Aussie invention set to bring new benefits to growers

Australian canola growers can proudly celebrate the anniversary of a world-first Australian invention this year – it’s been 20 years since the release of hybrid canola.

In the two decades since the hybrid Hyola 30 was developed and released by Pacific Seeds, canola growers have had the opportunity to grow several high yielding hybrid varieties.

Andrew Easton, Canola Breeder for Pacific Seeds, says these crops have performed very well in environments of low weed pressure, but because of the high weed pressure in most Australian canola growing regions, many growers have not been able to take advantage of their benefits.

Mr Easton explained that although all triazine tolerant open pollinated varieties, such as Tornado TT and Thunder TT, have an inherent yield penalty, they have been the most popular varieties with canola growers because of their weed control benefits.

Hybrid varieties are much more popular in Canada than they are in Australia, where they make up around 60% of all the canola grown.

“The reason for the difference in popularity is that Canadian growers are using genetically modified herbicide tolerant crops in combination with hybrid breeding,” he said.

“They are able to retain the benefits of high yielding hybrids, with the added bonus of herbicide tolerance.”

Mr Easton said hybrid canola varieties were generally tougher, stronger, more robust plants that grew vigorously and were higher yielding than open pollinated varieties.

“Hybrid varieties are developed by crossing two fixed lines, for the best characteristics of both male and female parents, which leads to heterosis or hybrid vigour,” he explained.

“They often have bigger seeds for larger energy reserves, which contributes towards added vigour.”

Mr Easton said open pollinated varieties were developed from one fixed line, with desired traits strengthened through in-breeding.

“This process tends to decrease yields, but allows breeders to achieve consistency in performance,” he explained.

He said the hybrid breeding process was more complex, with the development of new varieties taking up to seven years.

Canola pathologist, Steve Marcroft, said Hyola 42 was the best early maturing canola variety on the market when he started in the industry in 1994, but it became unusable because it was susceptible to blackleg.

He said the next wave of development in hybrid canola was also affected by blackleg, when the Sylvestris strain appeared.

“Now, there are a whole new range of hybrid canola varieties available, all with very good blackleg ratings, and we’re also starting to see Roundup Ready hybrids,” he said.

According to Steve, a lot of growers haven’t considered growing the new hybrid varieties due to the impact of the drought.

“It hasn’t been the time to break out and try new things,” he said. “Growers are sticking with what they know.”

However, he also pointed to the popularity of Roundup Ready and In Vigour canola hybrid varieties in Canada and said these types of crops might also be a good option for Australian growers.

“It could be the start of a change of direction for canola growers, but it is still early days,” he said.

“Hybrids are definitely an option that is worthwhile for canola growers to consider.”

Andrew Easton said Pacific Seeds would be celebrating the 20 year anniversary of its development of hybrid canola with the release of limited quantities of two Roundup Ready hybrid varieties to Victorian and New South Wales growers this year. Both hybrids were developed and tested in Australia.

He said growers could choose between an early-mid maturing hybrid that was suited to low-med rainfall areas (M8032) and a mid maturing hybrid for med-high rainfall areas (M8265).

“In trials, M8032 has shown yield benefits of up to 20% above triazine tolerant varieties,” he said.

Mr Easton added that growers could also choose Hyola 50, a non-GM hybrid with a 9.0 blackleg resistance rating and the highest average yields for mid-season, conventional canola in National Variety Trials from 2005 to 2007 in both Victoria and New South Wales.

Caption: Pacific Seeds produced limited stocks of the new mid-season Roundup Ready hybrid canola (M8032) for growers to sow this year.

Downs wheat crop a double award winner

Geoff Pedler, “Trevalsa”, Jondaryan decided to try Pacific Seeds’ EGA Gregory last season and was rewarded with a near perfect growing season and a double award-winning crop.

The 35 acres of Gregory won first place the 2007 RAS Planttech Queensland Dryland Field Wheat Competition and also won first place in the Oakey Show.

35 acres of EGA Gregory was sown on June 17th into a block that was two years fallow out of corn. The zero till dryland crop was planted on a full profile of moisture following June rain and 40 kilograms of Starter Z was applied at planting time. There was nitrogen already in the profile.

Mr Pedler was impressed with the vigour and standability of the EGA Gregory.

“It had good seedling vigour, hung on all season and stood really well,” Mr Pedler said.

“It had beautiful colour throughout the growing period and stayed green until the end.”

