Crop Circle Consulting and Research is an independent research agronomy firm, based in Geraldton, the central hub of the northern agricultural region of Western Australia. The Crop Circle research team combine attention to detail and rigorous methodology to test new plant breeding material, fertilisers and pesticide chemistry in a variable Mediterranean climate.
The region is a world leader in lupin (lupinus angustifolius) production, as well as producing quality hard and noodle wheats, malting and feed barley, canola, chickpeas, oats, triticale and grazing pastures.
The region ranges from light textured grey sandy soils, through to deep loamy sand yellow sandplain soils, acidic wodjil soils, red loamy sand soils through to heavy red clay loam soils overlying limestone.
Grant Thompson
Director and Agronomist
Director and Agronomist Grant Thompson has been working as a researcher, agronomist and consultant to farmers in the northern agricultural region for almost 25 years.
Highlights of Crop Circles Research include
- Research and extension into liquid fertiliser equipment and application. This work led to the importation of liquid fertiliser distribution equipment and tow behind liquid fertiliser carts for many famers in the WA grain growing belt.
- Developing farming systems to combat climate variability using fallow and residual herbicides. This work culminated in a 3 year, 3 location, 3400 plot project funded by the GRDC.
- Studies of nutrient distribution patterns in the no-till systems for precision furrow placement and interception of residual nutrients.
- Spot spraying herbicide applications – a multi location project to determine alternative herbicides for effective spot spraying of hard to kill and resistant weeds in summer and winter fallow.
- Testing manganese Sources for prevention of Split Seed syndrome in Lupinus Angustifolius
Currently Crop Circle Research is focusing its work on
- Evaluation of Canola, Wheat and Barley for Plant breeding companies
- Testing herbicide tolerance and efficacy of new herbicides pre and post registration in a range of cereal, pulse and oilseed crops
- MRL studies for new chemicals
- Evaluating new fertiliser products and practices for local and international fertiliser companies
- General agronomy management strategy trials
- Agricultural machinery evaluations
- Horticulture pesticide and fertiliser evaluations.
Chloe Paterson
Chloe is lead researcher in the crop protection team at Crop Circle Research. She specialises in data management, protocol and report writing, and assists other team Members with field research activities. Chloe has also taken on a dual role working alongside Grant assisting growers with proactive pest and disease management strategies in Broadacre crops. Chloe is currently 90% of the way through a Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management with Charles Sturt University.”
Julie Weir
Julie hails from Tenindewa where her family farmed. She has an Associate Diploma in Farm Management from Orange Agricultural College (Charles Sturt University) and has a wealth of experience including:
- The Department of Agriculture in South Perth in Plant Pathology
- On-farm and CBH
- Department of Agriculture in Geraldton covering various roles including 2 farmer surveys
- Farmer Cooperatives in the eastern states (3) – Shepherds Producers; Pivot Ltd (now Incitec Pivot) and Walgett Special One. She was involved in setting up the grain department with Pivot, buying and selling grain, storage and delivery across the SE of Australia to producers and end-users.
- Regional and project development with Regional Development Australia
- Funding and tender writing with Clayton+Weir, a private consultancy business.
Julie joined CCC in June 2022 to assist the research agronomists in conducting and evaluating field trials as well as support report and tender writing.
Maddy Sudlow
Maddy joined the Crop Circle team in 2024, working primarily on herbicide research in the crop protection team. She grew up on a mixed-farming operation in Northampton, where she gained extensive experience in crop production, livestock management, and machinery operations. Maddy graduated in 2023 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, majoring in Crop & Pasture Science and Animal Science. During her studies, she worked as a technical officer with the Barley Genetics Research Team at Murdoch University and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Maddy contributes to the Crop protection team with field and office work, including the application of treatments, data collection, conducting assessments, and operating ARM software. Maddy also helps the plant breeding team with seed preparation and grain analysis in the grain laboratory.
Jack Sawyer
Jack joined the Crop Circle team in early 2022 and has progressed into managing the Plant Breeding, Variety Performance and the National Variety Trials (NVT) components of the business. Jack is committed to delivering precise and consistent results to Crop Circle’s diverse clientele. He is passionate about agricultural trials, actively engaging with industry stakeholders to promote awareness of our work and foster meaningful discussions and ideas.
Hailing from a family farming operation east of Dalwallinu, Jack attended Cunderdin Ag College before earning a Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management at Muresk. His journey included diverse roles at various locations before he found his niche at Australian Grain Technologies (AGT), where he spent 4.5 years immersed in managing and enhancing large-scale plant breeding programs.
Vaan Hu
Vaan (Guangfan Hu) is a Field Research Agronomist at Crop Circle Consulting with two years of experience with the team. Specializing in crop protection, Vaan manages comprehensive herbicide, pesticides and fungicide trials, and conducts farming systems research to help improve crop yields. By focusing on advancing agricultural efficiency and sustainability, he has been able to put the degrees he earned at the University of Florida and the University of Western Australia to good use.
Murali Mohan Byrapuneni
Murali has a Master’s degree in Agricultural Science with a specialization in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the University of Western Australia. Prior to pursuing the master’s degree, Murali completed a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science at HNB Central University in India. Following this, Murali has worked as a Horticulturist before taking on a role in the Plant Breeding team at Crop Circle Research. . During his study at UWA, Murali conducted one year research focused on Wheat plant genetics.
Learn more about our research project work.
Testimonials
We have been contracting Crop Circle Consulting and Research for our northern ag R&D projects since 2020. Grant and the teams extensive knowledge of the area has resulted in great site selection, and their execution of trials has been excellent. We have also been very pleased with their communication and sharing of trial progress and also the opportunities provided to extend results to growers and industry. Look forward to continuing our relationship with Grant and team going forward.
Grant Thompson (Thomo) has been an integral part of the Critch Family farm at Tenindewa for over 10 years. Thomo has a good understanding of the challenges faced by farmers in our region having grown up on a farm north of Mullewa.
Thomo is always looking to improve the profitability of our business and is a leader in agronomic research in the northern ag region. We have enjoyed working with Thomo in the past and to continue this for years to come.
I have worked closely with Grant over the past 15 years, he has been instrumental in all aspects of his agronomy advise adding a huge amount of value to our business. His vast knowledge gives me all the confidence I need.
Waringa Farming has been using Grant Thompson from Crop Circle Consulting since 2009. Grant has played a big part in our business by providing independent agronomic consulting to Waringa. Grant works with us to provide the agronomic knowledge, new ideas and a second opinion and this has been important to our business to ensure we make the right agronomic decisions.
As Grant has been brought up in a low rainfall and large broad acre farming environment we believe this experience together with his agronomic accumen combined gives him great knowledge to advise and assist us to make the right decision.
