Crop establishment and precision planting

The time from sowing to crop establishment is a critical phase in the life cycle of a crop. Poor early development can have long lasting effects as low and uneven establishment reduces crop growth and yield.

Ideally, crops should emerge rapidly and evenly and grow vigorously as this improves crop water use efficiency and yield, and helps crops to compete with weeds.

This booklet consists of three sections:

• The first section summarises some of the environmental and management factors that influence the rate and uniformity of crop establishment.
• The second section presents six grower case studies from the southern and western regions who share their tips and crop establishment experiences.
• The third section describes recent experimental work that has assessed the benefits of precision planting in winter grain crops in the southern and western regions.