“It’s certainly worthwhile growing EGA Gregory again.”

A hail storm on October 9th damaged one strip of the crop but left the rest unscathed.

“To see it come out of the hail – it must have had good straw strength,” Mr Pedler said.

The crop also received 65mm of rain in July and 60mm in August.

No chemical weed control was applied to the crop and there was no evidence of pests or diseases throughout the season.

The crop was harvested on November 14, with a yield of 5.07 t/ha with 3.6% screenings and 10.9% moisture. The hail damaged crop strip yielded around ½ tonne.

Pacific Seeds graduates more certified seed samplers

A group of Pacific Seeds staff members were recently presented with their certified seed sampler’s certificates at special luncheon held in their honour.

The staff members were graduates of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Seed Sampling Techniques Training Course, run by the Queensland Seed Technology Laboratory in Gatton.

The course teaches the correct seed sampling skills and processes required in dealings with a number of Pacific Seeds’ export customers.

The graduates – Kim Frost, Abraham Hudson, Michael Purbrick, Paul Mullins, Ron Sondergeld and Kuldeep Singh join a group of approximately 20 Pacific Seeds staff members who are certified seed samplers.

Factory Manager Jon Lindley said Pacific Seeds had a higher than average number of team members who were certified seed samplers.

“Twenty certified seeds samplers is an impressive number and it means that our workflow in the various different divisions are not interrupted by staff illness or absences,” Mr Lindley said.

Making the trip to Pacific Seeds’ Toowoomba Head Office to present the graduates with their certificates were Queensland Seed Technology Laboratory’s Kevin Boyce and Murray Hill.

Congratulations graduates on contributing these very valuable skills to the Pacific Seeds team!

Caption L-R: Abraham Hudson, Kim Frost, Murray Hill and Michael Purbrick.

Pacific Seeds to offer growers GM choice

28th November 2007

Pacific Seeds has welcomed the opportunity to offer farmers a choice on genetically modified (GM) canola next year.

Following the announcements of the New South Wales and Victorian Governments, Pacific Seeds is committing to the production of a limited amount of Roundup Ready canola seed for next season.

Managing Director of Pacific Seeds, Chris Bazley, said the company’s Roundup Ready canola would offer growers the dual benefits of easy and flexible weed management combined with increased vigour and higher productive potential.

“We are pleased to see that Australian farmers will now have the right to choose whether or not they use varieties developed with the aid of genetic modification,” he said.

Two varieties of GM canola seed are expected to be available from Pacific Seeds next year as part of a pilot program, with a small number of farmers growing a limited number of hectares. Several demonstration trials are also proposed across Victoria and New South Wales, to allow growers to observe the varieties throughout the season.

“Any actions Pacific Seeds takes with regard to GM crops will be guided by the requirements of farmers and regulators, including the expert committee to be established by the New South Wales Primary Industries Minister to assess the segregation of GM and non-GM food crops,” he said.

Mr Bazley said Pacific Seeds was responsible for breeding and developing the first hybrid canola varieties in the world – a true Australian innovation.

“Combining our hybrid genetics with the Roundup Ready trait allows for excellent weed control and dramatic increases in canola crop yields,” he explained.

He said significant yield increases had been recorded in company trials comparing Pacific Seeds’ Roundup Ready canola varieties with triazine tolerant varieties.

Mr Bazley said the company was looking forward to continuing its professional, scientific development of a range of canola varieties offering benefits to farmers and consumers.

“Pacific Seeds already has the widest range of canola varieties available to Australian growers, and this range of choices will only further grow with the decision taken today,” he said.

Pacific Seeds is planning to release four new non-GM and two Roundup Ready canola varieties in 2008.

“Non-GM varieties will continue to be an important part of the industry and Pacific Seeds is committed to providing growers with genuine choices in canola cropping, including non- GM and GM crops,” he said.

  Forage makes most of moisture

  Like many growers in the Macquarie Valley, Greg and Cindy Job based many of their farm management decisions over the past few seasons on the amount of water available to sustain a summer cropping program.  In 2006 Greg and Cindy were not confident they would be able provide enough water at the critical times to grow a heavy corn crop under full pivot.

They looked for a crop which would enable them to be more flexible in their watering schedule.  They also wanted to harvest grain from the oat crop that had been growing under the pivot in winter, which meant the ideal planting window for corn or lucerne would have passed.  For these reasons and because of the buoyant hay prices caused by the ongoing dry period, the Jobs decided to plant Superdan 2.

