Agricultural
7 April, 2026
Farmers’ exceptional yields in Toowoomba Show crop competition
The district was well represented in the RASQ Crop Competition at the Toowoomba Show with Elsden Farms from Brookstead and Mundalee Farming from Yandilla achieving top honours.
Paul Elsden of Elsden Farms won champion crop for his irrigated maize, Pioneer P1837, with a yield of 17.38 tonnes to the hectare.
Mr Elsden said it was a particularly good crop.
“The average was up higher than we’ve seen, with warm days and cooler nights,” he said.
With a total of 199.9 points, the crop nearly broke the maximum yield for ideal conditions.
Mr Elsden, who operates a 3,000 acre property at Brookstead, credited his agronomist, Matthew Skerman of Nutrien Ag Solutions, for the outstanding result.
Another great achievement for the district, was Jason Mundt of Mundalee Farming, who had the best field wheat Hellfire with a yield of 5.583t/ha that scored 167.1pts.
Mr Mundt was named Farmer of the Year at the 2024 Pacific Seeds industry awards, and he continues to be a trial operator for one of Australia’s leading seed providers.
Results further afield were Charles Farming Co. from Cambooya, who made a clean sweep in the Dryland Sorghum competition with phenomenal yields.
The winning crop was Pacific Sterling, with a staggering yield of 12.169t/ha that scored 196.8pts and won him RASQ Reserve Champion Crop.
Second place was Pacific Acclaim, yielding 12.129t/ha and third place was Pacific Halifax, yielding 12.101t/ha.
Melvin and Josh Mengel, who have been farming on the family property ‘Kia Ora’ at Nobby for 148 years, excelled in the Dryland Maize competition, placing first, second and third.
The winning crop was Pac 343, with a yield of 8.26t/ha.
Second place was Pac 606, yielding 7.722t/ha and third place was Pac 627, yielding 7.552t/ha.
Other placegetters were Pallathorpe Enterprises from Macalister (dryland cotton), New Leaf Ag from Condamine (irrigated cotton), PCH Ag from Chinchilla (field barley), and Arcadia Rural from Oakey (irrigated winter crop).
Mr Elsden said he hopes the competition is able to continue in the future, and will support it as best he can, however the time constraints on collecting the samples during harvest is definitely an additional pressure for farmers.
