is of interest is where do exports from Australia go
in 2012–13, given global shortages of grain? At current
production estimates of around 22.5 mt, we would see
exports drop by 6 mt in 2012–13, even allowing for a further
rundown in stocks of 2.6 mt to 5.1 mt. It is this rundown in
export volumes in 2012–13 – which will also coincide with
reduced Black Sea exports – that has the potential to support
wheat prices as we move through the early part of 2013.
See article�� Page 22
It isn’t the news that
truck salesmen want to
hear. Last harvest Murtoa
(northwestern Victoria)
grain grower Craig Jordan
found that by buying a
custom-built chaser and
mother bin combination
he no longer needed to
acquire a second truck.
A roadmap for managing
herbicide resistance
Herbicides are the foundation
of weed control in
commercial crop-production
systems worldwide. But
herbicide-resistant (HR) weed
populations are evolving
rapidly as a natural response
to selection pressure imposed
by modern agricultural management activities.
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New discovery of how carbon is
stored in the Southern Ocean
A
team of British and Australian scientists has discovered
how carbon is drawn down from the surface of the
Southern Ocean to the deep waters beneath.
The Southern Ocean is an important carbon sink in the
world – around 40 per cent of the annual global CO2 emissions
absorbed by the world’s oceans enter through this region.
Reporting recently in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists
from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Australia’s national
research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO), reveal that rather than carbon
being absorbed uniformly into the deep ocean in vast areas, it is
drawn down and locked away from the atmosphere by plunging
currents a thousand kilometres wide.
Winds, currents and massive whirlpools that carry warm and
cold water around the ocean – known as eddies – create localised
pathways or funnels for carbon to be stored.
Lead author, Dr Jean-Baptiste Sallée from British Antarctic
Survey says, “The Southern Ocean is a large window by which
the atmosphere connects to the interior of the ocean below.
Until now we didn’t know exactly the physical processes of
how carbon ends up being stored deep in the ocean. It’s the
combination of winds, currents and eddies that create these
carbon-capturing pathways drawing waters down into the deep
ocean from the ocean surface.
“Now that we have an improved understanding of the
mechanisms for carbon draw-down we are better placed to
understand the effects of changing climate and future carbon
absorption by the ocean.”
CSIRO co-author, Dr Richard Matear says the rate-limiting step
Lead author, Dr Jean-Baptiste Sallée, formerly of CSIRO and
now with the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge.
in the anthropogenic carbon uptake by the ocean is the physical
transport from the surface into the ocean interior.
“Our study identifies these pathways for the first time and this
matches well with observationally-derived estimates of carbon
storage in the ocean interior,” Richard says.
Due to the size and remote location of the Southern Ocean,
scientists have only recently been able to explore the workings of
the ocean with the help of small robotic probes – known as Argo
floats. In 2002, 80 floats were deployed in the Southern Ocean to
collect information on the temperature and salinity. This unique
set of observations spanning 10 years has enabled scientists to
investigate this remote region of the world for the first time.
The floats are just over a metre in length and dive to depths of
two kilometres. Today, there are over 3000 floats in the oceans
worldwide providing detailed information used in oceanic climate
models.
The team also analysed temperature, salinity and pressure
data collected from ship-based observations since the 1990s. The
instrument used for this is called a CTD profiler which is a cluster
of sensors taking measurements as it’s lowered deep down into
the ocean to depths of more than seven km.
The work was supported through the Wealth from Oceans and Australian
Climate Change Science Programs, and the Australian Government’s
Cooperative Research Centre program.
n
Dr Richard Matear, Research Scientist, CSIRO Marine and
Atmospheric Research.
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Biofuels from biomass
■■ By Ann Perry, Agricultural Research Service – USDA
A
round 66 million years ago, a grasslike ancestor began
to evolve into the plants eventually used to breed food
crops like rice, corn, sorghum, and sugarcane. Panicum
virgatum, or switchgrass, another plant descended from this
ancient group, might someday become the energy equivalent
of its food crop relatives – a biomass feedstock used to produce
heat, light, and transportation fuels.
To further these prospects, a $25 million USDA research
project will investigate agricultural systems in the central US for
producing advanced transportation fuels from perennial grasses
grown on land that is either unsuitable or only marginally suitable
for row crop production.
The project researchers will also study approaches for
improving the sustainability of existing cropping systems by
incorporating perennial grasses into production systems as
bioenergy crops, which will reduce nutrient runoff from fields,
decrease erosion, and increase soil carbon sequestration.
Geneticist Ken Vogel, who works at ARS’s Grain, Forage, and
Bioenergy Research Unit in Lincoln, Nebraska, will lead this USDA
“Germplasm to Harvest” research group.
“We aim to develop crops that take only a single year to
become established and can grow 50 per cent of maximum yield
in the first year of production – and 100 per cent yield in the
second,” says Ken.
Geneticist Michael Casler, who works at ARS’s US Dairy Forage
Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin, will be partnering in this
breeding and genetics research.
“Right now, it takes five years to select candidates, grow
them out, cross with other genetic lines, develop and evaluate
new types, and then get seed production,” Michael says. “This
generates around a one per cent yield increase every year, but we
want to accelerate that rate of yield progression.”
Michael and colleagues will use new DNA markers to develop
Geneticist Ken Vogel (left) and molecular biologist Gautam
Sarath compare switchgrass plants that were produced by
mating plants from upland and lowland ecotypes with their
parents. (Photo: Peggy Greb)
Same transgenic tricks to
boost biofuel production
ARS geneticist Sarah Hake and University of California
colleague George Chuck are conducting research that could
have far-reaching implications for developing switchgrass as
a biofuel crop. They have found that inserting a specific gene
called Corngrass from corn into switchgrass essentially keeps
the perennial grass in its juvenile form – a plant that doesn’t
flower, produce seeds, or have a dormant growth phase.
“Since these transgenic plants don’t flower, the starch
doesn’t need to travel inside the plant to the inflorescence to
support the flowering stage. Instead, the starch stays in the
stem,” says Sarah, who works at the ARS Plant Gene Expression
Center in Albany, California. “The leaves are not nearly as stiff
as leaves in a plant that hasn’t been modified. We also found
that leaf lignin in transgenic plants is slightly different than leaf
lignin in other plants.” Lignin modification will be a key factor
in the commercial development of cellulosic ethanol, because
lignin structures must be broken down to release sugars that
are fermented into biofuel.
“Since the starch is unused by the plant and stays in the
stem, it allows for greater energy release,” adds George. “We
found up to a 250 per cent increase in starch content and were
able to extract more energy out of the biomass because of it.”
“Right now we’re introducing DNA segments called ‘genetic
promoters’ to turn on the Corngrass gene in the shoot, but
not the root, to help increase root mass development that
is otherwise inhibited,” Sarah says. “The development of
nonflowering switchgrass varieties would eliminate the
possibility that transgenes could escape into the environment
and contaminate non-transgene plants. But we have a lot more
work to do before transgenic switchgrass is ready.”
ARS geneticist Sarah Hake and University of CaliforniaBerkeley colleague George Chuck study juvenile traits
of corngrass. They have found that inserting a specific
Corngrass gene into switchgrass keeps it in its juvenile
form. (Photo: Peggy Greb)
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predictive equations for identifying traits that enhance yield. They
will use these equations to breed and evaluate new experimental
strains for yield and biofuel-conversion potential. These strains
will be evaluated in field trials prior to release as cultivars for
commercial use by the biofuels industry.
ARS and university scientists in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin will also evaluate
the latest improved genetic materials and find the best ways
to integrate new perennial bioenergy grasses into food-cropproduction landscapes. Their work will include research on
nitrogen cycling, carbon cycling, and greenhouse gas emissions
– a key project component, since there is little information on
greenhouse gas emissions for bioenergy crops. This data will be
needed to develop biofuels that produce lower total emissions
throughout the production-and-conversion cycle than the
emissions associated with petroleum-based fuels.
The researchers will monitor water use by these crops and
develop ways to optimise water-use efficiency, because water
availability could be the single most limiting factor in biomass
production. They will also compare the production inputs needed
for the experimental biomass crops to those needed for corn.
“This will let us compare the production and economic
benefits and costs of different bioenergy crops to those of other
production systems,” Rob Mitchell, an agronomist working with
Ken, says.
Rob’s team will assess the net energy balance for different
biomass systems, including yields, agricultural inputs, and other
production factors. These results will help producers optimise the
sustainable production of perennial feedstocks on less-productive
cropland – not the prime farmland needed for food and feed
crops like corn and soybean.
Find genes, tweak production
Back in the laboratory, chemical engineer Bruce Dien will be
looking for traits in the switchgrass cultivars that are associated
with how readily the plant’s sugars can be converted into
biofuels. Bruce works at the ARS National Center for Agricultural
Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois.
“We’ll use expensive wet chemistry methods to identify the
components linked to conversion efficiency and then use a
near-infrared (NIR) instrument to record the light-wave signatures
of each component,” Bruce explains. “When we’re finished,
we’ll be able to rapidly estimate the conversion yield of different
perennial grass genetic lines using NIR instead of wet chemistry.”
Another ARS chemical engineer, Akwasi Boateng, will be
looking for ways to streamline production of fuel via pyrolysis, a
very-high-temperature conversion process where plant material
is thermally decomposed in the absence of oxygen. Pyrolysis
produces a dense bio-oil that can be readily converted into
renewable jet, diesel, and other biofuels.
“We will collect pyrolysis data for 300 to 500 samples
every year,” says Akwasi. “The samples will represent different
production backgrounds and genetic materials. For instance, we’ll
study different varieties of feedstocks, but we will also look at
how harvest and storage management affects bio-oil yields. Then
we’ll use the information to develop equations for predicting biooil yields, eliminating the need to conduct chemical analyses.”
Ken, who has been working on switchgrass for more than two
decades, is optimistic that switchgrass and other perennial natives
will someday become major components in global agriculture for
biofuel production.
To reach scientists mentioned in this article, contact Ann Perry, USDA-ARS
Information Staff Ph: +1 301 504-1628.
n
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Manage speed to eliminate
spray drift
R
esearch shows that the risk of spray drift increases
substantially when spray equipment travels fast during
higher wind speeds.
A Canadian study showed that, during higher wind speeds of
about 20 kilometres per hour, machinery travelling at about 30
km/h almost doubled the amount of chemical contributing to
spray drift risk, compared with machinery travel speeds of 8 km/h.
The same study revealed that spray drift risk was not affected
by travel speed during slower wind speeds of seven to eight km/h
(under daytime conditions).
Spray operators are therefore advised to avoid travel speeds
above 16 to 18 km/h during higher wind speeds unless there
is excellent boom height control and equipment is set up to
minimise airborne droplets by providing spray quality which is
coarse or larger.
Practical spraying tips
This is some of the information outlined in the new Practical
Tips for Spraying Fact Sheet and is available at www.grdc.com.au/
GRDC-FS-SprayPracticalTips
The free fact sheet, developed by the GRDC in conjunction
with Bill Gordon, of Bill Gordon Consulting, contains advice to
reduce spray drift including:
■■ Make the most of favourable weather conditions, especially
wind speed;
■■ Avoid spraying during surface temperature inversion
conditions;
■■ Use the coarsest spray quality that will provide efficacy;
■■ Maintain boom height to achieve double overlap, but no
higher;
DP 1 4 6 6 _ AG_ 1 2 5 x 1 8 6 . p d f
Pa ge 1 3 0 / 0 6 / 1 0 ,
1 1 : 2 3 AM
Bill Gordon outlines how to reduce spray drift in a new fact
■■ Try to minimise your travel speed; and,
sheet.
■■ Utilise unsprayed areas and downwind vegetative buffers. n
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Australian 9/18/12
Grain4:03
— PM
11
New interest in an old herbicide
to help in resistance battle
■■ By Dennis O’Brien, Agricultural Research Service – USDA
A
n Agricultural Research Service scientist in Oxford,
Mississippi, is working toward developing new herbicides
by focusing on a molecular pathway that not only controls
weeds, but might also have helped shape English colonial history.
Franck Dayan, a plant physiologist with the ARS Natural
Products Utilization Research Unit in Oxford, is an expert on a
class of weed killers known as ‘PPO herbicides’, which choke off
the weed’s ability to make chlorophyll. His efforts are increasingly
important because weeds are beginning to develop resistance
to glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide – and
alternatives are needed.
Much of Franck’s work focuses on a class of ring-shaped
pigment molecules known as porphyrins (pronounced POR-fer-ins)
that ‘bind’ or react with different metals and perform vital functions
in both plants and animals. Chlorophyll is a porphyrin that binds
magnesium, giving plants their green pigment and playing a pivotal
role in photosynthesis. Heme is a porphyrin that binds iron as an
essential step in supplying oxygen to animal blood cells.
One of the key steps in porphyrin synthesis is performed by an
enzyme (protoporphyrinogen oxidase, or PPO), and its disruption
can cause problems in plants and animals. In humans, disruption
of the PPO enzyme is associated with a congenital disease known
as ‘porphyria’, with symptoms that may include light sensitivity,
seizures, and neuropsychiatric problems. Scholars have argued
that a case of porphyria in King George III may have contributed
to colonial uprisings. (See box story.)
In plants, PPO herbicides work by disrupting the enzyme’s
production of porphyrins, causing harm to the plant. PPO
herbicides have been around for almost 40 years and are
specifically designed so that they only disrupt PPO enzyme activity
in plants and not in humans. “With these herbicides, we are
able to intentionally and specifically disrupt plant PPO enzyme
Plant physiologist Franck Dayan observes wild-type and
herbicide-resistant biotypes of pigweed (Palmer Amaranth) as
Mississippi State University graduate student Daniela Ribeiro
collects plant samples for DNA analysis. (Photo: Stephen Ausmus)
activity and do it in a way that cannot possibly have any effect on
enzyme activity in humans,” Franck says.
Franck recently published a report on the molecular
mechanism that can trigger resistance to PPO herbicides in a
common weed. Understanding the resistance mechanism should
lead to better herbicides.
Working in the weeds
Since the mid-1990s, glyphosate use in crop fields has been so
successful that interest in research and development of alternative
weed killers had been on the wane. Many experts considered
it too difficult to come up with an herbicide that could match
glyphosate for cost and effectiveness, Franck says. But with weeds
developing resistance to glyphosate, interest in PPO herbicides is
picking up.
“Glyphosate still plays a dominant role in weed control in
many crops, but with glyphosate resistance, there is renewed
interest in herbicides that inhibit the PPO enzyme,” Franck says.
Scientists recently showed that waterhemp (Amaranthus
tuberculatus), a common weed, developed resistance to PPO
herbicides by deleting an amino acid known as ‘glycine 210’ from
the PPO enzyme. Such an evolutionary mechanism is unusual.
Enzymes and proteins are made up of amino acids, but when a
plant develops resistance to a weed killer, it is usually because one
amino acid in an enzyme is substituted for another – not deleted.
King George’s Porphyrin
Problem
Disruption of the PPO enzyme in humans is rare but is
known to cause porphyria, a group of congenital diseases
that in one form, known as ‘variegate porphyria’, can cause
symptoms that include temporary paralysis of limbs, sensitivity
to light, seizures, hallucinations, and other neuropsychiatric
problems. Symptoms can appear intermittently throughout
someone’s life.
Agricultural Research Service plant physiologist Franck
Dayan notes in American Scientist that porphyrins form
pathways that “serve as the assembly line for the most
abundant pigments in nature.” Because pigments are involved,
people with porphyria may also excrete purplish tint in the
urine and faeces.
Franck recounts how several experts have found historical
evidence that King George III, monarch of England from 1760
until his death in 1820, had the disease, periodically suffering
from abdominal pains, paralysis of the arms and legs, winecolored urine, and psychiatric problems that eventually forced
him into confinement. Some experts have argued that the
American Revolution may be partially attributed to the king’s
illness because it contributed to his stubbornness in dealing
with the colonies.
The king’s illness was portrayed in the 1994 film, The
Madness of King George.
were in the middle
“ We
of a drought, everything
was just falling apart
”
Ian Shippen Sheep and wool producer, Moulamein NSW
Caught in a devastating drought and with no money
coming in, Ian faced some tough decisions. He
needed a bold plan to keep his ewe population alive.
His answer: buy more property. It was ambitious, but
Bankwest took the time to understand his vision and
made a commitment to back Ian all the way. Today, Ian’s
business is one of Australia’s leading sheep farms.
At the ARS Natural Products Utilization Research Unit in
Oxford, Mississippi, support scientist Susan Watson extracts
a sample of pigments from leaf tissue for high-performance
liquid chromatography analysis by plant physiologist Franck
Dayan. (Photo: Stephen Ausmus)
That’s Seriously Happy Banking
“This was the first time that resistance caused by a deletion
was ever seen,” Franck says.
Franck examined the consequences of this amino acid deletion
on the PPO enzyme by conducting protein-modeling studies of
waterhemp. “The question was, How did the deletion of this
amino acid allow the plant to become resistant?” says Franck.
Finding the answer
To find the answer, he and his colleagues overlaid the genetic
sequence of the enzyme in the resistant waterhemp plants on the
genetic sequence of a related enzyme that has a known structure,
in this case, the PPO enzyme from tobacco plants. They also
compared the molecular structure of enzymes from PPO-susceptible
waterhemp to the structure of enzymes from resistant waterhemp.
Using that information, they developed a computer-generated,
three-dimensional version of the enzyme in the resistant plant.
The work, published in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica
Acta, confirmed that an evolutionary change in a single enzyme
– the deletion of an amino acid – caused structural changes in
the enzyme-binding site and allowed waterhemp to become
resistant to the herbicide. While the structural changes were too
insignificant to affect most of the plant’s physiological functions,
they did disrupt the PPO enzyme production of porphyrins and
caused the enzyme-binding site to become enlarged so that the
herbicide did not bind as well.
Where the herbicide binds is a key
“The place where the herbicide binds on the enzyme is a key,”
Franck says. Knowing the shape of the binding site will help
scientists design herbicides with a different shape that would
bind more effectively.
Understanding porphyrins has a practical benefit because of
their role in the development of herbicides. But the ubiquitous
presence of these ring-shaped molecules, Franck says, serves as
an example of the unified nature of life on Earth. In an article
coauthored with his daughter, Emilie Dayan, and published in
the May-June 2011 issue of American Scientist, he writes, “They
attract little attention, but you find them throughout the plant
and the animal kingdom, and life couldn’t exist without them.”
Franck Dayan is in the USDA-ARS Natural Products Utilization Research Unit,
Room 2012, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38677; Ph: +1 (662) 915-1039. n
µ To learn about Ian’s vision, watch his
story at bankwestagri.com.au/sheep
Happy Banking
Bank of Western Australia Ltd ABN 22 050 494 454 AFSL / Australian credit licence 236872. BBB0271-AG-HP-0107
Strip till system to cash in on corn
W
ith the ongoing drought in the US pushing maize
prices to an all-time high, Australian growers are likely
to increase their maize plantings in the summer season
ahead. Maize is a relatively minor crop in Australia compared to
other summer crops such as sorghum and cotton. But its ability
to grow in a wide range of geographical areas – from tropical
North Queensland to Victoria and Tasmania – makes it a viable
economic choice for many growers in many regions.
Queensland grower, Peter Howlett, has been cropping maize
for four seasons and plans to continue his traditional 50 per cent
maize and bean rotation this summer in light of the current high
prices. Peter runs a property at Kumbia, 25 km west of Kingaroy. He
Peter Howlett is looking forward to cashing in on high grain
prices this summer with his one pass strip tillage system.
is using the Orthman 1tRIPr pre-plant tillage tool, which combines
strip till and nutrient placement at two depths in one pass.
“We had planned to swing towards all beans this season as
prices were looking good but once we saw maize hit $240 per
tonne, we decided to stick with the traditional program,” said
Peter. “Plus the Orthman machine’s ability to precisely place the
nutrients at two depths in the seed bed two months prior to
planting I reckon saves us 30 per cent on fertiliser costs.”
“Having the fertiliser there ready and waiting also delivers
higher yields. On average, our yields are 20 per cent better than
neighbouring growers who use a different tillage system.”
