You might have heard about ‘shot and sprung’ grain in the news lately – farmers in parts of New South Wales and Victoria have been dealing with the unwelcome phenomenon.
Severe weather has caused the development. But what exactly is going on, and what do farmers do when it happens?
Grain growing 101
It’s important to have dry conditions when it’s time for farmers to harvest their cereal crops like wheat and barley.
Rain is great when the crops are green and growing, but once they start to dry off, which is essential for harvesting the grains, it’s critical to have dry weather.
Any amount of rain can stop harvest in its tracks, but excess rain can really de-rail things.
It feels wrong to wish away rain, but when a grower is hoping to harvest, it’s a common prayer.
Growers have spent months and months nurturing the plant to this point. Rain at the last hurdle is a real blow.
Shot and sprung
Excess rain can cause the dry, unharvested grains to germinate. The grains push out a root from their base and a green sprout from their top.
This is known as ‘shot and sprung’ grain.
Once grain has shot and sprung, it becomes mostly unusable for human consumption, due to changed chemical components of the grain.
According to Viterra Australia , sprouted wheat can lead to flour failing to rise during baking and shot barley can cause an uneven consistency in brewing efficiency.
Where does it go?
Generally, growers can still sell their germinated grain as livestock feed. Depending on markets, the pay cheque for livestock feed is likely to be lower than the human consumption market.
Rob Bell from ProAgni has uploaded a video to encourage growers that are dealing with shot and sprung wheat in the Central West to not despair.
“It still has good value in livestock (feed),” he said.
“Re-evaluating your grain through a red meat production system can take advantage of a low-quality commodity that we are starting to see a little bit more of unfortunately this season.”
