Projects: Cereals
Retaining soil water in farming systems using strip & disc machinery 2024
This project has enabled one demonstration site to be conducted in 2024 in a low rainfall farming system at Buckleboo to enable extension of past EP demonstration site results and results from other regions, and to further investigate: What are the measurable differences in stripper stubble vs conventional draper stubble sown using a disc seeding…
Further tactics to minimise frost damage on the Eyre Peninsula
Previous frost work on the EP has been well received and has assisted in filling key agronomic knowledge gaps around frost mitigation in crop, however, it has been identified that further gaps in knowledge exist. This project will build on successful work and engagement already conducted on the EP through a number of mechanisms, including:…
Silicon: a novel solution to reduce water use and pest damage in wheat
Quantify how silicon fertilisation increases water use efficiency and pest resistance in wheat at the field scale with agronomic practices in place, including farm settings with contrasting agricultural landscapes. Elucidate silicon intervention strategies and their benefits for yields relative to input and deployment costs and disseminate this information to farmers. One field trial to…
A needs analysis for the barriers to adoption of strip and disc systems on Eyre Peninsula
Identify the risks and opportunities (including a cost benefit analysis) faced by growers using Strip and Disc systems to determine any gaps in knowledge to be addressed for this practice to be adopted in current farming systems. Produce a project needs analysis to direct future investment in RD&E activities for strip and disc farming systems …
Effective control of brome grass in the southern and western cropping zones
By May 2027, the economic impact of brome grass will be reduced by 10% across the low rainfall zones of the Western and Southern Regions through the implementation of specific integrated weed management strategies. On the Eyre Peninsula this project will include A 3 year crop sequence x weed management trial on the Upper EP…
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…
SA Drought Hub Activities 2022: Best Practice Early Sowing Opportunities
Summary This project aimed to demonstrate and extend the findings of a SAGIT research project conducted in 2019-2021, which found ways to improve plant establishment and crop production by adopting specific early sowing techniques. Separating seed and fertiliser, sowing earlier than district practice, and using longer coleoptile wheat varieties to sow deeper into soil moisture,…
Robust ground cover to enable resilient low rainfall mixed farms
Summary This project will demonstrate, evaluate and communicate farming innovations that are not widely adopted by low rainfall farmers but have been proven in other regions or are close to market. Adoption will build resilient groundcover to protect the natural capital of the 10+ million hectare low rainfall mixed farming region of the Mallee and…
RiskWi$e: National Risk Management Initiative – Action Research Groups Eyre Peninsula
Summary RiskWi$e: the National Risk Management Initiative (NRMI) is a GRDC initiative extending over five years that aims to understand and improve risk-reward outcomes for Australian grain growers through participatory action research (PAR). Explicitly the NRMI aims to: 1. develop an improved understanding of the risk-reward relationships for important on-farm management practices and decisions, 2….
Enterprise choice and sequence strategies that drive sustainable and profitable southern Australian farming systems
Southern Farming Systems Project Edillilie Site – Lower Eyre Peninsula Farm profitability can be improved by identifying the factors that drive profit and adopting management that optimises returns and mitigates risks. Growers are under mounting pressure to maintain profitability due to constraints such as input costs, herbicide resistance, declining soil fertility, increasing soil-borne pathogens and…