Fuel costs are a further savings. “If I was using a conventional
tillage system, it would take me four to five passes to do the
work the Orthman 1tRIPr performs in one pass.”
The Orthman 1tRIPr – distributed through Muddy River
Agricultural – is built to perform in the heaviest of stubble.
The machine cuts the soil surface and subsurface residue while
keeping consistent depth due to its parallel linkages.
“We sow into stubble 125 mm thick and I’ve never had the
machine plug up,” Peter said.
Once the heavy stubble has passed through the front of the
machine, a row cleaner assembly removes the residue, while
four adjustable down pressure springs per row assist with soil
penetration and row unit preparation.
Peter’s setup is on a six row strip, with fertiliser placed at
depths of 100 and 200 mm.
For more information go to www.muddyriver.com.au
n
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SPEEDY 250
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Contact your local rural dealer
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CLASSIC TRACTOR TALES
The joys (or otherwise) of
tractor driving!
■■ By Ian M. Johnston
Tractor driving ain’t what it used to be! Stating the
obvious? Certainly.
But let’s be honest. Climbing up into the cloistered confines
of a modern tractor, adjusting the rake of the luxuriously
upholstered arm chair, selecting the filtered air-conditioned
temperature of choice, swivelling the armrest control consul to
the most comfortable position, slipping an Elton John CD into the
quad-speaker player, feeding the data into the satellite guidance
system and then pushing the engine start button – can hardly be
termed rugged, dirt under the finger nails, hard farm yakka.
While I certainly rejoice that this is the lot of today’s tractor
drivers, and I am not for a moment suggesting a farmer is not
entitled to such modernity and comfort of advanced tractor
design whilst enduring long hours at the controls, I do however
confess to harbouring just a wee bit of envy.
Possibly such fallacious thoughts are because during my
farming days – out on the broad black soil plains of the Walgett
Shire – our first tractors consisted of a Chamberlain Super 90, a
Canadian Massey Ferguson also labelled a Super 90, an ageing
Kero fuelled Case LA, a Lanz Bulldog, a Fiat dozer and a Massey
Ferguson loader/backhoe.
The Chamberlain
The Chamberlain Super 90 was our pride and joy. It was
considered a powerful muscle machine with its GM supercharged
two stroke diesel and nine speed gearbox. Being the boss
cocky, it was appropriate that this was the machine I drove. But
subjected to endless 14 hour days, bouncing around in the open
cockpit and being exposed to the torturous howling of the big
two stroke diesel, is the reason that today I suffer from stiff joints
The Chamberlain Super 90. This is one of five of these
magnificent Chamberlains owned by the author and used
on his different properties. The straight front axle indicates
it is a Series 2 Super 90 with the higher performance G.M.
supercharged two stroke three cylinder diesel engine. The
Super 90 is considered by collectors as being the ultimate
Chamberlain! (Photo M Daw)
and am more than half deaf. The wearing of ear muffs would
have been considered sissy in the extreme, back in these ‘good
old days’.
Potentially even more damaging to my health than the
constant jarring and the noise factor – was the dust! While
working the black soil paddocks I was constantly enveloped in a
cloud of fine powdery black dust. It caked in my ears, nose and
throat. The only escape was if there was a decent crosswind.
Even the engine air cleaner cartridge of the Chamberlain had to
be removed and blown through with compressed air each day.
Of course every farmer will appreciate the monotony we each
experience when obliged to spend what seems like a lifetime,
sitting in a tractor, hour after long hour, driving round and round
or back and forward in a paddock which stretches endlessly
towards the distant horizon. One tends to almost hibernate
behind the wheel and enter a sort of dream world. But for me,
there were two regular occurrences which were guaranteed to
jolt me back into the real world.
The first was if I spotted a wriggling red belly black, or a
brown, or better still a king brown (snakes to those uninitiated
in such things) desperately trying to get out of the path of the
22 disc plough. Without apologies to my conservation friends,
I can state categorically that I hate snakes! For the record I also
hate rats and, possibly to a lesser degree, frogs. But I deviate.
Back to the snakes. I took great delight in pouring on the coals
and careering off in hot pursuit of the loathsome creature, until
finally the sharp plough disks chopped the thing into dozens of
obscene wriggling sausages. I then of course had to navigate
back to the furrow and sedately carry on, but greatly cheered by
my achievement.
The other experience that occurred not infrequently when
working a paddock, was when Jim (my next door neighbour)
was aloft in his Stuka divebomber (or whatever) and spied me
innocently and diligently ploughing the soil like any normal well
adjusted farmer. He would execute a broad turn and an almost
vertical hair raising dive before levelling out at zero altitude, then
line me up in his sights and come screaming head on towards
the Chamberlain. At the last possible moment, by which time my
heart rate had gone off the Richter scale, he thankfully wrenched
The Chamberlain Super 90 shown pulling a 22 disc plough,
which it handled with ease. It consumed a mere 1.5 gallons
of diesel per hour. (Photo M Daw)
Genuine harvester parts. Great prices.
Because your harvester deserves the best.
Feederhouse Chains
Description
Part No.
Fits Models
Regular
Special
34 slats
AH207777
9400, 9500, 9410, 9510, 9450, 9550, 9560, CTS, CTS II, 9650 CTS and 9660 CTS
$1312.00
$1246.40
51 slats
AH207778
9600, 9610, 9650 and 9660
$1876.50
$1782.70
30 slats
AH224926
9650 STS, 9750 STS, 9660 STS, 9760 STS and 9860 STS
$1304.40
$1239.20
30 slats
AH217633
9660 STS, 9760 STS and 9860 STS
$1540.85
$1463.80
Narrowbody slat
H206436
9400, 9500, 9410, 9510, 9450, 9550, 9560, 9650 STS, 9750 STS, 9660 STS, 9760
STS, CTS, CTS II, 9550 CTS and 9660 CTS
$44.35
$42.15
Slat
HXE24328
S-Series
$93.05
$88.40
Talk to your local dealer today
for genuine parts at great prices!
Knife Guards
Knife Section Kits
Description
Part No.
Application
Regular
Special
Standard, single
heat-treated, green
H145791
900, 900F
and 900R
$14.50
$13.80
Dura-Guard™,
double heattreated, silver
H153719
900, 900F
and 900R
$18.90
$17.95
3-in. knife guards
Description
Part No.
Application
Regular
Special
Dura-Twin™ 4-in. yellow dichromate sickle sections
Fine-tooth, bolt-on
H153329
600D, 600F, 600R, 900D, 635FD and 640FD
$4.35
$4.15
4-in. knife guards
Coarse-tooth, bolt-on
H163131
600D, 600F, 600R, 900D, 635FD and 640FD
$4.35
$4.15
Short-long-short,
long point, black
H213508
600D, 600R
and 900D
$30.90
$29.35
Long-short-long,
long point, black
H213405
600D, 600R
and 900D
$30.90
$29.35
Dura-Lite™ 3-in. yellow dichromate sickle sections
Fine-tooth, bolt-on
H207929
900, 900F and 900R
$2.50
$2.40
Coarse-tooth, bolt-on
H207930
900, 900F and 900R
$2.55
$2.40
Concaves
Reel and Auger Finger
Draper Belts
Description
Part No.
Regular
Special
600F and 600R Series Platforms
Composite and steel auger finger parts
Description
Part No.
Regular
Special
STS:
Small-wire, front**
AH205254
$1714.45
$1628.75
Small-wire, mid/rear**
AH205255
$1264.05
$1200.85
Large-wire, mid/rear**
AH205260
$1249.55
$1187.05
Large-wire, front
AH205259
$1373.05
** Does not fit 9560 STS
$1304.40
Description
Part No.
Application
Regular
Flat Belt, Belt Assy,
Draper Left Side
AH159535
925D*, 930D*, 936D
$760.10
Draper Right Side
AH159536
925D*, 930D*, 936D
$962.50
Centre Draper
AH203047
KIT — Composite
auger fingers (10)
AH214869
$120.70
$114.65
KIT — Steel auger
fingers, retainers, pins
(10 each)
AH214868
$149.15
$141.70
900R, 900F, 600R, 600F, 900D, 600D, 635FD and 640FD Draper
Platforms:
Reel fingers
925D, 930D, 936D
$412.50
*Note: Belts need to be cut to size for 925D and 930D
Full bat, fingers (10)
AH166489
$50.85
$48.30
LH bat, fingers (10)
AH166490
$54.50
$51.80
RH bat, fingers (10)
AH166491
$54.50
$51.80
No bat, fingers (10)
AH166492
$54.50
$51.80
John Deere Reman
John Deere remanufactured components provide like new performance at a
fraction of the cost. John Deere Reman parts aren’t rebuilt or repaired.
They’re remanufactured which means every component is completely
disassembled, inspected, machined to factory specifications – and backed by
the John Deere warranty.
For information on the complete John Deere Reman range of parts and
components, contact your local dealer or visit JohnDeere.com/Reman
Description
Part No.
Application
Regular
Special
Alternator
SE501826
9570STS, 9670STS, 9770STS, 9870STS
$854.95
$812.20
Water Pump, Reman
SE501228
9670STS, 9770STS
$375.75
$356.95
Turbocharger, Reman
SE502374
9770STS, 9670STS
$1,728.40
$1,642.00
Starter Motor, Reman
SE501867
9670STS, 9770STS
$777.15
$738.30
All prices are Recommended Retail Price (RRP) quoted in Australian Dollars, including GST. RRP does not include freight, assembly or dealer
charges. Product specifications and availability are subject to change without notice. Some of these products, options or accessories may
not be available from all dealers. Check your application with your John Deere dealer for suitability. Prices valid until 30th September 2012.
1800 800 981 | JohnDeere.com.au
back the controls of his airborne contraption and zoomed inches
over the Chamberlain’s canopy.
This dive bombing would continue for around 10 minutes until
Jim tired of the ‘fun’ or noticed his fuel was running low. Phew!
I guarantee I would not return to my trance-like meditative state
that day.
I actually went to the expense of having a special AWA 12 volt
radio mounted on one of the Chamberlain’s mudguards. It came
complete with a set of headphones and I was keenly anticipating
being able to listening to John Laws, in order to while away
the time and ease the monotony of the never ending rotations
of a thousand acre paddock. Sadly, even at full volume, John
Laws’ golden tonsils were thoroughly drowned out by the super
charged two stroke diesel. Even when transferred to the Massey
Ferguson, the radio proved useless.
The Massey Ferguson Super 90
The Massey Ferguson Super 90 was equipped with an
after-market Gason cab, which resembled a cross between a
tomato grower’s glass house and an outback dunny. You see the
front and side windscreens were virtually louvre glass windows
comprising scores of these panes of non-safety glass which could
be opened parallel to each other by a series of levers. There was
The LA Case was used as a spare back-up tractor, but
could handle only the smaller implements. It proved to be
extremely reliable and trouble free. Even the old fashioned
chain drive transmission worked perfectly. (Photo IMJ)
The Fiat 70 CI Crawler was used exclusively for scrub clearing
and the maintenance of the property’s roads. It was capable
of work way beyond what its size would suggest. (Photo IMJ)
no rear window – just an open space. So the dust was sucked
into the cab via the exposed rear end and coated the inside of
the louvres thus effectively blocking out vision, resulting in the
‘windows’ having to remain open irrespective of the weather.
Then there was the noise! The Perkins diesel engine is noted
for its low decibel output. But in the case of the Massey Ferguson
Super 90, the din reverberating down from the tin roof and
ricocheting around inside the cabin, magnified the engine sounds
to a deafening cacophony.
The Case
The Case LA served really no purpose except as a nostalgic
memory of one of the tractors I drove in my jackeroo days.
The orange tractor was originally designed to run on power
kerosene, following a warm up on petrol, but power kerosene
was no longer available, which meant it had to be fuelled entirely
with petrol. Which was OK, except that it consumed the entire
contents of a 44 gallon drum in a ten hour day whilst only pulling
a 12 foot scarifier! Accordingly, it spent most of its time parked
under the pepper tree.
The Lanz Bulldog
The Lanz Bulldog D1706 was not one of these belching
monsters that had to be started with the aid of a blowlamp.
Instead, this was one of the new technology Bulldogs (still
with only a single cylinder two stroke semi-diesel engine) but
utilising an ingenious starter motor with a reversible solenoid,
that enabled the piston to be rocked in a pendulum motion, as
distinct from ‘turning it over’, until it fired into life.
Although being only a diminutive tractor (in fact the smallest
Lanz ever sold in Australia), when it finally erupted into life, the
shotgun-like explosions were routinely accompanied by bolting
horses and disappearing dogs, and could also create heart
murmurs in the aged.
But the little Bulldog was blessed with an unparalleled
characteristic which endeared it to my heart. Its fuel consumption!
It would work all day pulling a trailer, or a grain auger or empty
mobile grain bins at harvest, and consume around a mere two
cups of diesel – all day! And there is more! Owing to the fact that
being a low compression semi-diesel and therefore unable to burn
all the fuel passing through its combustion chamber, there was a
detachable little cup-sized bowl that collected the unburnt fuel,
rather than have it emitted through the exhaust stack. This was
drained, if one remembered, and poured back into the fuel tank.
Now that is what I call recycling!
The Lanz Bulldog D1706 was a brilliant little utility tractor,
equipped with down thrust three point linkage, independent
front suspension and a passenger seat. Its semi-diesel (11 to 1
compression ratio) single cylinder valveless two stroke engine
could work all day on a mere one pint of diesel. (Photo IMJ)
The Fiat
The Fiat 70 Ci crawler was equipped with a rugged dozer
blade and although not a big machine, was capable of work far
beyond its size would suggest. It was used to push over and clear
around 200 acres of scrub and thus convert relatively useless land
into high yielding wheat country.
But there was one problem with the Fiat. The steering was by
two hand clutch levers and two foot brake pedals – and I simply
could not reach the pedals! My legs were too short. Even with
cushions at my back, I could only tippy toe the pedals and was
therefore unable to exert the considerable force required to apply
the turning brakes. However the problem was quickly solved.
Stuart, the elder of my two sons, had long legs – and he just
loved that Fiat!
The Massey Ferguson loader/backhoe
Which leaves the Massey Ferguson loader/backhoe. How any
farmer can run a property without owning one of these versatile
machines is beyond me. It was used for everything, including
handling bulk grain, pressing steel posts into the ground, grading
the trails, burying dead livestock, digging pits for garbage
disposal, loading gravel, carting fuel drums, lifting things to
heights in lieu of a crane, raising me onto the roof when leaks
were discovered, straightening gate posts, and it was ideal for
blocking cattle ramps when Jeffrey our bull exhibited amorous
intentions towards our neighbour’s heifers.
But it too had a problem. I observed one day from the
homestead kitchen window, the loader/backhoe being driven flat
out, indeed recklessly, with my younger son Grant at the wheel,
rushing along the road and obviously in a hurry to knock-off for
lunch. As he crossed the ramp near the house – well he didn’t!
The edge of the front bucket collided with the corner post
The Massey Ferguson loader/backhoe was indispensable
on the property, being able to perform a myriad of labour
saving tasks. (Photo IMJ archives)
bringing the flying missile to an instant halt. Stuart, who had been
grimly holding himself onto the rear backhoe seat, did not come
to an instant halt! Instead he continued on his journey, doing a
respectable interpretation of Peter Pan flying through the air, that
is until he landed some 20 feet ahead of the stricken rig.
Surprisingly, Stuart picked himself up with only a minor
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TPS-009_OmniSTAR_AustGrain_AD_186 x125mm_0912.indd
September–October
2012
1
20/09/2012 2:12:35 p.m.
Australian
Grain — 19
scratch. Grant was similarly OK but his self esteem went into a
steep decline. The Massey Ferguson was the one that suffered.
The main loader frame was twisted and out of plumb by
several inches and would have required the services of a giant
press to straighten, which we did not have. The entire unit leaned
to one side, rendering it impossible for the bucket to sit level on
the ground.
But, utilising a considerable degree of ingenuity, with which
we Aussie farmers are credited, the problem was instantly solved.
So for the rest of its days, the loader/backhoe went about
its business with 40 pounds of air in its nearside tyres and 14
pounds of air in its offside tyres, and the bucket once again sat
flat on the ground.
The John Deere
With two consecutive bountiful cropping seasons under our
belt, I felt it was time for an indulgence. We added to our fleet
a John Deere 44-30. What bliss. A Soundguard air conditioned
cabin that had me wiping my feet before entering. There was
even a tape player enabling me to lose myself in the delights of a
Beethoven symphony or two.
The Suzuki
We installed two way radios connecting the John Deere to the
homestead and Margery’s Suzuki jeep. Trouble was – Margery
spent hours discussing scone recipes and pudding mixes over the
radio with Mary, who shared our channel. My urgent requests
for a fuel delivery or the procurement of a set of filters, or some
other pressing matter, would routinely be blocked by the two
merrily chattering away, oblivious to the managerial necessities
of running a rural property. But I forgave them. Margery’s scones
and puddings were and are nothing less than gourmet, indeed
surpassing the CWA’s highest standards.
The diminutive Suzuki Jeep was an incredibly capable
vehicle. Powered by a tiny petrol fuelled three cylinder
two stroke engine, apart from climbing trees the little
vehicle could literally go anywhere. Its narrow lugged tyres,
coupled to its lightweight, rendered it the only vehicle on
the property that was unstoppable in the black soil in wet
weather. Rather absurdly, on several occasions it was used to
recover our bogged Range Rover. (Photo M Daw)
The John Deere was an excellent tractor and made the others
seem quite archaic. But it is a fact that at the end of a long shift,
I would scramble down from the cabin feeling half crippled.
Certainly I was as clean as when starting off in the morning. On
the other hand, despite being filthy following a day in the dust,
I never suffered the same aches after dismounting from the
Chamberlain Super 90. I can only put this down to the fact that
the Chamberlain had a softly sprung front axle. But I recall both
tractors fondly.
It is therefore perhaps understandable that I do envy the
modern tractor driver surrounded by all his high tech doo-dahs.
But at least with the good old Chamberlain Super 90, I never had
to concern myself with problems relating to air conditioning, dust
sealing, the accuracy of the Satnav or even the power steering
or powershift transmission!
n
Ian’s Mystery Tractor QUIZ
Question: Can you identify this tractor?
Clue: It shares its name with a breed of Scottish cattle.
Degree of difficulty: Outrageously difficult, in fact near nigh
impossible, as none came to Australia and only one example
(this one) remains today.
Answer: See page 40.
The John Deere 44-30 replaced the Chamberlain Super 90
as the flagship tractor on the property. But despite having
around 30 per cent more horsepower than the Chamberlain,
and of course the luxury of the Soundguard cabin, its
drawbar pull was only marginally greater than that of the
Super 90 and surprisingly, at the completion of a 14 hour
shift, it proved more fatiguing. (Photo IMJ archives)
NORTHERN FOCUS
COVERING NORTHERN NSW AND QUEENSLAND
THE RESEARCH VIEW
Crown rot – parents and holy grails
■■ By James Clark, GRDC Northern Panel chair
C
rown rot resistance and/or tolerance are complex traits
to achieve via genetic selection and the time has come to
establish to what extent we can achieve this ‘holy grail’ of
cereal breeding.
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is
funding a comprehensive five-year crown rot trial which puts the
major research providers head-to-head. The race is on to develop
crown rot-tolerant parent material to hand on to the cereal
breeding companies for commercialisation.
After 20 years of crown rot research, northern region growers
are still battling yield losses so it is time to get serious about
delivering parents. It’s time to establish if we can breed better
tolerance or if we need to rethink our whole approach.
We are aiming for crown rot tolerance because under our
current farming systems, crown rot will always be around. We
need varieties that will yield in the presence of crown rot so
resistance would be ideal – but tolerance is our focus.
Crown rot is never going to be solved by one thing. We need
an integrated approach and genetics will be one part of this.
GRDC continues to fund research into practices to combat crown
rot and advocates the ROT approach:
■■ Rotate crops;
■■ Observe plants for basal browning; and,
■■ Test soil and/stubble for the presence of crown rot.
