By Fiona Gowers
As an agricultural science graduate, it is little surprise Darling Downs grain grower Glenn Milne enthusiastically embraces cropping trials “as it is the only way the industry will advance”.
Mr Milne, who farms at Baldovan, Dalby said he was keen to try the new sorghum variants, which could improve reliability for many Queensland farmers.
“In our sorghum varieties, we look for standability, weathering resistance, yield and quality,” he said. “A bigger grain size would help to deliver those things.
“They would also be easier to mill and reduce screenings.”
While Mr Milne said he was willing to chop and change sorghum varieties to match the seasonal conditions, A66, a Pioneer hybrid seed, remained a firm favourite this year.
“During last year’s wet weather when the variety was mature, it resisted the mould, held its quality and yielded well,” he said.
Mr Milne’s moisture profile currently sits at 50 per cent, the best early planting opportunity for eight years.
He has begun sowing sorghum, introducing this year the high-yielding, A-75, another Pioneer hybrid seed.
Depending on the rotation, which could be chickpeas, mung beans or barley, Mr Milne sows between 200ha and 600ha of sorghum. “I try to keep it very flexible, depending on the weather.”
He plans to cover 120ha with A66 and 80ha to A75 into land long-fallowed from last year’s chickpea crop.
Mr Milne fertilises and plants on stored moisture in October, using a John Deere MaxEmerge planter at a seeding rate of 70,000 seeds/ha.
When harvest starts in February, he hopes to yield between 7t/ha to 10t/ha.
“Dry seasons have not always allowed this in the past few years,“ Mr Milne said. “But these are the yields I am aiming for.“
