Australia
September 28, 2010
A series of harvest weed seed management seminars scheduled for this October in Wubin (12th), Corrigin (13th) and Kojonup (14th) are set to equip grower’s with the necessary information to successfully implement chaff carts, narrow windrow burning, and baling tactics into their farming system.
Funded by the GRDC, Wheatbelt NRM and the South West Catchment Council, seminars will be delivered by University of WA (UWA) based Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (AHRI) in collaboration with the Department of Food and Agriculture (DAFWA).
Speakers include AHRI’s Professor Stephen Powles and Dr Michael Walsh, DAFWA’s Peter Newman, Darkan grower Ray Harrington and Corrigin grower Lance Turner.
The feature of these half day events will be a presentation by Ray Harrington inventor of the Harrington Seed Destructor.
“After exploring all sorts of options, crushing weed seeds at harvest is the most practical option for me” Ray said.
Lance Turner has been using a chaff cart for the last 6 years and will discuss how this technique works in his cropping system.
“We found that by replacing the blower system with a conveyor belt makes the carts much easier to use” Lance said.
Previous GRDC funded AHRI research has shown high proportions of weed seeds are retained at the beginning of harvest providing an opportunity to catch, crush or cremate weed seeds.
“Minimsing the input of weed seed into the seed bank through the use of chaff carts, baling or narrow wind row burning will ensure the sustainability of weed management activities” Dr Walsh said.
Previous GRDC funded research by DAFWA weeds researcher Peter Newman has demonstrated that integrated weed management (IWM) successfully drives down weed numbers.
“We have shown that nine years of IWM smashed ryegrass seed banks by 98% in 31 focus paddocks.” Peter said.
“During this time some growers eroded their ryegrass seed banks over their whole farm, which may not have been achieved without implementing narrow windrow burning or chaff carts” he said.
Director of AHRI, Professor Powles believes harvest weed seed management is essential for the continuation of intensive cropping programs.
“Herbicide resistance is widespread throughout Australia, and growers are getting on top of the problem by using a diverse range of tactics including harvest weed seed management.” Professor Powles said.
“Diversity is essential for sustaining the future of agriculture and harvest weed seed management provides another weapon in fighting this war on weeds.” he said.
“We want growers to walk away armed with the necessary information to implement these tactics into their farming operation.”
It is essential that potential attendees advise Neree Martinez on 08 6488 1512 or neree.martinez@uwa.edu.au by Monday 4th of October, events are open for all to attend.
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