We are three years into this five-year trial and we’ll know
if this approach is working by the end of this year when this
Consultants’ Corner
Consultants’ Corner is an initiative by Australian Grain
highlighting current GRDC-funded research with a
particular focus on the commercial implications of
adopting cutting-edge research.
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GRDC has funded research partners to develop wheat and
barley lines capable of stable yield when grown in the
presence of varying amounts of crown rot inoculum.
Long life, very durable, low power requirements, complete clean-out
Contact Roland Schmelzer on 07 3878 9338 or 1800 635 199
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Northern Focus
Australian Grain — i
resistance to crown rot, and rapidly develop lines that have at
least a 90 per cent similarity to the current commercial varieties
but which also combine high levels of resistance/tolerance with
high-yield potential.
University of Sydney
Growers will know by the end of the year if a major GRDCsupported project has been able to improve the reaction of
cereal varieties to the costly disease, crown rot.
season’s cereal trials hosted by the University of Sydney’s I.A.
Watson Wheat Research Centre at Narrabri are finalised.
In the meantime, here is a summary of the research and
what GRDC, the GRDC Northern Panel and researchers hope
to achieve. The projects are closely linked and information
and genetic material will be shared. The projects will tackle
the problem of crown rot in different ways, to maximise the
likelihood of successful outcomes for Australian cereal growers.
University of Southern Queensland
While commercial varieties of bread and durum wheat with
adequate levels of crown rot resistance are not available, other
wheats carrying a level of resistance or tolerance to this disease
have been identified.
USQ has identified readily-detected genetic markers that indicate
the presence of genes that resist growth of, or provide tolerance to,
this fungal disease. These markers are being used as flags to detect
the presence of resistance genes in populations of wheat plants
derived from crosses between resistant lines and elite varieties.
Once researchers have demonstrated that lines which inherit
these markers reliably show increased resistance, these markers
can be used by wheat geneticists and commercial wheat breeding
companies to assist in the breeding and efficient selection of
improved varieties.
University of Queensland
This project seeks to rapidly move multiple genes conveying
resistance/tolerance to crown rot into adapted, high-yielding
genetic backgrounds of bread wheat.
A combination of technologies is being applied to rapidly
move genes (from multiple sources) into bread wheat, including:
‘speed breeding’ to accelerate plant development and reduce
plant generations to 12 weeks; high-throughput seedling and
nursery screens to allow large population sizes to be evaluated
for crown rot reaction; and, use of advance molecular genetics
tools to identify gene segments that contribute to crown rot
resistance and/or tolerance.
Three cycles of crossing, screening and evaluation are planned,
with advanced lines to be released by years three and four of the
project.
High yielding, adapted varieties are being inter-crossed with
the best available sources of known crown rot resistance – donors
have been selected that are likely to carry different genes for
resistance to crown rot.
Researchers aim to target stack multiple sources of genetic
ii — Australian Grain This project has two components: One based in the University
of Sydney will focus on wheats adapted to the northern region; the
second component based in SARDI will focus on wheats adapted to
southern and Western Australia. It will also use molecular markers
but will focus on more conventional crossing strategies.
Both components will rely heavily on phenotypic screening of
lines and will use a variety of adult plant and seedling screening
technologies but evaluation in field nurseries at Narrabri and
Roseworthy, as well as further independent yield trials, will be
critical in ensuring the value of the germplasm to breeding
companies.
Selection of lines with good agronomic characteristics as well
as improved crown rot reaction will be a key component of the
selection procedures, enhancing the utility of the output lines to
the breeding programs.
Significant investment in screening lines for resistance has led
to the development of a variety of screening technologies and
to the identification of a range of partial resistance sources. The
screening techniques, in adult plants as well as seedlings, have
been based on the development of disease symptoms such as
stem browning.
Where the genetic control of partial resistance in some sources
has been investigated, resistance has been shown to be complex.
In addition, sources have poor agronomic features which, when
combined with the low heritability of resistant/tolerant phenotypes,
helps explain why progress in developing resistant cultivars has
been very slow. A further complicating factor has been the recent
finding that at least some of the minor resistance genes are either
expressed in seedling tests or in adult plant tests but not in both.
CSIRO
Segregating populations will be generated between these
resistance sources and adapted local varieties representing each
of the three cereal-growing regions in Australia.
These populations will be used to identify genes conferring
crown rot resistance, and genes identified in mapping
populations will be further validated in different genetic
backgrounds under different field environments.
Backcross populations between these resistance sources and
local varieties will be generated and assessed for selecting elite
materials with both seedling and field resistances. By the end
of this project, these elite barley germplasm will be delivered to
barley breeders and pre-breeders in Australia
The value of a resistance gene does not only depend on the
levels of resistance it can offer in various genetic backgrounds
but also on its effects on and relationships with other traits of
agronomic importance. Understanding these effects/relationships
is an essential element of delivering long-lived resistant varieties.
CSIRO results from gene mapping in wheat show a strong
association between crown rot resistance and plant height with
shorter plants giving better resistance. To ensure the durability of
resistance, researchers need to clarify if the relationship between
plant height and crown rot resistance also exists in barley.
NSW Department of Primary Industries
Three different bread wheat sources of crown resistance (2-49,
Sunco and Sumai 3) have been successfully back crossed into
advanced durum parents and selected over multiple seasons for
reduced disease severity under field conditions.
Northern Focus
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This material has been developed to the point that in the final
2010 field evaluation five 2-49/durum lines, two Sumai 3/durum
lines and 23 Sunco/durum lines have levels of crown rot severity
equivalent or better than Sunco. These lines now underpin
breeding efforts in both the southern and northern durum
breeding node.
Lines of durum with enhanced resistance to crown rot have
been developed under this project. The best of this material
has been made available to the Australian Durum Wheat
Improvement Program (ADWIP). These lines represent useful
germplasm for back crossing to commercial durum varieties.
Some of these lines now underpin durum breeding efforts in both
the southern and northern nodes of ADWIP.
The durum industry will benefit from new durum varieties
with resistance to crown rot that is comparable to the level
of resistance bred into bread wheat. This will restore grower
confidence in durum and enhance the expansion and viability of
the durum industry throughout Australia.
For more information about GRDC-supported crown rot research, visit www.
grdc.com.au/diseaselinks.
n
THE CONSULTANT’S VIEW
Crown rot resistance put to the test
■■ By Rob Long and Drew Penberthy, Crown Analytical Services, Moree, NSW
Rob Long.
Astute growers and advisers have long recognised the
significance of the insidious and devastating disease, crown rot.
It is the fourth highest disease robber of wheat yields in the
northern cropping belt with annual losses of $38 million.
Previously, management decisions were based on the ranking
associated with white head expression of a specific variety of
wheat, but this often resulted in a poor indication of infection
levels and, although useful, was not a reliable indicator of field
performance.
It became imperative for growers and consultants to know
the disease potential of each paddock and consequently Crown
Analytical Services (CAS) was formed in 2008.
CAS assists growers and consultants to make informed
decisions about the implications of crown rot in their farming
system via:
■■ A stubble testing service for quantifying levels of crown rot
inoculum (plus common root rot and trichoderma).
■■ GRDC- and industry-funded trials to ‘road test’ soon-to-bereleased commercial varieties for tolerance to crown rot.
■■ GRDC-funded trials to road test pre-breeding varieties
identified by GRDC for their tolerance to crown rot.
Stubble test
A stubble test is carried out by visually assessing basal
browning in our lab plus a precise plating test conducted by Dr
Steven Simpfendorfer at NSW DPI in Tamworth. Sample kits are
issued to consultants to make it easy to collect and send stubble
samples in Reply Paid post packs.
Features include:
■■ It is a stubble test for a stubble-borne disease.
■■ Results are based on protocols established by NSW DPI.
■■ Results are objective and consistent.
■■ CAS provides a visual assessment which is cross-checked with
the plated results. It quantifies disease severity as well as
disease incidence.
■■ On ‘old’ weathered stubble, the plating assessment is much
more reliable than the visual basal browning assessment.
Testing field tolerance of commercial varieties
GRDC-supported field trials give a true reflection of the
relative ability of each variety to perform in the field in the
presence of known levels of inoculum.
By engaging with commercial seed companies, namely AGT,
Longreach Plant Breeders (plus Pacific Seeds by association) and
Heritage Seeds (formerly SeedMark), CAS, with the assistance of
iv — Australian Grain Denis Harvey and his team from Kalyx, run these trials with the aim
of establishing industry benchmarks for crown rot tolerance levels.
We use this assessment method across a number of suitable
sites over a number of years in northern NSW to road test these
elite varieties as put forward by the companies, before they are
released to the market.
This objective data should assist these seed companies to
reliably select and promote the most suitable cultivars for a
region.
Similarly it should give consultants and growers more
confidence to choose cultivars with a documented history of
their performance in the presence of crown rot, thus speeding
up the adoption of these new varieties in the field.
They are tested against five selected standards, namely
Gregory, Strzelecki, Sunbri, Wylie and Bellaroi .
AGT, Longreach/Pacific Seeds and Heritage Seeds provide
financial support for these trials.
This research will be repeated over the next few years to
create a database of records over different seasonal conditions
enabling the establishment of a rank (or other suitable scoring
system) of the current commercial and new varieties for crown
rot tolerance.
The cotton industry very successfully introduced a similar
concept using the ‘F rank’ for Fusarium oxysporum. This rank can
then be used by growers and consultants as a tool to make more
educated decisions regarding varietal choice, crop rotation and
paddock selection.
Testing field tolerance of pre-breeding varieties
In collaboration with Drs Francis Ogbonnaya and Richard
Brettell from the GRDC, these GRDC-supported trials assume a
similar concept and methodology as for the commercial varieties.
These pre-breeding lines have been developed from sources
of resistance and tolerance identified here and abroad through
GRDC-supported projects with the University of Sydney,
Queensland DAFF, the University of Queensland, the University
of Southern Queensland, CSIRO and SARDI.
The commercial breeding companies have also participated
in this work in providing advice, as well as six check cultivars
(2-49, Sunco, Wylie, Batavia, Janz and Bellaroi ) for loss trials and
germplasm for line development. Alison Kelly and Susan Fletcher
from the Statistics for the Australian Grains Industry (SAGI)
provide advice on experimental design and analysis. The trials
are co-located with the commercial varieties at two sites.
Commercial breeders will eventually have access to suitable
germplasm that shows particular merit for crown rot tolerance.
Northern Focus
Sorghum and sugarcane sweeten
the biofuels story
■■ By Dennis O’Brien and Jan Suszkiw, Agricultural Research Service – USDA
US Government mandates call for producing up to 136 billion
litres of biofuel to help meet the nation’s transportation needs
by 2022. While 57 billion litres of that is expected to come from
grain ethanol, the remaining 79 billion litres will be derived from
other feedstocks, such as sugarcane; sweet sorghum; perennial
grasses, like switchgrass; and oilseed crops, such as rapeseed,
pennycress, camelina, and soybean.
To achieve that goal, the US Department of Agriculture has
forged a number of strategic partnerships through its five USDA
Regional Biomass Research Centers to coordinate research and
tap into its nationwide resources and expertise. Of the five
regions, the Southeast has the greatest natural capacity in the
continental United States, with sufficient sunshine, soils, water,
and other natural resources to produce more than 37.8 billion
litres of advanced biofuels each year – nearly a third of the 136
billion-litres production target.
The goal for researchers is to develop high-yield bioenergy
crops and production methods that minimise use of water and
fertilisers and are compatible with current land uses. The systems
have to be cost-effective for both growers and biofuel producers.
Researchers also want to enhance environmental quality by
increasing carbon sequestration and reduce the amount of
nitrogen runoff to waterways.
“We need to understand all of the implications of helping this
country meet its future energy needs by producing plants that
will be viable sources of fuel. That means examining a number
of issues, such as whether these crops can be produced on less
productive lands in ways that preserve environmental quality,”
says William Anderson, an ARS geneticist in Tifton, Georgia, and
co-coordinator of the Southeastern Regional Biomass Center.
ARS researchers working in Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska,
Hawaii, and elsewhere, with expertise in a wide range of scientific
fields, are working toward developing a range of biomass crops
In research plots in Shellman, Georgia, geneticist Bill
Anderson measures the height of napiergrass, one of the
prime candidates for biofuels production in the southeastern
United States. Anderson and his team are working toward
developing biomass crops for producing biofuels in this
region of the country.
for biofuels. They are finding that each crop offers a different
set of challenges – and possible rewards. Work by William
and others, for instance, shows that napiergrass (Pennisetum
purpureum) and varieties of sugarcane known as ‘energy cane’
(Saccharum sp.) may work best in southern portions of Georgia
and the rest of the region’s southern tier.
By comparison, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), a biomass
crop being developed in the Midwest, is more cold tolerant than
subtropical grasses and works better than energy cane in more
northern areas of the Southeast.
Much of the USDA research effort in the South is focused
on energy cane, napiergrass, and sweet sorghum (Sorghum
bicolor). With its expertise, extensive network of university and
industry partners, and vast collections of plant material available
for research, ARS is uniquely equipped to play a pivotal role in
developing all three of these grasses into viable feedstocks for
biofuels. ARS researchers are also working closely with companies
that will produce biofuels so that they understand the companies’
priorities and are using that insight in their efforts. It’s an
approach that is helping to accelerate progress toward lowering
the potential costs of producing biofuels and making the biofuels
price competitive with that of petroleum fuels.
The sugarcane connection
At the ARS Sugarcane Research Unit in Houma, Louisiana, and
its field location in Canal Point, Florida, scientists are engaged in
a program to supply growers and energy companies in the Gulf
Chopped up napiergrass from research plots. The material
will be evaluated for moisture and ash content, as well as
ability to be converted to renewable fuels.
Northern Focus
Australian Grain — v
Coast and other southern states with new varieties of energy
cane. Energy canes are derived by crossing cultivated sugarcane
with related wild grassy species that offer desirable traits for
biofuel production. A key attribute from wild grasses is their high
amount of stalk fibre, which has cellulose and other complex
carbohydrates that can be converted into ethanol, complementing
the ethanol that would be produced from the sugar.
Another desirable trait from wild grass species is cold
tolerance – important to both energy cane and traditional forms
of sugarcane. Incorporating this trait would not only extend the
growing and milling season, but also enable production in states
where sugarcane is not traditionally grown.
“We don’t anticipate any energy cane being grown in the
traditional sugarcane growing areas of Florida, Louisiana, Texas,
or Hawaii,” says Ed Richard, who, prior to retiring in December
2011, led a 12-member energy cane research team at Houma.
Technician David Verdun transplants energy cane seedlings
into the field. In 2012, over 24,000 germplasm seedlings
were transplanted. Several may prove to have potential for
bioenergy use. (Photo: Peggy Greb)
“We envision it being grown in the more northern zones of these
states and in the other southern states, in rotations with pasture
and other croplands that are not productive. In Hawaii, it may be
grown on hilly land that is hard to irrigate,” he says.
In Gulf Coast states like Louisiana and Florida, sugarcane is
better suited to the region’s soil types and subtropical climate.
“A long growing season, abundance of land, and the availability
of water make the Southeast ideal for the production of tallgrowing herbaceous perennials, like sugarcane, sweet sorghum,
and other related species,” says Ed.
To date, the Houma group has released four energy cane
varieties as part of a longstanding cooperative agreement with
the Louisiana State University AgCenter and the American Sugar
Cane League.
Napiergrass: Right for some, maybe not for all
Napiergrass, also called ‘elephant grass’, is a native of Africa
and is used as cattle forage in much of the Tropics. Napiergrass
offers advantages for the Southeast: It is drought tolerant and
grows well on marginal lands and in riparian areas. It can also
improve water quality in riparian areas by filtering out nutrients in
runoff from row crop fields.
Both energy cane and napiergrass are subtropical grasses and
are prime candidates for biomass production because they don’t
flower in most areas of the Southeast and continue to grow until
the first frost.
In Tifton, Georgia, William and colleagues compared
napiergrass to energy cane, switchgrass, and giant reed (Arundo
donax). They grew the crops for four years and compared
biomass yields and soil nutrient requirements. Joseph Knoll, a
postdoctoral researcher in William’s laboratory in the ARS Crop
Genetics and Breeding Research Unit in Tifton, led the research
effort. The team also included Timothy Strickland and Robert
Hubbard, ARS scientists with the Southeast Regional Watershed
Research Unit in Tifton, and Ravindra Malik of Albany State
University, Albany, Georgia. Results were published online in
BioEnergy Research in 2012.
They found that energy cane and napiergrass are viable biofuel
alternatives for growers in southern portions of Georgia and the
rest of the region’s southern tier, William says. “Energy cane and
napiergrass are not as cold tolerant as switchgrass, but they do
offer advantages in areas where they can be produced, such as
continued vegetative growth until killing frost,” William says.
William and his colleagues are evaluating napiergrass with an
eye toward improving yields, useable fibre content, and disease
resistance. They are also testing different soil amendments, such
as chicken litter, variable rates of inorganic fertiliser, and winter
cover crops, and comparing those with no use of inputs.
“In one test, we’re looking at six different rates of fertiliser
use as well as different irrigation levels. We’ve also looked at the
times of planting and harvest, comparing yields in areas where
poultry litter was used and where synthetic fertiliser was used,”
William says. Preliminary findings show that yields are sufficient
without irrigation and that there is little difference in yield when
poultry litter is used instead of inorganic fertiliser.
Sorghum’s potential: How sweet it is
In Tifton, Georgia, geneticist Bill Anderson measures the
height of energy cane in an experiment on production
practices for growing the crop on marginal soils.
vi — Australian Grain Sweet sorghum is a sturdy grass grown in the US for livestock
forage and for sugar for making syrup and molasses. But several
attributes make it uniquely suited as a bioenergy crop in the
Southeast. It is drought tolerant; adapts to diverse growing
conditions; has low nitrogen fertiliser requirements; produces
abundant biomass; can be rotated with cotton and peanuts; and
is compatible with equipment used to harvest, transport, and mill
sugarcane. It also contains soluble sugar that can be fermented
Northern Focus
directly into biofuel. The
fibre (or bagasse) that
remains after the sugar
juice is extracted can
be burned to generate
electrical power – a
strategy that Australian
and South American
sugar mills are are
expanding.
“Sweet sorghum has
the potential to augment
biofuel and electricity
production from
cultivated sugarcane and
lengthen the season for
bioenergy production,”
says plant geneticist Jeff
Pedersen, a former ARS
scientist who was based
in Lincoln, Nebraska,
and collaborated on
sweet sorghum studies
for the Southeastern
region before he retired
in 2011.
In Tifton, William
Molecular biologist Scott Sattler
and other researchers
places a pollination bag over the
grain head of a hybrid plant that
are trying to identify
is a cross between a cultivated
desirable sweet sorghum
sorghum and a wild African
genes and understand
sorghum bicolor species.
their functions so
they can improve on commercial varieties. The researchers
selected 117 sweet sorghum genotypes from the ARS sorghum
germplasm collection in Griffin, Georgia, where sorghum seeds
from around the world are kept. (See box story opposite.)
They tested the genotypes for two years, evaluating
their ability to mature quickly and resist fall armyworm and
anthracnose, a common fungal disease.
The results are providing much-needed guidance to a growing
biofuel industry, showing that sweet sorghum has tremendous
potential as a biofuel crop for Southeast growers. The work also
boosts efforts among breeders by identifying sorghum varieties
that will make good candidates for developing future high-seedyielding hybrid varieties.
For all of sweet sorghum’s bioenergy promise, there’s still
much work to be done, says Jeff. In his estimation, sweet
sorghum’s long-term future as a bioenergy crop hinges on the
ability of the seed industry to rapidly generate and deliver new
elite hybrids – using dwarf seed-parent lines – that produce high
yields of seed. Besides enabling laboratory and field research,
having sufficient seed stocks “is going to be essential to getting
the bioenergy industry going,” says Jeff.
The sweet sorghum improvement research work is one of
several examples of work being done by researchers in Tifton
to produce market-ready biofuel feedstocks. Environmental
concerns are also a high priority being addressed by the
Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory, in Tifton. “The lab is
looking at potential effects on water quality, runoff, water-use
efficiency, and carbon-nitrogen pools in soils and plant tissue
as biomass feedstock species are incorporated into Southeast
agricultural systems,” William says.
