grdc growers' report - Grains Research & Development Corporation

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from the grdc regions region, the GRDC coordinated an emergency live information broadcast, which was an effective way for GRDC to provide up to the minute information directly to growers and to engage in a two-way conversation. To assist with future baiting supplies and strategies, the GRDC has announced investment approval for a joint research project to develop an occupational health and safety package to potentially support future on-farm batching of mouse baits. Other pests and diseases Although numbers of locusts had returned to near normal levels in many areas, the Australian Plague Locust Commission (APLC) has advised there may still be some activity in parts of the Southern Region later this year. Snails continue to cause problems in parts of the Southern Region and in response, field trials of a new biological agent to control snails are expected to begin in the southern cropping region later this year. Sufficient quantities of the nematode-based control are being developed to enable trials to be undertaken in South Australia and Victoria. The GRDC and Charles Sturt University (CSU) are aiming towards commercialisation of the biological control agent next year, should field trials prove successful. The GRDC continues to fund research into— as well as the active monitoring of—a broad range of crop pests throughout the Southern Region. This is also the case in relation to crop diseases. In terms of diseases, cereal rusts were again a cause for concern in 2011. This year, growers faced an unprecedented risk of stripe, stem and leaf rust because of increased inoculum levels in crops during 2010 and the potential for carry over on volunteer plants thriving following high summer rainfall. In response, a new GRDC-supported campaign, the Rust Bust, was launched by the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program (ACRCP), encouraging growers to be proactive and plan their 2011 rust management strategy to counter the worst disease risk in nearly 40 years. Blackleg research The GRDC funding, on behalf of growers and the Australian Government, is supporting world-leading research into crop production. Underlining this fact was a major research finding with significant implications for growers of canola in the Southern Region, which was announced in February this year. A team of French and Australian scientists, jointly led by Barbara Howlett from the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne, sequenced the genome of the blackleg fungus. Sequencing the genome has enabled researchers to develop molecular markers that can predict whether disease outbreaks will occur, or their likelihood of occurring, in a given season. Understanding the genetic make-up of the blackleg fungus will help us accelerate control and is a significant step forward for the GRDC and growers in Australia and in other countries. During the GRDC Southern Regional Panel spring tour (right) Peter Schwarz, Southern Regional Panel Chair met with Mark Modra, Lower Eyre Agricultural Development Association representative at a trial site near Port Lincoln, SA. Photo: GRDC New pulse varieties Pulse crops continue to provide Southern Region growers with numerous agronomic and economic advantages. The GRDC-funded breeding programs each year deliver growers with new varieties to ensure pulses continue to enhance the viability of farming systems throughout the southern cropping zone. Released in the spring of 2011 were two new field peas which will provide growers with superior variety options in bacterial blight-prone regions of Victoria, South Australia and southern New South Wales. The new Pulse Breeding Australia (PBA) varieties, PBA Percy A and PBA Oura A , offer good levels of resistance to bacterial blight, having shown minimal yield loss in trials subjected to high levels of bacterial blight pressure. In addition, a new high-yielding, ascochyta blight-resistant desi chickpea variety suited to New South Wales, PBA Boundary A , was launched after six years of rigorous field testing. The 2011 GRDC Southern Region Seed of Light Award recipient Colin Wellings (centre) with GRDC Southern Regional Panel members Chris Blanchard (left) and Andrew Rice at the GRDC Update in Young, NSW, in February 2011. One of the world’s leading authorities on cereal stripe rust, Professor Wellings was recognised for his efforts and achievements in communicating the outcomes of research. Photo: GRDC Moving forward I would like to thank growers, advisers and researchers throughout the Southern Region for their support over the past year and look forward to that valuable relationship continuing. I also extend my thanks and gratitude to the GRDC Southern Regional Panel members for their tireless support, input and contributions in working with growers and industry to represent their views and research, development and extension needs. I wish growers, advisers and southern grains industry personnel all the best for the remainder of 2011 and for a prosperous and bountiful 2012. 12 GRDC GROWERS’ REPORT 2010–2011
