About 20 grain growers attended the crop walk at Cressy to walk among the paddocks and learn about the results of SFS’ recent trial work and how some farmers are using different techniques to milk the benefits of stubble for soil health.

SFS project and trials officer Heather Cosgriff said the crop walk took in three farms in the Cressy area who were all focused on using stubble in different ways.

“We are trying to find different ways to keep stubble because there are soil health benefits,” she said.

Ms Cosgriff said farmers who use stubble can use the leftover plants nutrients to enrich the soil’s ecosystem.

It was well documented that farmers that continued to rip up soil and remove stubble did not get the same yield benefit results as those who used the stubble to enrich the soil.

Stubble is defined as the leftover plant matter that is left in the ground following harvest.

The first farm the crop walk visited had been using direct drilling to reduce the effects of water logging and continue to use the stubble.

“They found that the plants they had grown after direct drilling had become more resistant to water logging,” Ms Cosgriff said.

The second farm had been having issues with weeds as his paddock was old ground that had also been used for pasture and livestock.

“He had a lot of radish in the ground and radish have a 30-year life span, they are hard to get rid of,” she said.

The second farmer had drilled in seed directly into the ground rather than ripping it up and had experienced good results.

Ms Cosgriff said the weather had been pretty good for the second farmer and had worked well in reducing the old weeds.

The third farmer had been experimenting with different spaced rows for his canola crop.

Traditionally, close together spacing is “king” with canola crops, according to Ms Cosgriff but wider rows can mean you can control weeds in between the viable crop.

Ms Cosgriff said SFS had a “post winter” crop walk every year that took in field days and guest speakers.

It is also a chance for SFS to present its trial results from the previous year. The trial site is located at Cressy.

Some of the trials include herbicide efficiency, row spacing for canola and seed production trials. A trial of annual and biannual ryegrass seed varieties is underway. The Southern Farming Systems post winter crop walk was held on September 23 at various locations.