To reach scientists mentioned in this article, contact Dennis O’Brien, USDA-ARS
Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville MD 20705-5129; ■
PH: +1 301 504-1624.
n
Sweet Sorghum Research:
Building on the Past for a
Better Future
Fuel-friendly varieties of sweet sorghum will need durable
resistance to insect pests like fall armyworms and diseases such
as maize dwarf mosaic. Breeders will also have to incorporate
traits that prevent stalks from lodging, or toppling over, as
they grow tall. Lodging is a problem because the crop will
require mechanical harvesters. Fortunately, the Agricultural
Research Service has a long history of sweet sorghum research
and germplasm development dating back several decades.
Its sizeable germplasm collection contains 2,163 accessions of
sweet sorghum from around the world, which are maintained
by Gary Pederson and colleagues at ARS’s Plant Genetic
Resources Conservation Unit in Griffin, Georgia. Among other
projects, scientists there are assessing the sugar profiles of
select sweet sorghum accessions and genetically characterising
them using DNA markers so that plant breeders can develop
varieties suited for biofuel production.
Other ARS scientists are also conducting bioenergy research
on sweet sorghum:
Molecular biologist Scott Sattler at Lincoln, Nebraska, is
identifying genes, enzymes, and biochemical pathways involved
in the crop’s production of sucrose and other sugars. Ultimately,
this will lead to new ways to ratchet up the activity of these
genes or reengineer the pathways for even higher sugar yields
than can be achieved with conventional plant-breeding methods.
In New Orleans, scientists Gillian Eggleston, Sarah Lingle
(retired), and Maureen Wright at ARS’s Southern Regional
Research Center are focused on developing industrial process
technologies to manufacture sweet sorghum syrup for yearround storage and transport and to maximise biofuel yields
and other value-added biobased products, such as succinic
acid. They are also determining whether starch, aconitic acid,
and other impurities slow down fermentation and need to be
removed to reduce the costs of production.
At Manhattan, Kansas, Scott Bean and colleagues at ARS’s
Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit are investigating the
fermentation performance of ‘waxy’ grain sorghum for ethanol
production.
Research leader Gary Pederson weighs sweet sorghum
samples in the ARS collection maintained at the Plant
Genetic Resources Conservation Unit in Griffin, Georgia.
Northern Focus
Australian Grain — vii
Cotton remains ‘king’ – but
profitability challenged
T
he outlook for the Australian cotton industry remains
bright, but the decline in global cotton prices and the high
Australian dollar are placing pressure on gross margins,
leading some producers to question the role of cotton in their
crop rotations, according to a recently-released report by
Rabobank.
The report, ‘Cotton’s superior profitability to be challenged’,
says that the cotton market is now trading at historically average
price levels, while many cereal and vegetable oil crop prices are
skyrocketing, which has led many to analyse cotton’s comparative
profitability.
Report author, Rabobank cotton analyst Tracey Allen says
that while the average international price outlook will challenge
growers’ planting decisions, further price easing/reductions would
need to occur before there was a widespread shift out of cotton
in Australia.
“While we expect to see some pressure on the dryland cotton
area, particularly from sorghum, we don’t expect too much
competition from alternative irrigated summer crops due to near
record water availability and a favourable seasonal outlook,”
Tracey says.
Is cotton still ‘king’?
Australian cotton area has trebled to nearly 600,000 hectares
since 2009–10, due to the upward trajectory in global cotton
prices combined with the availability of water, according to the
Rabobank report.
Tracey says the 2011–12 crop is shaping up to be the largest
on record, however the weaker prices will place pressure on
operating profits, with profits to be further squeezed in 2012–13.
“If cotton prices remain at average levels next season, dryland
cotton gross margins could contract by up to 20 per cent (yearon-year), while irrigated growers could see their margins fall by
up to 40 per cent,” she says.
“While price impacts the cotton growers’ gross margin, yield
has a bigger influence – downside production is perceived as
a greater threat than price risk, which may drive some dryland
producers to look at sorghum or maize if they are worried about
a dry summer.”
As a result, Tracey says Rabobank expects to see a 30 per cent
fall in the area planted to dryland cotton in 2012–13.
Conversely, irrigated cotton margins are expected to withstand
the price pressure.
“Good water availability is set to support strong yields, which
is underpinning cotton’s position as the highest margin broadacre
cropping option across all irrigated growing regions,” Tracey says.
Australia’s cotton industry’s revival
The Rabobank report says that despite the anticipated
marginal pullback in area planted to cotton this coming season,
production is set to increase and reach a new record.
“While we expect a decline in the area planted to dryland
cotton, irrigated production is expected to rise on the back of
maximum water availability,” Tracey says.
“The good rainfall events over the past two years has given
most irrigated growers water security for the next two to three
seasons.”
Water use efficiency will continue to be a priority for the
viii — Australian Grain Rabobank cotton analyst Tracey Allen.
industry, Tracey says, and further initiatives will need to be taken
to reduce the water required per bale.
“Another key priority for growers will also be the quality of
their crop, with discounting commonplace in export markets if
contracted specifications are not met,” she says.
“We have recently seen China become our biggest market,
purchasing over 60 per cent of the 2011–12 crop, so supplying
cotton that exceeds their quality expectations will help us
capitalise on the opportunities of supplying this Asian cotton
milling hub.”
The international outlook
Rabobank’s report shows the elevated cotton price over the
previous two seasons has swung the international cotton market
from a production deficit to surplus supply, with the 2012–13
stocks-to-use ratio expected to increase to a record 66 per cent.
Tracey says a common saying is that “high prices cure high
prices”, and this is exactly what has happened in the cotton
industry recently.
“The current price environment will now see the global cotton
area decline in 2012–13, in favour of soy and corn crops, which
have rallied on tight fundamentals and weather,” she says.
“This paints a promising outlook for Australian cotton growers
in the medium term, as cotton prices will need to rise from their
average levels to compete with alternate crops for acreage both
locally and internationally.”
On the international stage, Rabobank expects the battle for
acres to begin in earnest and this will bode well for the price
outlook and our domestic industry.
The outlook, Tracey says, will be particularly bright for those
Australian producers who can maximise their yields and fibre
quality.
n
Northern Focus
SOuTHERN Australia
FOCUS
Covering cropping systems of Southern NSW, Victoria, TASMANIA,
South Australia & Western Australia
THE RESEARCH VIEW
Australian wheat for China
N
ew trade deals with China are already being established
as a result of recent research aiming to optimise the
use of Australian wheat in the production of premium
Chinese noodles and other food products.
The new markets and significant Chinese interest in
understanding Australian wheat grades for manufacturing food
have resulted from the project ‘Australian wheat for China’
funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation
(GRDC) and led by Grain Growers Limited.
“Studies conducted under the project found that, in all cases,
the higher the proportion of Australian wheat blended with
Chinese wheat, the better the quality of Chinese noodles and
bread,” Grain Growers technical services manager and project
leader Ken Quail said.
He said a Chinese flour mill involved in the project had started
importing small quantities of Australian wheat under China’s
quota system. The system allows direct imports of up to one
million tonnes of wheat annually.
“The general manager of a Chinese flour mill specialising in
noodle flour production said that noodles made from Australian
wheat were the best he’d tasted,” Ken said.
“The mill has the potential to import significant quantities of
wheat in the future, and as a market leader, is likely to influence
the purchasing of other companies.
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Southern Focus
Australian Grain — i
■■ Production in China is characterised by inconsistent wheat
quality; and,
■■ Consumes 30 million tonnes of wheat per year as noodles.
What is the opportunity for Australia?
Chinese noodle experts evaluating noodle samples made
from Australian wheat as part of a workshop in Beijing to
determine Chinese preferences.
“New South Wales growers who attended a seminar in
February 2012 organised through the project have made valuable
contacts and are working with another Chinese mill to supply
wheat.”
Ken said the ‘Australian wheat for China’ project aimed to
encourage Australian wheat exports to China by developing and
communicating knowledge about Australian wheat specifications
for the production of premium wheat products in China.
“The knowledge being developed is being communicated to
major Australian wheat exporters, China’s biggest food company
COFCO and the State Administration of Grain (ASAG) which is
responsible for setting grain standards in China,” he said.
“To develop the information the project established a
collaborative research program involving these organisations to
understand what happens when Australian wheat is blended
with Chinese wheat for the production of high value noodles,
breads and traditional Chinese steamed bread.”
Chinese market looking for higher quality
Ken said China was historically only an opportunistic buyer of
Australian wheat – typically buying when world prices were low
and storing the wheat for up to five years before it was used.
“Its purchase of Australian wheat has largely been low protein
Australian Standard White (ASW), at the lower priced end of the
market,” he said.
“But with increasing wealth and a demand for high quality
food, China is set to become a regular importer of higher quality
wheat.
“The ‘Australian wheat for China’ project seeks to understand
how Australia can best benefit from development of the Chinese
wheat market.”
Ken said the Chinese market was currently characterised by
the following factors:
■■ Largest producer and consumer of wheat in the world;
■■ Strong economic growth with a predicted middle class of more
than 600 million people by 2020;
■■ 21 per cent of the world’s population with 8.5 per cent of
arable land;
■■ Declining Chinese wheat production forecast with decrease in
arable land and pressure on water resources;
ii — Australian Grain Ken said there were a number of reasons why there was
a promising outlook for new Australian wheat marketing
opportunities with China including:
■■ Australia being highly regarded for the production of high
quality noodle wheat;
■■ The rapid rise in demand for high quality products in China
and its willingness to pay for premium products;
■■ China’s quota system which allows for the importation of up
to one million tonnes of wheat annually. There are additional
government purchases for food security; and,
■■ Australia has the opportunity to supply China with more than
500,000 tonnes of wheat annually of high value ‘noodle wheat’.
Ken said the inconsistent nature of domestically produced
Chinese wheat was a major problem for China in servicing high
value markets.
“Therefore the concept of blending Chinese wheat with
higher quality wheat is an appealing option for China to increase
the value and consistency of its own wheat production,” he said.
Noodle preferences
The first stage of the collaboration involved in the research
was to complete workshops in China to establish noodle
preferences.
“This was essential to establish how the blends would be
evaluated,” Ken said.
Grain Growers prepared dried noodles produced with different
wheat types to represent key quality factors influencing noodle
properties including protein content, starch properties and flour
colour. Flour millers and noodle manufacturers attending two
workshops in China were asked to evaluate the Australianprepared noodles for preference and several trials were
conducted to establish the preferred wheat type.
“From a supply perspective, the Chinese preference was for
an Australian ‘hard’ type wheat with 12 to 12.5 per cent protein
content and moderate flour swelling volume,” Ken said.
“They require flour which produces bright noodles with a
slightly creamy appearance,” he said.
“If the noodles are too white, the customers believe the flour
has been bleached which they do not like – particularly for the
high value end of the market.”
Ken said information from the workshop enabled the selection
of wheat for a blending study and established a method for
Chinese noodle evaluation.
An additional part of the workshops was a presentation from
Australian delegates on the impact of wheat quality on noodle
production.
Training and blending study
The second stage of the study provided training for key staff
members from COFCO and ASAG.
The training, completed in Australia, helped them assess the
wheat blends using consistent methods.
“This ensures that when these organisations evaluate wheat
for noodle production they are using methods consistent with
those applied in Australia,” Ken said.
The next stage of work was the selection of wheat for the
blending study.
COFCO and ASAG each provided two wheat samples, with
one selected as a specialist noodle wheat and the second from a
general commercial grist.
Southern Focus
In all instances the samples were taken from flour mills to
represent commercial grists.
Each Chinese wheat sample was blended with three Australian
wheat samples.
“The Australian wheat – including samples of Australian
Prime Hard, Australian Hard and Australian Premium White –
was selected to cover the range of protein content and quality
expected to blend successfully with Chinese wheat for the
production of high quality noodles,” Ken said.
The blending trials were completed in Australia and China to
allow cross checking of the results.
“This was particularly important for the organisations involved
in the noodle evaluation to ‘own’ the results and provide
confidence for the Chinese market,” Ken said.
Sample blending was completed at five blending ratios for
each blend and the samples were measured for wheat, flour and
end product quality.
“The study found that while tests indicated that some of the
Chinese wheat samples appeared to have suitable wheat quality
characteristics such as those relating to protein content and test
weight, the functionality of the flour was not what was expected
once the samples were milled,” Ken said.
“In two of the Chinese samples there was an extreme
difference in the protein quality which we would never
experience when processing Australian wheat.
“This reflects the range in wheat quality experienced in China
where common wheat tests may indicate the wheat is suitable
for processing but it is not until the wheat is used as flour that
the deficiencies are apparent.”
Ken said the blending studies could be explained by ‘linear
relationships’ for most characteristics, including outcomes for the
end products.
“It is possible that for some characteristics the relationships in
blends may be more complex; but for practical wheat blending
the linear models are recommended,” he said.
“In all blends it was found that the higher the proportion of
Australian wheat, the better the quality of noodles and bread.
“The most notable benefit for noodles was the improvement
in noodle colour achieved with Australian wheat.
“For bread the benefit was observed for loaf volume.
“Importantly, the results achieved by the Chinese collaborators
were very similar and they reached very similar conclusions.”
THE CONSULTANT’S VIEW
Australian wheat for
China
■■ By MarketAg director Kim Povey
Australian farmers have long understood the opportunistic
buying patterns the Chinese have traditionally employed to
acquire their produce cheaply.
This has been a source of frustration to grain growers as
they have watched wheat being snapped up at bargain prices.
But with the growth of the Chinese middle class, their
disposable income and demand for higher quality food,
there are opportunities for Australia to sell more than ASW1
(Australian Standard White), AGP1 (Australian General
Purpose) and FED1 (Feed) wheats at the lower priced end of
the market.
The GRDC supported research project ‘Australian wheat for
China’ has highlighted the impact that good quality Australian
wheat, blended with local Chinese supplies, can have on the
quality of that country’s noodles and breads.
The wheats sourced under this project are not the noodle
varieties Western Australian growers have long supplied to
Japanese and Korean markets. Rather, they are high protein
APW (Australian Premium White) and Hard varieties.
We are not going to change Chinese buying habits
overnight.
Education of the Chinese market is a key component in
encouraging Australian wheat exports to China and that needs
to continue
But through this GRDC project we appear to be off to the
right start, and the combination of an increasing demand for
higher quality wheat, the ability for mills to directly import
grain from Australia and an understanding of the value of
Australian wheat may be the positive start we need.
Developing an awareness of the merits of Australian wheat
is one thing – but more importantly – we need to develop a
willingness in the Chinese to pay more for it.
Seminar in Beijing
In February 2012 the results from the blending studies were
presented at an industry seminar held in Beijing organised largely
by the project’s Chinese collaborators, with payment for the
event shared with the Chinese.
The seminar was attended by about 70 Chinese flour millers
and noodle manufacturers, as well as nine NSW wheat growers
and a representative from WA’s CBH Group.
“Engagement in the seminar was excellent with strong
participation from the attendees,” Ken said.
“In particular there was a lot of interest in understanding
Australian wheat grades for the manufacture of noodles and
other products.
“It was apparent that, prior to the event, the Chinese
delegates had only extremely limited information about
Australian wheat.”
Ken said the seminar and previous events conducted under
the project had led directly to the new marketing opportunities
between Australia and Chinese flour millers.
The ‘Australian wheat for China’ project is continuing until
n
June 2013.
MarketAg director Kim Povey.
Southern Focus
Australian Grain — iii
Weeds, diseases, snails and slugs
top GRDC panel’s ‘hit list’
P
roblem weeds, damaging diseases, destructive pests and
other cropping productivity constraints are in the firing line
of the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s
Southern Regional Panel.
These are the dominant issues brought to panel members’
attention by growers, farming systems groups and researchers
during the panel’s annual spring tour across the southern
cropping region.
GRDC Southern Regional Panel chair David Shannon said the
week-long tour of growers’ properties, trial sites and research
facilities clearly identified priorities for GRDC investment in
research, development and extension.
“The annual spring panel tour is an important mechanism for
determining which cropping issues are having the most impact
on our grain growers’ farming systems and profitability, and this
year those issues were very apparent,” David said.
“One of the most pressing concerns throughout the southern
region is that of weeds and how they can be controlled and
managed in the face of increasing resistance to available herbicides.
“Brome grass is a particularly serious problem in many areas.
It appears to be outsmarting current control methods and is
persisting from one season to the next.
“Wild radish has joined the likes of fleabane, ryegrass and
barley grass to be a cause for concern, while feathertop Rhodes
grass has emerged as a potential problem.”
David said the development and implementation of effective
integrated weed management strategies, especially summer
weed control, would be critical in reducing the spread of these
and other costly weeds.
GRDC Southern Regional Panel chair David Shannon at Yanco
Agricultural Research Station (NSW) with Kathryn Bechaz
(NSW DPI).
iv — Australian Grain Having travelled throughout large tracts of southern New
South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, panel members also
became well aware of the extent of damage being caused by
pests such as snails and slugs, especially in high rainfall regions.
“Recent wet seasons have promoted an escalation of snail and
slug populations, resulting in damaged crops, expensive control
measures and the risk of grain contamination at harvest,” David
said. “GRDC is already investing in research into these pests
and we will continue to work closely with growers and advisers
to ensure they receive the most up-to-date information and
resources to assist with management.”
Panel members were also advised that skylarks have become a
destructive pest in Western Victoria where they have developed a
habit of chewing off emerging crops.
Diseases such as blackleg in canola, yellow leaf spot, rusts in
cereal crops and Rhizoctonia were to the fore during the tour,
which involved meetings with growers, farming systems groups,
researchers and farm advisers.
Growers throughout the region expressed a desire to learn
more about soil and crop nutrition and optimising productivity
from nutrient inputs.
“Nutrition is back on the radar in those areas which – after
successive years of below average rainfall – have recently
experienced a string of wet seasons, depleting nutrient stores,”
David said.
“In addition, timing and rate of sowing seed, as well as
timing of herbicide and fungicide applications, have become key
considerations for growers.
“They are also eager to lift yields and returns by establishing
more productive and sustainable cropping rotations and farming
systems through the use of beak crops, improved varieties,
increased water use efficiency, soil management, new technology
and the strategic use of livestock.”
“Our growers and other grains industry professionals should
be recognised and commended for their efforts to improve the
n nation’s grain production and its long-term sustainability.”
Congupna (Vic) growers Craig (left) and Helen Reynolds
(right) were visited by GRDC Southern Regional Panel
members Chris Jones, Susan Findlay Tickner, Peter Schwarz
(panel deputy chair) and Keith Pengilley.
Southern Focus
Flying higher with new jet fuels
■■ By Ann Perry, Agricultural Research Service – USDA
I
n 2011, US airlines burned through nearly 19 billion gallons
(72 billion litres) of fuel, which goes a long way in explaining
the establishment of “Farm to Fly,” a partnership among the
US Department of Agriculture, Airlines for America, Inc, the
Boeing Company, and others to advance the development and
production of aviation biofuel. Work by ARS scientists and their
university and industry partners will help ensure that this effort
pays off.
ARS chemist Terry Isbell is managing the workflow for scientists
and support staff throughout the four-year project, which is
funded by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
“We’re looking for the ideal plant oils – and the ways to
produce them – for making hydrotreated renewable jet fuel,”
Terry says, who works in the ARS Bio-Oils Research Unit at the
National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria,
Illinois. “By taking a complete supply-chain systems approach,
we’ll be able to reduce the costs of these fuels and make them
more competitive with petroleum jet fuel.”
Project scientists are looking for genetic traits in oilseeds
that enhance fuel production and using those traits to
develop new oilseed strains for biofuel. They are focusing on
improving sustainable production practices for oilseed crops and
streamlining methods for pre and postharvest oilseed processing.
Achieving these objectives will help increase grower profits, lower
feedstock costs for biorefiners, and improve the efficiency of
conversion of rapeseed, a type of oilseed, to jet fuel.
“Every one per cent increase in efficiency we can achieve in
the hydrotreated renewable-jet-fuel supply chain reduces the
production cost of each gallon by five cents,” adds ARS national
program leader Jeffrey Steiner, who assembled the project team
and continues to participate in the research activities. “These
costs savings can add up very quickly and could translate into
significantly more business for agriculture.”