from the grdc regions Western Region by PETER ROBERTS, GRDC Western Panel Chair In 2011 the GRDC has put in place concrete new measures to ensure that its research priorities are increasingly grower-focussed. This heightened push for grower-centred research is being realised in Western Australia by giving growers more opportunities to participate in the GRDC’s investment priority process. New initiatives introduced—such as significantly expanded spring tours by the Western Regional Panel and the appointment of Regional Cropping Solutions (RCS) facilitators—are all about achieving a much closer relationship with growers. The GRDC Western Regional Panel aims to understand completely what the drivers are for grower profitability in different areas of WA, and bring those issues back to the GRDC. It is about making sure that a grower’s investment in the GRDC is the best they can make in terms of returns—better than shares, real estate or any other form of investment. The GRDC Western Regional Panel wants to ensure growers have a good understanding of where GRDC money goes and that growers really value the investment made by the GRDC. Ongoing investments are being made by the GRDC into priority research issues voiced by growers to the Western Regional Panel. Some of the issues covered by these continuing investments include non-wetting soils; frost management; the development of more sustainable legume systems; herbicide resistant weeds; breeding for disease resistance and drought tolerance; cereal yield; and water use efficiency. However, new investments are also being made into areas including a project to broaden the range of fungicides available to cereal and pulse growers, and new legume research in WA. More information about new areas of investment is available in the GRDC 2012-13 Investment Plan (Open and Multi-stage Tenders), on the GRDC website www.grdc.com.au. All new projects outlined in the investment plan now require results to be extended to growers and other stakeholders—a result of recommendations in the new National Grains RD&E Strategy. Although a research project may be nationally targeted, delivery of the results will occur regionally and locally to growers at ground level. Expanded spring tours One of the ways in which the GRDC is increasing the opportunities for WA growers to contribute to research priorities is through a new approach to the Western Regional Panel’s annual spring tour. Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (AHRI) director Stephen Powles, left, inspects trials with GRDC Western Regional Panel member John Even and GRDC Western Regional Panel Chair Peter Roberts. The trials relate to a herbicide resistance survey conducted by AHRI in the WA grainbelt. Photo: GRDC Where your 2010–11 research dollars were invested in the West ($m) $50.88m TOTAL ■ Cross-commodity $41.88 ■ Coarse grains $1.22 ■ Grain legumes $4.29 ■ Oilseeds $1.00 ■ Wheat $2.50 Traditionally the panel has toured an area of the WA grainbelt as a whole group, but in 2011 panellists split into three smaller groups to consult with growers and industry representatives from a much bigger area. Hundreds of WA grain growers were consulted by panel members during the three week-long tours which took place in the grainbelt’s northern, central and southern regions. The aim of the significantly expanded tours is for members of the panel to visit more of the grainbelt, more often, to improve two-way communication with growers and other stakeholders. On the whole, growers we met with on the three tours were very appreciative of us being able to explain the GRDC investment process to them. Panellists will continue their association with the regions they toured to make sure they get ongoing feedback about the specific issues facing local growers. Regional Cropping Solutions facilitators Another way in which WA growers will help steer investment into grains research and development is through the appointment of three Regional Cropping Solutions (RCS) facilitators. Julianne Hill, Sally Thomson and Cameron Weeks have been appointed to the roles as part of GRDC’s RCS initiative. Julianne Hill and Sally Thomson will work in WA’s central east, central west, Great Southern and Esperance zones, and Cameron Weeks will work in the northern zone. The RCS initiative will lead to many more growers and stakeholders being able to communicate directly with the GRDC about emerging issues, attitudes and activities in different grain growing regions in WA. It is part of a renewed effort by the GRDC to lift grower profitability by cutting the time it takes for new varieties, practices and technologies to be adopted, with the ultimate aim being to increase the productivity of the Australian grains industry. GRDC GROWERS’ REPORT 2010–2011 13
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