Rising fuel and fertiliser costs, counterbalanced by a local breeding program to improve production, are turning the humble faba (broad) bean into a success for farmers.

Beans bred by NSW Department of Primary Industries to suit conditions in northern NSW and South East Queensland have now found favour with farmers both as a cash crop and source of free nitrogen.

Grain grower Andrew Pursehouse has used faba beans as a winter crop rotation since 1976 on his 2,800 hectare property at Breeza.

"The new faba bean variety we grow today, Cairo, came out of the NSW DPI breeding program and has delivered some pretty solid results," Mr Pursehouse said.

"Cairo has given us high levels of disease resistance and allowed a more effective and less costly fungicide regime."

A good fit with his no-till system, faba beans are well suited to moisture seeking technology and produce up to 40 kilograms of soil nitrogen per hectare which helps grow subsequent grain crops – wheat, barley and sorghum.

"On top of the crop return, if you add the value of the nitrogen which is left behind you get a pretty attractive gross margin from faba beans," he said.

NSW DPI, in association with the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, has continued to up the ante by breeding better beans.

The latest aim of their research is to add Bean leafroll virus resistance and according to NSW DPI plant pathologist, Joop van Leur, they are well on the way to meeting that goal.

"Early indications are that we are on track to get those varieties out within a few years," Mr van Leur said.

According to Mr van Leur faba beans provide a distinct advantage for wheat growers and durum wheat growers in particular.

"Faba beans are very useful as a rotation crop to control root rots. So faba beans are a preferred crop to grow before durum wheat, which is highly susceptible to root rot," he said.

For growers like Mr Pursehouse, who sell to local stockfeed and export food markets, the profitability of faba beans has relied on the success of the NSW DPI breeding program.

"Cairo gives us a bean which better suits export markets. Without these new varieties which were bred, grown and assessed here for our conditions we wouldn’t be growing faba beans.

"It’s as simple as that," he said.

NSW DPI breeds and evaluates faba beans in Narrabri and Tamworth for Northern NSW, SE Queensland and Northern Western Australia with faba beans for the South and Central West NSW bred by the University of Adelaide and evaluated by NSW DPI at various sites.

Contact Joop van Leur, Tamworth, (02) 6763 1200.