Following the oat harvest, the oaten stubble was baled.   Then the Superdan 2 was direct drilled into the standing stubble a week later on November 20, at a planting rate of 17kg/ha.

The crop was sown with 80kg MAP as a starter fertiliser and 200kg of Urea was spread across the paddock and watered in.   Round Up® was used pre sowing to clean up any weeds that had escaped during the winter and Atrazine® was applied three days after sowing to combat any emerging weeds.

The first cut was made when the crop was roughly 1.5m high on January 9, seven weeks after the initial sowing date.  A mower conditioner was used and the crop was baled eight days later yielding approximately 5.5t/ha.

When Greg placed an advertisment for the Superdan 2 hay in the paper he was swamped with phone calls.  Part of the crop was sold to cattle producers and some retained to be fed to his own sheep.  Greg was impressed - “The sheep just cleaned it up as the stems were thin. The biggest stem was as big as my little finger.”

Due to showery conditions a second cut was made on March 2 and used for round bale wrap silage.  Cut on the Friday, wrapping was delayed by some showers and the bales were wrapped five days later.  The Superdan 2 cut 15t/ha of silage for the second cut and was sold to local producers. “We wrapped 350 bales and only six bales showed any signs of stalks poking through the plastic,” Greg commented. Superdan 2’s thin stalks and leafiness are some of the reasons why it makes the highest quality hay and is the leading forage sorghum when wrapping round bales.

Providing the season is favourable Greg hopes to take a third cut before fallowing the paddock through to a summer crop later this year.

 “Considering we harvested an oat crop, were unable to get on the paddock till late November and we were limited at times with our watering schedule the Superdan 2 has been an excellent crop on Caloma,” Greg said.

Pictured is Greg Job ‘Caloma’, Narromine in his crop of Superdan 2 direct drilled into standing oat stubble.

Early Maxi crop a winner at Brookstead

With good recent rainfall growers are looking toward their first early spring plant in over six years.

Macalister farmer Rob Taylor believes utilising early moisture to make the most of a long season variety is one of the reasons he will be planting grain sorghum within the next few weeks.

Mr Taylor has already selected the hybrid of choice for this situation.

“We’ve had good results from Maxi, the variety gets up and goes.” he said.

“We make sure we put it in on a full moisture profile make sure it’s not too cold because you don’t want it sitting there doing nothing for a couple of weeks.”

Mr Taylor stressed the importance of a good profile.

“We’ll see what’s happening towards the end of September, and choose the ground with the best moisture for our Maxi,” he said.

“If it’s got plenty underneath it, it’s a good tough variety that performs well.”

Pacific Seeds Territory Manager Maree Crawford said that the catalyst for this early plant will be the potential for many growers  to capitalise on an early plant and avoid the full heat of summer during flowering.

“With the early plant we get around two extra weeks of actual growing time which contributes to yield increase given good moisture availability and this season the prices are attractive enough for farmers to make good returns,” she said.

Mr Taylor said that over recent seasons, where the soil temperature has reached 13-14 degrees and is rising, the grower who practices zero till and controlled traffic to conserve moisture and get the most from his soils has planted MR-Maxi as his first planting.

Pictured is Rob Taylor of "Curaweena", Macalister who will plant MR-Maxi on the early start again this season given the right moisture conditions.

Early Maxi crop a winner at Brookstead                   

Planting 108ha of MR-Maxi dryland, Black and Co. at Brookstead utilised zero till and good starting moisture to bring the crop home to a win in the Pittsworth Show Grain Sorghum competition.

The winning crop, which was planted using Elite® treated seed on 14 September went in at a rate of 70,000 seeds/ha.

The Maxi was planted into black alluvial soils and had an early pre-plant application of a N, P, S and Zinc blend at 185kg/ha and also a top up of a further 40Kg/Ha of N pre plant with Big N .   At planting the crop received an application of starter Z at 50kg/ha.

The winning crop was yield tested at 9.066 t/ha (at 13.5% moisture). The paddock averages were 6.9 t/Ha and 6.5T/Ha

Peter Black, of Black and Co. said  this is the first time they had grown MR-Maxi and in the future if the conditions are right will grow it again.

