New Federated Farmers arable farming chairman for Whanganui District

Paul Mackintosh is the new arable chairman for Federated Farmers' Wanganui Province. Photo / Laurel Stowell

Crops like fava beans and sunflowers could be dotted through the lambs and dairy herds on Whanganui's most productive land in future.

"It will be different landscape, with a wider variety of crops and food grade crops," new Wanganui Federated Farmers arable chairman Paul Mackintosh said.

He took on the role at the annual general meeting in April, and is the first to have it since the late 1990s. Resuming the role is fitting, at a time when new and more productive uses for the district's best soils are being sought.

Mackintosh is the southwest North Island board member of the Foundation for Arable Research and a participant in Whanganui and Partners' rural enterprise project. His day job is operations manager of a farm business that grows 1500 tonnes of grain a year and also markets the grain of other growers.

Some of the Mackintosh land was used for experimental crops during the last two years, and may be again this year.

There have been local trials of fava beans (broad beans to most), sunflowers, pumpkins for seed, linseed, ancient wheat, canola (oilseed rape), lentils and chickpeas. Others have tried hemp and, in the hills high inland from Taihape, quinoa.

The trials are "quite exciting" but a lot more research is needed, plus alliances with neighbouring regions to ensure that local crop failures don't affect security of supply.

Some of the more likely crops to take off are sunflowers and canola - for food grade oils and possibly biodiesel. What's left of canola after oil is pressed is also useful as a dairy feed.

Take-up of any of these crops is much more likely if there there is a multi-use press for processing nearby. Having a local processor would keep more value in New Zealand.

More trials will be under way this summer.

But there's a lot of competition for the best land with the best soils, Mackintosh said. Dairy probably has the best land already. Beef and lamb prices are good and housing and lifestyle blocks also expand onto good land.

Maize and barley are common crops grown here, with maize yields increasing year by year as better hybrids are found. Maize is fed to dairy cows both as grain and as silage.

There may be more demand for it, now that some farmers are limiting the amount of palm kernel expeller (PKE) they feed to dairy cows.

Barley for malting and animal feed does well on the clay soils of Whanganui and Rangitīkei, and a few farmers feed it to ewes at times when grass is lacking.

Most of the grain grown north of Whanganui goes to feed pigs in the Skilton brothers' Aorere Farms piggery.

This year Horizons Regional Council will begin requiring a resource consent from every arable farmer using over 20ha.

Mackintosh wants to advocate for arable farmers and make sure their concerns are heard at central and local government.

"We can help shape workable practical policy so that we can sustainably keep farming into the future," he said.