Experts say faba beans can succeed reliably with best-practice agronomy and soil management, despite their sometimes fickle reputation.

Faba bean yields can vary widely from  year to year, but also in the same paddock, in the same season. Consequently, there is significant demand for more information around growing consistent crops of the nitrogen-fixing legume.

To discuss how to manage the crop for consistently high yields, researchers and growers across eastern Australia met in February, ahead of sowing, at three sites  in the Victorian Wimmera.

Paddock-scale demonstrations have  now been established at these ‘focus farms’  at Douglas, Woorak and Bungalally as part  of a two-year GRDC investment, led by Frontier Farming Systems.

The trial sites and corresponding discussion groups were chosen after  growers, through the GRDC National Grower Network process, identified faba  bean agronomy as a priority.

Meeting needs

Project manager Pru Cook of Nine Creeks Consulting says the two-way discussion groups attended by more than 40 growers gauged key issues for growers around faba bean production.

Topics raised at all three meetings  included the need for more information around inoculating legumes, ameliorating soils and the use of trace elements, or micronutrients. Resources on these issues were provided to participants. An online survey that received 93 responses from Wimmera growers is also being used to guide the discussion and research to address yield instability.

“This helps us know what growers are particularly interested in and where to pitch future discussion group meetings, to focus on knowledge gaps and where there is most interest,” Ms Cook says.

A range of strategies around seeding rates and disease and nutrition management will be tested over two seasons at the focus farms.

Faba upside

Matthew Sparke, from Sparke Agricultural, and SMS Rural’s Nick Zordan have teamed with technical experts Michael Moodie, managing director at Frontier Farming Systems, and Dr Jason Brand, senior research agronomist at Agriculture Victoria, to oversee the discussion groups and focus farms.

Mr Sparke says faba beans are an important nitrogen-fixing legume option in cropping systems for Wimmera growers, particularly in mixed soils and wetter areas that do not support lentils.

For ryegrass control, faba beans can tolerate different rates and types of chemistry than canola and cereals, which can be more effective and help to combat herbicide resistance.

These benefits, along with their potential as a cash crop in their own right, are why growers in the Wimmera persist with growing faba beans and why helping to provide consistency around yields and economic return is a research priority, says Mr Sparke.

“You don’t want a crop that underperforms or to some degree fails.”

Sound strategies

Mr Sparke says yields can vary in  the same location because faba beans  are particularly sensitive to soil acidity  and waterlogging.

Levels of acidity and nutrients change across paddocks because of natural variation in topography and soil type, but also as a product of the expansion of farms over time.

“We can see massive variation within the same paddocks because we have combined smaller paddocks into one large cropping area. All those smaller paddocks will have had a variable history, and they may have been owned by different people at different times, so you’re not dealing with uniform characteristics.”

With this in mind, a key strategy recommended to improve consistency in faba bean yields is to test soils for pH levels and remediate acidic areas through liming.

Technology such as normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) imaging should be used to identify problem areas and zoned soil testing undertaken to ensure remediation is targeted, he says.

Increasing seeding rates to achieve establishment of 25 to 30 plants per square metre would also improve yields without creating disease pressure, he says.

By mid-winter, Mr Sparke says it is important to have an appropriate fungicide strategy in place. Nutrition should also be monitored via soil and tissue tests according to zones within paddocks.

“It’s worthwhile spending some dollars on getting your paddocks right,” he says.

The ups and downs of faba beans

South-west Wimmera grower Dallas Hobbs says he has a “love–hate” relationship with faba beans.

On the upside, he says they provide ryegrass control, low rates of stubble to manage over summer and, currently, some encouraging pricing.

But these benefits can be overshadowed by a downside. Sensitive to environmental conditions, a drier spring can stunt growth, while wetter conditions bring a disease threat that can take significant time on the sprayer to address.

Dallas says that in his experience, faba beans have been the most temperamental crop in his rotation at the Douglas property that he farms with his father, Stephen.

“There’s been great years, like 2023,  when we had some pretty respectable yields and the quality was fantastic. But then, the year before they were hit with chocolate spot and I harvested 16 tonnes off 600 hectares,” he says.

This inconsistency is one of the reasons that faba beans currently make up around only 10 per cent of his cropping program that is dominated by wheat and canola, “thrown in” largely to help control ryegrass when it looks like it is becoming a problem.

Dallas says he would like to increase his faba bean area to around 30 to 40 per cent of his program to help spread risk and gain more from the agronomic benefits the legume provides. But there needs to be more certainty around yields first.

Therefore, to help build a clearer picture and address the inconsistent yields facing growers like himself, he has been happy to host a trial site at his property as part of a GRDC knowledge-raising investment led by Frontier Farming Systems.

He says the trials on his property, looking at seeding rates, disease management and nutrition, will help provide some clarity around what strategies are the most effective.

Photo: Melissa Marino

Taking part in accompanying discussion groups, he says, has also been valuable, particularly because they have brought people together who have a shared experience.

“It’s comforting to know that you get a group of farmers together and they’ve all  got the same issues that you’re dealing with,” he says.

Dallas hopes that, in the end, the project will provide data and evidence to increase his confidence in growing faba beans, ultimately leading them to become a bigger and more reliable part of his system.

More information: Pru Cook, pru@ninecreeksconsulting.com.au