New report: EP learnings from two dry starts

Dry starts are never comfortable, but the 2024 and 2025 seasons have given Eyre Peninsula growers plenty of practical lessons to work with.

A new report produced through the Sustainable Agriculture: Driving growth through innovation and climate responsive practices project shares what eight EP landholders learnt while trying to establish crops after late seasonal breaks.

The key message is clear: Successful establishment in dry starts is not just about whether to dry sow. It is about which paddocks are set up well enough to handle the risk. Surface cover, weed control history, soil type, seed placement, seeder set-up and follow-up rainfall all played a role in how crops established.

The Crop Establishment in Dry Starts Survey Report is now available on the Sustainable Agriculture project page under Project 2: Effective Crop Establishment in a Changing Climate – “Crop Establishment in Dry Starts Survey Report”.

Sustainable Agriculture: Driving growth through innovation and climate responsive practices.

Acknowledgement

This article is brought to you by the EP Landscape Board’s Sustainable Agriculture Program, funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.