A crop of Kittyhawk wheat averaging 6.3t/h has taken first place for Geoff Lane in the Lockhart and District Ag Bureau’s field wheat competition.

The Bureau held an annual general meeting and post-harvest wrap up on February 4 at the Boree Creek Hotel.

The evening included presentation of the Lockhart Show Society Crop Competition results and the Peter Schirmer Memorial Award for Farming Excellence.

The individual judges presented the results from each crop type and Lockhart Ag Bureau public officer David Gooden moderated the presentation.

“On behalf of the Lockhart Ag Bureau, we would like to thank our sponsor, the Lockhart Community Bank. Without their support we wouldn’t have the ability to run the competition,” Mr Gooden said.

“We’d also like to thank sponsors Igrain, GrainCorp and our host, the Boree Creek Hotel.”

BASF territory sales representative Warwick Nightingale judged the wheat competition.

“Conditions were just right for many growers this year. It’s been not to wet and not to dry and has rained at the right time,” Mr Nightingale said.

“2020 will be remembered for COVID, but for the people in this room it will be remembered for the unbelievable cropping year.

“First place went to Geoff Lane, with Kittyhawk wheat sown into a lucerne fallow, which averaged 6.3t/ha and went H2 at the silos,” Mr Nightingale said.

“Dave and Bonnie Schiender received second place with a crop of Gregory wheat and third place went to Mark and Mandy Bowyer with Catapult wheat.”

AgNVet agronomist Will Lane judged the barley section of the competition.

“We looked at barley paddocks from Brookdale to Boree Creek and Bidgeemia. We saw various cropping systems across the different locations,” Mr Lane said.

“There was some wet weather damage and evidence of the barley finishing a bit early, however the yields were still high and ranged from 5-7t/ha.

“First place went to Rob and Juanita Kurrle with Planet barley, which ended up yielding 7t/ha.

“Second place went to Mark and Mandy Bowyer with Planet barley and third went to Geoff Lane with Planet barley also.”

There were 11 crops entered in the canola competition, which was judged by Nuseed territory manager Alan Wright.

“It was good to see new and old entrants in the competition and all of the crops were well and truly worthy of entry,” Mr Wright said.

“We judged crops from Urangeline to Osborne over to the Galore Hill and the yield ranged from 1.5-2.75 t/ha.

“In first place was Rob and Juanita Kurrle with Trophy canola.

“Neil and Margie Schirmer came second with a Clearfield canola variety 44Y90 and Geoff Lane came third with Trophy canola.”

The pulse crops were judged by Delta agronomist Heidi Gooden.

“There were five crops to be judged, including three narrowleaf lupin crops, one faba bean crop and one chickpea crop,” Mrs Gooden said.

“First place went to Trent and Regina Gooden with Jurien lupins at Brookdale.

“Second place went to Warakirri Cropping with Hatrick chickpeas and third place went to Keiran and Tania Gleeson with Samira faba beans.”

Mrs Gooden also acknowledged the importance of the annual competition in the farming community.

“Thank you to the Lockhart Show Society and the Ag Bureau for continuing the competition.

It’s a really important part of our calendar year and the crop comp brought back some normality and community spirit to 2020.”

Bendigo Bank business development manager Clare Hamson and Neil Schirmer presented the Peter Schirmer Memorial Award for Farming Excellence, which is based on the results of all crop categories