Facilitating adoption of integrated weed management strategies for Feathertop Rhodes grass in the Northern Region, Prg1. (northern NSW & Qld.)

Despite significant investment in research, FTR continues to be problematic in Qld and NNSW. The very small time-window whereby management tactics must be implemented is a significant contributing factor. A diverse range of tactics is required to target seed set. For a number of tactics, if they are not implemented on-time, their effectiveness rapidly diminishes. To address this, this project plans a multi-step campaign including media releases and social media, workshops and demonstration sites (5) with associated farm walks to help growers develop best management practice in managing FTR as part of their system. Media releases and social media will be developed to give timely reminders of most appropriate management strategies to deploy. In areas of greatest need, interactive management workshops will be coupled with demonstration sites demonstrating best management practice alongside other treatment options. Sites will be monitored by local agronomists over a 20 month period. Annual field walks will be held at the demonstration sites to encourage participatory learning. Information from these demonstration sites will be used in the communications campaign.