Here at Scaddan near Esperance on WA's southern coast, the Wandel wheat is standing tall and
looking good in a paddock that last year produced tonnes of faba beans.
look at this result 3 tonne faba bean crop last year and considering the year you've
had this is a pretty tidy wheat crop.
After 4 decades of faba beans Neil Wandel knows that, often, your best wheat crop is
after beans that have been grown and managed well.
Used in crop rotation faba beans can improve soil, and assist with insect, weed and disease
control.
DPIRD's Mark Seymour says research is uncovering new ideas about the agronomy of faba beans.
Neil's shown that if you stick with them long enough you'll do well.
The agronomy has improved, spray technology's improved and fungicides have improved, but
number one thing is the varieties have improved.
GRDC funded program is hitting its strides.
Samira is much better than the old varieties we used to deal with and now we're getting
better ones coming out so most recently we've just had Amberley released which is by far
the most resistant variety to chocolate spot and we're all pretty excited about what that
means for faba bean production in Australia.
Suited to medium and high rainfall zones the newest cultivars usually have higher yields
and returns, than other cultivars.
They have superior disease resistance, don't mind water logging and can tolerate some frost,
but they're sensitive to dry conditions.
We'll have a faba bean or a legume crop every 4th or 5th year and you can see the stubble
on the ground from last year's wheat crop, nitrogen that goes into the ground, it's just
part of the rotation.
Well we're proving it here on this farm which has been pretty high yielding country that
wheat on canola, probably 4, 4 and a half tonne and last year the wheat behind faba
beans was going 6 with a lot less Nitrogen putting on it.
Alright we're not far from harvest and crop topping and desiccating, let's have a look,
this is a nice one here
80 kilometres west of Esperance, Greg Curnow put in his first crop when 2018 prices hit
around $1000 a tonne.
With prices now at a more realistic long-term rate of $330 a tonne, and despite a challenging
year with low rainfall, Greg's persisting with his beans.
The beans fit quite well into the rotation just gives us another tool in the tool-box
instead of relying on canola to be our clean-up crop now we've got something a little bit
more robust.
Well the main variety is Samira, which is probably the most common commercial variety
but I am bulking up 40 hectares of Bendoc, which are IMI tolerant beans for the future.
Yeah well Greg Curnow over in Coomalbidgup will be really learning from other people
and he's gone to wider rows which allows him to do inter row spraying but also do side
spraying with fungicides and that will really help him maintain a stable crop going into
the future.
Faba beans fell out of favour in the 1990's when varieties were susceptible to diseases
but new varieties have superior resistance.
Early harvesting helps colour quality, weathering and disease.
They're marketed on appearance and can easily crack so they need a good moisture level of
around 12% at harvest to prevent pod damage.
There can also be some up-front investment required.
Yeah we've invested around about $100,000 in a second-hand seeder and building a shielded
sprayer and a spray cart to suit.
It's not insignificant but I think the benefits longer term will far outweigh the investment.
Faba beans are grown in WA from Esperance in the south to Dongara in the north and are
a key part of farming systems in South Australia and Victoria.
Northern NSW also grow a different type of beans or not the same varieties but they are
also a key area.
The big hope I think is western NSW and WA to really expand the area.
The WA Crop Sowing Guide is a key agronomic resource offering comprehensive information
and features a faba bean section for growers keen to find out more.
I guess my biggest advice would be start small and just have a go yourself and see how they
go.
I think it's quite encouraging that GRDC tend to be putting more money back into research
for pulses because I think they realise that the canola wheat rotation has come to an end
and we're farming here for a long time and if we can get a pulse that is profitable or
within reason for growers we'll see a lot more grown and it will benefit the whole rotation
and the whole district.