De-risking the seeding program

De-risking the seeding program. Adoption of key management practices for the success of dry early sown crops.

Dry  and  early  sowing  of  cereal  crops  is  a  practice  commonly  employed  across southern Australian cropping regions to combat the increasingly erratic and delayed opening  season  rainfall. Whilst there has been a large amount of research and development undertaken on dry and early sowing, significant opportunities remain to engage growers in the adoption of strategic management approaches that best suit local grower needs, management preferences, and local climatic and environmental  conditions. This  project will see 15 prominent Grower Groups partner with 4 Drought Hubs to deliver a program that accelerates the adoption of strategic dry and early sown crop management approaches. Each group will tailor activities to meet the knowledge, experience, and needs of their member bases and local communities. The project will provide a legacy through developed extension networks, resources, information, and learning groups and see practice adoption across 2 million hectares of arable land.

On Eyre Peninsula, trials comparing fertiliser placement, use of long coleoptile varieties etc will be sown at two locations on northern Eyre Peninsula. These will follow on from trials conducted under the SA Drought Hub early sowing project at Cowell and Penong.