One project, many options
To this end, Terry and his colleagues will be cultivating
varieties, experimental lines, and around 2000 germplasm
accessions of Brassica napus – industrial rapeseed, a nonfood
variety of canola – in experimental trials in Arizona, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota,
Oregon, and Texas. This will give scientists a range of oilseed
material to work with as they assess how to maximise production
and seed-oil yields for agricultural environments across the inland
Pacific Northwest, the southern Great Plains Prairie Gateway, and
the Northern Great Plains.
These sites are also prime production areas for US wheat, so
the researchers want to identify rapeseed/wheat rotation systems
that don’t disrupt food-crop production for biofuel production.
They will also be collecting information to see how rotating
rapeseed in wheat fields could help reduce erosion, increase
water-holding capacities, and reduce the need for herbicides,
while increasing dependable supplies of oilseeds for production.
Physical research scientist John Sulik uses a hand-held radiometer to measure spectral reflectance from spring rapeseed in
plots near Pendleton, Oregon. Spectral reflectance obtained with ground- and satellite-based sensors is being tested as a tool
for predicting the crop’s nitrogen status, which may prove useful for predicting final oilseed traits desired by crushers and
biorefiners. (Photo: Dan Long)
Southern Focus
Australian Grain — v
Brassica juncea is one of several oilseed crops being studied
for potential use in biofuel production. (Photo: Robert Evans)
The Navy’s Office of Naval Research is helping to fund this work.
ARS scientists Michael Gore and Matthew Jenks are working
with University of Idaho plant breeder Jack Brown to sort through
the genomes of each variety of rapeseed and find traits that can
improve seed yield, oil yield, oil quality, and conversion efficiency
of rapeseed oil to biofuel. The scientists will also identify traits
that boost rapeseed tolerance to heat and cold, water stress, and
other agronomic factors. Michael and Matthew work at the US
Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Arizona, and
Matthew serves as coordinator for the Western Regional Center.
“This is a large testing population with tremendous trait
variability, and the Brassica genome contains a significant
amount of DNA variation at the population level,” says Michael.
“So first we’ll sequence the thousands of genomic regions
across individuals in the populations to catalogue the extensive
DNA variation. Then we’ll conduct statistical tests to identify
associations between DNA variation and different traits. It will
be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack with a
magnifying glass.”
As part of this process, the researchers will work with Steve
Lupton, Stan Frey, and others at Honeywell UOP to identify
promising traits for biofuel processing. The ARS team will develop
1-gallon (3.8 litre) batches of bio-oil from the most promising
oilseed candidates, and the UOP researchers will then assess the
test fuels to determine which oilseed genetic lines produce oils
with the most favorable traits for renewable jet fuel production.
“Once we’ve identified important genetic traits that improve
fuel production from oilseeds – whether it’s in the crop field or in
the biofuel production process – we’ll be able to apply the results
to the entire jet fuel supply chain. Another benefit from our work
is that these results can be applied to edible canola oil, which is
a variety of rapeseed, and other crops that provide significant
amounts of seed oil such as cotton,” says Matthew. “We’ll also
use the ARS SoyBase genomics database in Ames, Iowa, as a
model for developing a genetic information system for Brassica.”
Tools of the trade
Dan Long, who works at the Columbia Plateau Conservation
Research Center in Pendleton, Oregon, and serves as the
Northwestern Regional Center coordinator, is taking remote-
vi — Australian Grain sensing tools with a proven track record and studying how they
can be used to assess seed-oil quality and quantity before and
after harvest. For more than 30 years, near infrared reflectance
(NIR) spectroscopy has been used as a rapid, nondestructive
technique for measuring protein, moisture, and oil levels in whole
grains.
Dan used a specialised in-line NIR sensor to assess seed-oil
content in 226 canola samples obtained over six years from sites
in Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Oil concentrations in the
samples ranged from 32 per cent to 46 per cent, and he found
that the NIR sensor was able to predict seed-oil content with an
average error of 0.73 per cent.
Seed-oil concentration is used to estimate extraction efficiency,
which is the percentage of oil recovered in relation to the amount
of oil in seed. Dan believes that NIR sensors could be installed in
seed-crushing facilities to rapidly and continuously measure the
oil content of clean seed flowing into the expeller. Using NIR to
monitor extraction efficiency might enable crushers to adjust the
choke setting on the expeller to compensate for oil loss in meal.
This would boost profits associated with seed processing and
lower the costs of the oil feedstock that is converted into jet fuel.
NIR measurements could also help optimise the amount of
acreage used to produce oilseed crops for biofuel. “We might be
able to reduce the number of acres needed for biofuel feedstock
production by maximising seed-oil extraction rates in the seedcrushing facilities,” Dan explains. “And NIR sensing could be used
to segregate the seed entering the plant into groups with low,
intermediate, or high oil content. Each group could be processed
at different times, depending on market demand.”
Dan will also be using NIR information from aerospace remote
sensing to predict oilseed traits desired by UOP and evaluate how
within-field variability affects seed-oil characteristics and quality.
And since some crushing facilities pay a premium to growers for
maximising the oil concentration of their oilseed crops, a NIR
instrument mounted on a GPS-equipped combine would give
growers the ability to map fields according to oil concentrations
in the seeds and estimate the subsequent dollar value of the
crops.
Taking care of business
The Navy Office of Naval Research is also funding an
assessment of the infrastructure needed to support production
and transport of the jet fuel, with help from the US Department
of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Agricultural economist Dave
Archer, who works at the ARS Northern Great Plains Research
Laboratory in Mandan, North Dakota, is helping to develop
decision tools to find the most sustainable ways to grow oilseed
crops that also minimise greenhouse gas production and reduce
negative impacts on wheat markets and water quality.
And business developer Terry Tomlinson, who works at the
National Feedstock Resource Center in Enid, Oklahoma, will help
expand business networks via meetings with growers and other
commodity partners who could contribute resources toward
successful development of biofuel chains.
“From start to finish, we want to provide the information
that industry and agriculture will need to support hydrotreated
renewable jet fuel production,” Terry says. “These are new crops
for many farmers, and it’s important for them to know that if
they make a switch, they can still turn a profit. In the end, we
want results that are adopted and useful – and that lead to
biofuels for commercial and military aircraft.
To reach scientists mentioned in this article, contact Ann Perry, USDA-ARS
Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-5129; ■
Ph: +1 301 504-1628.
Southern Focus
n
Study reveals good news about
the GI of rice
R
esearch analysing 235 types of rice from around the
world has found its glycemic index (GI) varies from one
type of rice to another with most varieties scoring a low to
medium GI.
This finding is good news because it not only means rice can
be part of a healthy diet for the average consumer, it also means
people with diabetes, or at risk of diabetes, can select the right
rice to help maintain a healthy, low GI diet.
The study found that the GI of rice ranges from a low of 48
to a high of 92, with an average of 64, and that the GI of rice
depends on the type of rice consumed.
The research team from the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) and CSIRO’s Food Futures Flagship also identified
the key gene that determines the GI of rice, an important
achievement that offers rice breeders the opportunity to develop
varieties with different GI levels to meet consumer needs. Future
development of low GI rice would also enable food manufacturers
to develop new, low GI food products based on rice.
Dr Melissa Fitzgerald, who led the IRRI team, said GI is a
measure of the relative ability of carbohydrates in foods to raise
blood sugar levels after eating.
“Understanding that different types of rice have different GI
values allows rice consumers to make informed choices about the
sort of rice they want to eat,” she said.
“Rice varieties like India’s most widely grown rice variety,
Swarna, have a low GI and varieties like Doongara and Basmati
from Australia have a medium GI.”
Dr Tony Bird, CSIRO Food Futures Flagship researcher, said that
low GI diets offer a range of health benefits.
“Low GI diets can reduce the likelihood of developing Type 2
diabetes, and are also useful for helping diabetics better manage
their condition,” he said.
“This is good news for diabetics and people at risk of diabetes
who are trying to control their condition through diet, as it means
they can select the right rice to help maintain a healthy, low GI
diet.”
Low GI foods are those measured 55 and less, medium GI are
Research has found that, depending on variety, the GI of rice
can vary from a low of 48 to a high of 92.
those measured between 56 and 69, while high GI measures 70
and above.
When food is measured to have a ’high GI‘, it means it is
easily digested and absorbed by the body, which often results
in fluctuations in blood sugar levels that can increase chances
of getting diabetes, and make management of Type 2 diabetes
difficult.
Conversely, foods with low GI are those that have slow
digestion and absorption rates in the body, causing a gradual and
sustained release of sugar into the blood, which has been proven
beneficial to health, including reducing the chances of developing
diabetes.
n
Taking a closer look at long and short grains of rice.
Researchers looked at 235 varieties of rice from around the
world and identified the key gene that determines the GI of
rice.
Southern Focus
Australian Grain — vii
Farmers’ rights on wind farms
outweigh turbine-free skylines
T
he most comprehensive opinion poll conducted in the past
five years about wind energy in Australia has found twothirds of people believe that the right of farmers to generate
income outweighs the right to a view free of wind turbines.
Clean Energy Council Policy Director Russell Marsh said the
polling was designed to assess perceptions of wind farms by
city-dwellers as well as regional residents in New South Wales,
Victoria and South Australia.
“The majority of people surveyed agreed that wind farms
bring income to farmers and local businesses, and that
governments shouldn’t get in the way of this,” Russell said.
“Three-quarters of those surveyed believed farmers were
doing it tough and wind farms could provide them with a vital
source of income.
“And more than three-quarters of people said they supported
wind power – including those living near wind farms.”
Russell said the results demonstrated that anti-wind activists were
out of step with community thinking in calling for more regulation
to prevent farmers doing what they wanted to on their land.
The telephone survey of 1200 people was conducted by
independent research company QDOS for the Clean Energy
Council. One quarter of those polled were from city areas, while the
other 75 per cent lived in regional communities around wind farms.
Russell said that the results indicated that the wind industry
had some work to do to provide factual information to the
community about wind farms on some issues.
“No credible study has shown there is a direct link between
wind power and health problems, but around 20 per cent of
people felt there was a connection, with 59 per cent rejecting the
idea. A follow up question found that 83 per cent felt concerns
about the health impacts of wind turbines would turn out to be
nothing to worry about.
“While the genuine concerns of communities need to be
addressed, this survey shows that those who oppose wind farms
are a vocal minority who don’t reflect the overwhelming public
support that exists for wind energy,” Russell said.
Key results of the survey
■■ 77 per cent of those polled supported wind farm
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
developments, with 13 per cent against and 10 per cent either
undecided or ‘can’t say’.
75 per cent agreed with the statement that “Generating
electricity through wind farms is a good idea in Australia”,
while 16 per cent disagreed.
60 per cent agreed that placing restrictions on wind farm
growth meant missing out on opportunities to support our
own wind farm manufacturing industry, while 25 per cent
disagreed. Fifteen per cent were unsure or in-between.
77 per cent felt that local communities and land owners
should be able to make up their own minds about wind farms,
with less interference from state politicians. Fifteen per cent
disagreed.
71 per cent agreed that, as a general rule, farmers should have
the right to do whatever they want on their land, while 22 per
cent disagreed.
Two-thirds of those surveyed (66 per cent) felt government
should not be able to tell farmers what they can and can’t do
on their land. Twenty-two per cent disagreed and 12 per cent
were unsure or in-between.
Financial benefits for farmers – 80 per cent felt it was likely or
very likely that wind farms would provide important income
for farmers and other land owners and 11 per cent thought it
was unlikely.
75 per cent of those polled agreed with the statement
“Farmers are doing it tough and wind farms will provide many
of them with a vital source of income”. Thirteen per cent
disagreed.
Two-thirds (67 per cent) of people rated “A farmer’s right to
generate income from his/her land” more important than “A
resident’s right to a view clear of wind turbines” (19 per cent).
The full results of the opinion poll are available in a report at ■
www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au
n
The survey showed that 75 per cent of respondents supported wind farms and that this could provide a vital source of income
for farmers.
viii — Australian Grain Southern Focus
marketing
Wheat futures jump
W
heat futures jumped sharply
again in mid-September,
lifting against corn, and
returning to prices above 900 USc/bu on
the CBOT December contract.
www.profarmer.com.au
A major driver was yet another
major wheat sale to the Middle East, with Egypt buying 475,000
tonnes. This takes their purchases to 1.25 mt in less than a
month. Other countries in the market to buy include Saudi
Arabia, Tunisia, Jordan and Iraq.
The Egyptian wheat all came from Black Sea exporters, with
Russia being the main source.
Olam (Queensland Cotton here in Australia), Glencore and
Toepfer were major sellers, showing that major traders operating
in Australia are also major suppliers of wheat from other
competing exporting countries.
We really are in a global market dealing with global players.
What interested the market most is that the price was up
US$8 per tonne from the previous Egyptian purchase, and that
with such a large parcel coming from Russia, it simply tips us
closer to the point where exports from Russia will grind to a
shuddering halt.
The market is also getting closer to prices for wheat from
France, although US wheat is still seen as being way too
expensive to compete at the moment. Basically Black Sea wheat
is getting closer to being priced out of the market.
Australian crop size
Another factor which helped drive US futures up in midSeptember, were ongoing concerns about the size of the
Australian wheat crop. It is recognised that rainfall during winter
has been below average in many regions, particularly in Western
Australia. Elsewhere, below average rainfall in August is also
beginning to leave crops that look good with minimal moisture
underneath. Add to that windy, drying weather, and limited
rain in the mid-September forecast, and the potential of the
Australian crop is under real pressure.
Rabobank has downgraded their projected wheat production
by 1.7 mt this week, to 22.8 mt. Australian Crop Forecasters are
also down, with a 22.3 mt crop, down 1 mt from their August
forecast.
ABARES Australian Crop Report issued on September 11
shows them dropping their wheat estimate from 24.12 mt to
22.54 mt. That seems to be on the high end of expectations.
Australian Wheat Production Estimates
Qld
NSW
Vic
SA
WA
Tas
Aust
Est
11/12
1.780
7.920
3.630
4.425
11.730
0.030
29.515
Forecast
12/13
1.777
7.067
2.670
3.888
7.110
0.031
22.543
Change
mt
–0.003
–0.853
–0.960
–0.537
–4.620
0.001
–6.972
%
–0.17%
–12.07%
–35.96%
–13.81%
–64.98%
3.23%
–30.93%
The 7 mt expected to come off the
Australia crop is a significant contributor
to the 30 mt year on year drop in
estimated global wheat production.
What makes the markets nervous,
September 12, 2012
is that many had been banking on the
southern hemisphere crops (Australia and Argentina) to partially
fill the gap left by poor crops in the northern hemisphere. Any
reductions in our crop – and the Argentine crop – will become
supportive of wheat prices.
Argentina
The season in Argentina has been looking good, with good
rains. But that has become the problem – too much rain – with a
number of regions reporting losses of newly planted crops.
This comes on top of a 20 per cent drop in the acreage
planted to wheat as Argentine farmers have moved away from
wheat to barley, where export restrictions are less.
Canadian grain stocks
Grain stocks in Canada are very important this year on most
crops, because of their impact in export markets that Australia
also operates in.
Stocks for the end of June were released in early September,
and there were some surprises, including a drop in wheat and
canola stocks.
The drop in canola stocks of 64 per cent comes up against a
crop that is smaller than expected as well. It just further tightens
the supply of canola in a year when oilseeds generally are in tight
supply.
Lentil stocks at 788,000 tonnes are large. Lentils is only one
of two crops which saw stocks increase year on year (oats is the
other one).
A lot of these lentils are lower quality, but there was still a
buildup of quality lentils that will add to this year’s production.
US crop condition and progress
The condition of the US corn and soybean crops is now stable,
with harvest of the corn crop well underway, and more of the
soybean crop hitting maturity. The corn crop remains at 52 per
cent poor to very poor, and 22 per cent good to excellent.
The soybean crop is rated 36 per cent poor to very poor and
32 per cent good to excellent.
About 15 per cent of the corn crop was in the bin by
September compared to five per cent normally – and the soybean
harvest had only just begun.
We are now seeing numbers for the winter wheat planting,
where lingering dry conditions from the drought have been a
concern. Some rains have arrived in some regions, but not all parts
of the winter wheat belt are in an ideal situation for planting. n
Source: ABARES Australian Crop Report Sept 2012
marketing
Where to for 2012–13 wheat prices?
I
n mid-September not a lot is happening, which is a good
thing. The market is in a sideways pattern, which is allowing
our cash market to also trade sideways – with prices in a range
of $308 to $317 per tonne port since August 21. That has been
the trading range since mid July, except for a brief period around
August 14 to 20.
Figure 1: 2012–13 forward wheat pricing
Australian Wheat Supply and Demand (mt)
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13f
Average*
Production
25.15
10.82
13.57
21.42
21.83
27.89
29.52
22.50
20.11
Exports
15.97
8.69
7.44
14.71
14.79
18.64
24.60
18.69
13.37
Dom use
6.63
7.42
6.52
7.31
5.00
6.09
6.20
6.40
6.49
Stocks
9.98
4.71
4.32
3.74
5.80
8.97
7.69
5.10
6.25
*Average from 2005–06 to 2010–11. Source ABARES.
It means that for anyone wanting to make forward sales using
multigrade contracts, or swaps, there has not been much in it from
one day to the next. No-one should feel that they have missed out.
The trading range means that there is no new news capable
of shunting this market higher at this stage. It also means that
once the drip feed of speculation about the crop in Australia, and
the extent of Russian exports begins to slow, we could see the
bottom end of this trading range breached.
If we assume there is not a serious enought piece of ‘bad
news’ capable of taking out the highs to date, then we are more
likely to see downside once the flow of news slows.
It is fair to say that some growers will not be keen to forward
sell while the season needs to have a strong finish. It is also fair to
say that we are not looking at a classic drought nationally, or in
many regions.
That means there should be a base level of tonnage that most
growers can commit if they have a need to secure cashflow
at harvest time without wanting to be forced into selling in a
harvest market. A market which may or may not be at attractive
levels at the time.
Australian wheat exports
Australian wheat exports are on target to hit an all time record
of just under 24–25 millillion tonnes. Total exports to the end
of July total 20.74 mt, with an average monthly export rate of
2.074 mt. At the end of July there were 5.137 mt committed for
export. Even if only 80 per cent of that is executed in August and
September, we would see total exports hit 24.75 mt.
The shipping stem indicates bulk exports of 3.633 mt for August
and September. Container exports have been averaging 233,800
tonnes per month. Add something close to that to our shipping
stem and we still get to 4 mt exports by the end of September.
The previous record level of exports from Australia was
19.224 mt in 1996–97 – so we have well and truly exceeded
that, basically showing that our deregulated market is capable of
shifting large volumes of wheat when it is available. In the period
from 2005–06 until 2010–11 the average level of exports was
13.37 mt per annum, so we are going to go close to 10 mt more
than the recent average this year.
What is of interest is where do exports from Australia go in
2012–13, given global shortages of grain? At current production
estimates of around 22.5 mt, we would see exports drop by 6 mt in
2012–13, even allowing for a further rundown in stocks of 2.6 mt to
5.1 mt. It is this rundown in export volumes in 2012–13 – which will
also coincide with reduced Black Sea exports – that has the potential
to support wheat prices as we move through the early part of 2013.
2013 exports of wheat
It will be interesting to see how wheat exports for the 2013–
12 marketing year fire up. Tonnages leaving SA and Victoria are
likely to be down against much lower stocks, but NSW and WA
shipping programs should, in theory, continue strongly in October
and November before new season tonnage comes on offer.
We would expect our exporters to be as active as early in 2013
as they can, to capture sales while other exporters (eg Black Sea)
are struggling to find tonnages to ship. It would also line up with
capturing the higher prices while they are available, something
which the pool operators should be very mindful of. The pools
may hedge their stocks to spread shipping out, but with limited
carry being paid in the futures markets, the best pool returns will
be achieved by shipping as much as possible as early as possible.
If we can match the shipping pace of the early 2012–13 season,
then by the end of May we could have already moved 16.142 mt.
