TO cater for the increased interest in cash crops suitable for cane fallow, the BSES and Mackay Area Productivity Services recently held a field day in the Pioneer Valley.
The field day was to show growers how soybeans and corn could be used in conjunction to benefit both the bank balance and the following cane crop.
Soybeans have been grown around the Mackay district over the wet season as a break crop in the cane fallow for the past 12 years, and they have either been used as a green manure crop or for grain.
The cost of getting the grain to market in South East Queensland has always impacted on the economics, but that situation has now changed.
Not only are soybeans worth around $600/tonne, but the arrival of Austagri in Mackay means there is a local market.
The company has set up a grain receival depot at the Port of Mackay and intends sourcing soybeans anywhere between Emerald and the Burdekin.
Initially, the grain will be exported, but an oil extraction plant is to be built with a scheduled completed date in time for the 2011 harvest.
Corn has been planted spasmodically in the Mackay district for the past eight years, with mostly grain grown during the wet season, with the grain being sold to feedlots or traders.
However, this spring Sarina cattleman Paul Fenech, PBF Brahman Stud, encouraged a number of farmers with irrigation to grow corn for silage, by offering them contracts for the standing crop at $60/t.
When a well grown corn crop can produce 60t/silage/ha, at a cost of $1700-$1800, and be worth twice that, it was no wonder 124 farmers turned up to the field day.
Alternatively, the crop could be grown for processing for human consumption and yields of 14t-15t//ha are possible, which at the current price of more than $300/t, would result in a profit of $2400-$2700/ha.
The meeting was told by Pioneer Hi-Bred Australia's corn-growing consultant, Kelvin Schwarz, that trials in the Burdekin had found the best corn yields were obtained when it was grown following a soybean crop, not only because of the nitrogen the soybeans fix but because the soil pathogens that reduce cane yields also affect corn.
The rotation being soybeans in the wet season; corn planted April-July so it has cool nights and warm days and is harvested before the next wet season; another wet season soybean crop; and back into cane.
Although that rotation meant cane was not grown for an additional season, the returns from the corn more than made up for it. But the good news didn't stop there.
The improved soil health from the two soybean crops boosted cane yields to a level that compensated for the loss of one ratoon in the crop cycle and the mill wouldn't lose tonnage.
The benefits of soybeans as a break and cash crop was explained, and CSIRO soybean plant breeder Andrew James said some new varieties suitable for the tropical coast would become available in about two years.
Asked about the benefits of herbicide-resistant genetically modified varieties, he said unlike other grains, there is a premium paid for GM-free soybeans for human consumption because as a group, the people who eat soybeans are usually against GMOs, and the premium more than covered the additional cost of weed control.
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