“We know it can perform well and  can now add MR-Maxi to the list of varieties that are used in our summer cropping program. I can see MR-Maxi being used those times you have a good profile of moisture and the opportunity to get it in early,” Peter Black said.

Black and Co. also planted Pacific MR43 and MR-Buster as part of their summer cropping program.

The  MR 43 went 5.1T/ha on long fallow in a November plant and the MR Buster went 5.3 T/ha on long fallow also in a November plant

For weed control, 2kg/ha Atrazine broadacre,  and 1.6 l/ha metolochlor bandspray were applied, as was an interrow spray with glyphosate.

Pictured are Jim, Val and Laurie Black with the winners shield at the Pittsworth Show.

Cold soil emergence trial work underway

Providing data to help grain sorghum growers capitalise on the growing trend towards early plantings has been one of agronomist, Trevor Philp’s goals over the past six months.

Working for Pacific Seeds as their Summer Grains Agronomist, Trevor has been conducting cold tolerance trials under controlled conditions at the QDPI&F Leslie Research Station using temperature controlled cabinets.

The first to stress that the trial has limitations in replicating field conditions, Trevor said it nonetheless provides a stepping stone to wider scale trials in real field conditions in the coming season.

“In a nutshell, what we’ve attempted to do is simulate as closely as possible within the constraints of the temperature controlled cabinets, the effect of cool soil on seedling emergence and vigour. A number of sorghum hybrids were tested at soil temperatures of 10-12 degrees, 12- 14 degrees and 14-16 degrees.

“Additionally we have simulated the effect of rising soil temperatures after planting by increasing temps after 15 days and again at 30 days.

“The key measurements we are making in the process relate not only to cold soil emergence, but also seedling vigour which is important in assessing disease susceptibility.”

In order to create an environment as close to field conditions as possible, black alluvial soil from the Darling Downs taken from sorghum on sorghum ground was sourced for the trial.

“This means the effect of seeding diseases , which can be very damaging under cool wet conditions can be assessed.”

The sorghum hybrids in the trial consisted of Pacific Seeds’ lines and one competitor variety.   The  plants were grown out to the three leaf stage.

“We’re looking at conducting similar trials in the paddock in selected  parts of the growing area this summer,” Trevor said.

“One of the downfalls of the trial in the cold cabinets is the lack of insect pressure, and also we can’t account for falling moisture levels.”

Some of the key attractions to planting early grain sorghum crops is to ensure the crop has finished flowering before heatwave conditions occur.  Capitalising on soil moisture before evaporation takes its toll in the heat of summer is another important factor considered by those who plant early.

“This trial work is in its early stages,” Trevor said.  “We strongly advise growers to talk to their advisor or agronomist before planting into cold soils.”

“From our initial results, we can re-iterate that the warmer the soil temperature the better, but we strongly advise against planting into soils below 14 degrees.”

“If you are attempting it however, even seed placement and controlling seed depth so it’s not too deep will assist in germination as much as possible.”

The cold soil emergence chart shows the preliminary trial results,, which have been corrected to reflect the germination levels of the seed used.  A second set of trials is underway.

Pictured above is the cold start trial emergence rates at various temperatures.  The results have been adjusted to allow for the poor germination test results of the competitor variety.

Winner drawn in Drover Oats promotion

After an extension of the competition until May 30, the winner of the Drover Oats Promotion has been drawn.
B and J McNaughton, who farm at Waaia in northern Victoria were named the winners of Australian Stock Horse, “Hazelwood Drover” when their ticket was drawn by ABC Southern Queensland breakfast presenter, Jenny Swan at Farmfest on Tuesday 5 June.
The promotion drew a huge response and a lot of interest from oats growers from the eastern states where the promotion was held.

Pictured are Forage and Oats Business Manager, Ken Reimers with ABC Southern Queensland's Jenny Swan drawing the winner of the Australian Stockhorse at Farmfest.

Research Farm hosts annual agronomy workshop

February 2007: Pacific Seeds research farm played host to the company’s summer crop plant breeders and sales staff from both Australia and New Zealand in early February.

The occasion marked Pacific Seeds annual Summer Crop Agronomy workshop, the sales team’s agronomy knowledge is updated and they are made aware of what new hybrids are approaching commercialisation.

According to Pacific Seeds Northern Region Sales Manager, Ben Adams the day provides an excellent opportunity to see these advanced experimental hybrids next to the company’s existing line-up.

