Minnipa Break Crops Demo 2025

Описание: Join us for a quick look at the 2025 break crop demonstration sites on the Eyre Peninsula, delivered as part of Building Resilience: Break Crop Suitability Across Landscapes (Stage 2). This SA Drought Hub–funded project, led by Upper North Farming Systems with AIR EP and SARDI, aims to compare break crop options and agronomy across different environments in South Australia.

In 2025, two new EP sites were established at Ungarra and Minnipa, with a focus on seasonal observations and crop performance. In this video, we visit the Minnipa site hosted by Matt Cook, who trialled vetch and field peas on sandy, erosion-prone soils previously used for medic pastures.

Matt shares why maintaining ground cover and improving nitrogen fixation are critical in this environment, and discusses his shift away from livestock toward selecting the most resilient break crops for his system. The trial highlighted strong establishment and biomass from vetch, while peas struggled, especially on sandy rises—confirming they are not a suitable option for this soil type.

Despite not returning a profit this season, the vetch provided excellent cover and soil benefits ahead of next year’s canola crop. NDVI monitoring supported these observations, with Matt’s nearby vetch paddock recording the highest readings throughout the season.

A huge thank you to Matt Cook for hosting the site and sharing his insights, and to Buddhi Chaudhary for 2025 site monitoring.

🔗 Find more videos and project details on the AIR EP website.