CQ mungbeans going strong

Mr French, who has 340 hectares of irrigation land and about the same in cattle country, said 100ha of mungbeans went into the ground at Adelong on January 23 and 24, and while it was still early days, the crop was looking strong. 

“They look pretty good so far, we dropped 30.5kg, and we were aiming for 35 established plants to the meter,” he said.

“From rough counts we range from 30 to the high 30s of established.

“There’s a couple of little empty spots in the paddocks but that’s pretty normal. I think they look really good.”

Mr French said he is hoping strong mungbean prices hold on, and said last year he had great success with the crop, which was planted in the same country. 

After harvesting early irrigated corn, the French family had begun working the ground when intense rainfall around Australia Day 2016 left them with about six inches of rain over a week-long period.

“It was too wet to do anything with it so we planted mungbeans into rain moisture and they went pretty good, we were really happy with them,” he said. 

Mr French said this year he has just harvested 120ha of corn, has about 120ha of cotton in the ground, and the mungbeans. 

“We’re hoping the prices keep strong, as they’re a good crop to have in at the moment,” he said.