GRDC - Driving Agronomy Podcasts

Accountant Julie Harris talks about the mechanics of the federal government’s Conservation Tillage Tax Incentive. Individual farmers should seek advice from their own financial advisers. For more information, visit http://www.daff.gov.au/climatechange/carbonfarmingfutures/rto

Much of the viability of your farm is judged by the value of the land and the equity you hold in the land. On this Driving Agronomy, we look at how farm land appreciates in value and what that means to long term wealth creation – a topic covered at a recent GRDC Farm Business Update.

GRDC Chairman Keith Perrett has announced a National Grain Inventors Competition. The competition – with $15,000 in prize money for the winner – is seeking to find Australia’s most innovative farmer with an invention that will be of benefit to the whole grain farming community.

GRDC is currently conducting Farm Business Management workshops in grain growing areas. An important component of the workshop is grain marketing and on this edition of Driving Agronomy we speak with Mark Martin who delivered the grain marketing session at Harden in central NSW.

GRDC’s Manager Protection Traits, Dr Francis Ogbonnaya has won the prestigious Women in Triticum Mentor Award presented by the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative. Dr Ogbonnaya will use the $3000 honararium he receives for winning the award, matched dollar for dollar from his own savings, to establish a fund that will help orphaned Nigerian women attend university in Nigeria.

Kazakhstan is a paradox. Nowadays a small farm in the former Soviet republic measures around 50,000 hectares and yet the farming methods and equipment used date back 50 or 60 years. A lot of the farmland is being aggregated by farming entrepreneurs who are actively seeking knowledge from people like international farming consultant, Ian Keene to help bring their operations into the 21st century. This program paints a picture of what farming is like right now in Kazakhstan.

2011 Conservation Farmer of the Year, Grant Byrne, from Peak Hill in central NSW uses summer cropping in an area where summer cropping is virtually unknown to fight herbicide resistance. Grant’s shift to conservation farming has seen his yields increase significantly and his inclusion of summer cropping into his rotations has reduced the threat of resistance problems that were developing over his 4000 hectare farming operation.

Harvest windrow burning of weed seeds works well in Western Australia where summer rainfall is not common. But how would it work in the eastern states where wet summers are common? Maurie Street from the Grain Orana Alliance decided to find out and he relates his experience on this edition of GRDC Driving Agronomy.

GRDC has launched its new five year strategic plan. On this program, GRDC Managing Director, John Harvey, outlines the key components of the plan.

Many growers time their first fungicide spray at tillering when they are spraying for weeds. Bu according to Nick Poole from the Foundation for Arable Research in New Zealand, fungicide application at tillering is too early and farmers risk leaving important later leaves unprotected against diseases such as stripe rust and yellow spot.

The principles of no-till farming are the same the world over, but in Argentina, the practice is very different including regular stubble loads of 15 tonnes per hectare. No-till farming pioneer Roberto Peiretti describes the South American brand of conservation agriculture.

Col Wellings from the University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute gives us an overview of cereal rust reports early in the 2012 season and talks about the balance between genetic and chemical control of rust diseases in grain crops.

Picking the right time to spray insect pests in a crop comes down to a finely tuned balance of economic return. If you spray too early or too late, you will lose money. On this program we discuss some of the issues you need to consider when deciding your economic threshold for spraying insect pests.

Getting your foliar spray operation wrong not only has direct costs in terms of chemical and labour costs, but lost opportunity costs from lower crop yields. Understanding the product you use and how you apply it to your crop is critical to a successful spray. On this program we speak with spray consultant, Bill Gordon.

A new incrop foliar spray has been released to control blackleg in canola. Growers are being urged to monitor their crops closely for the appearance of blackleg.