Future bright for rice to take root in Tasmania
Ag scientist Joseph Hartley believes the Apple Isle has the potential for a rice industry. It’s just a case of getting the lime and water quantities right.
THINK Australian rice farming and we imagine the Murrumbidgee and Murray regions.
Certainly not the lush green fields of southern Tasmania, an area better known for its beef cattle.
But University of Tasmania’s agricultural science PhD student Joseph Hartley, whose family farms a market garden on 10ha, sees a strong future for rice farming in the Apple Isle.
For the past three years Joseph – alongside the Hartley’s Grown For Taste vegetable crops – has been trialling rice crops, making them the world’s most southernmost rice fields.
“It hasn’t been done here before, partly because there was irrigation water to be had in the Murrumbidgee and alternatives have been examined further north – which is what you do for a tropical plant – and there hasn’t been a reason to go further south,” Joseph said.
“But a rice industry in Tasmania would work because there’s a comparatively reliable water supply, which is now a problem in southern NSW, and I think it would be good for the Australian rice industry to diversify to spread risk.”
The Hartley farm, on the Tasman Peninsula, has about 60 annual crops grown infield and in hydroponic polyhouses, their largest being leeks and brassicas, sold through their farm gate, in the past to restaurants and during coronavirus through a “vegie drive through”.
Although rich in nutrients, the farm’s soil is marginal, highly acidic with a pH3.6, and a mix of cracking clay and sand, with an average annual rainfall of 500mm.
“When our family first started farming here after running market gardens in Western Australia, my parents tried crops that had never been grown in Tasmania commercially, as far as I know, like eggplants and melons,” said the 42-year-old.
“People just hadn’t thought about it. That’s the same approach I’ve taken with the rice. Give it a go, have a bit of fun and now I’m pretty sure it’s got big potential.”
MAKES SENSE
JOSEPH said he started trialling rice three years ago because his wife Hawa, born in Borneo, grew up with the traditional crop. He sourced seed from the Australian Grains Genebank in Horsham, narrowing down the choice to about 100 based on their ability to withstand cold and to head during long days.
“The biggest issue is death of pollen and most Australian commercial varieties can only handle about two nights of 15C before the pollen starts to die after the third night.
“In contrast some overseas varieties can handle five days and nights of 12C and they maintain 50-70 per cent fertility.
“The other problem is that most rice won’t head quickly during long days, with a threshold between 12-14 hours. Summer days in southern Tasmania are more than 16 hours, which is too long for Australian varieties.”
So based on these criteria, Joseph said he could choose from about 100 cold-climate varieties, narrowing the initial trial planting to 14.
In mid-October 2017 he planted each variety on a small patch about 1sq m with the rice beginning to head on January 2 – a critical period given January is Tasmania’s warmest month – then harvested in February-March.
Some areas were irrigated with drip line while others relied entirely on rainfall.
He said during three years of trials, his acidic soil – not the Tasmanian weather – had been the biggest stumbling block. The low pH caused toxicities and deficiencies that killed the rice pollen, especially when the soil was too wet.
Some varieties, however, set seed on the drier edges of the patch, further from the drip tape irrigation.
“Our soil is unusual for Tasmania but the lessons we’ve learnt might be useful for other people growing rice on acidic soils,” said Joseph, who this year completed his PhD creating wood preservatives for farmers growing timber and has focused on rice as a personal research project.
GAINING TRACTION
WITH the trials “encouraging”, two other farmers around Tasmania – with less complicated soils – will be running trials for the 2020/21 season.
He said while a large number of varieties could theoretically be grown in Tasmania, demonstrating which were best for high-yielding commercial production would be the next challenge.
“If we were to hypothetically sell to SunRice, for instance, they have specific requirements which we may not meet. Cold climates are good for the quality traits of long grains and not so much for sushi rice, or soft and sticky rice.”
He added some high quality varieties for cold climates were no longer grown overseas because of rice blast fungus, but were viable in Australia, because the disease was not found here.
Such is Joseph’s confidence in Tasmania’s ability to support a commercial rice industry that he plans to expand production on the family farm and access funding for an industry research project.
“I expect to have good rice crops on our farm, it’s just a matter of getting the lime and water quantities right,” he said.
“I’m confident it will work here.”
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