Increasing yields, crop management and fungicide resistance were all hot topics at the Grains Research and Development Corporation update at Campbell Town on Friday.
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The organisation’s Southern Regional Panel chair Keith Pengilley, of Conara, said Tasmania’s position as a key cereal grains producer was discussed at length.
Of particular interest to growers was the preliminary results from the corporations’s Hyper Yielding Cereals Project, which aims to improve the ability of the state’s farmers to grow high quality feed wheat and barley, Mr Pengilley said.
Nick Poole from the Foundation for Arable Research Australia gave an update on results from the five-year project at Hagley.
“Growers were astounded by some of the yields they were able to achieve. The yield from the trials was up to 17 tonnes per hectare, which is potentially between five and seven tonnes over what good growers are getting now,” Mr Pengilley said.
“There is a huge opportunity for growers to look at new opportunities and improve production almost straight away,” he said.
Dr Rob Norton from the International Plant Nutrition Institute spoke about crop nutrition and using nitrogen, followed by Will Cuddy from New South Wales Primary Industries department, who discussed research findings for wheat rusts and septoria disease.
“Rob talked through decisions around nitrogen management, which is one of the most significant fertiliser inputs growers have, and how we maximise or optimise what we do,” Mr Pengilley said.
“But there was also crop disease. We have had one of the worst years of disease and have fungicide resistance, so its making growers aware about managing that.
“We’re currently using fungicide, but if we’re not managing it properly then we don’t have anything else. We know it’s an issue globally but need to manage that into the future,” he said.
Other speakers discussed Russian wheat aphid infestation on the mainland and barley growing in Tasmania.
“So we looked at the opportunity to improve yields, how we manage inputs, crop protection and nutrition,” Mr Pengilley said.
“We had really positive feedback. I was thrilled with the audience.
“We had 60 growers and advisers from Hobart up to the far North-West. They saw an opportunity and a need for this information and it will spread through the network through advisers,” he said.
The Grains Research and Development Corporation Farm Business Update will be held at The Tramsheds, Inveresk, on August 17.