It’s not often Paul Parker will tell you a tale of the unexpected - but right now he is.
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A district agronomist for 45 years Paul has just about seen it all - until he drove out to take a look at Chris Holland’s mustard crop.
The Thuddungra crop last week had reached around seven feet in height - which almost dwarfs the canola crop over the fence which stands at around four feet.
There’s only around 1500 hectares of mustard growing in the eastern states - eight crops in the Young and Temora district, with the remainder out west at Condobolin, Northern NSW, South Australia and Tullamarine airport in Melbourne.
“Yeah I was surprised - I couldn’t believe how tall it was,” he said, “a crop we had out at Gilgandra had grown to around four and a half feet and had already been windrowed and harvested achieving a yield of one tonne per hectare,” Paul said.
“It is by far the tallest crop of the lot.”
Variety aside, environmental factors - day length, sunlight hours, time of sowing and temperatures - are what he believes to be the main influence on growth.
Yield expectations sit at around 1-1.2 tonnes per hectare.
Chris Holland is a little more circumspect.
“I won’t know anything until its harvested and I wouldn’t want to guess,” he said.
It’s been several years since farmers like Chris have talked mustard and that was when it was being used primarily for biodiesel production.
“When the prices dropped it wasn’t as economic,” Paul Parker said.
But with the establishment of AMO (see inset) in Young, Paul believes there is a golden opportunity for local farmers seeking an alternative crop.
The plant is expected to be up and running early next year.
Chris Holland should begin harvest in around three weeks.
The Australian Mustard Oil company
The production of the mustard seed is all part of a bigger vision of former Young resident Russell Healey - to become the largest exporter of mustard oil in Australia.
Having bought out Palos Verses in Cowra, Mr Healey has now established the Australian Mustard Oil (AMO) company here in Young, installed a crushing and extraction plant with the intention of supplying customers in India, Bangkok, Bangladesh, Japan and Fiji.
The plant is expected to create up to 25 jobs for local people once it is in full production.
AMO will also be undertaking research into mustard production in conjunction with researchers from Southern Cross University in Lismore.
