ODay2017

Theme 2 - Farming Systems – Moisture and Stubble Management

The CSIRO/FarmLink long-term water-use efficiency and stubble management experiment located at Peter, Lyn, Jason and Stacey Coleman’s property, Temora is coming to an end. The projects have been delivered through GRDC investments FL00005 and CSP00179. The outcomes from the research at the site over 9 years have been adapted on farm to generate significant productivity gains. Join the speakers John Kirkegaard, Tony Swan (CSIRO), Chris Duff and Tim Condon (Delta Ag) and Tony Pratt (FarmLink) to discuss the latest on managing your systems for sustained profit. Morning and afternoon sessions (travel by bus) provide two opportunities to visit the site, where 3 smaller 30 minute interactive stations will provide an opportunity for discussions on the nine years of research combined with long term knowledge and local farmer experience.

Achieving a step change in whole farm water-use efficiency

Tim Condon & Chris Duff, Delta Ag
The “Catch more, store more, grow more” experiment site has been a catalyst for a step-change in potential farm productivity based on combinations of (i) clean (weed-free?) fallows, (ii) good residue management and (iii) earlier sowing of appropriate cereal and canola varieties to maximise both grazing and grain yield potential.  We will discuss how the insights that have emerged from the research have been adopted and refined on farm to generate a step-change in farm productivity, and discuss the key ingredients for success.

Managing nitrogen with grazed crops and stubbles

John Kirkegaard, CSIRO
The experiment set out to determine if grazing sheep on no-till, controlled traffic country would damage soil structure and reduce water storage. We found little negative impact of sheep on water storage, but surprisingly crop yield was sometimes increased by higher soil N levels after grazing. The consistent negative effect of retained wheat stubble on a second wheat crop in a canola-wheat-wheat sequence also appears to be related to nitrogen tie-up. We will discuss how these findings might assist to fine-tune N management in cropping systems.

Fine-tuning the system with disc and tine seeders in modern farming systems

Tony Swan, CSIRO
Over the past decade, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of mixed and continuous cropping farmers in southern NSW establishing crops with disc seeders. To fine tune these systems we ran experiments from 2013 to 2017 to understand the complementary management changes necessary to improve the yield, profit and sustainability when retaining stubble with either a disc or a tine seeder.   We will discuss the effects of disc and tine seeding systems on weed management, nitrogen management, crop yield and economics under different cropping systems with retained stubble relevant to southern NSW:

  • A canola-wheat-wheat sequence managed under a high input aggressive cropping strategy

  • A canola-wheat-wheat sequence managed under low input conservative strategy; and

  • A diverse legume (hay)-canola-wheat-barley sequence  

The effect livestock grazing and seeding opener types (disc or tine seeder) on crop yield, soil chemistry and soil structure in a long term no-till canola-wheat-wheat sequence will also be discussed and compared with farmer experience.