For a long time the European Union has been known as the home of tough regulation of farm chemicals. Several chemicals in common use in Australia are now banned or soon will be in some jurisdictions – something that is likely to surprise many Australian growers. So what has been the impact of regulation on the development of new chemistries? And will technology fill the void left by those pesticides now leaving the European marketplace? On this podcast we speak with British farm consultant, Keith Norman.

Given the changing nature of market regulations, all stakeholders along the supply chain need to be aware of market requirements in relation to MRLs. Given the implications of incorrect chemical use, there is a need for greater transparency and understanding by growers and their advisors of the impact of chemical use on market access.

New region specific fact sheets detailing the latest research into Crown Rot Fact Sheets are now available for farmers and their advisers. The fact sheets are the result of more than six years of research and detail the very latest information on detecting the disease and limiting losses. On this podcast Agriculture Victoria Senior Plant Pathologist, Grant Hollaway discusses the disease and some recent developments on controlling its impact.

The role of an agronomist is unique. At one end of the scale is simply working to sell a product, while at the other end of a scale is being a trusted advisor to clients. What does it take to become a trusted advisor, what skills are needed and what commitment required? And should you be a trusted advisor to every client?

Dry sowing pulse crops is the norm rather than the exception today, however, maximising nitrogen fixation is dependent on a number of factors.

Rhizobium is a tiny microbe with a big dollar impact. Ensuring this beneficial soil bacteria has an optimal effect requires a number of key conditions.

An important role of pulse crops is nitrogen fixation, and key to that process are nodules – what are they and why do growers need to know more about them?

Rhizobia are microbes that play an important role in nitrogen fixation in pasture and pulse legumes, but acid soils can have a big impact on the success of rhizobia.

Like any other industry, agriculture needs to know where it’s going so it can create a pathway to the future. That’s where deep thinkers like Professor Tim Reeves comes into play. On this podcast Tim addresses the big issue facing agriculture right now – a doubling of production with the same amount of water and land and doing it sustainably.

Growers and advisers are urged to go beyond a visual inspection of crops to determine the exact cause of ill-thrift in a crop. Research that followed the devastating impact of beet western yellows virus in 2014 canola crops in South Australia has thrown up some anomalies causing scientists to urge more precision when it comes to diagnosing potential crop disease.

Snails are one of those pests that can’t be controlled by any one tool – but a significant amount of research is happening across the country to give growers effective control options. In this podcast, South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) entomologist Helen Brodie shares the latest research findings and insight on controlling snail populations.

At the 2020 Grains Research Update at Goondiwindi digital soil mapping specialist Ed Jones from the University of Sydney, gave a presentation on mapping soil properties and their impact on yield. It’s what in the near future will become the way growers and their advisors calculate what management a paddock, or section of a paddock needs to increase crop yield and maximise grower profit. The technique uses data from multiple sources, applies machine learning and delivers recommendations in weeks that until recently took decades to record, digest, trial and apply.

A grain grower survey conducted across 25 farm businesses in Western Australia’s northern agricultural region found the majority considered their cereal crop yields were being adversely affected by the inefficient use of micronutrients. In this podcast, grower Dylan Hirsch, based at Latham in WA, talks us through this survey and the broader GRDC investment behind it.

The GRDC has invested in a two-year project that aims to identify the requirements for, and benefits of, micronutrient foliar application in medium-to-low rainfall areas of WA’s Northern Agricultural Region. The research project is led by Western Australian grain grower group, the Liebe Group, in partnership with Murdoch University. Murdoch University’s Professor Richard Bell talks us though the research and what it means for growers.

Controlled Traffic Farming is in simple terms driving your heavy vehicles on the same wheel tracks every time you’re in the paddock. In Australia’s southeastern grain growing region Controlled Traffic Farming has been widely adopted in high and medium rainfall zones but not so much in low rainfall zones.

Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda was detected in Australia for the first time in January 2020 and a warning was issued to grain growers to inspect crops for signs of the pest’s presence. The larval stage of the moth is similar in appearance to many caterpillars already present in agricultural and horticultural crops and can cause severe economical damage, even total crop destruction.

Ironstone gravels are important cropping soils and a better understanding about the mineralogy and physical characteristics of these soils, especially their soil moisture holding capacity and high rates of phosphorus ‘fixation’ is urgently required. So the GRDC has invested in new research, led by the University of Western Australia, to study and understand these soils to help growers maximise crop productivity from these soils.

A new research project in the Southern Region will take the principles of Precision Agriculture and apply them to addressing sub-soil constraints. Simply put, this innovative approach will identify the location of poorly performing soil, potentially reducing the areas within a paddock that need soil amelioration work to be done. Professor Roger Armstrong from Agriculture Victoria explains more on this podcast.

GRDC’s investment in faba bean breeding has contributed to the delivery of new and improved Faba bean varieties to grain growers. In Western Australia’s Esperance Port Zone the high rainfall makes Faba beans a suitable legume to include in crop rotations and WA’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development senior research scientist Mark Seymour has been working with growers to make the most of the benefits a pulse in the rotation can bring to cropping systems.

Esperance Port Zone grain grower Neil Wandel has been including faba beans in his crop rotations for 4 decades. While they might not be the highest value legume he could grow, the range of benefits faba beans bring to his paddocks make them a favourite rotation crop.

Farmers and their advisers, naturally, are mostly focused on growing better grain – finding those incremental improvements that can often mean so much to the bottom line of farming businesses. But there are people also working at the other end of the grain trail – a long way from the farm – focused on improving market access and even developing new and innovative grain products to make Australian grain more valuable to customers. One such story is the work being undertaken by AEGIC – the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre – on making changes to the way Australian malting barley can be used by Chinese beer makers.