As Good As Grain Gets

This episodes shows the level of detail and work that goes into producing grain of the highest standard for display at the Royal Easter Show. Matt Mueller is working on the exhibit for the Southern District at the show, and tells us how he sort out the best grain from the worst for the grain judging!

About The Competition:

Grain is a very important commodity in the Australian agricultural market and Matt is going to tell us why. Producing grain can seem quite simple and run of the mill, but it requires a great level of care. It takes a keen eye to differentiate between good and not so good grain. It’s the Easter show and Matt will show us his display of grain and how he sets up a display.

We will be in the Southern District exhibit at the Royal Easter show. Matt Mueller got into it through a family friend and has been doing it for about 8 years. He got thrown into the deep end – his main area is grain – and they show 12 samples of wheat, 12 barley, 4 of oat and then different types of crops. Every district must show 12 samples.

Grain is used all the way through the display on the deck plus it is also judged before it goes up. Everyone is pretty strong in the wheat category. They start with 60 samples get protein tested and weighed and then narrow down to their best 12. May take up to 8 hours to look through a sample but generally 4 to 5 hours. He manages a property in Finlay – mixed farming, rice wheat and pastures – but hasn’t grown anything because been to dry.

They have some good grains but will know exactly on Monday afternoon when judging takes place, which is the best grain as judging shows the best of the season. They hand-pick the grain to show they’re up to Show standard – they remove anything with a black spot, or is not uniform in size.