“While some of these hybrids have been in our field test trials for a number of seasons and as such are familiar to both our staff and farmers, others are only just about to enter the farmer trial program and carry with them some very exciting traits,” he said.

With staff members from all the cropping regions of Australia and New Zealand at the workshop, it was also a chance to discuss how different hybrids are adapted to different environments, and provide anecdotal evidence of the different fits of the same hybrids in different parts of the country.

According to Mr Adams, prime examples of this are the corn hybrids which were on display at the research farm.

“Our corn hybrids have very clearly defined areas of adaptations based on maturities and disease resistances and this was apparent with some of the  short season, temperate varieties which we have bred for southern Australia and those specifically bred for New Zealand.

 “They provided a very interesting comparison with varieties we have purpose bred for Northern Australia, which even in the extreme conditions this season are looking good.”

The agronomy workshop is conducted each year just before the farmer summer field days are held.

Winners take home top prizes

February 2007: A six month long summer crop promotion held in conjunction with Philp Brodie Grains has finalised, with the winners being drawn recently.

The ‘simplify the equation’ promotion offered some excellent prizes, with the winner receiving a John Deere L108 lawn tractor, and runners up receiving either a Westinghouse bar fridge or Driz-a-bone jacket.

In keeping the money local, all the prizes were sourced from local Toowoomba based merchants including Vanderfield Machinery, Betta Electrical and Hannas.

The competition was drawn electronically, with the ABC Southern Queensland Rural Reporter, Alice Plate officiating.  (There were over 4000 entries)

The grand prize winners were Don and Jenny Petersen of  Brookstead.

Bar fridge winners were Vaughan Farming Co of Brookstead and HS Farms - Lindsay and Jenny Holmes of Clifton.

The Driz-a-bone Brumby Jacket winners were ID and VG Weier of Clifton; Bryan Kath of Cambooya and B and C Kuhn of Clifton.

Pacific Seeds territory manager, Bill Smith congratulated the winners and thanked all the growers who entered the competition.

Caption: Don Peterson from Brookstead takes possesion of his winning prize from Phil Albury and Peter Brodie.

Pacific Seeds cements its winner's position in crop competition

February 2007: The results of the 2007 Warialda P&A Grain Sorghum Competition are in, with Ray and Nikki Price’s crop of MR-Maxi taking out the historic prize.

The North Star crop, which was planted into long fallowed country on September 26, won with an estimated yield of 6.27t/ha. Second place went to Paul and Laura Cush of Warialda whose crop of Pacific MR43 had an estimated yield of 5.2t/ha. In third place was Chris and Pauline Densley of Masterman’s Farming at Warialda who also planted MR-Maxi.  The Densley’s crop was estimated to yield 5.04t/ha.

The Warialda grain sorghum competition has been running since the 70s, and in the last decade or so has been dominated by growers planting Pacific Seeds’ varieties.

Pacific Seeds’ Territory Manager for North West NSW, Robert Johnston said it was wonderful to see the best growers in the region receiving accolades such as this, and gratifying to see them win with Pacific Seeds’ varieties.

“We’re confident in our varieties, and are glad that growers have confidence in them as well,” he said.

“The outcome of the region’s annual summer crop trials are published in a comprehensive guide, which is distributed with the aim of keeping growers informed on how each variety performs.”

Besides being the competition winners Ray and Nikki Price are also trial co-operators for Pacific Seeds, and have held trials at their North Star property for a number of seasons.

In the 2005/06 season, MR-Maxi planted on 1.5m rows topped their trial with a yield of 6,681 kg/ha (at 13.5% moisture).

Mr Johnston congratulated the winners and thanked all the entrants in the crop competition.

Caption: Warialda grain sorghum competition winner Ray Price.

Winning growers return with insights from abroad

October 2006: Russell Moloney (pictured right) from Oaklands, NSW, has returned from 'the trip of a lifetime' to Germany with a new appreciation of farming practices used across the world and an insight into the agricultural technologies currently being developed.

Mr Moloney was one of four growers to win a place on the Pacific Seeds and Elders study tour to Germany this winter.

One of the first discoveries they made was that Germany was in drought too, so the travellers had plenty in common with the locals!

“Germany is in drought, so growers there are stripping only 5t/ha of wheat rather than their usual 10t/ha,” he said. “The rainfall levels and quality of topsoil the German growers have is much better than what we see in most of Australia.”

