WeedSmart Podcast

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! The podcast is a bit late this week as we've been busy in Northern NSW presenting WeedSmart Week! We kicked off the event with the Forum Day in Narrabri at Lochaber Station and then toured around the region visiting farms and hearing from growers and agronomists on their farming systems and weed control tactics. In this podcast...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! Join your hosts Jessica Strauss and Peter Newman as they discuss crop competition and optical spraying in the Northern region. Gulargambone Farmer Chris Roche talks about crop competition in his farming system and Agronomist Rob Long discusses optical spraying options in the Northern Region. Both Chris and Rob will be speaking at th...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! As a whole, the northern grains region has had a very tough start to the 2018 winter cropping season. With a few showers around there are hopes of some reprieve from a long, dry spell. Unfortunately, weeds will most likely be the first to respond to rainfall and growers will need to make some difficult decisions surrounding their cr...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! This week we're catching up with two of the 2017 Syngenta Growth Awards winners. We were very proud that our Extension Agronomist Kirrily Condon nabbed the Adviser award in the Sustainability category. For Junee-based Kirrily, the goal is always the same. If she can provide advice that is making farming more profitable as well...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! We don’t want to give the weeds a free kick by growing un-competitive crops.  Crop competition with weeds is a double-edged sword. There is the effect of the weeds on the crop, and the effect of the crop on the weeds.  A competitive crop will suffer less yield loss at the hands of the weeds, and will also reduce seed set of the weed...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! We have two diverse topics for this week's podcast. Firstly we'll hear from Peter Aikman, who is a Mallee grain grower. He will share his experience on using the Rootboot for his paired rows, revealing the positive impacts and some of the negatives too. We also hear from Nuffield Scholar recipient Richard Hinchliffe. Richa...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! With dry conditions in many parts of the country, we catch up with WANTFA Executive Director Dr David Minkey to find out if herbicides do in fact degrade in dry soil over time. We also chat with Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Principal Scientist Paul Grundy about controlling volunteer and ratoon cotton. Join your...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! With many parts of the country facing little to no Autumn rainfall events so far, many growers are dry seeding. ConsultAg Agronomist Geoff 'Fos' Fosbery joins us in this podcast and provides some great tips on ensuring you get dry seeding right, including tips on herbicide application, such as trifluralin. We also hear fro...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! In this podcast, we learn about what's happening in the robotics space for broadacre agriculture from Professor Salah Sukkarieh, who is an international expert in the research, development and commercialisation of field robotic systems. Last year he won the 2017 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Innovation and Science. We al...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! With seeding and pre-emergent herbicide application kicking off around the country, we got in touch a couple of herbicide application experts to share some timely advice on getting spraying right this season. Dr Chris Preston from the University of Adelaide gives a preview of his WeedSmart Webinar "Use pre-ems to maximise winte...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! With seeding around the corner (or potentially already started for some!), keeping weeds at bay will also be on the agenda. In this podcast, we chat with Lockhart farmer David Gooden. David not only farms but also developed the Sprayer Mate batching plant with his brother Owen. David is a Nuffield Scholar Recipient and has studied s...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! Harvest seed destroying mill technology has been the talk of the town among harvest weed seed control enthusiasts. For the podcast, we normally stick to seasonal issues, but in February, the Kondinin Group released a cracker Research Report, "Residue Management at Harvest". In this report, the Research Team (comprising of...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! Nearly a year ago, Extension Officer Greg Condon co-hosted a podcast with Jessica Strauss on disc seeding and stripper front systems. It's a bit more of an obscure system, but it sure generated a lot of interest and is currently our most played episode, with more than 750 listens (you can check it out here: https://weedsmart.or...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! For many growers, planting seed is just around the corner, but to ensure quality seed is going in the ground, it's important to grade and clean it. In this podcast, we hear from seed cleaning contractor, David Bach who runs Toowoomba Grain and Storage. He explains the process of cleaning seed, why it's imperative and also...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! We're back for 2018! This is our first podcast of the year and we are excited to get into another year of informative and fun podcasts to ensure you have more crop and fewer weeds! Join your co-hosts Jessica Strauss and Peter Newman to delve into Summer weed management and learn about a mechanical weed tool - the Harvest Residu...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! In our last podcast for the year, we present an overview of the recent Cropping and Resistance 'Riders of the Storm' Forum which was supported by GRDC and hosted by AHRI and CCDM.There was a great turnout for the 3rd GRDC Crop Protection Forum which was held at Bunya Campus in December. For the past two decades, agronomic...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! This time of year, Summer fallow management is on the radar to ensure weeds are kept at bay and don't rob soil moisture and nitrogen from next year's crops. Ag Grow Director and Agronomist, Barry Haskins goes over some tips for getting summer fallow management right. Podcast co-host Peter Newman also discusses the importan...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! Research out of the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM)has indicated that the harvest weed seed control tool (HWSC), narrow windrow burning, also help manage the damaging fungal disease sclerotinia stem rot. Kyran Brooks did his Honours in this research, with supervisors Mike Ashworth (AHRI) and Sarita Bennet (CCDM). The t...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! With the help of GRDC, Planfarm recently held Harvest Weed Seed Control (#HWSC) workshops in Western Australia. All the current approaches to HWSC were discussed in detail. In this podcast, Jessica Strauss is joined by two co-hosts, Peter Newman (AHRI, WeedSmart, Planfarm) and Nick McKenna (Planfarm) where they provide an overview o...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! It's that time of year already where farmers are getting out their spray rigs and dealing with in-crop weeds. While it is a busy time of year, it's essential to ensure you're across good spraying technique to ensure spray drift does not occur. Spray drift expert Mary O’Brien explains wind inversions and provides tips...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! Development Officer at Merredin Research Station Glen Riethmuller gives some useful insights into harvesting low, crop lifters and also discusses crop topping. We also hear from Meckering farmer Darren Morrell. He recently received resistance test results which showed one of the farms he is leasing has 80% trifluralin resistance. Da...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! Jessica Strauss is joined by co-host Greg Condon who is one of the AHRI extension officers and also runs Grassroots Agronomy with wife Kirrily. Greg and Jessica discuss some of the upcoming technology in the ag space. In light of the technology theme, we hear from CSIRO farming systems scientist Rick Llewellyn about virtual fencing...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! In Part 2 of our WeedSmart Week coverage, hear from Day 2 of the Farm Visits, featuring Stephen Hatty (@stephen_hatty); Ben Cruikshank (@ganmain) and Dan Fox (@dfox05). We also hear from attendees on the day including Di Holding. A variety of farming systems are explained, with tactics like the use of stripper fronts; chaff lining;...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! WeedSmart Week in Wagga Wagga was a cracker of an event. We're so thankful to all the contributors, including the stakeholders, the AHRI and WeedSmart teams, the presenters and farmers, and also those who attended. We had a Forum Day on Day 1, followed by farm visits on Day 2 & 3. In this podcast, Jessica Strauss and Peter...

Got a question or topic you're interested in? Send us a text! Today is the last day to register for WeedSmart Week in Wagga Wagga, which kicks off next Monday, August 21! In this podcast, Jessica Strauss and Peter Newman give a preview of some of the presentations and farm visits which will be occurring over the three-day event. Grassroots Agronomy and AHRI team member Greg Condon chats about...