Crop establishment front and centre as winter sowing continues
In 2011, John Johnson, left, Lachlan Caldwell and Robert Johnson were sowing canola on 2 May. After seeing the latest results from the trial, Robert Johnson says he would ideally like to have two seeding rigs -- a tyne machine and a disc machine if they were not constrained by finances. He initiated the trial to evaluate the merits and disadvantages of discs versus tynes with and without sheep on his soils. PHOTO: GRDC
DPIRD researcher Giacomo Betti, left, and farm manager of Lawson Grains' Regans Ford property in WA, Mark Drake, were using a drone to monitor crop establishment and plant health (using NDVI) in 2018. PHOTO: Evan Collis
Capella growers David, left, and Alan Storey check the progress of their 2017 Gregory wheat crop in Queensland. PHOTO: GRDC
The sun goes down on another seeding day at Three Springs, WA, in 2017. PHOTO: Evan Collis
Mallee grower Steve Lanyon draws on seeding technology developed in the US to monitor and improve the precision of his seeding operations in 2013. PHOTO: GRDC
Dry-sown Chara wheat planted into previous season's canola stubble near Forbes, in NSW, in season 2005. The crop emerged after the first rainfall three weeks after sowing. PHOTO: GRDC
Ariah Park, NSW, grower Chris Davey sowing canola in 2010. He agrees good establishment is paramount to yield in canola. PHOTO: GRDC
WA grower Simon Wallwork, of Corrigin, has run his own trials on mouldboarded paddocks, finding crop establishment in aggressively ameliorated soils can be hindered by pre-emergent herbicides. PHOTO: Evan Collis
On the left is Plozza ploughed ground on the Eckert family's South Australian property in July 2018, compared to unploughed ground on the right. The ploughed ground shows a significant improvement in canola establishment. PHOTO: GRDC
In 2017 at Burracoppin, in WA, Tony Murfit used a modified one-way plough in the winter months to bury lime and weed seeds. The orange coloured soil in the image is acidic soil that is mixed with lime spread top soil. PHOTO: Evan Collis
A Mace(PBR) crop 25 days after seeding in the interrow in 2018 at Merredin, WA. PHOTO: Evan Collis
WA grain grower Mark Pearce at seeding time in Lake Grace in season 2015. PHOTO: Evan Collis
GRDC has a new video outlining how Western Australian grower Dylan Hirsch, at Latham in the central wheatbelt, is seeing crop establishment after soil amelioration using deep ripping.
SEE ALSO: Take a look at seeding time across the country over the years
There is also a popular video of the Plozza Plough system, developed by Eneabba brothers Ben and Sean Plozza to help Western Australian grain growers alleviate severe non-wetting soil issues.
GroundCover is also taking a pictorial flashback of crop establishment and innovative seeding system photos from GRDC across the years.
To stay up to date with the latest from the Australian grains industry, follow the GRDC Facebook page, or the GRDC twitter account.