90 local grain farmers heard from renowned New Zealand researcher, Dr Nick Poole, at the Riverine Plains Inc Spring Field Day held at Coreen on Tuesday 6 September.
“This was the third time that Nick has attended our spring field day and each visit has allowed local farmers to gain invaluable insights about how to best manage the cropping season at hand” said event organizer and Riverine Plains Inc Extension sub-committee chair, Ingrid Inchbold.
Dr Poole showed farmers through the Riverine Plains Inc project site, which is investigating how different drill openers and row spacings can affect the establishment, development and ultimate performance of wheat and canola.
“This research is important to local farmers because the decisions made at sowing can have a large bearing on final yield, particularly in a difficult season and seeing the trials will allow farmers to see first hand any differences between treatments” said Ingrid.
Dr Poole is well known for his work in disease management and nutrition and he updated farmers with the latest thinking in this area as well as the the role of ‘strobe’ fungicides under Australian conditions.
IK Caldwell agronomist Andrew Bell expanded on the seeding, establishment and crop growth discussions by presenting on seed bed utilization and the implications for modern seeding systems.
“Wider row spacings tend to increase plant densities within seeding rows, and this has been linked to yield decline in some crops so Andrews perspective was especially valuable” said Ingrid.
Farmers will also be able to look at a new trial investigating the differences in disease burden and nitrogen uptake between wheat grown on a retained stubble compared to burned stubble.
An extended question and answer conducted by Nick Poole, John Seidel, John Sykes and Andrew Bell took place.
“The opportunity to ask questions of experts is part of what makes this annual field day valuable and provided farmers with an opportunity to tap into this extensive local and international experience” concluded Ingrid.
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