The point is that Australia may well be running short of exportable
wheat supplies in the second half of 2013, and that will be before
plentiful supplies are in from the new northern hemisphere crop.
When we look at the demand side, if prices are high in 2013,
importers will get to a point where they delay new purchases
as long as possible so that they can access cheaper new season
grain. That might mean that our drop in exportable tonnages
lines up with a sudden drop in demand. So whatever way we
look at it, it will be important for Australian growers for our
exporters to export as rapidly as possible, even if that does
slightly depress global prices during that early 2013 period.
Then we could have a real tight pinch in global markets if the
northern hemisphere crop comes in late, or if it comes in smaller
than expected. Low stocks in major exporting countries – and
a projected shortfall between production and consumption for
the 2013–14 season – would really fire up futures markets in the
n
second half of 2013.
marketing
Canola outlook
POSITION VACANT
Canadian and global canola
The Canadian market is a key driver of canola prices, with links
to US soybeans and Malaysian palm oil as well as other vegetable
oils. In early September we reported that the latest production
estimates from Canadian came in under expectation, at 15.409 mt.
By Mid-September, it was canola stocks that surprised the market.
At the end of the marketing year (June in Canada), canola
stocks were pegged 788,000 tonnes, down close to 64 per cent
on the same time last year. On-farm stocks of 225,000 tonnes are
the lowest seen since 2004.
As the harvest gathers pace, reports are not all good either. The
main canola growing regions appear to have been hit with disease,
which has been particularly severe in northern Saskatchewan,
where rainfall in June to August was 150 to 200 per cent above
normal. In some cases yields from the same farms are being
reported as much as 50 per cent under those of last year.
Outside of Canada there are other issues, with a smaller crop
in Europe lifting their need to import. Output in China is also
thought to be under expectation.
On the demand side, we have seen increased demand for
oilseeds outside the soybean complex because of last year’s lower
South American soybean crop, and this year’s drought in the US.
Then there is the meal side of the story. Canola meal, like
soymeal, is an important source of protein in feed rations. Mixed
into that story is the lower supply of Dried Distillers Grain coming
from the US ethanol industry, which puts some increased demand
onto oilseed meals.
Canola futures
In response to all of this, canola futures have risen. And strong
prices as harvest is getting underway is an indicator of issues in
a crop that are unlikely to go away. Occasionally if the Canadian
crop is running very late, and we get a frost in September, that
can drive prices higher temporarily, but that does not seem to be
the case this year.
Some of the drivers for canola are likely to be:
■■ Higher soybean prices post harvest in the US.
■■ Disappointing production in Canada if that is the way it goes.
■■ Strong import demand from Europe and China.
■■ Production downgrades in Australia, taking away some canola
from export markets.
n
Figure 1: Nov’ canola retests contract highs
Supplied September 12 by Profarmer Grain Australia. Information
available at www.profarmer.com.au or call 1300 302 143
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Cash flow and equity lending –
what’s changed and why?
■■ By James Smith, North West Agrifinance
key points…
■■ Strong businesses can demand a great deal, but need a
professional approach. Now is a great time to examine your
finances.
■■ Get the structure right – facility types, limits, interest timing,
hedging.
■■ Look at your total funding cost, not base rate in isolation.
Everyone quotes differently.
■■ Cash flow is king, security is secondary.
T
he Australian rural lending
environment has changed in
the past few years since the
Global Financial Crisis (GFC), but
probably less so than other parts
of personal and small business
lending. Prior to the GFC, rural
lenders were extremely aggressive
in new lending, credit underwriting
standards were more relaxed and
pricing was less related to risk
James Smith.
and more related to competitive
pressures between lenders. With land prices increasing quite
dramatically, and despite minimal increase in debt servicing
capacity, total lending to rural enterprises rose from around $20
billion in 1997 to around $60 billion in 2008, an 11 year period
and a staggering tripling of the debt level (Figure 1).
Since the onset of the GFC, increases have been much
more moderate, and predominantly to fund working capital
requirements given poor operating performance across most rural
sectors in Australia.
Banks still view agriculture as a great place to
do business
Australian banks saw – throughout the GFC – examples
in many other industries and sectors (for example, residential
property development) where property values were overstated,
gearing levels too high and servicing capacity too low or nonexistent in some cases.
Rural lending, despite its apparent increases in total debt
levels, still represented a relatively low risk environment, as well as
providing good rates of return to the bank. Net interest margins
actually increased post GFC, and have since trended down
slightly to around 2.3 per cent. There had been a dramatic fall in
net interest margin from 2000 to the onset of the GFC and this
is the reason why finance rates were so competitive through this
period.
Bank funding has changed
Interest rates for rural term debt is based off either the bank
bill market or deposit funds market. Figure 2 shows how the
composition of funding for the banks has changed, as the
wholesale funds from overseas have dried up and become
more expensive, and banks have tried to change their focus to
deposits.
In terms of the interest rates rural borrowers are paying, the
swap rate (the green line in Figure 3) plus a margin is generally
representative of term debt rates and the small business rate
Figure 1: Rural lending in Australia
(red) plus a margin is representative of overdraft type rates. In the
Figure 3 example we are looking at three year fixed rates.
What is clear is that the spread between the swap rate and the
small business rate is as wide as it has ever been. In terms of the
bank margin, a ‘liquidity margin’ has been applied by the various
lenders in different forms. This represents the additional funding
cost since the GFC and has spread from around 20 basis points
pre-GFC to 100 plus basis points now depending on the term
and how the individual lender averages the funding costs.
So, despite the swap rate being at all time lows recently, the all
up rate that the borrower could fix for was not as low as in the
depths of the GFC due to this funding or liquidity premium.
Lending Value Ratios (LVRs)
LVRs have generally not changed over recent years despite
some publicity that suggests otherwise. Most lenders will lend
up to between 60 and 70 per cent of a property valuation if it is
not specialised and assuming serviceability and other factors are
adequate.
We are aware that some lenders have potentially reduced
their internal LVRs to around 50 per cent due to overall funding
constraints but this is difficult to qualify.
In terms of underwriting standards, once again lenders will
indicate that there have been no significant changes. In reality,
where pre-GFC, some proposals outside of the guidelines were
overlooked, this is now not the case.
There has been a noticeable change in working capital lending
and particularly inventory funding. This includes cotton, grain and
livestock advances. Some lenders have pulled out of this market
due to acquisition or lack of funding, whilst others have changed
their requirements. Funding is still available, but not to the extent
that it was pre-GFC.
Assessment of credit proposals
When providing information to the lender for additional
funding, purchase of a new property or even for review of
facilities, it is more important than ever to be clear, concise and
consistent in terms of the information provided. Some standard
information requirements would include:
■■ Current statement of assets and liabilities – include some
detail about property, per hectare values you have applied,
improvements and so on;
Figure 2: Bank funding*
■■ Cash flow projection for at least the next 12 months – include
assumptions around major income items and any abnormal
expenditure;
■■ Actuals for the previous 12 months – this may be in cash book
format or financial statements;
■■ Financial statements for the past two years with commentary
on any extraordinary items;
■■ Copy of contract if property is being purchased;
■■ Copy of rates notice for any property being offered as security;
■■ Business and management background if a new proposal;
■■ Off farm income detail if applicable; and,
■■ Historical production figures for crop yields, calving rates and
other production indicators.
Further information such as copy of the past 12 months of
bank statements (to evidence good account conduct), personal
tax returns, property valuations, trust deeds, company documents
and average year budgets may also be required.
It is critical that the assumptions used in any lender proposal
are realistic and achievable. There is a fine line between
increasing crop yield or price well above regional averages and
farmers’ historical averages. The bank will do their own sensitivity
anyway on these figures, but they will soon see through a
proposal that is obviously overstated.
All of the above information, if presented effectively, will be a
key driver to getting the best deal from a lender. By making the
finance process more efficient and displaying the management
ability and understanding of their business, not only will the
finance application be more likely approved, but the terms,
conditions and pricing will be more competitive.
Once again it is worth noting that four or five years ago, the
presentation of this information was not so important in terms
of ultimate pricing and conditions. Anyone who negotiated hard
enough could secure a similar pricing scenario.
Cash flow is king
In terms of what the lender is looking for in a proposal,
we have covered some of the key aspects above. Ultimately –
although equity and security is nice to have – cash flow is king!
Lenders want to see how the debt can be serviced and
ultimately how it can be repaid (although some of us wonder
why they want it repaid!)
Some of the terminology used by lenders includes ‘cash
available for debt servicing’, ‘interest cover’, ‘gross income to
debt’, ‘equity’, ‘gearing’ and ‘LVR’. They will sensitise projected
Figure 3: Australian fixed interest rates
cash flow with potential drought or a wet harvest to look at
the impact on ability to service debt. They will also look at
historical performance and how this compares with projected
performance. If operating costs traditionally run at 50 per cent of
gross income, and projections come in at 30 per cent, then some
questions will be asked.
Lenders are also becoming more reliant on industry data, and
are able to compare your projections and historicals with those
of hundreds of other clients with similar production in the same
industry.
Management and experience is critical to the success or
failure of your finance proposal. One of my key considerations in
assessing any new proposal is the experience and management
ability of the key people.
Even a proposal with strong equity and a good capacity to
service debt – unfortunately, with the wrong management – the
business will invariably fail.
It is sometimes difficult to determine management ability, but
usually a farm visit will provide the best recommendation. If you
are putting together a proposal, include your experience and
don’t be shy!
Options for debt structuring
It is difficult to discuss debt structuring in general terms as
there are so many combinations and no ‘one size fits all’. There
are many lenders available to the average farmer, and each lender
has a number of different products – and then there are fixed,
variable and combination options within each product.
But at a very basic level, most rural debt can be classed as
either term debt or working capital debt.
Term debt
Term debt would be relevant for purchase of additional
property, an irrigation development or perhaps the purchase of
a lateral move irrigator. It can be interest only or principal plus
interest, and repayments can be matched to the cash flow of the
operation. Term debt is normally funded by bank bills or a bill
based product, or via a deposit funded product.
There is no right or wrong product, it simply comes down to
price, flexibility and structure in each individual circumstance.
Interest rate risk can be managed on term debt (and on
seasonal debt for that matter) with a variety of products and
methods. This can range from a simple fixed rate on a bill or
term loan, to a cap or option with a bit more flexibility to a highly
sophisticated mixture of caps, collars, swaps, knockouts and
forward starts. Farm businesses must look at their interest rate
risk – for some businesses with low gearing they can afford the
luxury of variable rates if they can handle the volatility.
For other, more highly geared businesses, it is one risk that can
be covered to provide a known cost.
Working capital debt
Working capital debt is more seasonal in nature. It should
be seen as fluctuating in line with variable costs and seasonal
requirements. Too many times we see clients with significant
overdraft facilities that are fully drawn the whole time. This debt
would be much more efficient in term debt, where a cheaper
interest rate will apply, and they will gain more flexibility through
the season with adequate working capital (assuming the bank is
agreeable).
It is critical (and this has become more so recently) that limits
are adequate for debt facilities. With credit applications taking
lenders longer to assess than it used to, you do not want to get
to harvest and find that you have run out of working capital
only for the bank to tell you they need to get additional funding
approved and you cannot pay the contractor or the fuel bill.
A good rule of thumb when doing your budget is to increase
costs by 10 per cent and push income out a couple of months
from the normal to cover an unexpected circumstance such as
the wet harvest of 2011 or the late cotton pick this year in the
northern region.
Getting the best deal
Putting all of this together will allow you or your adviser to
negotiate the best deal. Finance cost to me is like any cost of
doing business – it is a variable and any saving goes straight to
your bottom line.
The banks are now taking much more interest in pricing
models and pricing for risk. This is the most fundamental change
that we have seen in the past couple of years since the GFC.
When you look at a finance proposal, you must look at total
cost. I have had plenty of farmers come to me and tell me how
they are on a one per cent margin. My question to them is one
per cent over what?
All lenders will quote interest rates differently and part of my
role is to quantify rates and fees from different lenders and relate
it back to an effective annual rate and a total funding cost to the
business. An example of such a comparison is shown in Figure 5.
Even a proposal with a higher establishment fee when spread
over a number of years of expected term for the loan, may result
in a lower all up rate for the client assuming funding rates are
lower.
The transparency of the rate is also becoming more of an
issue as more lenders move to their indicator rate as opposed to
the bank bill swap rate. By the way, there is minimal relationship
between the RBA cash rate and the rates that you pay on your
debt funding – that rate is determined by the market, which
moves of its own accord relative to the RBA cash rate.
In terms of the process of negotiation, my opinion is that it
is best done on-farm (assuming your management is good that
is!). Be positive and put your best foot forward, but don’t be
arrogant. I have seen this turn lenders off more quickly than
anything else.
Compare your offers on a like for like basis including all fees
and costs such as valuation, legal and ongoing administration.
Better still, use a professional that is doing this every day. The
advice will more than pay for itself. Be clear about what you
want – facility limits, repayment terms, interest timings, security
offered, future requirements, conditions applied and so on.
Now is a great time for great businesses to look at their
options for finance. Lenders are very keen to attract the top
businesses to their books and the rates on offer are close to
historical lows for rural business.
For more information:
James Smith, North West Agrifinance
Ph: 02 67669458; Mob: 0408 565196
Email: info@northwestfinance.com.au – www.northwestfinance.com.au n
I
t isn’t the news that truck salesmen want to hear. Last harvest
Murtoa (northwestern Victoria) grain grower Craig Jordan
found that by buying a custom-built chaser and mother bin
combination he no longer needed to acquire a second truck.
The decision increased paddock grain handling capacity to
such an extent that the header never stopped and the truck was
able to deliver two extra loads per day to the silo.
“We brought in a cartage contractor with a B-double a
few times to keep in front but that cost a fraction of what we
would’ve been up for in the purchase and running costs of a
second rig,” Craig said.
And not only did the decision save a lot of money, it also put
the finishing touch to a controlled traffic system that had been
several years in the making.
“We’re passionate about no-till and controlled traffic – we’ve
been able to see the soil improving in front of our eyes. But if
you’re going to do it, you have to do it properly.
Getting the width exactly right
“The chaser bin was the last bit of gear to go on 120 inch
(305 cm) spacing. We use 120 inches because all of our main
equipment is American. And it’s no good allowing even small
variations – everything has to be exactly 120 inches.
“And it’s not just the wheel spacings – we want to keep all the
tyres as narrow as possible to protect the stubble.”
Craig said that tyre width had been a problem when it came
to buying the chaser bin.
“They’re always on wide tyres. I tried a couple of
manufacturers but they couldn’t or wouldn’t consider a narrow
wheel version.
“Then I tried Dunstan at Kerang and the owner, Craig Miller,
said he’d give it a go. He came up with 16 ply, double-beaded
20.8 by 42s rated at eight tonnes. That was enough to carry the
25 tonne load plus the weight of the bin.”
The tyres are just over 500 mm wide and Craig Jordan says
that is really important in his system.
“When we inter-row lentils into standing straw we get an
extra 100 mm of height out of them and that’s crucial with a low
crop. That’s why we want to keep as much straw as we can.
“If you knock down straw once, it’ll come up again, but not
the second time. The header rolls down 900 mm of stubble but
if we can keep the other tyres to 500 mm, we are saving a lot of
straw across the paddock,” he added.
Rapid unloading time causes a re-think
Another custom feature on Craig’s chaser bin is a large
capacity 20 inch (510 mm) auger that can empty the 25 tonne
load in just two minutes. When he and his son Jamie started
thinking about pumping grain into their existing field bins at 12
tonnes per minute, they could see a few problems.
“The opening narrows to a point at the top and we could
see it was going to be difficult to manoeuvre the big auger into
exactly the right position.
“There was also the issue of partly unloading into one field bin
and then moving on to the next. It was going to be difficult to
take advantage of the high capacity auger,” Craig said.
“It became obvious we needed a mother bin as well.”
So it was back to Dunstan again with an 80 tonne unit on their
shopping list. But as it wasn’t available with the new 70 per cent
width single opening steel lid – instead they came home with a 110
tonne model – and now Craig says he “wouldn’t go any less”.
Craig Jordan reckons his chaser and mother bin combination
is a ‘brilliant system’ resulting in a much faster and more
efficient harvest.
“We’ve now got an absolutely brilliant system, much faster
and more efficient.”
The single lid is really important to them as Jamie explains.
“With the one wide opening, the chaser bin always stays on one
side while the truck loads on the other.
“You can have both loading and unloading going on at the
same time – the mother bin auger stays up all the time.
“Last harvest we had the truck turning around in 11 minutes,
and with the extra capacity, it’s no problem to load a B-double.”
He says the new steel lid increases capacity to more than 110
tonnes. “You can shoot grain across under the solid part of the
lid on the other side, and then pile it up on the open side, and
the lid just pushes down on top of it. You can really pack it in.”
A few golden (grain) rules
Craig says they have a rule that the chaser never unloads into
the truck.
”Its job is to keep up with the header. As we’ve taken fences
out, we’ve ended up with header runs of up to 2.2 km. It can’t
afford to hang around if it’s going to catch the header over those
distances.”
Another golden rule in the Jordan operation is that the chaser
always runs the full length of the tram tracks on auto steer.
“We’ve spent years getting rid of compaction and improving
soil structure. Why would you turn off early for the sake of saving
a few minutes?” he asks.
Craig says the two bin solution is really a ‘no brainer’. “We’ve
saved on buying a second truck and we don’t need a second
driver, we’ve tidied up our controlled traffic system, and we’re
moving grain out of the paddock faster than ever before.”
To learn more about Dunstan grain handling solutions phone 03 5452 1488 or
e-mail info@dunstanfarmers.com.au
n
Protein for profit – your guide to
measuring protein on farm – Part 2
I
n the July–August issue of Australian Grain, we discussed
the reasons to measure protein and moisture on farm and
things to consider when choosing an on-farm NIR instrument.
The following looks at the ’dollars and cents’ and how a NIR
instrument can benefit your farm.
The question, “Is it worth investing in an on-farm protein
instrument?” must be answered in the context of your particular
farming operation.
The following worksheet has been set out to help you calculate
the return on investment that an NIR instrument can bring to your
farming operation. Every enterprise has different circumstances
and different needs, but this worksheet covers the main aspects
that will broadly affect the majority of farms.
Other points to consider when weighing up the investment in
an on-farm NIR instrument:
■■ $/tonne: What is the cost in $/tonne for my farm? Such as
if your farm produces 4000 tonnes of grain per year, and the
cost of an NIR instrument is $20,000 then the cost can be
thought of as $5 per tonne (amortised over just one year).
If you can save or gain more than $5 per tonne of grain by
having an NIR instrument, then it will ‘pay for itself’ within the
first year of ownership.
■■ Relative pricing: It isn’t the ‘absolute’ price of grain that
should be considered, it is the price spread between different
grades of grain (for example, even if the price for APH wheat
were only $250 per tonne, if this was $50 per tonne better
than H2 then your NIR instrument could help you earn $50 per
tonne more through blending. This would give a better ‘return
on investment’ for the NIR instrument than if APH was $500
per tonne and H2 was $490 per tonne.)
■■ Context of investment: The investment required for onfarm storage should be put into the context of your entire
farming operation. How significant is the capital investment
in the instrument in the context of my farming business? If
What is the Return on Investment for an on-‐farm NIR instrument?
(SuggesAon: -‐ Photocopy this page before ﬁlling out the numbers)
Costs / Investment
Purchase Price or lease cost per year
Annual CalibraAon & Service Cost
Box A
Box B
$ ............
$ ............
Example
$8,150 [3 year lease]
$800 [Recommended]
Total Annual Cost of Ownership (= Box A + Box B)
Box C
$ ............
Increased Revenue from grain blending to increase average protein:
Number of Tonnes Blended
Average Extra $ / Tonne
Box D
Box E
................
$ ............
$ Earned from blending Grain (= Box D x Box E)
Box F
$ ............
Transport Savings from not having loads rejected
Number of Loads Rejected (based on previous years)
Tonnes per load
Transport cost per tonne
Box G
Box H
Box I
................
................
$ ............
$ Saved on transport (= Box G x Box H x Box I)
Box J
$ ............
