Aug 1, 2014

All set for cotton conference FATHER and step-son team Robert Boshammer and Fritz Bolten, of the Ord Valley region, have been trialling new ways to harvest their small seed chia crops with minimal waste. The Kununurra farm produces chia with The Chia Company as their main crop, as well as 200 hectares of chickpeas, 140ha of maize, and 100ha of highbred forage sorghum, in rotation with chia. The Chia Company said it aims to produce sun ripened, chemical free chia and believe swathing is the best harvesting technique. The men have recently purchased and modified harvesting equipment - which they believe has made the best swathing machine so far. "Because we are row cropping, we have put trays in where the furrows are and so that helps stand the crop up so we can guide it on the belt a bit better," Mr Bolten said. "The British started using trays 10 years ago for harvesting sorghum, but we have adapted it to suit us. "Also we added some vertical knives, so we don't get blocked up in the crop. " After trying different methods, the pair believes they have found a system that works for them. "Over time, we felt this is the best way to swathe the chia," Mr Bolten said. "We have tried lots and lots of different ways to do it, but at the moment we think this is the best way. "There is no-one else who swathers chia, because conventionally chia has never been swathed. " The chia crop is swathed using a traditional mechanical swather to windrow the crop and prevent seed loss, which is normally used in broadacre small grain crops. Mr Bolten purchased the front from Geraldton. It was conventionally set up to harvest wheat and was converted to suit their needs. "It would normally have a belt which is used to feed into the header, but we have made it so it's a swathing front, instead of a normal header," he said. "We have had some clever people with us to get the ideas, but this is definitely not mark one. Although the system is working, Mr Bolten said improvements could always be made. Chia has become a popular health food product in Australia and more recently in the Asian, North American and United Kingdom markets. Mr Boshammer said chia is becoming more popular, and said as growers learn more about the "finicky" crop, more people are taking on the challenge of growing it. "It has very small seeds which can be difficult to harvest," Mr Boshammer said. "Its hard to grow and there isn't much knowledge about it. " Mr Bolten said despite the crop being difficult to grow, he has found chia a good fit for their location and climate. Jacinta Bolsenbroek