Enemy number one was ryegrass at Dubbo WeedSmart Week

This week on the podcast we're hearing about the key messages shared by presenters and panel members at WeedSmart Week Dubbo.

This was our 10th event and we also celebrated WeedSmart’s 10th anniversary.

We had excellent presenters and lively panels at the forum day, machinery expo and farm visits.  Our Southern Extension Agronomist, Greg Condon provides a great overview. We also hear from attendees Tess Dimond and Angus Dagliesh, as well as farm visit agronomist presenter, Chris McCormack, who manages Gus O'Brien's farm.

New webinar recording

You can now watch the latest webinar recording, Combating resistant annual ryegrass in northern farming systems. 

Annual ryegrass, the Australian grain industry’s most costly weed, is making an unwelcome appearance in summer crops and extending its range further north in winter crops.

In this webinar, Nutrien agronomist Garry Onus talks about practical strategies to prevent and manage incursions of resistant annual ryegrass populations in northern cropping systems.

Brad Jackson, with his brother Phil, runs a 2500-ha cropping operation in the Gurley area, Northern NSW. Brad shares the cultural, mechanical and chemical strategies he deploys to keep annual ryegrass at bay.

The webinar is facilitated by WeedSmart northern extension agronomist, Paul McIntosh.

New articles

1.     More crop, fewer weeds at WeedSmart Week Dubbo: The 2023 event was an outstanding success, having attracted 200 registrations, mainly grain growers and agronomists, from across the country for the forum day alone. There was a positive vibe throughout the event particularly in response to the growers who shared their farming systems and weed management challenges and successes. Read all about it here.  

2.     What is the value of fixed nitrogen for suppressing weeds: Rohan Brill, research agronomist, Brill Ag, Ganmain is our August Ask an Expert. Results from research on hyper-yielding crops show that crops need fertile soils, not just fertiliser. One spin-off benefit of vigorous, high-yielding crops is strong crop competition and potentially fewer weeds. Rohan Brill, research agronomist with Brill Ag, Ganmain, NSW, says the results of GRDC-funded pulse research at sites across central and southern NSW have shown that the quantity of atmospheric nitrogen that legumes fix in the soil has been generally under-estimated. Get the details here.

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