$1,500
Time savings through accurate moisture measurement
Extra Hours HarvesAng per day (morning & evening)
Total Number of days harvesAng for the season
Value of compleAng harvest 1 day early?*
Box K
Box L
Box M
................
................
$ ............
1
10
$1,000
Savings based on a 16 hour day (= Box K x Box L x Box M / 16)
Box N
$ ............
$625
Total Savings (= Box F + Box J + Box N)
Box O
$ ............
$27,125
PROFIT per annum (= Box O -‐ Box C)
Box P
$ ............
$18,175
$8,950
Savings & Increased Revenue
1000 Tonnes
$25 /Tonne
Tonnes
/Tonne
$25,000
3
50 Tonnes
$10 /Tonne
Tonnes
/Tonne
n It is difficult to place a dollar value on completing harvest early, but consider labour costs, peace of mind, less risk exposure to storms etc.
n If you would like a MicroSoft Excel Spreadsheet version of this worksheet, please email to info@graintec.com.au.
n Be consistent with GST when entering dollar values into the worksheet – it is recommended to use all ‘excluding GST’ prices.
To sum up
estimate your return on investment.
There are a range of different protein testers on the market
– it is recommended that you invest in an instrument which will
give you the same readings as your buyer’s NIR instrument.
It is a good idea to check the brand of your bulk handler’s
protein tester.
As with any investment there are costs and benefits to
measuring protein on-farm. You need to ‘crunch the numbers’ to
Further information contact Graintec Scientific, Phone 1300 640 299,
www.graintec.com.au
the land, buildings, silos, machinery and so on that comprise
your farming enterprise have a capital value of $5 million, is it
worth spending $20,000 to get a better return on this capital
investment?
n
Crunch the numbers to determine if the investment in an NIR instrument will pay dividends on your farm through strategies
such as grain blending.
Infratec™ Sofia
On-farm grain analyser
W Wheat and barley – protein and moisture
W Canola – oil and moisture
W Results aligned with ALL bulk handler receival sites
Why Infratec Sofia?
Infratec Sofia calibrations are based on those used in
the Infratec™ 1241 grain analyser, the analyser used
exclusively by ALL Australian bulk handlers. So the
results you get on-farm with Infratec Sofia are what you
will see at receival.
• Results in less than 3 minutes.
• Stable calibrations – no adjustments required.
• Upgradeable with new crop calibrations.
• Compact and mobile (240VAC/12VDC), weighs 9kg.
• Comprehensive support and back up Australia-wide.
Questions? More information?
See how it works
infratec@foss.com.au
www.foss.com.au/sofia
Phone: 1300 360 848
Farming in Foreign Fields…
a focus on the successful endeavours of innovative farmers around the world
Taking pride
A Manitoba family continually invests in
improving their crop production capabilities
A
lifetime of farming presents a lot of milestones as
enterprises change, generations evolve, and new
equipment and facilities come into play.
For Bob Kostesky, a new shop and equipment storage building
completed last year is a significant milestone as it’s been on his
list of things he wanted to accomplish for years.
Bob farms just under 2850 hectares of wheat and canola, plus
peas, oats and barley near Rossbum, Manitoba, with his wife,
Barb, and son, Bob Jr. His brother, Ron, helps part-time, and
an employee, Darren Billinsky, has been with them full-time for
several years.
In fact, it was the labour situation that encouraged Bob
to commit to building the 24 x 36.5 metre geotherm-heated
building. “In my operation, there’s not a lot to keep a person
employed for the winter. We saw an opportunity to have a warm
indoor place to do some equipment work during the winter, and
be able to keep busy.”
He envisions doing equipment setup work for several area
dealerships and neighbouring farmers. Already, he’s hosted a
sprayer clinic where big sprayers can be extended for viewing and
training indoors.
From his first crop in 1974, Bob has gradually expanded the
operation by renting and purchasing land as it became available.
Bob Jr. and Bob Kostesky and employee Darren Billinsky.
One turning point came in 1991 when he got out of livestock
to focus exclusively on grain. “When I started out we had cattle,
we milked cows, we fed pigs, chickens – it was a true mixed farm.
“It was getting difficult to concentrate on doing a good
job with everything, and I liked working with grain better than
livestock,” he says.
IP grain for international sales
His focus on grain has included producing identity-preserved
canola and wheat for buyers in Canada and England. Maintaining
crop segregation is a key part of the process. When the rail line
running through Rossbum was abandoned, Bob purchased the
grain elevator in town, which gave him just over 3500 tonnes of
capacity in multiple bins. He’s also structured his on-farm storage
to easily handle grain segregation.
After about a decade of no-till seeding, Bob says the region’s
recent wet weather has resulted in him returning to tillage. “With
these really wet conditions, we’re doing a lot of tillage just to get
rid of the ruts in the field and help dry out the land,” he explains.
The work includes heavy harrowing to manage thick straw
residue and deep tilling to deal with compaction and ruts.
The area Bob farms in the Parkland Region of southwestern
Manitoba has rolling, productive soils but a short growing season.
“If we get 130 frost-free days, we’re doing well,” he says.
For that reason, along with the higher quality requirements
of the identity-preserved crops, timeliness in the field is critical to
him. He’s based his equipment selection on machines that will
perform with maximum capacity and reliability.
For example, he has run several brands of combines over the
years, staying with one until he sees a better option.
When the AFX Series of Case IH Axial-Flow combines were
introduced in 2003, Bob rented a new AFX 8010 and ran it
alongside the machine he owned. “It had a little more capacity,
and it was quieter,” he says. That performance led to him
switching to the Case IH combines, and he currently runs a pair
of Axial-Flow 9120s.
“We’re happy with the capacity,” Bob says. Dealing with
tough, heavy straw is the big challenge he faces, both getting the
grain threshed and spreading the residues, and these combines
perform well on both counts. “They have the MagnaCut
choppers on them, and they do a good job of chopping.” He
says they easily cover the width of the 30-foot headers.
Bob’s move into Case IH tractors followed a similar path. After
experiencing major powertrain repairs in two tractors he owned,
he purchased his first Case IH tractor, a 9270 Steiger. ‘’That was
my first Steiger tractor and I’ve never looked back. I’ve been quite
happy with them.”
He runs two tractors matched with two air seeders. His current
tractors, a Steiger 550HD and a Steiger 500HD, pull 19.5 and
16.5 metre air drills. He has been trading tractors every two
years; these replaced a Steiger 535 and a 485. Because he does a
bit of scraper work for land improvement, Bob has opted for the
HD versions for his past several models.
Autoguidance benefits
Both Steiger tractors are equipped with autoguidance, which
the Kosteskys have used for several years. After dealing with some
signal outages last year with their WAAS signal – attributed to
solar flares – they have upgraded to a more accurate and stable
cellular-based signal. And, this signal gets them set for the next
level of information interconnectivity as Case IH expands its AFS
system to include the AFS Connect platform including telematics.
“With autoguidance, the fatigue level is so much less, and
the hectares seeded are a lot more consistent, without overlaps
or misses. When the system was down, I had to remind the guys
that yes, you can still drive the tractor using the steering wheel,”
Bob says.
They made the autoguidance signal switch at the
recommendation of their Case IH dealer, who has played a key
role in helping the Kosteskys stay current with technology and
maximising uptime. “Our dealer’s been great,” Bob says. “If we
have a problem, they have a mechanic here right away. That is
another reason why we switched to red, the service has been
great.”
Where I want to be
With the new building completed and a current line of highcapacity equipment in his yard, Bob feels good about the operation
he and his family have built. “As a young man, I had my mind set
on where I wanted the farm to be, and I think I’m there,” he says.
He and Barb have more time to spend with their family,
including their daughter, Courtney and three-year-old
granddaughter Layla.
“We try to farm as best as we can and take a lot of pride in
n
what we do,” Bob says.
Bob Kostesky Jr seeded with a Steiger 485 prior to running this Steiger 550. “It’s pretty similar,” he says of the 550, adding
that the multicontrol handle now operates the No. 1 remote. “My hand doesn’t have to come off the control other than to
turn the air seeder on and off,” he says. “There’s lots of leg room, it’s quiet and very comfortable to ride in.”
International R
To help our grain industry remain targeted and competitive Australian Grain, with
The scientific journal Weed Science has just published a special issue devoted to herbicide resistance.
One of the Weed Science reviews provides an overview of herbicide resistance evolution worldwide
while the Prof Jason Norsworthy et al paper (of which I was a co-author) considers best management
practices to deal with herbicide resistance.
With the evolution of major glyphosate resistance in parts of the US, these reviews have a North
American focus, but they are an excellent distillation of lessons and recommendations for herbicide
resistance and its management in all countries.
The following is a summary of the Norsworthy et al review: “Reducing the risks of herbicide
resistance: Best Management Practices and Recommendations”.
Stephen Powles, Winthrop Professor & Director
Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (AHRI), UW
A roadmap for the best management of herbicide
resistance
H
erbicides are the foundation of weed control in
commercial crop-production systems worldwide. But
herbicide-resistant (HR) weed populations are evolving
rapidly as a natural response to selection pressure imposed by
modern agricultural management activities.
Mitigating the evolution of herbicide resistance depends
on reducing selection through diversification of weed control
techniques, minimising the spread of resistance genes and
genotypes via pollen or propagule dispersal, and eliminating
additions of weed seed to the soil seedbank.
Effective deployment of such a multifaceted approach
will require shifting from the current concept of basing weed
management on single-year economic thresholds.
Programs for herbicide-resistance management must
consider use of all cultural, mechanical, and herbicidal options
available for effective weed control in each situation and employ
the following best management practices (BMPs):
■■ Understand the biology of the weeds present.
■■ Use a diversified approach toward weed management
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
focused on preventing weed seed production and reducing
the number of weed seeds in the soil seedbank.
Plant into weed-free fields and then keep fields as weed free
as possible.
Plant weed-free crop seed.
Scout fields routinely.
Use multiple herbicide modes of action (MOAs) that are
effective against the most troublesome weeds or those most
prone to herbicide resistance.
Apply the labeled herbicide rate at recommended weed sizes.
Emphasise cultural practices that suppress weeds by using
crop competitiveness.
Use mechanical and biological management practices where
appropriate.
Prevent field-to-field and within-field movement of weed
seed or vegetative propagules.
Manage weed seed at harvest and after harvest to prevent a
buildup of the weed seedbank.
Prevent an influx of weeds into the field by managing field
borders.
Long term benefits but we need to adopt BMP
Programs for herbicide-resistance management must
consider use of all cultural, mechanical, and herbicidal
options.
The long-term economic benefits of avoiding additional costs
associated with managing HR weeds are clear.
Nevertheless, widespread adoption of these BMPs must
overcome several real barriers. In particular, growers’ focus on
immediate economic returns must be overcome as well as their
beliefs that the evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds is
unavoidable and that continued availability of novel herbicide
technologies will solve the problem.
There is, at present, no single database collating information
on weed management practices employed by US growers,
so the extent of the adoption of BMPs for HR weeds must be
inferred by combining data from multiple sources.
Available survey data show that, although many US soybean,
corn and cotton growers employ at least some BMPs, a
significant proportion of growers are not practicing adequate,
proactive herbicide-resistance management.
esearch Review
the assistance of the GRDC, investigates recent advances in international grains R&D.
Two key recommendations, in particular, must be more
widely implemented:
■■ Diversifying weed management practices; and,
■■ The use of multiple herbicide MOAs.
Growers need to be educated about MOAs and be made
aware that discovery of new herbicide chemistries is rare,
that the existing herbicide resource is exhaustible, and that
indiscriminate herbicide use leading to rapid evolution of HR
weeds may result in the loss of herbicide options for all.
Recommendations
To address the increasingly urgent problem of herbicide
resistance (HR), the authors of the Weed Science review make
the following recommendations:
■■ Reduce the weed seedbank through diversified programs
that minimise weed seed production.
■■ Implement a herbicide MOA labeling system for all
herbicide products and conduct an awareness campaign.
■■ Communicate that discovery of new, effective herbicide
MOAs is rare and that the existing herbicide resource is
exhaustible.
■■ Demonstrate the benefits and costs of proactive,
diversified weed-management systems for the mitigation
of HR weeds.
■■ Foster the development of incentives by government
agencies and industry that conserve critical herbicide MOAs
as a means to encourage adoption of best practices.
■■ Promote the application of full-labeled rates at the
appropriate weed and crop growth stage. When tank
mixtures are employed to control the range of weeds
present in a field, each product should be used at the
specified label rate appropriate for the weeds present.
■■ Identify and promote individual BMPs that fit specific
farming segments with the greatest potential impact.
■■ Engage the public and private sectors in the promotion of
BMPs, including those concerning appropriate herbicide use.
■■ Direct federal, state, and industry research funding
towards addressing the substantial knowledge gaps in
BMPs for herbicide resistance and to support cooperative
extension services as vital agents in education for
resistance management.
In some instances, short-term costs may not favour
implementation of BMPs that provide insufficient immediate
economic benefit – even though their adoption will delay the
evolution of HR weed populations over time.
In such cases, consideration should be given to providing
incentives and expert advice for growers to develop and
implement risk-reducing weed management plans, following
the precedent set by similar incentives in many developed
countries for the conservation of soil and water resources in
agriculture.
Review authors: Jason K. Norsworthy, Sarah M. Ward, David R. Shaw, Rick
S. Llewellyn, Robert L. Nichols, Theodore M. Webster, Kevin W. Bradley,
George Frisvold, Stephen B. Powles, Nilda R. Burgos, William W. Witt &
Michael Barrett.
Weed Science 2012 Special Issue:31–62. Weed Science Society of America.
Negative cross-resistance
may help in weed control
fight
Kochia, a weed that is rapidly becoming more abundant
across southern Canadian prairies and the Great Plains of the
US, can reduce crop yields by up to 60 per cent. Fighting this
weed has become difficult because more than 90 per cent of
kochia populations are now resistant to acetolactate synthase
(ALS)-inhibiting herbicides (Group Bs).
But the phenomenon of negative cross-resistance may offer
another path to defeating the spread of this weed.
The current issue of the journal Weed Technology reports on
a greenhouse test of kochia plants. Six alternative herbicides
were tested on kochia plants with the resistant mutation.
Researchers were looking for differences in the reactions of
the resistant kochia compared with the wild plant, which is still
susceptible to herbicides.
When a plant becomes resistant to one herbicide, other
physiological changes may occur that result in increased
sensitivity to other herbicide families. The mutated, resistant
plant that is more susceptible to the second herbicide is
displaying the characteristic of negative cross-resistance.
A chance to outmanoeuvre resistant plants
By using negative cross-resistance to their advantage, weed
scientists can outmanoeuvre the resistant plants. A plan of
resistance management can be formulated to attack the weeds
with different herbicides, controlling the resistant populations.
In the current
study, researchers
treated plants from six
ALS resistant kochia
accessions that have
the Pro197 or Trp574
mutation, with six
alternative herbicides
that attack different
sites and growth
processes of the plant.
No difference was
noted between the
More than 90 per cent of kochia
resistant and the
populations are now resistant to
susceptible kochia
Group B herbicides.
plants when they
were exposed to the herbicides bromoxynil, fluroxypyr, or
glyphosate. But, one accession with the Trp574 mutation, did
show negative cross-resistance.
When exposed to pyrasulfotole, mesotrione, and
carfentrazone herbicides, ALS-resistant kochia were, 80, 60, and
50 per cent more sensitive than the ALS-susceptible plants.
Rather than being ALS-inhibiting, these herbicides target
different functions of the plant.
Further information: Weed Technology, Vol. 26, No. 3, July-September 2012
(see www.wssajournals.org/)
District Reports…
Western region
Canola crop yield potential follows the growing season rain.
Low rainfall areas with late sown or resown canola will be down
to 0.3 tonnes per hectare. The best crops in wetter areas will do
1.5 to 2.0 tonnes. It has been too dry for sclerotinia to be a major
yield constraint so yields could be good.
Lupin crops are flowering to maturity. Yields will be down and
the lowest rainfall areas will have some paddocks down to 0.4
tonnes per hectare. The best crops will be around two tonnes.
Budworm have been doing damage in the past couple of weeks
and crops are being sprayed to control them.
If we can get another rain during September – and
temperatures remain coolish for most of the month – we could
end up with yields good enough to get us into the black in a very
tough season.
Grain prices are doing the right thing and I hope they stay up
until our crop is in the bin!
Peter Norris
Agronomy For Profit and Synergy Consulting, Geraldton
September 5, 2012
NORTH
I finished my last report saying we would need good
September rains to get to average yields. This is still the case.
There has been 10 to 25 mm across the region in early September
but temperatures are on the way up. Some crops that were away
in early May have matured due to recent very high temperatures.
Rainfall for the year across the cropping areas ranges from
110 mm to about 300 mm in the south west of the region. Most
of the district is between 130 and 230 mm of rain year to date.
Some areas of the landscape have had less rain than there was
in 2006 and 2007. As a result, some lupin and canola crops have
been sprayed out in the lower rainfall areas.
August delivered generally good growing conditions in most
areas and this has set crops up to now give useful yields.
Wheat crops are at head emergence to flowering in the south
west of the region and at grain fill to maturity in the north and
east. Crops are generally thin and yields will follow closely the year
to date rain. Most wheat crops will get to one tonne per hectare
and the higher rainfall areas should do two to three tonnes.
Quality has yet to be determined but conditions to date should
mean high protein but also higher screenings.
If the WA Northern region receives useful rain in September
– and the strong grain prices hold through until harvest –
most crops are set up to at least put the books into the black
despite a very dry year.
SOUTH COAST
Seasonal conditions on the South Coast have been reasonable
during the past two months, and a good southerly rainfall system
on August 20 ensured that the majority of the region started
spring with reasonable soil moisture.
The August 20 system resulted in rainfall figures of between
10 to 50 mm across the region. September rainfall has been
minimal to date but a system that came through on September
5 resulted in very welcome falls of 5 to 20 mm. Unfortunately
this system was followed five days later by a 33° day with strong
northerly winds.
In general, the regions’ crops are looking good and most
of the South Coast can expect average yields. There are some
exceptions to this namely in the Mallee, north of Grass Patch
and Beaumont areas. In these areas they have had less growing
season rainfall than in 2011 with the GSR currently running at
Decile 1 to 2. The crops in these areas are only hanging in due
Matt Elliot in a magnificent crop of Gairdner barley. Matt
farms in the Neridup area of the WA South Coast.
to stored moisture from summer rainfall but this is running out
quickly.
Barley leaf rust has been the major agronomic issue in our
region, particularly in Baudin barley. The last of the fungicides
have now been applied to late sown crops. Other spraying
activities involve budworm control and pasture topping.
Harvest will be earlier than normal this season. Some early
sown barley and canola crops could be ready for harvest in
the first week of October. With this earlier start in mind, many
growers are busy getting harvest equipment ready.
Quenten Knight,
Agronomist, Precision Agronomics Australia
September 14, 2012
SOUTH EAST CENTRAL
Farming is truly a roller coaster ride. Decile 9 grain prices
with Decile 1 rainfall! In this region the season has had it’s early
potential but this has largely then been lost as the rainfall has
been hand to mouth all year.
By Christmas there could be conversations between two
growers in this region with one being able to talk about his best
year on record and the other, unfortunately, having to tell of his
worst. The best season was created from rain storms giving 40
mm in the first week of May, 65 mm for June and 15 mm for
July. But only 50 km away, the worst scenario has been the result
of only 10 mm in early May, 30 mm for June and 3 mm for July.
The driest July on record lowered the confidence of growers
District Reports…
in this region. But moisture conservation strategies rose to the
top. Even though growing season rainfall was very low, growers
were impressed with the appearance of most crops thanks to the
above average rainfall in November and December last year and
its positive impact on stored soil moisture.
Unfortunately, August rainfall has generally not been enough
to help these crops realise their yield potential.
Cereal crops cover a similar area to last year but there has been
a small shift from wheat to barley due to the low wheat prices in
February 2012. Canola plantings have increased about 10 per cent
due to price and soil moisture levels at the time of planting.
