February 15, 2019
Concerns about peanut crop diseases was one of the key issues raised by growers during the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Northern Region Panel visit to the Wide Bay-Burnett last week.
Other hot topics included the need for more pulse and legume varieties, and the benefits of sugarcane diversification.
Panel chairman John Minogue said the 11-member group spoke to growers, grower groups, advisers, researchers and community members during the three-day listening tour.
Mr Minogue said meeting directly with industry was a critical part of finding out the challenges facing different regions of Queensland, as well as getting feedback about growers’ current research needs and priorities.
“Our role as an advisory panel is to engage directly with growers in a two-way conversation that helps us to develop an in-depth understanding of the regional constraints challenging their farm profitability and productivity,” Mr Minogue said.
“Understanding what keeps growers awake at night is vital, so we can fulfil our responsibility of ensuring GRDC investments made on their behalf, deliver relevant, paddock-ready solutions to production constraints and importantly improve farm profitability.”
The Panel travelled through the Kingaroy, Bundaberg and Maryborough regions, visiting key GRDC research investment sites focused on peanut breeding and evaluation, legume crops in rotation with sugarcane and national soybean breeding program sites.
“The Wide Bay-Burnett region has been impacted by drier-than-usual conditions, which has made it a tough season for many growers,” Mr Minogue said.
“Alongside the challenges of dry times, other issues growers raised included the need for more information about diseases such as peanut kernel shrivel (PKS) and Sclerotinia stem rot, which are currently causing yield losses in peanut crops.
“We reassured growers that GRDC are continuing to invest in research that aims to deliver information back to growers about these diseases, as well as identifying management options.
“We also discussed a long-term GRDC breeding program investment with the Peanut Company of Australia, which has developed some lines showing promising disease tolerance for PKS, but these are several steps away from being commercially available.”
The logistics of controlled traffic farming – where growers were switching from cane machinery to narrower tracks for pulse and legume crops – was another topical issue.
“A shift from cane production to horticulture, primarily macadamias, is a current trend in the region. This is being driven by price issues and raises questions about the long-term future of the sugar industry,” Mr Minogue said.
“To potentially offset this, many growers have introduced soybeans or peanuts into their cane rotations, which has had a positive impact on their farming systems, from both a diversification perspective and in terms of nematode control and nitrogen fixation.
“But these growers spoke of a need for more pulse and legume varieties that are suitable for the region, as well as agronomic information specifically for coastal environments.”
Mr Minogue said the Panel met with more than 60 growers, as well as researchers, advisers and industry stakeholders during the tour.
“We were there to listen and the growers we engaged with appreciated the chance to share their on-farm production constraints directly with us,” he said.
“This information will now be used to help refine GRDC’s research, development and extension investments at regional and national levels, because at the end of the day we all share a common goal of creating enduring profitability for the grains industry.”
Mr Minogue said if growers from the Wide Bay-Burnett region were interested in further direct liaison with GRDC they could contact locally-based Northern Panel member Jo White.
“Dr White is a research pathologist and is based in the Maryborough region. She has a thorough understanding of the challenges facing the industry and is available and willing to listen to growers’ concerns,” he said.
Dr White can be contacted by email
- Related article: GRDC Panel To Visit Kingaroy
