Harvesting ideas from US grain tour

Thirteen grain growers travelled to Texas and visited research facilities, farms and attended the AgChat conference as part of a trip organised by the Grains Research Foundation (GRF).

The #From1Grain tour was the first organised by GRF and encouraged the producers to build networks and engage with the industry.

Darling Downs farmer Ben Coleman, Kurrajong, Mt Irving, was one of the producers on the trip. Mr Coleman visited a number of grain and cotton properties in the north-west and central Texas. He said the annual rainfall on the properties varied from 400 millimetres to 1000mm.

"We also toured a lot of the grain sorghum breeding facilities in the US in different areas, like the USDA (similar to Department of Primary Industries), they had an interesting breeding facility in north-west Texas," he said.

"We went to seed companies like Pioneer and DuPont, and we also saw some university trial work in grain sorghum as well."

"There is interesting work being done on multi-seeding varieties that could possibly increase yield substantially if water is available and would like to see that here as soon as we can."

The group had not been aware of the difficulties in moving gene stock between Australia and the US and hoped to see the process streamlined in the future.

They noted the difference in the scale of farming operations, commodities, and research programs.

Chemical and fuel costs were less and no-till farming had not been widely adopted in Texas.

"They seem to have a much better research program for specific commodities," he said.

"We looked at sorghum more than most and they have a specific sorghum program for research and development and also marketing.

"We were all very impressed with and wondered whether Australia could adopt some of those policies or ideas."

One of the differences that shocked the group was that labour costs in the US were roughly a third of those in Australia.

Mr Coleman said on the properties they had visited farm labourers made $10 to $12/hour, while some Australian producers were paying up to three times that amount.

Resistance to glyphosate in Texas was a much more advanced problem, Mr Coleman said.

"It was a real insight to where we might be headed if we don’t act responsibly," he said.

"We need to be prudent with our practices in order to restrain glyphosate resistance here."

Mr Coleman said the group was also surprised by how many similarities there were.

"They have challenges just like we do with weather - they have had recent years of drought – and water restrain issues," he said.

"Prior to the trip the group thought they would have been much more even conditions – possibly that's just Texas."

The possibility of implementing multi-peril insurance in Australia was something the group was eager to see the government investigate.

"I think multi-peril insurance should definitely be explored," he said.

"Perhaps it can be looked at as an alternative to drought assistance and more covering cost or base revenue as opposed to a whole crop."

The group also attended the annual AgChat Foundation Social Media Conference in Austin, Texas.

Mr Coleman said the conference was a great opportunity to meet producers and industry representatives from across the US and Canada.

"There were great speakers and sessions on how ag can adopt social media to assist their industry and as an advocacy tool," he said.

"I think it opened us up to the social media platforms out there that a lot of producers were not aware of."