South East Premium Wheat Growers Association

Esperance Port Zone farmers will be served up the latest local research and information within the grains industry at the South East Premium Wheat Growers’ Association (SEPWA) Harvest Review, Season Preview next month.

The event, set for Friday 9^th of March at the Esperance Bay Yacht Club,will focus on the malt barley industry and culminate with the SEPWA Grain Growers’ Dinner, sponsored by CBH, in the evening.

Barley is an important crop and can represent up to 600,000 tonnes within the Esperance Port Zone (EPZ), of which greater than 50% can make the malt grade, in a good year.

Currently Baudin is the dominant export variety, however fungicide resistant issues combined with poor leaf disease tolerance has made farmers question its future and where to next for the EPZ barley production.

Therefore this year, SEPWA has decided to look “Beyond Baudin” and bring together a panel of experts within the barley industry to look at breeding, research and marketing which will be chaired by DAFWA Barley Senior Research Officer, Blakely Paynter.

The panel will further thrash out the issue of the future of Baudin and provide growers with an opportunity to question industry experts, from different sectors of the supply chain, about driving factors in the demand for malting barley.

The panel includes Rob Dickie, Barley Marketing Manager with CBH Grain; Jason Eglinton, Barley Program Leader at the University of Adelaide; David Moody, barley breeder with Intergrain, Perth brewer Hugh Dunn, and Bill Ryan from the GRDC Western Panel.

Keynote speaker and soil microbiologist, Margaret Roper from CSIRO will talk about her research into “Fusarium Crown Rot” in the Esperance region which included the testing of resistant wheat lines at Salmon Gums.

Yield and quality results from numerous SEPWA barley, canola and wheat (including falling numbers and sprouting) variety trials will also be discussed to enable growers to make an informed decision on the best varieties to grow next season.

Nick Donkin from Summit will present results from local fertiliser trials and SEPWA’s Nigel Metz will give a rundown on the outcome of the containers project which included a trial shipment of 100 tonnes of field peas to Malaysia.

Dr Dean Diepeveen from DAFWA will discuss results from the barley head loss project and “Precision Agriculture (PA) and Variable Rate Technology (VRT) and where are we heading” will be presented by Dr Michael Robertson, Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO.

“Succession Planning” will be also be discussed with Rabobank’s Kim Lee who has extensive experience in working with rural farming families to achieve personal, family and financial benefits for each generation.

The day will also include the SEPWA AGM and a review of harvest which will reflect on any harvest issues with Mick Daw, CBH Group Esperance Zone Manager and AWB’s Mitch Morison, who will provide a market outlook. Greg Harvey from Interflour, in south east Asia, will also make a presentation.

The SEPWA Harvest Review, Season Preview and AGM is on Friday 9^th of March, commencing at 8 am at the Esperance Bay Yacht Club and it will cost $50 for members and $75 for non members.

There are 50 package deals which include the Harvest Review Season Preview and the Grain Growers’ dinner, sponsored by the CBH Group, and these are available for members only at $120, until the package deals sell out.

Tickets need to be purchased prior to Monday, 27^th February and can be organised through SEPWA Finance Officer, Jan Clawson on 0407 990 497.

The SEPWA Harvest Review, Season Preview has received funding from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Results from the SEPWA variety trials will also be presented at Ravensthorpe on Wednesday the 7th of March at the Entertainment Centre.