By late July, post emergent spraying was about 70 per cent
complete. July had dished up 10 mornings below zero which
slowed post emergent spraying programs. Some growers stopped
spraying for a two week period because of the consecutive frost
events – other growers were doing one tank per day between the
hours of 1 and 3 pm.
Nitrogen top-ups also dropped off due to the dry July. Some
crop tissue testing was done to provide some reassurance of
nutrient levels in case the heavens did open up.
Seasonal rainfall across the grain regions – 25 year averages and year to date
Brought to you in
association with
Emerald Qld
Toowoomba Qld
Roma Qld
Goondiwindi Qld
Narrabri NSW
Gunnedah NSW
Dubbo NSW
West Wyalong NSW
Wagga Wagga NSW
Swan Hill Vic
Bendigo Vic
Horsham Vic
Lake Bolac Vic
Murray Bridge SA
Kadina SA
Cummins SA
Esperance WA
Wagin WA
Northam WA
Mingenew WA
Moora WA
Mullewa WA
25yr
Annual
Average
(mm)
2012
rainfall
to date
(mm)
559
670
594
630
661
682
621
450
547
335
543
385
562
367
344
391
613
409
405
368
393
330
581
477
503
327
386
474
524
265
510
201
394
231
317
368
263
289
464
200
232
209
301
167
Summer
25yr
Annual
Average
(mm)
247
265
238
242
235
232
196
112
129
74
114
86
129
65
56
50
76
43
41
31
40
50
2011–12
350
330
550
360
197
377
291
149
193
82
140
42
48
93
79
45
107
115
55
22
104
13
Autumn
25yr
Annual
Average
(mm)
114
140
133
140
130
132
136
92
117
70
112
77
104
75
78
84
141
95
87
93
94
96
2012
255
135
90
80
89
77
212
47
271
76
117
73
123
159
88
78
128
62
24
25
17
27
Winter
25yr
Annual
Average
(mm)
66
86
75
101
132
128
129
118
154
94
176
133
160
124
117
173
254
180
195
181
187
138
2012
100
138
91
67
147
123
96
100
112
71
160
133
155
169
134
176
264
105
143
147
175
118
Spring
25yr
Annual
Average
(mm)
120
176
139
141
163
184
157
127
146
98
142
110
154
102
91
83
140
86
81
63
71
46
2012
to date
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
1
4
11
14
14
6
13
20
27
24
26
21
21
9
Last rainfall reading September 13, 2012.
District Reports…
Southern region
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Weather
Temperatures were generally below average during July and
below average to average during August. Some frosts were
recorded in many districts during July and early August.
July rainfall was average to below average in most areas of
the state with the widespread rain towards the end of the month
being patchy with heavy rainfall in some areas and only light falls
in others. Rainfall during August was generally below average.
The April to August growing season rainfall has been average
to above average in most of the state – the exceptions include
parts of the western Eyre Peninsula, Upper North and Northern
Mallee.
Crops
This photo of a South East Central crop of Cobbler TT canola
was taken on July 25. The crop was sown on May 1 and was
fortunate to get May rainfall of 45 mm.
Canola
District crops have now almost finished flowering with low
levels of aphids in the majority of paddocks. Yields are hard to
predict with local knowledge saying most will deliver between
400 to 800 kg per hectare. We are not sure how much the dry
July and warm September will reduce yields.
Barley
Some early sown short season varieties have now reached
hard dough. Conducive conditions for disease development
during August have prompted some net blotch sprays to be
applied for the second time – but only if the paddock is a barley
on barley situation. The performances of new barley varieties
Hindmarsh, Bass and Scope are the topic of plenty of discussion
over a beer at the local pubs.
Wheat
Grass weed pressure is still a factor in this region when small
rainfall events occur during sowing. The addition of Sakura to
our herbicide options has helped that situation for some growers.
Some low plant densities are now being blamed on the use of
high falling numbers grain as seed wheat.
Yellow spot pressure in wheat sown on wheat has been very
low, probably due to low July rainfall not causing infections to
spread with rain splash.
As the crops begin the grain fill period, we cross our fingers
and toes for the next 30 days to hopefully bring some much
needed rain.
Brad Smoker
Synergy Consulting, Kulin
September 16, 2012
Early sown cereal crops in the earlier districts are at head
emergence, while later sown crops in the colder districts are only
at the mid to late tillering stage. Yield potential across the state
is highly variable but early sown crops where moisture has been
conserved from summer rains, have average to above average
potential.
The later sown crops are beginning to suffer and will need a
favourable spring to achieve average yields.
Early sown canola crops are in full flower and have good yield
potential. Later sown – and re-sown – crops have not developed
as well and are relatively thin.
Cold conditions during July slowed crop growth, but crops
have grown rapidly in most districts during August.
Nitrogen fertiliser has been applied to crops in many areas
during July and early August, but fertiliser supplies have been
limited causing some delays in application.
Water-logging has caused some damage to crops on Kangaroo
Island, Central Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and the South East.
Most post-emergent weed control has been completed with
good results in most cases. Grassy weeds (particularly annual
ryegrass and brome grass) are still present in some crops with
high seed banks.
Leaf diseases including stripe rust in wheat and net and spot
forms of net blotch in barley are at relatively low levels. This is
as a result of below average rainfall during July and August and
proactive fungicide application.
Dry-sown lupin crops in a number of districts are relatively thin
and have low yield potential.
Pastures
Pasture growth was very slow during July and significant
supplementary feeding was required. But the warmer conditions
during August have enabled pastures to grow quickly and there is
now adequate pasture feed in most districts.
Some producers have begun reducing stock numbers as they
will not have sufficient feed to get through the summer.
Due to the dry July and August reducing pasture bulk and
available feed, hay supplies may become tight. Pasture topping
and hay freezing has commenced in the early districts to stop
seed-set of grassy weeds.
Michael Wurst
Farming Systems Consultant, Rural Solutions SA
September 14, 2012
WIMMERA
Victoria’s Wimmera is looking a picture as I write. As the story
goes – each year, a ‘Donald show rain’ will make or break the
season for farmers and businesses alike. Unlike the start of the
century we have a good bank of moisture to draw on for the
remainder of September. One timely rain late in the month or
early October will see silos bursting again in December.
The past three seasons have provided good winter and spring
growing conditions and they have been good reminders that we
have to have adequate nutrition to feed promising crops. Tight
rotations, low rainfall, poor prices and high priced fertiliser have
caused growers to (wisely) scrutinise fertiliser use, and in many
cases, cut corners. Now it would seem time to reverse that trend
as nitrogen reserves run low.
Those growers who have stuck to a canola, pulse, and cereal
rotation with adequate nutrition, will be the ones who benefit
from what seems to be a period of buoyant prices.
While the start to the Wimmera season was a little late,
remarkably few crop problems have been encountered. Insect
activity early was an issue for some but was easily fixed by early
insecticides or seed treatments.
Weed control has been generally good, but growers will
need to be on top of ever increasing populations of glyphosateresistant ryegrass. Alternating chemical groups and cultural
control methods need to be used to keep on top of this problem.
The new herbicide Sakura has performed very well in its first
season and is likely to be used more widely next year.
We are now seeing the onset of stripe rust and stem rust
in those paddocks not treated with an in-furrow fungicide like
flutriafol. This has to be the cheapest and easiest management
tool for rust available and is fast becoming a standard treatment.
With the Donald show rain ordered, I would urge Wimmera
farmers to ensure they have adequate storage available for what
will hopefully be a bumper crop.
Mike Laidlaw
Harberger Farm Supplies, Donald
September 14, 2012
District Reports…
The direct drilling field day attracted over 170 rice growers.
The district is currently facing very dry conditions which at
least allow growers to be on time with ground preparation. There
will be no excuse for late sowings this season. Growers will need
to avoid the temptations of sowing varieties, especially Reiziq,
too early. Long term temperature data for Deniliquin shows that
the risk of experiencing low temperatures at young microspore
is even greater for crops sown too early than for those sown
marginally late.
Herbicides available to growers have not changed from last
season. The challenge is to manage the current suite of chemicals
to obtain clean crops and to minimise the risk of further herbicide
resistance developing. It seemed that the majority of top bays
last season had poor Dirty Dora control, hopefully it will be better
managed this season.
John Fowler
Deniliquin District Agronomist
September 11, 2012
Northern region
MURRAY VALLEY RICE REPORT
The Murray Valley is gearing up for its biggest rice planting in
over 10 years. Murray Irrigation has announced a 100 per cent
irrigation allocation for the season and most of that water will
probably be used to grow rice.
Growers will be approaching this season with the events of
last season still fresh in their minds. One of the main challenges
last season was the extreme duck pressure during the crop
establishment phase, and expectations are they will be back
again this year. Growers in several localities found it very difficult
to deter ducks from aerially sown crops, so interest in drill sowing
(particularly direct drilling) has increased markedly.
A field day on the current direct drilling technology at Jerilderie
attracted over 170 growers, compared to about 20 at a similar
event last year. Growers were provided with information on the
machinery requirements, weed control and general agronomy
of drill sown rice. This was important as most growers have not
had recent experience with drill sowing and the physiology of drill
sown rice has some important differences.
CENTRAL WEST
Greetings from the constantly and consistently challenging
Central West. It has been 10 weeks since any rain has fallen in
the western part of the region and Mother Nature is being cursed
for not delivering even just one of those inches of rain that were
plentiful in summer – to now – the money making months.
Winter has been harsh and frosts have been plentiful. The
early wheat crops sown have looked solid throughout the year
District Reports…
some growers are looking at non-chemical options such as
windrow burning and the like. The rise of the popularity of TT
canola is primarily due to weed control – be it grasses in-crop or
residual on our summer nemesis – fleabane.
Penny Heuston
Heuston Agronomy Services, Warren
September 18, 2012
LIVERPOOL PLAINS
Early sown Gregory wheat at Gulargambone in the Central
West. Early sown crops have held on reasonably well in the
dry conditions while later sowings are doing it tough.
but the late sown crops are doing it tough. Ironically, many of
these crops were sown so late due to wet conditions (mainly in
the Collie region) and these crops have been hammered by frosts
and a lack of follow-up rain to get the secondary roots really
pumping.
Summer sins are coming back to bite many with worked
paddocks showing up the moisture stresses more acutely than
their no-till cousins.
I think nutrition has played nearly as big a part as low rainfall.
Despite the fact the past two harvests have ended with disastrous
wet harvests, the crops have been huge and have depleted
nitrogen reserves. The other carry-on effect of the dry has been
the lack of rain to allow topdressing of N. Those N deficient
wheat crops have also taken the yellow leaf spot pressure badly,
making them even slower in growth. Crops with starter N will
pay dividends for dollars invested and this practice will expand
next year if we have a decent profile of moisture underneath.
Canola has expanded in a very exponential way in the region
this year due to its price at sowing versus that of wheat and for
the weed control options created by canola. The results are varied
and after two huge yielding canola years, crops look more like
the norm for the Central West. A number of these crops have
suffered the same fate as wheat and are severely low in N. But
many have suffered a much greater threat in the form of frost.
Damage reports range from 30 to 70 per cent. There is talk of
crops being cut for hay, contracts being washed out etc – but the
unknown is still how much the crop will compensate. This could
be a real challenge without rainfall – we’ll have to wait and see.
Most canola crops have received one aphid spray.
Chickpeas are loving the dry conditions – a good reason to
have a mixed portfolio peoples! They are podding and flowering
now with grubs the next concern for growers. Disease levels are
low, no doubt helped by the dry conditions.
Herbicide resistance has certainly reared its ugly head with
gusto this year. Sprays are just not working in many cases and
Winter crops in the region are again spread over a large
planting window. Crops range from flag leaf emerged, to
jointing, right back to some double crop opportunities not yet
achieving three tiller and secondary root formation. The planting
season saw extensive water logging with many areas of poor
crop establishment and some replant. The vigour of seed was
crucial and crops planted within two days prior to rain, made a
huge difference to the population established.
At the time of writing, earlier planted winter crop still looks
OK. But warm, windy conditions in September has seen the crop
really start to work for its supper. Moisture probes in dryland
crops are indicating earlier planted wheat drawing moisture from
one metre and it is retreating rapidly. Rain promised in three
days will increase yield prospects and will also help relieve some
moisture induced nitrogen stress. There is some minor aphid
pressure on cereal crops but none have been treated (to my
knowledge) at this point.
Some canola paddocks have been treated for aphids but
thankfully we are not having the same issues as our counterparts
further north. Canola crops look good, but rain predicted next
week will be essential to ensure the flowering period continues
for at least the next two weeks.
It’s hard to believe we are back at summer crop planting
already. Sunflowers will go in the ground as soon as there is
planting moisture available and corn will follow very soon after.
With cotton, it feels like it has only just finished being picked,
and with wet weather delaying pupae busting and some
disappointing ginning results – there’s a bad taste in the mouth
for some producers. Combine this with a lower price relative
to sorghum, and we will see the total cotton area reduced this
season.
Sorghum will again be the major crop in the southern plains
Zulu feed wheat planted into mungbean stubble on an 18.75
cm, 18.75 cm, 37.5 cm row configuration. This configuration
yielded 7.0 tonnes per hectare plus in the 2011 season –
hopefully we can repeat the effort in 2012.
this season, on the back of good moisture profiles and improved
price prospects courtesy of a dry spell in the US. Mungbeans will
again take a minor role in selected paddocks this year.
A major worry for me this year is the exponential rise of
glyphosate resistant ryegrass in many paddocks that were
previously free of the problem. This is on account of seed being
spread by flood waters and feral pigs introducing ryegrass
formally confined to creek banks. But vigilant growers are
dealing with the problem through sheer persistence – it will
be a recurring problem that is now considered endemic on the
southern half of the plains at least. Hopefully lessons learnt in the
south and west can help us deal with the issue.
On that cheery note – all the best of the season to everyone.
Peter McKenzie
Agricultural Extension and Consulting Services, Quirindi
September 16, 2012
DARLING DOWNS
Winter crops
Frost has been the major problem for Downs crops this winter.
Frosts started in mid June for a week, then occurred during early
and mid July, but the period of 17 frosts in 19 days from late July
to mid August has caused significant crop damage. And even
now, in mid September, another frost is predicted, which will
really test crops coming into head.
Frost damage has burnt leaves, killed branches and at times,
some plants outright, knocked flowers and killed pods in
chickpeas, and caused tip burn on cereal heads. Damage has
occurred right across the Downs, although the eastern crops –
being younger – have recovered a little better.
Rainfall has been almost non existent since mid July, and
although many crops were planted on fair subsoil moisture,
getting the roots into this has been difficult, and double
cropped paddocks are struggling. Rain is forecast in mid to late
September, which will help the crops to some extent, but yields
will only be fair at best.
There were early season disease issues with yellow spot, net
blotch and root rot, but the dry growing conditions have lessened
the amount of later disease. That said, stripe rust has very
recently been seen in susceptible varieties of wheat as they come
into head, and all crops will be monitored closely over the next
few weeks. Aphids have been the main insect pest, especially in
barley but also wheat, whilst heliothis at this stage are very quiet
in the chickpeas.
District Reports…
Summer outlook
Sorghum will be the main crop by area sown this summer. The
cotton area will be possibly under 50 per cent of last summer’s
area with the biggest reduction in the dryland area, and these
paddocks will most likely be planted with sorghum or corn.
Gritting corn contracts have been reduced in tonnage this
season but there will be an increase in feed corn planting with
some new marketing options opening up. Many growers will
revert to the safe option of sorghum.
Rotational crops will find favour with a significant increase in
soybeans expected, after some excellent dryland crop results last
season – possibly at the expense of mungbeans – at least where
there is good subsoil moisture.
The weather outlook appears to be in a neutral SOI pattern,
even though there have been some unusual fluctuations over the
past few months, and growers may need to adapt to handling
storm rain, rather than general rain.
The supply of nitrogen has been an issue, with restrictions
on anhydrous nitrogen putting pressure on urea supplies, and
growers have struggled to complete their fertilising and ground
preparation for the summer crop.
Hugh Reardon-Smith
Agronomist, Landmark Pittsworth
September 14, 2012
CENTRAL QUEENSLAND
Weather
Rainfall: With the exception of the Callide Valley, rainfall
in Central Queensland during the early part (April–July) of the
2012 winter crop season has generally been well above average
especially in parts of the Central Highlands. August and early
September have been dry.
Frost: It has generally been a cold winter across CQ with
significant widespread frost. The most damaging of these
occurred in early August and caused major damage in some
wheat crops, and to a lesser extent, in some chickpea crops.
High fuel loads in many paddocks will result in major fires
once the weather warms and the grass dries.
Winter crop
The Darling Downs crop was frosted in the boot by frosts on
September 1 and 2. Shorter crops are more frost susceptible
particularly when the soil is dry.
Wheat: The area planted to wheat (150–200,000 hectares) in
Central Queensland this season was lower then average due to
an increase in area planted to chickpea (under 80,000 hectares).
Most of Central Queensland except for the Callide Valley was
either wet or very wet at planting and received well above
average rain during the early growing season. Crops generally
look very good. There are significant exceptions. Paddocks that
were double cropped from mungbeans will be lower yielding.
Soil nutrition is now a major issue for many CQ farmers who
traditionally applied little or no fertiliser. Nitrogen, phosphorus
and in a few paddocks, potassium and sulphur will now need
to be part of normal farm practice. The extent of frost damage
won’t be known until the headers roll but I expect it may be
District Reports…
greater then many farmers currently expect. I was in a paddock
south of Emerald recently where yield may have been reduced by
about 70 per cent due to frost. A few headers have started but
the main wheat harvest on the Central Highlands will likely occur
between October 8–26 and probably a week later in the Dawson.
Chickpea: Many early to mid season planted chickpea crops
have produced an enormous vegetative crop but due to cold
weather have set few or nil pods below 30–45 cm – great for the
harvester contractor. With the advent of warmer weather, big
crops will need to fully exploit the soil moisture profile to finish
the crop. I expect some crops will lodge in patches. The chickpea
harvest will be one to two weeks after the start of wheat harvest.
Bring on a dry harvest.
Weeds: Winter weeds were common place in most paddocks
but good spray programs and high crop competition has generally
ensured fairly clean crops. Mexican poppy in chickpea crops has
been the exception where few spray options are available. High
crop competition played a large part in reducing the incidence of
feathertop Rhodes grass in paddocks during winter but it will still
be a major issue for CQ farmers during summer.
Summer crop
Sorghum: Spring sorghum is a high risk crop in CQ so the
area planted will be small. A slight increase in the price for
sorghum and the probability of a drier summer will ensure a
larger area is planted to sorghum next summer.
Mungbeans: The widespread infection of puffy pod is likely
to seriously reduce the area planted to mungbeans next summer.
Sunflower: Better prices for sunflower and lower prices
for other grains helped to ensure a larger area was planted to
Answer to Ian’s Mystery
Tractor Quiz
The tractor is a 1916 Galloway Farmobile, powered by a 20
horsepower Dart truck engine. The unit was equipped with one
forward and one reverse gear and weighed around 2.5 tons.
This historic tractor is owned by Kenny Kass of Dunkerton, Iowa,
USA. (Photos IMJ)
Graham Spackman, agricultural consultant, (Spackman
Iker Ag Consulting Pty Ltd) leads the discussion on frost
and nutrition issues that have impacted on many Central
Queensland wheat crops this season.
sunflower during the 2011–12 summer. This is likely to continue
next summer.
Cotton: Dryland cotton is likely to be planted by those few
growers who have worked out the recipe for successful Dryland
cotton growing in CQ which is mostly about getting price, soil
moisture, soil type and fertility and spraying right.
Livestock and pastures
The condition of cattle is generally better then normal for
this time of the year given excellent pasture growing conditions
last summer and good rain during early winter. Obviously the
condition of any mob of cattle is very dependent on soil type and
pasture management. Heavy frost during August has reduced the
quality of pastures resulting in a decline in cattle condition.
Soil moisture in most pasture paddocks is higher then normal
for this time of the year so pastures will begin to grow once the
soil temperature rises.
Maurie Conway
Principal Technical Officer
Grower Solutions for Central Queensland
Agri-Science, Emerald, Qld
September 14, 2012
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Contents - Australian Grain

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