Noosa News
Dustbowl to record breaking canola harvest for family farm at Oberon
From a dust bowl to a record breaking harvest, it has been a massive turnaround for one farming team in New South Wales.
Key points:
- NSW grower harvests record canola crop after distressing drought
- Mayfield farm’s 7.16 tonnes canola per hectare is well above the average one tonne per hectare yield
- CSIRO researcher worked with the farmer to develop dual-purpose canola crop useful for grazing sheep and oilseeds for harvest
Conditions were “desperate” in January 2020 on Mayfield, the Hawkins family farm at Oberon, managed by Peter Brooks.
“In 2019 the farm was heavily in drought and practically a dustbowl, so [how the season turned] is beyond our wildest expectations,” Mr Brooks said.
“We were having stock water issues and the farm was in…
