Field pea lifeline for State's west and south west

NSW Agriculture is predicting a significant jump in the area of field peas from 21,000 hectares last season to 32,000 ha this season - a 50 per cent increase - with farmers west of the Newell Highway sowing about 65 per of the crop.

"Field pea crops could be a welcome lifeline for farmers in the State's west and south west," NSW Agriculture technical specialist (oils and pulses), Don McCaffery, said today.

"Field peas do not figure highly in cropping rotations in the west, but farmers are now beginning to realise the full potential of the crop.

"Relatively dry cropping conditions, coupled with significantly lower disease risks, make the west and south west more suited to field peas than other rotation crops.

"In the higher rainfall areas east of the Newell Highway, field peas have been unable to compete with canola as the major rotation crop for a number of reasons including disease and other management issues."

In response to growing interest in field peas, NSW Agriculture is undertaking a three-year field pea benchmarking project in the west and south-west of the State to closely monitor field pea performance and gather data for analysis.

"Eight NSW Agriculture district agronomists will intensively monitor and benchmark crops from Nyngan and Warren in the north to Finley in the south-west," Mr McCaffery said.

"Other locations include Parkes, Forbes, Condobolin, Hillston and Griffith.

"This project is specifically designed to collect practical information that will be useful for farmers and fine tune best management guidelines for field peas in the west.

"Also, a new publication titled Field Pea 2004 - Management Strategies for Western NSW is now available and highlights the key areas of management for a successful field pea crop.

"Agronomists will measure crop performance against the actual potential for the season, and identify strengths and weaknesses in the system."

Copies of Field Pea 2004 - Management Strategies for Western NSW are available from NSW Agriculture district agronomists.

Media contacts: Don McCaffery 02 6391 3648; 0427 008 469 or Brett Fifield 02 6391 3311, 0427 029 511