Grains Research and Development Corporation

Phalaris is a winter w**d that produces many seeds and can resist herbicides. It needs early, combined control methods to protect crop yields and keep it under control.

🌾Phalaris is a highly competitive winter w**d of wheat and chickpeas. It can greatly reduce crop yields and increase grain contamination.
🌾High seed production and seeds sprouting at different times cause w**ds to come back quickly, especially in no-till farming systems.
🌾Integrated w**d management is essential. Using pre-emergent herbicides together with competitive crops can cut seed return by more than 90% in one season and improve control over the long term.

Download the fact sheet now ▶️ https://bit.ly/3ShCXV8

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Since the 1970s, Shiane Lea’s family of 3 generations near Esperance, WA, has been immersed in a typical crop and livestock mixed farming regime.

The principal crop is wheat, in rotation with barley, lupins, vetch and peas. The farm also runs 1,800 head of breeding Merinos for wool and lambs.

Shiane and her husband, Matt, moved back to the family farm in 2013 to help her parents. With an eye on the future, Shiane and Matt participated in a farm managers’ program in 2023 to help prepare for when Shiane’s parents retire.

The program covered farm diversification, which got the couple thinking about new opportunities. With Shiane a keen baker, the idea to mill their own flour was a natural next step.

Shiane saw an opportunity to produce flour for bread and baking that would appeal to health-conscious consumers who want product with paddock-to-plate provenance.

She says going into this new business was a huge learning curve. Shiane and Matt have established Sieda Milling – a food processing facility that produces 6 different products to suit bread and baking.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4e3oumT

📷 Shiane Lea

The latest research into the use of canola seed treatments to control green peach aphid is showing the insect has rapidly developed a high level of resistance, requiring extra, early crop monitoring.

Associate Professor Paul Umina, Cesar Australia Director, says that aphids surviving canola seed treatments have become so commonplace that it is “the new norm”.

He says declining seed treatment efficacy now means canola should be monitored for aphid and virus symptoms early in crop development.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4dPS4O3

📷 Paul Umina

A GRDC National Grower Network (NGN) project has highlighted opportunities to lift production and profit in northern NSW through more targeted crop nutrition decisions.

The NGN trials near Walgett, Rowena, Bellata, Mullaley and Bundella over 3 years showed responses to starter fertiliser, potassium and trace elements varied by location, soil type, season and moisture.

Project leader Mitch Cuell, a Director and Consultant with Outlook Ag, explored under what conditions crop nutrition could be refined to improve grain yields and returns.

“High yields over the past 2 to 3 years have resulted in higher-than-normal export rates of nutrients from paddocks, creating a need to reassess fertility programs,” he says.

“Starter fertiliser and potassium were 2 examples of nutrients drawing increasing attention.”

Read more https://bit.ly/4uMCmsV

Growers in WA are well aware of the benefits of growing legumes in their rotation.

However, there are key considerations and drivers that need to be taken into account when making decisions.

A GRDC investment with the Grower Group Alliance is aiming to help with that, and in this 4-part series, we tackle the agronomy, profitability, marketing and harvesting of legumes.

This episode explores what makes legumes profitable, how profitable they need to be to make it worthwhile, and the multi-year factors at play.

We hear from grower, Timm House, and his agronomy consultant, Tom McInerney, who are both based at Gnowangerup, WA.

Listen now 🎧 bit.ly/4vAyUSj

Growers in the far eastern wheatbelt of WA will benefit from two new GRDC investments exploring long coleoptile wheat, deep-seeded crops and deep phosphorus fertiliser placement.

The new investments led by SLR Agriculture and Merredin and Districts Farm Improvement Group are a direct result of grassroots grower engagement through the National Grower Network (NGN), with both projects arising out of an NGN forum in the eastern wheatbelt in October 2025.

Read more ▶️ https://bit.ly/4uU0Mkt

📍 Did you know you can visit an NVT trial site?

The results from a trial site can be accessed from a range of sources, but many growers don’t realise they can also visit their local site to observe new varieties during the growing season.

However, NVT sites are on private land, so a property’s on-farm safety and biosecurity protocols need to be respected.

Step-by-step guide to visiting an NVT site:

1️⃣ Go to the National Variety Trials (NVT) website and click ‘find your local trial’. This will bring up a map of all the trial sites in the country. Use the search box to choose a location and crop that is of interest. Crop types are indicated by an abbreviation – ‘W’ for wheat, ‘CA’ for canola, ‘B’ for barley and so on.

2️⃣ A pop-up box on the map will give details on the service provider, status of the crop and any trial reports. To find previous years’ reports, change the year in the search box.

3️⃣ Contact the service provider, who will provide a mud map for site access. They will also put you in contact with the landowner.

4️⃣ The service provider will provide GPS coordinates – these are not on the NVT map.

5️⃣ Contact the landowner for approval to be on-farm at that time.

6️⃣ On arrival, look for the QR code located at the start of the first trial.

7️⃣ Scan the QR code to register your arrival and confirm you have service provider and landowner authorisation.

8️⃣ You can then access up-to-date site and variety information.

9️⃣ A ‘send feedback’ option allows you to contact the NVT team and trial service provider with any site-specific feedback.

Read more https://bit.ly/4ukssxU

Upcoming Webinar: GRDC Farm Business Update online - lessons from 25 years of farm business data: what has changed and what matters next

📆 1pm AEST Thurs 18 June
🔗 https://bit.ly/4ac87Dw

The numbers don't lie. After 25 years of benchmarking farm business performance, Agripath have found clear patterns emerge about what drives profit, resilience and long-term success.

In this session Kim Bowman, AgriPath, will unpack the biggest lessons from the data, including the characteristics of top-performing farms, the role of crop choice and rotation, machinery investment, nitrogen use, debt management and farm infrastructure.

Gain practical insights into the decisions that have delivered the greatest returns over time and what they mean for farming businesses today.