Native budworm larvae have completely bared off part of a pasture paddock at Stawell in Victoria’s Wimmera region, according to PestFacts South-Eastern, a service provided by the National Invertebrate Pest Initiative (NIPI) and supported by growers and the Australian Government through the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Grain producers in Victoria and New South Wales can drastically reduce redlegged earth mite (RLEM) numbers in autumn next year by ensuring they spray during a short window in spring according to PestFacts South-Eastern, a service provided by the National Invertebrate Pest Initiative (NIPI) and supported by growers and the Australian Government through the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Growers in Victoria’s Mallee have been advised to closely monitor cereal crops for armyworm following sightings and some reported damage in wheat and barley crops around Sea Lake according to PestFacts South-Eastern, a service provided by the National Invertebrate Pest Initiative (NIPI) and supported by growers and the Australian Government through the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Sightings of aphids in the Riverina region of New South Wales and Victoria’s Mallee have served as a timely reminder for growers to monitor crops according to PestFacts South-Eastern, a service provided by the National Invertebrate Pest Initiative (NIPI) and supported by growers and the Australian Government through the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

The GRDC has released the first comprehensive environmental plan for the grains industry to ensure the industry has a clear framework for prioritising environmental R&D.

The plan covers existing and anticipated production constraints, from landscape issues through to climate variability and climate change. It examines risks and opportunities, acknowledges the extensive contribution many growers are already making to sound environmental management, and is intended to demonstrate the industry’s proactive approach to its changing environmental circumstances.

Persistent drought has helped southern Queensland-based Hamish Johnstone learn a lot about water-use efficiency. “The drought has taught us a fair bit about water ... because we have had none,” he quips.
[Photo (left) by Rebecca Thyer: Hamish Johnstone with irrigated wheat planted in May.]

From his base at ‘MacIntyre Downs’ Hamish manages PrimeAg’s Goondiwindi operational hub – 10,300 hectares of irrigated and dryland farms on the Queensland–NSW border.

Restoring saline paddocks by planting saltbush on their Dalwallinu, Western Australia, farm has given the Butcher family confidence that they can remain viable while adjusting to seemingly increasing climate variability.

One of the strengths of the GRDC is the feedback it receives from growers and industry on R&D priorities, ensuring research is targeted to real needs and opportunities.
This feedback is achieved through a number of ways. The GRDC has three regional panels covering the northern, southern and western regions. The panels comprise growers, researchers and industry representatives and provide high-value input into both regional and national research priorities.

Vault ready to save the world’s seed

The arrival of 230,000 seed samples at an underground facility in the Arctic Circle has marked the opening of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility built by the Global Crop Diversity Trust to safeguard food crops against natural or man-made calamity. The vault will eventually house virtually every variety of the most important food crops in the world and was built with the support of the GRDC.

Too much emphasis is often placed on agronomy and crop yield when looking to improve profit, when larger gains can be made from fine-tuning the whole business, says Dr Peter Wylie, author of a GRDC-commissioned report, High profit farming in northern Australia.