GCTV Ep#8 Durum
Narrator: Doug Cush's family has been growing wheat
in northern New South Wales since 1908.
Doug Cush: Owner, Bellata Gold Tamworth NSW I am a generational farmer.
My grandfather was a farmer.
His forefathers were farmers.
Narrator: For the past 25 years, they've grown durum
wheat, and now as well as supplying grain to others,
they also mill their own semolina and manufacture high-quality pasta.
Like Doug's boutique pasta plant, Australia's Durum wheat story is a small but successful
one.
We may not export as much durum as the EU, Canada or the USA, but thanks to this region’s
rainfall patterns and relatively fertile soils, and Australia's high-quality varieties, our
durum is in demand from pasta making connoisseurs.
Gururaj Kadkol: Project Leader, ADWIP Tamworth Agricultural Institute, NSW DPI
The quality is exceptional for our crop.
Worldwide there are some 35 million tonnes produced and
we only produce about half a million tonnes on average but it is bought for the purposes
of blending with other lower quality grades and
it's particularly sought after by the Italians.
Narrator: Durum can provide significantly higher returns
than bread wheats.
Gururaj Kadkol: For example in 2011 at about harvest time
there was a very significant price difference that at one
time was eighty or a hundred dollars price difference per tonne.
Narrator: Though price differentials make durum an attractive
prospect for growers, susceptibility to drought and crown rot has restricted local production.
But thanks to ADWIP, the Australian Durum Wheat Improvement Program, better traits are
in the pipeline.
A GRDC-funded collaboration between the University of Adelaide and the NSW
Department of Primary Industries, ADWIP commenced its second five-year program of plant
breeding and testing in July, to improve industry capacity and grower returns.
Jane Drinkwater: Reporter Australia's durum breeding program has a history
spanning 60 years.
The new program is set to build on the foundations of that past breeding
work, specifically addressing the issues of crown
rot, improved yield and drought tolerance, while maintaining quality.
Narrator: It's a complex selection process involving
numerous tests for yield and quality traits throughout
the entire pasta production cycle.
As well as examining plant properties, the team perform their
own milling of semolina, then go on to manufacture pasta, testing each step of the way to ensure
a high-quality product that meets the different needs of millers and pasta makers.
Mike Sissons: Senior Research Scientist, Tamworth Agricultural Institute, NSW DPI
Millers are interested in the amount of semolina they can produce from say a hundred tonnes
of wheat.
For the pasta maker, they're more interested in a uniform semolina of nice bright colour
with no impurities in the grain, no weather damage, and the kind of dough properties that
we've either got now or we can strive for that match
the US desert Durums considered to be some of
the best in the world.
Narrator: Desert durum is produced under irrigation
in the deserts of Arizona and California and its
uniformity of seed size and colour contribute to good yields of semolina.
Narrator: This season Durum growers in southern regions
had access to three new superior varieties from
the breeding program, Tjilkuri, WID802 and WID803; all have Australian premium durum
grading.
Mike Sissons: They'll be improvements over the current varieties
like Hyperno, Saintly, Kalka and Tamaroi in things like colour and yield and processing
ability.
Narrator: Further north, Caparoi released two years
ago has shown improvements over previous varieties.
Gururaj Kadkol: Caparoi has got all the quality traits of
Bellaroi but it's also got to the ability to yield under drought.
Narrator: The breeding team is currently testing even
better cultivars for durum growers in the north.
Gururaj Kadkol: We've got five new varieties that are in the
NVT system that are undergoing evaluation at the
moment.
Some of them represent really significant yield improvement over Caparoi and we are
quite excited about it.
Narrator: These new varieties are set to improve grower
confidence when it comes to delivering premium grade durum.
Gururaj Kadkol: The best thing about our lines is that they
have got a very good ability to put extra protein into the
grain and they are more assured to make the ADR1 grade.
Narrator: Through GRDC's international germplasm exchange
project, the team has access to genetic material from overseas which could fast-track
improvements in Australian varieties.
Mike Sissons: World production is pretty much static but
the demand for pasta is increasing particularly in Asia
and we see a potential there.
Narrator: Asia is also where Doug Cush believes there's
significant opportunity.
Doug Cush: I think there's huge potential.
Asia is a growing market but we need an industry that can capitalise
on that growth.
Narrator: A stronger industry producing a consistent
volume of well-marketed export durum will ensure
Australia takes advantage of increasing demand.
Mike Sissons: Keeping up with what's going on overseas;
keeping ahead of them in the competition; promoting
the product that we produce; and finding those overseas markets and consistently supplying
the good quality to those markets if we can do
that we'll always have the markets.
Narrator: Like GRDC, Doug Cush sees value in dollars
spent to ensure a more profitable and secure future
for growers.
Doug Cush: The investment into the industry is vital
to have a really modern breeding program absolutely vital
if this industry is to take its place in Asia.
Narrator: New varieties allowing industry expansion
will ensure Australia's world-renowned durum gains a
permanent and expanding share of the global market.
ENDS
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