Please take a minute to help direct the Northern Pulse Agronomy team’s future research. The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pulse_agronomy The Northern Pulse Agronomy team has kicked some very significant goals in the last couple of years and now it’s time to assess the impact and set new goals.
Industry survey: How do you grow pulses?
The team is seeking feedback from growers and agronomists through a short online survey to measure the level of practice change that has been implemented surrounding row width, plant population and planting date decisions for pulses.
The project supervisor, Rao CN Rachaputi from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), said that the GRDC-funded Queensland Pulse Agronomy Initiative is seeking to increase the reliability and yield of summer and winter pulses. The work takes a holistic approach, examining the interactions between environment, genetics and agronomy.
“It has had considerable success to date in identifying improved management practices such as narrow row spacing, which have contributed to a bumper crop this past summer,” said Dr Rachaputi.
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) research agronomist, Rebecca Raymond, said the project team had presented the data from their trial work so far to well over 1000 growers and agronomists through field days, workshops and the GRDC Grower and Advisor Updates, and had received feedback there has been a significant uptake of project outputs amongst growers, particularly with regard to row spacing.
“The expansion in sown area to pulses has increased significantly in the last few years, driven primarily by the high prices for chickpea and mungbean, but we are confident that this growth will be sustained,” said Ms Raymond.
“With new varieties available that suit different growing environments it has been valuable to reassess the key agronomic practices for crop establishment that will result in optimal productivity.”
In the survey, growers and agronomists are asked to provide feedback about past and current practice, and to guide the next phase of the Northern Pulse Agronomy research.
Pulse Australia national manager, Gordon Cumming said the opportunity to shape the future research trials was one not to be missed. “I hope a large number of growers and agronomists will see the value in providing this information to the research team to help identify the next topics for them to investigate,” he said.
“We looked forward to having a dedicated pulse agronomy research project in the northern region for many years and now that we have a team in place it is vital that they have the support they need to identify best management practice that works in the field.”
This project is jointly supported by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the University of Queensland, NSW DPI and Pulse Australia.
The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pulse_agronomy