De-risking early sown crops

WHY THIS PROJECT IS NEEDED

Dry and early sowing of cereal crops is a practice commonly used by farmers in southern Australia to combat erratic and late opening season rainfall, and to effectively manage the sowing program on increasingly large farms.

In short: This is a collaborative project which aims to enhance the adoption of strategic dry sowing crop management techniques to help farmers reduce their production risk and better manage increasingly large sowing programs.

There has been a large amount of research and development on dry and early sowing by key research and development organisations such as Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC), CSIRO, and state agencies into seeding strategies, nutritional requirements, and machinery setup for dry sown crops.

However, many growers have not accessed the information, or are seeking to develop a more strategic approach that is tailored to their specific district and property requirements. Additionally, there are opportunities to increase the success of early sowing by combining management approaches and strategies.

Project focus

This project will see fifteen prominent Grower Groups partner with four Drought Hubs to deliver a program that accelerates the adoption of strategic dry and early sown crop management approaches. Each group will tailor activities to meet the knowledge, experience, and needs of their member bases and local communities.

In the Riverine Plains region, the project includes the establishment of two demonstration sites investigating best bet early sown crop management at Murchison in Northern Victoria, and Rand in southern NSW.

Agronomic parameters collected from both sites will also compare the “best bet” option with the current practice.

Project full title: De-risking the seeding program: Adoption of key management practices for the success of dry early sown crops

Further reading

• Using dry sowing as a tool to manage risk