Agronomist Cam Nicholson is passionate about providing advice to boost farmers’ profitability and productivity, and one of the keys he uses is to work out the personality types of his clients.

In this podcast WA Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development research officer and Frost specialist, Dr Ben Biddulph, discusses salvage and harvest options for frost-affected cereal crops as well as what to consider if you intend holding onto seed from a frost affected crop. On the day Ben Biddulph was at DPIRD’s Frost evaluation trial site at Dale about 100k’s east of Perth.

Fifty years ago, the pioneers of zero and minimum tillage cropping systems had a challenging time to convince researchers and growers that these systems had benefits over a tractor and plough criss-crossing a paddock, but in 2018 the conservation farming methods are widely used across Australia.

In this podcast Dr Collins talks about the current work into evaluating yield loss and what crop rotation recommendations are being offered to grain growers to help manage nematode issues.

There’s been a significant change to the National Variety Trials program. It’s now fully managed by the Grains Research and Development Corporation. You might be thinking… wasn’t it always?

Fence lines can be a haven for weeds that may also be resistant to glyphosate. On this podcast Weeds Specialist, Tony Cook describes a new, effective treatment for glyphosate resistant weeds in the northern region.

Respected northern region agronomist, Drew Penberthy outlines some of the agronomic issues to watch out for after drought. And we hear from a farmer who managed the mental health effects of the drought by digging a giant hole.

Entomologist Dr Paul Umina has been closely involved in monitoring Russian wheat aphid and liaising with farmers, and he’s gained some valuable insights into the pest’s behaviour, identification, agronomic management and strategies for prevention.

To help overcome these restrains intervention is needed and in this podcast Therese McBeath describes the types of intervention being investigated, seasonal timing of interventions and the supply of nutrients to sandy soils.

Dr Angela Pattison’s been delving into an historic bank of chickpea plant varieties, some of which have been grown for hundreds of years in hot, dry places like the Middle East and brought to the Australian Grains Gene Bank in Horsham, Victoria.

It’s important to recognise the psychological and financial cost of frost and how devastating it can be, particularly towards the end of the season when producers anticipate harvest only to have it damaged by frost.

Dr Nadine Marshall and her team interviewed 240 cattle producers in northern Australia to develop a vulnerability assessment, a measure of how well equipped they were for change.

Mike says while we have a wealth of knowledge in Australia about above-ground plant components, we don’t understand enough about roots – how variable they are between species and how they respond to different soil conditions.

Using the autopilot from a drone as the ‘brains’ of their vehicles, Martin and his colleagues aimed to prove that mechatronics could reduce damage to crops and soil from humans and large machines.

A five-year survey of the entire Australian cropping belt has revealed a sobering picture of growing herbicide resistance in key cropping weeds.

Pulse markets were thrown into disarray during last year’s harvest when India imposed tariffs on imports of chickpeas and lentils.

In this podcast Graeme Sandral also discusses crop nutrition and fertiliser management next season. Graeme points out that because less nutrient will leave the paddock, due to less grain being produced, the unused Nitrogen and Phosphorus left behind in the soil should be factored into next season’s fertiliser needs.

Nigel also advised growers to think about options. Just because a crop has been impacted by drought or a frost event it doesn’t mean the crop is worthless. These crops can still be a valuable source of livestock feed, high in energy and protein.

As you’ll hear in this podcast data kept from feed samples taken from previous drought stressed and frost damaged crops provides a valuable reference point for when to cut for hay or silage to optimism your crop’s feed quality.

In this podcast Dr Harris encourages growers to measure biomass at both a paddock and farm scale sand to be aware of any underlying damage that might have been caused by frost events.