Mung beans are being commercially harvested in the Kimberley's Ord Irrigation Scheme for the first time in decades.
After promising trial results last year, a handful of growers have planted around 500 hectares of the pulse crop.
Grower Fritz Bolten has been harvesting this month and said the crop had faired well.
"It's gone well, although we've probably not quite averaged our original yield target, but we've got about 2 million serves that will go out to feed people from this [harvest], which is not a small feat and something I'm pretty proud of," he said.
"But what's really exciting is, because it's such a fast-growing, well-suited crop to this area, we're planting a second crop in now, straight away."
Double-cropping benefits
Mr Bolten said the quick growing time of mung beans gave Ord farmers an opportunity to harvest two crops in one growing season (double-crop).
He said the mung beans planted into freshly-harvested paddocks right now should be ready to harvest by mid-October.
"We've always aimed and always wanted to do double-cropping and we feel it's actually a really good thing for the soil," he said.
"It also makes a big difference to our financial viability.
"Growing these shorter crops means we're spending more time in the header than tilling the soil, which I think is a wonderful swap."
Promising future for Ord mung beans
Mr Bolten said mung beans harvested in the Ord this year were being sent to Dalby in Queensland for processing and would likely end up in the export market.
He said mung beans could play an important role in the Ord's future.
"I think they'll be a really fantastic rotation with cotton," he said.
"The plan would be to plant cotton early, we'll pick it, and then work that country up and put a crop of mung beans in, and then potentially a grass crop in afterwards.
"So I can really see a big future for mung beans in our whole cropping system."
