HE STOPPED short of declaring the crippling drought over northern NSW a blessing in disguise for Australia’s pulse industry, but Pulse Australian northern zone manager Paul McIntosh said there could be a silver lining to the big dry.
Mr McIntosh said the dry conditions meant fears of a monster year for fungal diseases such as ascochyta, sclerotinia and phytophthera could be allayed.
He said prior to seeding, Pulse Australia officials had been concerned about the integrity of rotations in the northern chickpea production zones.
“There were reports of some guys going in and planting chickpeas for the third consecutive years in the same paddock, which puts the crops in a lot of danger in terms of exposure to disease,” Mr McIntosh said.
“If we had a normal year it was going to put an enormous disease burden out there.”
“There are a lot of chickpea crops out there where you can still see between the rows, which is bad news for the growers of course, but it will limit the amount of disease around.
“This in turn has implications for the level of inoculum that will be around the following year so it would be a medium term problem.”
Over the past two years the chickpea industry has become concerned at a breakdown in plant resistance to ascochyta blight, meaning farmers have to rely on the use of fungicide for control from the disease.
Overplanting of the lucrative pulse crop places increased pressure on the fungicide as disease levels rise.
There were also reports last year, with wet condition in the northern chickpea belt, that soil-borne diseases such as chickpea sclerotinia and phytophthera were on the rise.
The wet year last year placed a massive strain on Australia’s pulse fungicide reserves, with farmers requiring multiple applications to keep disease in check.
However, with high chickpea prices and low cereal values at sowing this year many farmers again decided to roll the dice on in-paddock controls to keep chickpea crops healthy given the price discrepancy.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
