cropping

May 2, 2018

What matters more? Crop sequence or seeder?

Can we get away with a single break crop if we throw enough ‘aggressive agronomy’ at a ryegrass population? Are expensive herbicides worth the money?  What is better, disc or tyne? Why were the batsmen tampering with the ball, shouldn’t that be the bowler’s job?
These are all questions that were being asked by a local project committee of growers and advisers, and there was only one way to answer them. Enter Tony Swan from CSIRO. He and his team embarked on a massive, long-term research effort in Temora NSW, working with FarmLink to make it happen.

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AHRI Insight

November 1, 2017

Selfish weeds can manipulate the nitrogen cycle to suit themselves

Weeds are selfish, self-centred, narcissistic, manipulative pieces of work that will do whatever it takes to make themselves look good and make the other plants around them look bad. Some weeds are so self-obsessed that they can manipulate the soil nitrogen into a form that is just the way they like it. New research by Cathryn O’Sullivan from CSIRO is showing that some weeds release chemicals from their roots that slow down the bacteria that are essential to the nitrogen cycle, retaining nitrogen in the ammonium form that weeds can potentially take up faster than crop plants. Totally selfish! Click through to get the details.

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AHRI Insight

May 29, 2017

Double breaks – a double shot at annual ryegrass

Short black, long black, double shot, double break? Coffee preference is a little like crop sequences. Perhaps you’re a ‘short black’ wheat-canola type, strong on inputs? Or a ‘long black’ type who likes to dilute their rotations a bit more? When it comes to managing annual ryegrass populations, Tony Swan and the research team from CSIRO Plant Industry and FarmLink, have shown that ‘double shots’ are the key.

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AHRI Insight
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