GRDC Grains Research Update – Dubbo

Dubbo’s 2-day GRDC Grains Research Update is not one to miss for the Central NSW grains industry. Come along to hear and discuss the latest grains research topics, share ideas and network with colleagues and friends.

Day 1 Program – Thursday 27 February 2025

General plenary day 1

• Breeding ‘system resilience’ and not ‘crop resistance’ for reliable crop production in future climates - Greg Rebetzke (CSIRO)
• N cycling and loss pathways – what don't we know and what insights and questions have come from preliminary data sets in a major new national project. Mike Bell - (Uni of Qld)
• How do regenerative practices such as ley pastures and manure compare to more conventional management systems in long term farming systems trials? Lindsay Bell - (CSIRO)

Nutrition

• Comparing risk & reward of different N budgeting approaches – insights from farming system and RiskWi$e research. Lindsay Bell (CSIRO)
• N loss pathways and levers to mitigate loss. Mike Bell (Uni of Qld)
• The nutritional value of manures and other organic phosphorus sources and crop P uptake over time. Tim McLaren (Uni of Qld)

Disease

• Septoria management in wheat. Brad Baxter (NSW DPIRD)
• Regional fungicide resistance and disease management update. Steve Simpfendorfer (NSW DPIRD)
• What's stripe rust really costing us? Maurie Street (GOA)
• Panel discussion. Steve Simpfendorfer, Brad Baxter, Mick Harris, Glenn Shepherd & Maurie Street

Pot Pouri

• Does increasing wheat sowing rates to combat weeds lead to yield or quality instability? Maurie Street (GOA)
• Lime incorporation cost and benefit from different approaches. Jason Condon (CSU)
• Lime response on acid, low rainfall, sandy soils of south-western NSW. Barry Haskins (AgGrow)
• Grower experience with variable rate (VR) lime application. Nathan Simpson (Binginbar Farms)

Day 2 Program – Friday 28 February 2025

Early risers discussion session (PhD presentations)

• 100 day wheats: what traits, varieties and agronomy to optimise yield at later sowing timings?  Can we design a varietal type to suit late sowing windows? Timothy Green (CSU)
• Phosphorus budgeting for grain production systems and improving phosphorus acquisition using different phosphorus sources Maryam Barati (Sth Cross Uni)
• Heat stress during grain-filling in wheat Mitch Clifton (NSW DPIRD)

Grain Automate

• On farm autonomy – connectivity, robots and machinery. Tom Andrews (Connected Farms)
• The autonomous agronomist – automating data collection tasks for agros. Tim Neale (Data Farming)
• Technology to enable site-specific herbicide application or prescriptions. Lara Vallejo-Roosdorp & Alec Duffy (Syngenta)
• Agronomist discussion

Spray Application with Tom Wolf (Agrimetrix, Canada)

• Nozzle selection with pulse width modulation (PWM) and selecting the correct frequency to run these systems on
• Experiences with spot sprayers in Nth America – implications for resistance, economics, nozzles for systems
• Sprayer width & speed impacts on spray deposition of aerodynamic turbulence of wheels, tractor units & boom components. The observations are sobering.
• Drones: canopy deposition uniformity, roles, water volumes, droplet sizes and drift
• Sprayer cleanout – where are most issues occurring?

Farming systems & fababeans

• Farming systems impact on soil biology, soil pathogens and system resilience. Gupta Vadakattu (CSIRO)
• Fabas - what have we learnt from 4 years of trials; plant density, disease, sowing date, N fixation & variety choice. Rohan Brill (Brill Ag)
• Incidence and impact of sclerotinia in canola from double break strategies and in chickpeas. Kurt Lindbeck (NSW DPIRD)
• Improving canola performance in late sowings by variety choice and sowing rate. Ben O'Brien (GOA)

General plenary day 2

• Turnip yellows virus and green peach aphid in canola; yield losses and management options. Zorica Duric (NSW DPIRD)
• Rethinking flowering date in winter cereals – comparing flowering date risk in wheat & barley.Felicity Harris (CSU)
• Glufosinate & Group 14 herbicides in double knock: where do they fit in the farming system and how do we optimise performance? Greg Condon (Grassroots Agronomy), Barry Haskins (AgGrow) & Mitch Allen (Nufarm)

(Agenda subject to change)

Click here for full agenda

Cost (in AUD$): See registration