Commercial sesame crop on the horizon for Northern Australia

Alton Downs grower Peter Foxwell has been one of the growers in central Queensland who has opened up his fields for sesame trials. Picture: CQ University Spices are heating up the Queensland cropping industry, with growth trials and market research underway to test which of these tasty culinary enhancers could be the next commercial crop to sweep through the state. One of the spices with the potential to knock out the rest due to promising performance is sesame seeds, but close competitors include Kalonji or nigella seeds, and fennel. The Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia has been working on the spice project for the past five years, working with farmers, researchers, advisers, commercial seed companies. Sesame has proven to be a cut above the rest due to good yields despite the hot and dry climate, reliability to grow across a reasonable amount of land, and great domestic and international market opportunities. Researchers are now fine tuning ideal ...