Diversification is the name of the game for second generation Ayr-based farmer Frank Pirrone who has experienced great success with his first rice crop on-property.
Mr Pirrone said he previously experimented with soybean and grain sorghum crops but thinks he’s found a winning combination now.
“We have a 100 hectare property and last year I decided to allocate a 17ha area for a mung bean crop after the cane was cut out, after the mung beans were taken out I followed up with the rice crop,” he said.
“There is no question that we’ll continue growing rice and mung as break crops for our cane.
“We get as much as $1500/t for our mung beans which is excellent money.”
The decision to grow SunRice’s Doongara low GI variety via flood irrigation paid off handsomely for the Pirrone’s when they took the first crop out just before Christmas.
“We got a yield of 10.3t/ha for a return of $420/t, and I think the record yield in the region is 11.09t/ha, so it was an exceptional result for us.”
Mr Pirrone said it’s been great to have an established SunRice presence up in the North.
“The Burdekin region has been calling for a company like them to come up here for a long time.
“I’m keen to seem them stay around here for the long haul; they’ve definitely shown a commitment to growers up this way so far.”
In regards to further experimentation with rice on-property, Mr Pirrone said he’s been keeping a close eye on the trials currently being conducted in Mackay using more niche varieties.
He said while Doongara is seen as a highly reliable option he’s keen to trial the Thai jasmine fragrant variety when it becomes available.
Mr Pirrone has also been utilising direct drilling techniques to plant his mung bean crop.
“By using the direct drilling method we’re increasing the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil and increasing organic matter retention and cycling of nutrients in the soil.
“It’s a much more cost and time efficient process then using traditional planting methods as you don’t have to rip up large tracts of ground.”
As far as Mr Pirrone is concerned the more crop varieties that he can diversify into and grow in a year the better.
“The main reason I’m doing this is so that I have options if the costs and profit margins for growing cane continue to get worse.”
He said growers should embrace diversifying into new crop types.
“These days I think you have to be constantly producing some type of saleable crop year-round; you just have to be willing to give it a go.”