BACK in 1992 Paul and Sue Kelly planted a niche crop on their Mingenew farm.
The crop’s vibrant yellow flowers and pungent smell made for quite the talking point in the district, but Paul saw a lot of potential.
These days, that once-niche crop is commonly known as canola and it’s a fairly standard addition to most broadacre cropping programs in the northern Wheatbelt.
The Kellys have long been champions of alternative crops, a cause which has seen them have some success stories with crops like canola and coriander, as well as a few spectacular failures.
“In the late 1980s and early 1990s, we started looking at alternative crops and alternative land uses,” Paul said.
“Our good friends in Dongara, Chris Gillam, Simon Dempster and Peter Schulze were trialling chickpeas and other crops, so I joined in with them and then we continued on from there.
“We grew our first canola crop in 1992, there were very few canola crops grown in the northern area at that time, but it was a good decision.
“Over the years we’ve grown paprika, potatoes and Japanese chillies – all were great failures.
“We’ve also grown aniseed and guayule, which is a natural latex used for making surgical gloves and condoms and a great talking point.
“We also had a commercial pasture seed licence, being early adopters of French serradella, and we were very successful growing that and a few other pasture seeds.
“I like the look of these other crops, they stand out in the paddock against the usual line-up and it’s interesting to trial something different.”
Paul has been farming for more than 40 years, on the farm his parents originally took up in 1950, before he and Sue expanded by purchasing a neighbouring farm in 1992.
They have three daughters, Tara, Shaina and Rebecca, with Rebecca keen to return to the farm next year after completing her agricultural studies at Marcus Oldham College, Victoria.
The Kelly’s 3100 hectare property is 30 kilometres from the coast between Mingenew and Dongara, with the Irwin and Lockier Rivers joining on the farm to create 11km of river frontage.
The farm has many different soil types, ranging from blue clay through to beach sand, producing many challenges such as acidity and non-wetting soils.
They sit in a rainfall belt of approximately 450 millimetres, but also have access to a huge supply of underground water.
To make use of that underground water, the Kellys applied for and were granted a 1 gigalitre water licence and dedicated a 2ha experimental plot to trial different crops under centre pivot irrigation.
In 2005 they received a grant to study and grow paprika.
“It wasn’t a great success, but it was an interesting little trial,” Paul said.
The broadacre cropping program, which this year comprises of wheat, GM-canola, white lupins, oats and biserrula, remains the most profitable part of the Kelly’s farm enterprise, but Paul has a soft spot for dabbling with niche crops.
He said he had always been mindful not to overcapitalise, so they only plant varieties where they can utilise existing seeding and harvesting equipment.
Paul said they had grown up to 100ha of coriander in the past and up to 500ha of certified pasture seed, which is something he said they would look at doing again, due to its success.
Coriander is a winter crop, planted in April /May and harvested in November, with a similar fertiliser and grass spray program to wheat.
Once harvested, the seed is predominantly sold for export through a broker.
Plenty of research goes into deciding what to grow, including advice from agronomists and Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
Paul has also been an active member of local farming organisation, the Mingenew-Irwin Group, for many years and has been involved with other wider industry organisations such as the Grains Research and Development Corporation.
“We’ve always been very well-resourced as people we’ve worked with are also very keen to try new crops, so there has been plenty of advice and information available to us,” Paul said.
“Coriander is one of the crops we’ve grown that has been very good for us –we’ve grown it 10 times over a number of years.
“We will only ever grow it if the marketer says it’s on, according to world supply and price, because it’s a small market and if it gets oversupplies, you risk getting stuck with a lot of expensive seed you can’t use.
“This year, we’re growing no alternative crop because the season has been so unusual, but we’ll look at coriander again next year.”
Paul said he was also looking forward to seeing what new ideas Rebecca had to offer when she returned to the farm.
“I encourage others to have a go at growing alternative crops and I do enjoy sharing my experiences, good and bad, because it’s important for people to know about the failures as well as the successes” he said.
“In this district, there are a lot of clever young farmers who are really switched on and are taking an interest.
“It’s well worth a go, but get the right advice and start with a small trial.
“So what if you fail?
“No one likes getting egg on their face but by trying, you will learn something and you might even succeed.”
