GRDC Podcast

🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with David Robb. David Anthony Robb is an Irrigation Advisor for Goanna Ag. He is also a grain producer, agricultural enthusiast, and UQ Agribusiness & Agricultural Science graduate. In this episode of GRDC In Conversation, David talks about life growing up on his family’s grain and cattle property west of Goondiwindi. David spent 14 years wor...

Gas-tight sealable silos are the preferred system of grain storage and like all on-farm machinery, they require an annual maintenance health check, including pressure testing the silo. How can we ensure our silo’s health and avoid problems such as weather damage, wear, corrosion, deterioration to inlet and outlet seals and leaks? In this episode, we hear from GRDC's Grain Storage Extension team me...

🎙 Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Paul McIntosh.  Mention the name Paul McIntosh to anyone in the northern grains industry and it’s almost guaranteed to invoke a smile, a humorous quip or an anecdote about his seemingly-boundless agronomic knowledge.  Mr McIntosh, or Macca as he’s better known to many, is one of the region’s most recognised and respected agronomists and ha...

Phosphine fumigation is commonly used in gas-tight, sealed silos to control weevils in grain. While phosphine is dangerous, it can be used safely with responsible handling and management. In this episode, we chat with Grain Storage Extension Project lead Chris Warrick, along with Alex Conway about the significant safety around phosphine, including masks and meters, which remains the most relied up...

🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Mark Swift. Mark Swift and his family farm 13 different cereal, oilseed, pulse and fibre crops across 4,000 hectares at Parkes, in Central West NSW. In this GRDC In Conversation episode with Oli Le Lievre, Mark discusses the family’s farming operation, the intellectual and physical challenges of farming, and the balance of technology, tra...

The NVT program aims to assist Australian grain growers in varietal decision making by providing comparative information of commercially available grain varieties, including on yield performance, on disease resistance ratings and on grain quality.  In this four-part series we will hear from a range of breeders – across seven crop types – and each one will provide information on newly commercialise...

From cone and flat-bottomed silos, to sheds, bunkers, bags, and pits, grain storage options today are seemingly endless. It is not always the case that the cheapest option will be the most cost effective over time. Nor will the most expensive always be the most appropriate for your needs. On top of this, there is the need to keep your grain free from moisture, condensation, mould, and insects, whi...

Maree Crawford is a passionate contributor to the Australian agricultural industry with a focus on delivering solutions through research, technology and best practice. She is a Technical Services Manager with Elders, and Non-Executive Director at Tosari Crop Research Centre. In this episode, Maree discusses what it was like growing up with 10 brothers, her love of sports, career influences, and th...

The NVT program aims to assist Australian grain growers in varietal decision making by providing comparative information of commercially available grain varieties, including on yield performance, on disease resistance ratings and on grain quality. In this four-part series we will hear from a range of breeders – across seven crop types – and each one will provide information on newly commercialised...

With growers in the middle of harvest around the country, harvester fires are somewhat inevitable at this time of year. However, there are actions we can take to mitigate the risk. With lentil crops particularly susceptible to harvester fires, we spoke to Ben White from the Kondinin Group, as well as Adrian McCabe, a grower from South Australia, to find out why and what steps can be taken to reduc...

🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Tim Neale. For more than 20 years, Tim Neale has been running his own businesses and managing research, development and extension projects for broad spectrum of clients across a variety of agricultural sectors. He's was recognised as the Australian rural consultant of the year in 2018 and he is the co-founder of Data Farming – an ag techn...

The NVT program aims to assist Australian grain growers in varietal decision making by providing comparative information of commercially available grain varieties, including on yield performance, on disease resistance ratings and on grain quality. In this four-part series we will hear from a range of breeders – across seven crop types – and each one will provide information on newly commercialised...

The Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) is the centrepiece of grain crop genetic resources for the Australian grains industry. Since it's opening in 2014, it has been a partnership between the Victorian Government (Agriculture Victoria) and GRDC. An additional $30M will support digital innovation and connectivity to international genebanks, improve the operational function, and establish new long ter...

🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Roy Hamilton. Roy is a long-standing northern panel member who operates a 4400-ha mixed family farming enterprise near Rand in NSW’s Riverina with his wife Leanne and son Michael. In this episode, Roy speaks about the life experiences, influences and lessons that have shaped him into person he is today, and the advice he has for future ge...

The NVT program aims to assist Australian grain growers in varietal decision making by providing comparative information of commercially available grain varieties, including on yield performance, on disease resistance ratings and on grain quality.  In this four-part series we will hear from a range of breeders – across seven crop types – and each one will provide information on newly commercialise...

Beneficial insects play an important role in providing natural pest suppression for growers in cereal crops across Australia. Until recently there was no scientifically proven guide to help growers monitor the impacts of commonly used insecticides on beneficial insects. Rosie Knapp, from Cesar Australia, explains the new resource for growers.   Download the transcript for this episode Contact: Ros...

The Longmire’s farm at Beaumont, near Esperance in Western Australia, have been experimenting with variable rate technology for more than 20 years. As pros at using precision agriculture, Tom and Phil presented at workshops across WA earlier this year to share their experience implementing the technology on-farm. Tom joins us on this episode to tell us more. Download the transcript for this episod...

The Soil Quality ebook series, developed by SoilsWest with GRDC investment, draws upon a wealth of scientific published information, knowledge from dedicated soil science practitioners, industry perspectives and first-hand experience of growers. The 10th and final book in the series, covering the topic of plant nutrition, was released in October 2023 and the entire series is available to download...

The price of fertiliser has reached record highs over the past few seasons, so any option to reduce the amount of inputs being used on-farm, without impacting yield or productivity, can only be a good thing.  With GRDC investment, the Society of Precision Agriculture Australia has been hosting a series of face-to-face workshops around the country to try and help growers do just that.  To find out...

The second tier of the Australian Grains Pest Innovation Program (AGPIP) looks at beneficial insects in Australian grain crops as an alternate pest control option. With the use of endosymbionts, the team at the University of Melbourne’s Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group (PEARG) are using new technology to help increase beneficial insect populations and supress plant virus transmissi...

Join Dr Arun Shanmugam and Dr Gary Rosewarne from Agriculture Victoria as they discuss the impact of GRDC’s investment on the Australian Lentil Industry since its establishment in the 1990’s. This podcast also looks at the increased scale in operations and infrastructure to deliver new varieties for growers and also how new GRDC investment is expanding lentil production as a national program, into...

Growers at the GRDC Grains Research Updates at Minyip in Victoria in July 2023 were told by Gerard McMullen from the National Working Party on Grain Protection that applying chemicals according to the label rate did not necessarily mean grain would meet export market requirements.  Gerard joins us on this podcast to talk about changing MRLs, the chemical review being undertaken by the APVMA and wh...

A virtual goldmine of data generated from thousands of research, development and extension projects – all supported by GRDC – will soon be discoverable, accessible and able to be used to accelerate research outcomes.  GRDC’s Data Partnerships Initiative is a $2.8 million investment over 18 months and it brings together 12 Australian research organisations that are currently working on projects in...

Spring is a critical time for disease detection in order to avoid or at least minimise yield losses; and already we are seeing higher infection levels than in previous years.  Dr Hari Dadu is a senior research scientist with Agriculture Victoria has nearly a decade of experience working with crop diseases and is now leading the Septoria tritici blotch research in wheat, in the low and medium rainf...

Plant pathologist, Kurt Lindbeck from the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (DPI) at Wagga Wagga, discusses the challenges for growers when assessing disease risk this season. What signs should growers be looking for, how is and does weather affect decision making and what are the considerations for fungicide application? Kurt’s key message for growers this season around disease det...