GRDC Podcast

The AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship Program provides a bursary of $5000 a year during the final two years of a degree, along with professional development, work placements and networking opportunities.  Supported by the GRDC, the scholarship program fosters the next generation of agricultural leaders who are interested in contributing to the Australian grains industry's success.  In this podcast,...

In this episode, host Oli Le Lievre sits down with Mike Ewing, a scientist with over 40 years of experience in agricultural research, particularly in farming systems, break crops and whole-farm profitability.   Mike discusses his long-standing passion for plants and their unique adaptations, especially in the challenging environment of Western Australia's grain-growing regions. He shares insights...

Mouse populations across a large part of grain growing regions were higher than average across the 2021 and 2022 seasons, requiring an increased effort in mouse management from growers.  To help Australian grain growers reduce crop losses due to mouse damage, a GRDC investment is examining mouse bait application techniques to better understand the performance and likely efficacy of various options...

In this episode of GRDC In Conversation, host Oli Le Lievre speaks with Steve Davies, a soil scientist and researcher based in Western Australia. Steve’s love of dirt spawned from his quirky teacher in high school. That small moment budded into a 20+ year career investigating how to make grain farming more sustainable and productive.  In this episode, Steve explains how he collaborates with resear...

Being an agronomist is a role with many hats, and while the in season can be demanding, with the right network and support it can be hugely rewarding work.   In this podcast we hear from two successful agronomists that came to the profession in very different ways, Meteora Agronomic Consulting independent agronomist Liz Lobsey and Platinum Ag Services senior agronomist Matthew Howell. They have th...

In this episode of GRDC In Conversation, host Oli Le Lievre talks to Ryan Skamp, a former carpenter-turned-farmer and co-founder of an ag-tech startup. Ryan shares his unconventional journey from city life in Perth to establishing a career in agriculture, driven by a passion for problem-solving and efficiency.   Now the co-founder of "Skan," Ryan and his team develop technology solutions to optimi...

Rhizoctonia is a soil borne disease that causes a huge impact for farmers in Australia, particularly in the low and medium rainfall zones, with yield loss in the vicinity of $150 million for wheat and barley annually.  With GRDC investment, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) in Western Australia is developing disease risk and management strategies that are practi...

In this episode of GRDC’s In Conversation, host Oli Le Lievre chats with Erin Cahill. Erin is a fourth-generation farmer and agronomist from Moora, Western Australia. Erin shares his journey from working with agronomy giant CSBP to starting his own farming business which started with a few humble hectares and scaled drastically through the years.   It hasn’t been without challenge though. His farm...

For many farmers, it’s been a tight finish to the season due to dry conditions or frost. This makes preparing the books and finances for the year ahead more challenging, but as we’ll explore in this podcast, help is available and there are practical steps you can take to get ahead. Tony Hudson is the Director and Founder of Hudson Facilitation. A key part of his business is private financial consu...

More about this podcast  In this episode of GRDC In Conversation, we’re joined by Brianna Peake, Chief Stakeholder Relations Sustainability and Strategy Officer at CBH Group. Brianna’s journey of growing up in Western Australia, shapes how she approaches sustainability today in one of nation’s largest agricultural cooperatives. Enriched with travel and a diverse set of experiences she shares her l...

When a new variety of lentil came out that was a bit more boron tolerant, Scott Wandel thought it was time to give the legume another go. Farming at Mount Ridley, near Grass Patch in WA, Scott increased the hectares planted to lentils quickly after their introduction.  As a member of SEPWA, the South East Premium Wheatgrowers Association, Scott is a part of the cohort of 'Legume Leaders' that has...

More about this podcast  In this episode, we sit down with Bec Kelly, a third-generation farmer from Mingenew, WA, who shares her journey from global adventurer to dedicated farmer. After traveling through America, South America, and Europe, Bec returned to the family farm in 2018, where she has since embraced the highs and lows of agriculture.   She talks about the unpredictability of farming, he...

While new innovations in farming technology and machinery offer growers incredible increases to productivity and profitability, many of these innovations are released without growers having any hands-on experience with how they work or understanding how they can add value to their farming systems.  That’s why a GRDC National Grower Network investment for Live Machinery Demo Days was created. The f...

More about this podcast  In this episode of the GRDC In Conversation podcast, Oli Le Lievre sits down with Ben White, a highly respected agricultural engineer, researcher, and extension specialist. Ben is known for his work at the Kondinin Group, where he has spent over 20 years testing agricultural machinery, developing cutting-edge research, and providing farmers with practical solutions to impr...

Long coleoptile wheat varieties have the potential to deliver increased yield and therefore profit to Australian growers. That’s why GRDC is investing in extensive research to future proof the crop.  Steve Simpfendorfer from the NSW Department of Primary Industries is part of the nationwide project team, and his area of specialty is looking at how disease interacts with deep sowing.  This four-yea...

The GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT) new Variety Podcast series gives breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season.  This podcast focuses on lentil, field pea and lupin – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for barley, canola, oats, sorghum and wheat.  The varieties mentioned in this podcast have all been trialled through NVT – a pr...

At Yuna, in Western Australia’s northern growing region, Jason Batten started growing vetch about three years ago, and so far, he’s been impressed with how well the crop grows in his corner of the world.  As a member of the Yuna Farm Improvement Group, Jason is a part of the cohort of 'Legume Leaders' that has been established by the Grower Group Alliance, with investment from GRDC.  In this episo...

The GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT) new Variety Podcast series gives breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season.  This podcast focuses on wheat – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for barley, canola, field pea, lentil, lupin, oats and sorghum.  The varieties mentioned in this podcast have all been trialled through NVT – a progr...

Since 2013, an unidentified weevil has been reported by growers and advisers to be repeatedly causing damage to canola crops in localised areas of Dongara and Mingenew in WA's northern grain growing region.  As part of a two-year GRDC investment, the critter was recently scientifically identified and described as a new pest weevil species of unknown origin, representing a new genus of broad-nose w...

The GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT) new Variety Podcast series gives breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season.  This podcast focuses on canola – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for barley, field pea, lentil, lupin, oats, sorghum and wheat.  The varieties mentioned in this podcast have all been trialled through NVT – a progr...

Assisting growers to work smarter with their inputs to increase profitability is the focus of many GRDC investments. Recently, Australian maize growers have found there's a peak in the nitrogen response curve, beyond which there is no measurable effect on yield. Meantime, irrigation discussion groups expanded into paddock scale demonstration, which provided growers with the opportunity to further...

The GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT) new Variety Podcast series gives breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season.  This podcast focuses on sorghum, barley and oats – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for canola, field pea, lentil, lupin and wheat.  The varieties mentioned in this podcast have all been trialled through NVT – a pr...

Widespread frosts on top of a very dry season mean that southern growers are having to make some tough decisions. We speak to consulting agronomist, Martin Culbert, who is traveling across the southern region and helping growers with their post frost decision making. Martin advice is to approach the situation logically, and to get out there and conduct an assessment of the entire paddock in order...

Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Belinda Cay.  Belinda Cay is an experienced agricultural communicator. Across her career she has had a breadth of experience that has uniquely put her in the position to “put others in the spotlight” in a way that has supported them and in turn the broader agricultural industry.  She grew up on a family farm and was influenced by her father,...

Blackleg is the most serious disease in Australian canola, and while fungicides are commonly used to help manage this disease, there are concerns that an overreliance on fungicides could encourage fungicide resistance. In order to explore this further, GRDC is making a significant investment into fungicide resistant management strategies in blackleg in canola. Extensive research is taking place at...