Mr Moloney was interested to note that the standard harvester has a width of only four to five metres, to cope with the volumes of grain.

The small group of nine Australians made the most of their 10 days away, visiting chemical companies BASF and Bayer, a major broadacre farm and a range of agricultural companies.

Mr Moloney was particularly impressed to see the manufacturing plants and trial sites at Bayer, where the group heard it can take the company 10 years to develop an innovation to commercialisation stage.

As well as a great learning experience, the group didn’t hesitate to offer their feedback on Bayer’s products, suggesting that their seed treatment Gaucho® could be improved by adding control for lucerne flea.

Pacific Seeds’ Territory Manager – South Australia, Andrew Etherton said the sheer scale of developments outlined by BASF was impressive.

“They start with 140,000 candidates, and after years of work, might only release one of them as a product,” he said. “That one product can cost them 200 million euros ($AUD 342 million) to develop.”

Mr Etherton said Germany was starting to see greater competition for grain between food and energy markets, with a million hectares already devoted to energy production in the form of wheat and winter rapeseed for biodiesel, and sugar beets for ethanol.

“They can make about 1,300 litres of biodiesel per hectare from winter rapeseed, based on a 3 to 4t/ha yield,” he said.

He said about 1.3 million hectares of winter rapeseed was sown in August and September each year and nurtured with growth regulators to ensure the crops were strong enough at six to eight week stage to withstand frosts and snow over winter.

“The challenges they face are quite different compared with growers in Australia!”

Canola yields unexpected bonus for growers

June 2006: Ben Sprigg has already yielded a great return from purchasing Pacific Seeds’ Tornado TT canola seed from his local Elders branch this season.

The Cranbrook grower is Western Australia’s lucky winner of a major seed competition that is sending four Australian growers on a 10-day study tour to Germany this July.

Mr Sprigg sowed 150 hectares Tornado TT canola for the first time this year on some rain in late May.

“We traded up from Beacon to Tornado for increased Blackleg resistance and higher yields,” Mr Sprigg said.

While it has nearly all emerged, dry weather in the last couple of weeks is slowing down sowing for barley and oat crops.

“The weather could be kinder, but we use knife points and press wheels at sowing, which is brilliant for dry seasons like this because when it does rain it runs into the furrows where it’s needed,” he said.

Mr Sprigg obtains cropping advice from Dan Taylor, Elders Cranbrook, on everything from seed and fertilisers to crop protection.

“Elders Cranbrook is really handy. It’s almost a one-stop shop for us,” he said.

The study tour will include visits to canola seed technology facilities, local farmers and biodiesel plants.

“I’m really excited about the trip,” said Mr Sprigg.

(Above right) Heather Cosgriff from Pacific Seeds congratulates Ben Sprigg (centre) on winning a study tour to Germany thanks to buying Tornado TT canola from Dan Taylor, Elders Cranbrook.

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Countdown to superior lucerne varieties is on

June 2006: Pacific Seeds is confident its collaborative relationship with the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Tropical Plant Protection at the University of Queensland, headed by Prof John Irwin, will enable it to provide superior lucerne varieties to Australian farmers.

Prof Irwin is the recent recipient of the Farrer medal and the CRC Association’s 2006 Excellence in Innovation Award for his work in lucerne.

Improved forage yield of lucerne can be achieved by selection for adaptation, disease and insect resistance, persistence and resistance to abiotic stresses.  Major factors limiting persistence are diseases and insect pressures.

According to Prof Irwin the most important factors limiting persistence in Eastern Australia are Phytophthora root rot and Colletotrichum crown rot.

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Swag a real winner

June 2006: Grain grower and contract harvester Tim Hoadley from Dalby is the winner of the Pacific Seeds' 'win a swag' competition, held at this year's FarmFest in June. Tim updated his contact details at the Pacific Seeds' display tent and his name was put into the draw for the $400 RM Williams swag.

Tim said he was 'over the moon' about his win. "It is really the first thing that I have ever won," he said. He was even more thrilled with his prize because he and his mate were the victims of a recent swag theft from the back of Tim's ute when they were pulled up in a New South Wales town. Tim's mate's swag was taken from the ute and never recovered. He will now give his old swag to his mate as a replacement to the one stolen and he will make good use of his new one.

Thanks for taking the time to update your details Tim, and sweet dreams in your new swag!

Caption: Pacific Seeds' territory manager Maree Crawford presents Tim with his new swag.