Attendees of the McIntyre Ag Alliance field days looking at the legumes on Monte Cristo Station.

GROWING interest in legumes was high on the agenda in Southern Queensland this week, as producers from across Qld and NSW gathered for the McIntyre Ag Alliance field day.

About 150 people headed to the Billa Billa recreation club, north of Goondiwindi, to discuss carbon, fire management and the viability of legumes.

The delegates were given a tour of the McDonald family’s Monte Cristo Station, which has seen a major switch to perennial legumes. Beef Central will have another story with Luke McDonald.

University of New England professor Dave McNeill ran the crowd through a $3m Federal Government, which is aiming to bridge knowledge gaps about legumes and provide a manual for producers looking into legumes.

The project has been trialling legumes, for both grazing and hay production, in areas from Central New South Wales to the top end of the Northern Territory. It currently has about 7000ha planted to legumes, which is exceeding its goal of 5000.

“This project is all about blending science with reality, we have put forward ideas with expert agronomic advice, but we have always let the producers decide how they are actually going to do it,” Dr McNeill said.

“It has often been applied differently to what we have advised, which we are delighted about because more than half of this project is about the human element. We think we can also create successes out of failures as well successes out of success.”

The goals of producers involved in the program are wide ranging, with some hoping to build plant diversity, carbon and create long-term perennial systems. Others, particularly in the north, have been trying to add protein and other nutrients to diets. A handful properties are looking at using legumes to help with hay production.

NSW-based agronomist and long-term columnist for The Land Bob Freebairn is also involved in the project and will be writing a series of case studies for the legume manual to help with practical examples and decision making.

Do legumes stack up on paper?

Bush Agribusiness managing director Ian McLean will be contributing an example cost-benefit analysis to legume manual. He said it was important for investments to stack up on paper.

“There are quantifiable and unquantifiable benefits of legumes, some things are harder to quantify,” he said.

“But we need to not kid ourselves and look at hard to quantifiable aspects of legumes. If the investment stacks up on the quantifiable side than the unquantifiable benefits are the icing on the cake.”

Mr McLean said it was important to look at the numbers alongside the risk profile of establishing legumes.

“Beware of establishment failures, it takes a lot more to grow legumes than it does to grow buffel grass,” he said.

“I drive around and see a lot of dead lukena crops, for whatever reason, but they are generating no return.”

Faces from the field day

Leonie Brassey from Suncorp in St George with Goondiwindi’s Tom Lahey.

Ryan Johns and Denniston McInnes from Goondiwindi.

Raymond and Janette Stacey from Southbrook, Raymond also works for agriculture consultancy RCS.

Kate Gordon and Brigitte Gooderham from Westpac Goondiwindi.

Michael Cowley from Fox and Thomas in Goondiwindi, David Knight from the Rural Financial Counselling Service and Jack Fitzgerald from Suncorp Toowoomba.

Ben Murphy from Karbullah near Billa Billa and Jock McClymont from Morennan Station.