The family's agronomist urged them to enter the event for the first time during 2009, receiving news of their win, with a crop of EGA Gregory, just last week.

"It's a bit of a bright light - it just cheers you up knowing that in such dry conditions something good can come out of it," Jeff Taylor said

The winning crop from the Taylor's farm Broadlea was planted on 14 May 2009, at 40kg/ha into Brigalow Belah grey/black soil using minimum till methods, following a sorghum crop in 2007.

One cultivation occurred with 150kg/ha of urea applied pre-plant and 35kg/ha of Starter Z at planting. Roundup and Ally were used during the fallow period, and Tordon 242 was applied in-crop.

Some 143mm of rain fell between April to September but only 8mm fell from the end of June which meant the last 110 days of the growing period were virtually dry.

This translated into a satisfactory dryland crop yield of 4.53t/ha.

"With the way the season has been, the farmers who had a lengthier fallow period gained a higher yield, but this didn't necessarily mean a higher quality of wheat," RASQ crop assessor, John Roessler said.

The second placed crop of Baxter was entered by the Milmerran Show Society and grown by Shane and Dale Pfeffer, Bimbi Grains, at their Erinvale property.

It yielded 5.1t/ha, delivering protein levels of 10.4 percent, screenings of 2.1 percent and made for an ASW1 grade.

RASQ's John Roessler said the competition, which began as a collaboration between the State Wheat Board and the Toowoomba Show Society, had been running for more than 20 years.