Stubble Supplement

Across Australia, stubble is retained on approximately 60 per cent of cropped land, with about three-quarters of this retained as standing stubble. The days of multiple workings of paddocks and summer dust storms that carried away precious topsoils are now fortunately a rare occurrence. Instead many growers have adopted stubble-retention practices because they know that despite the challenges faced, the benefits of improved soil water infiltration and storage, along with reduced soil erosion, are valuable to assist with managing seasonal variability in rainfall.

The Stubble Initiative, which concluded in June 2018, has enabled partners to address locally relevant issues with coordinated support for R&D and extension over five years. The goal was to provide growers from south-eastern Australia with practical information and knowledge to guide their cropping programs and crop-management decisions with the retention of stubbles while overcoming the associated challenges.

These guidelines cover the five phases for stubble management:

• harvest;
• post-harvest;
• preparation for seeding;
• seeding; and
• in-crop agronomy.