Narromine wheat growers, Billy Browning and his mother Jodie have notched up an impressive third place in the Northern NSW Suncorp Bank Championship Dryland Field Wheat Competition.  

The prestigious competition is co-ordinated by AgShows NSW. Judging takes place in over 60 competitions in four different wheat growing regions in the state; Northern, Central, Western and Southern.  

The Brownings latest prize came off the back of their first place award at last year's competition, proving that producing a top quality crop is no fluke.

The Brownings scored 197 points for their 6.5 tonne to the hectare crop, but Mr Browning said, while yield makes up the majority of the points it is only part of the judging criteria. 

"Judges look at a number of things including trueness to type, purity, freedom from disease and weeds, evenness of condition and general farming practices," he said 

David Smith of Croppa Creek topped the northern NSW competition with his 7.0 t/ha and score of 209, ahead of Blake Phillips from Moree in second place (6.9 t/ha 205 pts)197pts) and the Brownings in third. 

The Northern judging region covers Baradine, Barraba, Bellata, Bingara, Boggabri, Bourke, Burren Junction, Coonamble, Crooble, Croppa Creek, Delungra, Garah, Gilgandra, Gulargambone, Gurley, Inverell, Manilla, Moree, Mungindi, Narrabri, Narromine, North Star, Nyngan, Tottenham, Walgett, Warialda, Warren, and Wee Waa. 

“It was incredibly challenging with the flooding and wet weather and sponsors Suncorp needed to go to each farm in each region individually to inspect the wheat,” AgShows NSW president Peter Gooch said.  

With so many roads cut off, sometimes a two day judging became three days including huge detours of a couple of hundred kilometres and northern judging was pushed back a full week as Narrabri was entirely flooded.  

To make the state finals, the top five crops in four regions are identified and then compared to determine the state winner. 

"We have a very encouraging local representative for Ag Shows which is great for them," Mr Browning said. "It's very rewarding for our team to be placed in the competition as it shows our farming practices are getting results." 

Grenfell wheat growers Rob and Mandy Taylor had back to back success an as state champions in the prestigious annual wheat competition for the second year in a row. 

The Taylors had topped the central region with a point score of 218 for their 7.3t/ha wheat crop.