Mallee Sustainable Farming Research Officer Louise Brok shares insights from the Millewa long-term crop rotation trial established in 2025 in the Victorian Mallee. The trial is evaluating pulse-inclusive farming systems, featuring 50% legumes across five fully phased rotations over four years. The project is investigating profitability, nitrogen fixation and fertiliser requirements, and groundcover retention. Designed for the low-organic-carbon sandy soils of the region, the work aims to test and validate farming systems that improve both productivity and resilience in high-risk environments.

Despite an extremely dry 2025 season — with crops dry sown on 5 May and receiving only around 90 mm of growing-season rainfall — the trials still delivered valuable early insights.

This episode explores the first-year results from the crop rotation and legume integration trial, along with additional demonstrations including wheat–vetch intercropping with varying vetch termination timings and a MAP fertiliser rate demonstration.

📄 Year 1 Results Fact Sheet: Millewa Fact Sheet Year 1
📋 Legume based cropping systems project page: Legume Based Cropping Systems - Mallee Sustainable Farming

This project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Natural Heritage Trust under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.