2024 AIR EP/GRDC Pulse Field Day: “Lentils: The sexy legume”
There’s no denying it – the mere mention of ‘lentils’ certainly pulls a crowd, which is exactly what happened at the AIR EP / GRDC Pulse Field Day held at Lock on 5 September.
With the location planned, catering in the cooler…. even a port-a-loo in tow, over 75 attendees descended on Hundred Line Road to receive the latest on lentil varieties, nutrition, herbicide applications, marketing and delivery options.
So why, may you ask, are they such a big deal?
The rise in popularity of these valuable legumes has seen the area of plantings increase on the Eyre Peninsula from approx. 6,000ha in 2023 to over 16,000ha in 2024. Only the weather knows what’s in store for 2025, but industry experts anticipate this will continue to rise from one season to the next.
This year’s event was facilitated by EPAG Researcher, Andrew Ware who summarised the reality of farming in decile 1 conditions. In posing retrospective questions to the audience, conversation was started between farmers, advisors and researchers as to how they will “do things differently next time the season starts like this”.
Emma Turner, Research Officer with SARDI provided an overview of the lentil nutrition trial. This promoted discussion towards challenges growers encountered this season due to the late, dry start, and some of the observations they had made as the crop emerged and matured. Much of the conversation was dominated by phosphorous responses and long-term strategies, sowing widths, rates and depth, increasing biomass and vigour.
The presentation moved to the herbicide applications in lentils trial with SARDI researcher, Navneet Aggarwal, who explained the use of different chemicals for broadleaf weed control in lentil crops. Herbicide damage was widely discussed, with many farmers and agronomists witnessing crop damage at levels never seen before. Many agreed there are still so many unknowns with respect to the relationship between sowing depth, soil movement and herbicide application for lentils.
As perfectly stated by one of the audience members, “herbicide management in lentils is a dark art”.
Morning tea was followed by a pulse market update from Centrestate Exports Grower Services Manager, Henry Voight. While lentil yields are expected to decrease due to dry conditions in SA and southern Victoria, more lentils have been sown than ever before with 900,000ha (ABARES) planted Australia-wide in 2024. Harvest is currently underway in Canada, Australia’s biggest competitor in the global lentil market, with an anticipated 800,000 tonne crop this season. This will result in pricing pressure for Australian lentils, as Canadian farmers sell for cash straight off the header due to income deficits in 2021 and 2023.
Lentil classifications, storage, handling and receival updates were provided by Brad Griffiths of Plains Grains; Hayley Lewis, T Ports and Kym Scott, Viterra. In response to the increased plantings across Eyre Peninsula, receival locations were confirmed by each organisation including:
- Plains Grains 30,000 tonne bunker at Wudinna
- T Ports Kimba and Lucky Bay will blend Nipper and Hallmark varieties
- Viterra will have segregations for Nipper lentil varieties at Warramboo, Tooligie, Cummins, Kimba, Arno Bay and Tumby Bay
The session concluded with a panel discussion, facilitated by Andrew Ware. Local farmers Shaun Northcott, Dylon Kay, and Tim Polkinghorne shared their experiences in growing lentils on ameliorated, sandy soils. As many farmers focus on improving their soils and agronomic practices to increase lentil production, the shared learnings from this session were valuable to farmers who are either fine-tuning their amelioration methods, or starting their journey to improve problematic soils.
At the conclusion of the GRDC site visit, the audience was invited to visit the Elders lentil variety and agronomy trials, presented by Elders Agronomist, Jonathan Forrest. The trials focus on key areas:
- Timing of spray applications
- Benefits of using disease-resistant varieties
- Options available for broadleaf control
Many thanks to the Cummins Family, Lock for hosting the 2024 Pulse Field Day. Additional thanks to Jonathan Forrest and the Elders team for presenting their lentil variety trial site, and to Gus Glover for allowing a visit to the GRDC Hyper Yielding and Hyper Profitable Crop trial site.
