Emerald Field Day to Showcase High Value Crop Varieties

Central Queensland farmers can inspect the latest high-performing chickpea, sesame and peanut varieties, including the new Green Dragon mungbean line from AgriVentis, when they are officially released at a field day in Emerald next week. The field day, which will be held on March 24 at 'Deneliza Downs,' will also feature a display of CQUniversity's latest research into the grain and graze farming systems.

The field day will be hosted by the Northern Australia Crop Research Centre of Excellence, a partnership that brings together researchers from CQUniversity with farm machinery leaders RDO (formerly Vanderfield), farmers from the Central Highlands Cotton Growers & Irrigators Association and Grain Producers Australia, and agribusiness expertise from the Central Highlands Development Corporation.

The Centre was formed in 2020 and has already delivered several large-scale research projects across the north aiming to increase farming profitability through higher-value varieties, new crop types, improved agronomy and incorporating broadacre crop production into traditional livestock operations.

Growers and farm service providers are invited to attend the field day at the property of Aaron and Carly Kiely, ‘Deneliza Downs’, located 5km east of Emerald on the Capricorn Highway.

The day will feature a series of presentations starting at 2 pm, followed by a field walk to inspect new varietal lines and crop performance.

Research Presentations:

• Performance evaluation of Green Dragon mungbean from AgriVentis Technologies.

• Grain and graze peanut production – a new research project co-funded by the CRC for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA) in which the latest varieties from the Peanut Farming Services team at Bega Cheese Limited (Bega) will be evaluated for dual-purpose production.

• Spicing Up the North – the outcomes of research trials co-funded by the CRCNA and AgriVentis which evaluated crop performance, price outlook and grower opportunities for spices including sesame and kalonji, plus plans for the next phase of agronomic research to increase production.

• The latest soil moisture and weather monitoring technologies from RDO.

Field Walk:

• Trial plot inspections of Bega’s dual-purpose peanut lines

• White sesame

• Green Dragon and Green Taipan mungbeans

• A display of the latest planting machinery from RDO to suit the needs of each crop type.