New ventures as farmers test faba, dual-purpose crops for profit and purpose

James Cheetham, Delta Ag and AJ Gibson Tirranna, Goulburn, speaking at the Tablelands Farming Systems field day held on site at Tirranna.

Transcript

00:00We've got the varieties, long season varieties now available, like our canolas and things like that,

00:05long season cereals, so we've now got those available that are quite well suited to this environment.

00:09They're early sowing in autumn to grow a heap of feed for the livestock through the winter and then lock them up

00:15and hopefully a bit of a favourable sort of soft spring in this environment.

00:19So it comes with a lot of challenges and it's got to be done right with a lot of preparation,

00:24but done well it can be very successful.

00:26There's a lot of cropping that's been going on for a little while.

00:28People have it in their mixers and they've put it in while they might do it at a super large scale.

00:33They'll use it for panic cleanup and they'll use it to fill feed gaps in winter and then harvest on the way through with small hectares.

00:41And it seems like it's working really well for people in that system.

00:44They're breeding sheep, for instance, or running a wool operation, that sort of thing.

00:49So, yeah, I think it's really positive.

00:51It's got a place here.

00:53Our area here is high rainfall, long growing season, you know, the potential to get really valuable crops.

01:01So, even at the small scale in a bit of systems, I think it's a really positive thing.

01:07And then, I think the way, let's geta Michael Kennedy and them drive it in time.

01:12It's really tough.

01:13Well, let's do it at the top.

01:14Let's break it together.

01:15And then, like, let's push.