Advice is on offer for NSW and Qld agronomists and growers to achieve optimum weed kill.

A thorough understanding of how herbicides work can assist agronomists and growers in achieving optimal performance from herbicides.

It is a fact recognised by the GRDC, which is offering another series of herbicide behaviour workshops across the Australian grain belt.

Starting in January 2020 and to be delivered by Independent Consultants Australia Network (ICAN), the popular workshops will address the science underpinning how herbicides work.

Past learnings

A total of 25 workshops were conducted in 2019, with more than 500 agronomists and growers participating.

ICAN weed specialist Mark Congreve says these workshops were very well received and the positive feedback from participants influenced the scheduling of 14 additional workshops in early 2020.

Herbicide behaviour workshop participants can expect to gain a better understanding of the key factors dictating herbicide performance and what can be done in the paddock to ensure maximum weed control. Photo: ICAN

"The 2020 workshops will be mostly in locations different to those chosen in 2019, to cater for those agronomists and growers who may not have been able to attend previous events due to distance," Mr Congreve says.

The workshops have been endorsed by many people who attended workshops in 2019, including one participant who commented: "Really liked the overall spread of topics, information and interactions from industry present, as well as the book and materials supplied. Good clear presentations and slides."

Understanding herbicides

Mr Congreve says participants in this year's workshops will gain a better understanding of the key factors dictating herbicide performance and what can be done in the paddock to ensure maximum weed control.

"Weeds are a significant burden to growers in terms of cost of control and impact on their farming systems and productivity," he says.

"And herbicide resistance is a key driver of increasing costs being incurred by growers."

Mr Congreve says that when confronted with a range of weed problems and environmental conditions, the challenge is to optimise the results in the field.

"Knowing what weeds will be controlled from a herbicide application is the easy bit - that information is on the label," he says.

"More challenging questions are around why herbicides perform or fail in some situations, why there are critical comments on the label and how they were developed."

Other challenging questions, according to Mr Congreve include:

• what happens in the tank, and in the plant, when we tank-mix different herbicides;
• how do adjuvants and water conditioning agents work - what should be used, when and why;
• how does resistance affect different herbicides and what strategies can be used as resistance emerges; and
• how do residual herbicides work and what influences their breakdown.

Regionally relevant

Mr Congreve says the 2020 herbicide behaviour workshops - targeting experienced agronomists, but open to interested growers - will be customised for each location to focus on regionally important herbicides and management issues.

They will cover:

• how herbicides work - disruption of key enzyme systems within the plant;
• leaf entry of post-emergent herbicides, including the influence of environmental conditions and the importance of adjuvants;
• post-emergent herbicide translocation and metabolism;
• herbicide resistance and resistance mechanisms;
• maximising performance of the key post-emergent modes of action (MOAs);
• pre-emergents - stubble, volatilisation, photodegradation and incorporation; relationship with soil type and soil moisture; degradation, plantbacks and crop safety; impacts of tillage and planter type; and
• maximising performance of key pre-emergent herbicides.

Workshops in New South Wales and Queensland will be held at the following locations:

Griffith Exies Club, NSW - February 4 and 5

Rich River Golf Club, Moama, NSW - February 6 and 7

Mayfair Ridge Tavern, Emerald, Queensland - March 17 and 18

Parkes Services Club, NSW - March 31 and April 1

Wagga Wagga RSL, NSW - April 2 and 3

These small group workshops are conducted over one-and-a-half days. Numbers are limited to ensure active participation and discussion.

Previous workshops have been fully subscribed, so early registration is essential.

The cost is $165 (including GST) per workshop and the events start at 9am on day one and finish by lunchtime on day two.

GRDC Research Code ICN 1811-001SAX

More information: Mark Congreve, ICAN, 0427 209 234, mark@icanrural.com.au

To register for workshops: https://www.icanrural.com.au/registration/herbicideworkshops.html