Casey share farms 100 hectares near Dalby on the Western Darling Downs.
The rich black alluvial soils of the area are alkaline heavy clay (Vertosol) soils, which with their good water holding capacity produce some of the best cereal grains in Australia.
As a share farmer Casey doesn’t live on the farm but ‘commutes’ to work there. Share farmers pay a portion of their proceeds from selling crops to the owner of the property.
It provides a way for a person to farm even when they don’t own enough land. It can also help older farm owners who may have retired or want to reduce their workload.
Casey grows wheat, maize, mung beans and red sorghum for Kialla. While maize and mung beans are planted to grow during the summer and harvest in autumn, the other crops are planted around May, depending on how much rain there has been, then harvested in late October.
Mung beans are a useful crop to grow in between wheat as legumes fix nitrogen in the soil. They grow quickly, reaching maturity about 12 weeks after planting.