Field Wheat Competition Heritage Highlight

In 1916, Mr E Field submitted to the Council of the RAS his report in connection with the running of the first Field Wheat Competition that year. There were 55 entries, and awards were given for the best 50 acres (20 hectares) of growing wheat in the Riverina division. Judging the inaugural event though was a feat of endurance. ‘It was only by the good feeling and perseverance that existed between the whole of the party that accompanied me, that we were able to get around to as many of the entries as we did. Owing to the bad state of the roads and the weather, we were 14 days in judging, and the distance travelled by car was 1050 miles.’

Encouraged by its early success though, the RAS continued to expand the competition. In 1925 competitions were held by agricultural societies in four regions, the Riverina, Central South-West, Middle West and North-North West, with the RAS then holding a championship competition from these regions.

By the 1930s the competition was in full swing, having broadened the scope to include maize, potato crops and fodder conservation and was being lauded for the inspiration it provided to farmers, ‘What the Royal Agricultural Society has done for the wheat industry of NSW is apparent in the State’s annual crop statistics. It has definitely been the means of increasing the average yield by three bushels per acre’.

In 1996 the long-standing ‘Field Wheat Competition’ was restructured. Officially renamed the ‘Field Crop Competition’, participants could now enter cereal grain, legumes, oilseed or grazing crops such as oats. The RAS’s spokesperson, Michael Arnott commented, ‘The emphasis of the new competition is on crop management, rather than yield’. The overall aim of the competition was to seek excellence in sustainable and profitable grain crop production throughout the state of NSW.  

The final RAS Field Crop Competition was held in 2014.