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Southern, 11 Jul 2024
Frost research set to target ear architecture
After many years of hearing stories about wheat varieties with different-shaped ears being more tolerant to frost, CSIRO wheat geneticist Dr Greg Rebetzke is excited to be able to study them as part of a new national project. ‘Determining the effect of wheat morphological and anatomical traits on frost susceptibility of wheat’, is one of three GRDC investment projects – collectively valued at $10 million – researching methods of reducing the impact of spring frosts on wheat yields.
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Southern, 29 May 2024
For the love of corn: driving innovation and precision cropping
Victorian grower Ray Thornton is addicted to growing corn, and although the crop is more widely known as maize, he is quick to point out that he grows corn, the grain, not maize for silage.
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Southern, 28 May 2024
Testing time for maize fertilisers to optimise yields
When the results of recent GRDC trials suggested re-evaluating fertiliser rates, it prompted Victorian maize grower Ray Thornton to set up an unofficial trial to test rates on his property at Waaia. The recent trials were conducted as part of the GRDC ‘Optimising Irrigated Grains’ project, which included three maize trials at Kerang, Victoria, and three at Finley in southern New South Wales from 2020 to 2023.
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Southern, 01 Apr 2024
Strong yields open new chapters in cereal story
In his first year in the GRDC Hyper Yielding Crops program, sixth-generation Tasmanian beef producer and grower achieved the highest-yielding crop of wheat in Australia. The yield came with plenty of rainfall over his 330ha enterprise, but it was also aided by agronomic practices he employed as part of the program.
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Southern, 29 Mar 2024
Engagement in trials creates a cereal contender
Encouraged by a record-breaking wheat yield achieved as part of the 2022 GRDC Hyper Yielding Crops program, Tasmanian grower Hamish Yaxley has increased his overall cereal planting by 40 per cent and is now experimenting with new cultivars. He has been impressed by the results with a new, slow-maturing winter wheat variety.
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Southern, 30 Oct 2023
Trial site lifts growers’ eyes beyond current yield benchmarks
Closing the yield gap hinges on multiple management factors. South Australian grower Bruce McLean explains how he did it
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Northern, 26 Oct 2023
Motivated grower surprised to take out SA award
What did Sam Ballantyne and his family do to grow a hyper-yielding crop?
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Southern, 04 Sep 2023
New technique provides insights on liming requirements
Southern region growers who are battling acidic soils have been given the latest insights into remediation techniques and technology at a workshop in South Australia. The workshop presented trial results and research findings from the ‘Acid Soils SA’ project that is funded by GRDC and led by the South Australian Research and Development Institute.
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Southern, 01 Sep 2023
Precision liming takes variability out of the equation
South Australian Wimmera grower David Kuchel, whose properties on either side of the SA–Victorian border experience reliable rainfall of about 450 millimetres per year, has long struggled with extremely variable pH.In recent years, paddock mapping of soil acidity levels has proved a game changer. David is now able to grow crops in paddocks where he previously could not, and enjoys increased yields due to much-reduced soil pH variability.
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Southern, 06 Jun 2023
Incremental approach to drainage brings cropping dividends
Rob and Jo Bradley share how an incremental approach to drainage and sustainable farming led to improved cereal crops in Longford, Tasmania.