South Perth, Australia
August 14, 2003

Western Australian growers are again reaping the benefits of field peas as major advances are made through research to improve harvestability and disease management.

The Western Australia Department of Agriculture is putting field peas in the spotlight this month at the Dowerin Field Days and at a grower conference at Wooroloo in September.

The Field Pea Focus Conference will be held at El Caballo Resort, Wooroloo on September 17-18 and will cover all aspects of the field pea industry including new varieties and production issues.

Department pulse extension officer Ian Pritchard said the production area of field peas in Western Australia had begun to increase as more growers recognised the profitability and farming system benefits.

“This growth is linked to the development of new and better varieties including Parafield, Helena and Dunwa, better management packages and improved marketing and prices,” Mr Pritchard said.

“Field peas have superior adaptation to other grain legumes to a range of soil types and environments. At low yielding sites, field peas are the highest yielding grain legume crop and are a key component of the most profitable continuous cropping rotation.”

The focus on field peas at Dowerin will highlight the gains in managing blackspot disease with the aid of a new decision support system.

“Research over the past three years on understanding blackspot in field peas has led to the development of a computer model which will enable growers to assess the relative risk of paddocks to the disease and better manage the crop,” Mr Pritchard said.

“The model predicts when mature spores are present and which rainfall events will trigger spore release.  It uses hourly weather data to determine the predicted spread of the disease spores.”

Emphasis will also be given to promoting simple agronomic procedures and changes to industry receival standards, which have made harvesting field peas much easier.

Following Dowerin, the Field Pea Focus Conference will look at the future of the industry and provide a detailed update on the latest research and anticipated outcomes for growers, marketers and processors.

“The conference will focus on production issues and the significant advances being made through research,” he said.

“Current plant breeding programs are providing varieties that are consistently more reliable, more harvest friendly and adapted to a wider range of environments which will allow the industry to grow and prosper.”

Mr Pritchard said the WA conference was a joint initiative of the Department of Agriculture and Pulse Australia. 

For more information about The Field Pea Focus Conference WA 2003, contact Fred Block on 9956 8564.