Crop field trip

Nick Hartley, Senior Technical Officer.

Senior Research Agronomist Ian Biggs and I were recently invited to attend a Cropping Demonstration Trial day at a little town called Laura in far North Queensland. Held earlier this year on May 11, the field day was at Fairview station in Laura. The trials and the field day were organised and run by Tony Matchett an agronomist for Tableland Fertilisers Mareeba, in consultation with Greg Mason, Industry Development Officer for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Queensland.

85 people attended the Field day as well as a number of other consultants including Sun Rice, Nu Seeds, Pioneer Seeds, Pacific Seeds, Plant Solutions Australia and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF). Each group discussed their research results and ran demonstration trials.

These included new seed treatments, and plant variety trials for chickpea, Sunn hemp, canola, linseed, safflower, sunflowers, maize, rice and chia. One specific trial discussed was the use of Liberty White Sorghum for headlage. The overall trip was a worthy exercise and really did show the huge potential that Northern Australia has for growing different types of crop species.

It was excellent liaising with other researchers, producers, retailers and extension staff creating new linkages. Discussions were held with Sun Rice, local agronomists, seed companies and plant breeders in regards to potential future work programs for the Northern Territory.

Figure 2: Some of the varieties on show at the field day.