Currently it is seminar season with a lot of great information being shared in the ag. world.
Lots of powerpoint slides and data is being shared by the people who did the prior hard yards in their field experiments.
First on the events calendar was the BCG Trials Review Day.
With not a spare seat at the Birchip Community Leisure Centre, attendees saw BCG staff and industry experts present research findings from the 2017 trials.
Sam Eastwood (Kaniva) and Terry Kiley (Nandaly) were a highlight in the Farmer to Farmer learning session talking about what went on at their farms during 2017.
The super-high standard of presentations, equally meaty discussion and great networking meant an overall great day.
All BCG members reading this will have either received or will soon receive their 2017 Seasons Research Results compendium. This compendium is a great resource and reflects the efforts and dedication by staff to turn paddock based science into decision making material.
Moving into March, there are many more seminars and workshops planned. The challenge that seems to be emerging is what used to happen over three months, seems to be crammed into two months.
April is now recognised as the start of sowing, with people kicking off straight after Easter. Early sowing of crops is based in both experiential observations and some great science. Undertaking field based research and having compelling evidence showing the value of sowing some crops early, and often dry, has been of great value.
The only downside is it compresses the down time between harvest and sowing, which leads to what was seen as a slightly less hectic time becoming a blur of events, workshops and planning.
On another note, I would like to encourage you to find out a little more about BCG’s host and veski Sustainable Agricultural Fellow, Dr Terry Griffin from Kansas State University. He is currently in Australia for the first of two visits this year.
Terry is very active on Twitter and I encourage you to follow @spaceplowboy who is very good at the craft and shares great insights and observations.
Twitter is really becoming the “go-to” social media tool for sharing science, in-paddock observations, problems and solutions. It seems a far friendlier place than some other areas of social media are portrayed.
So don’t be daunted and give it a go. There are plenty of people willing to help you get started.
Finally, I’ve selected two of videos – as is my need when I write a piece like this:
First, a video Terry did in the ute cabin with Cam Taylor. It’s simple, effective and a great demonstration of extension.
Terry asks questions that might interest American farmers about what goes on at Cam’s family farm.
Second, I was struggling to select a song to share, but with all this talk about research results and science, “She blinded me with science” by Thomas Dolby kept on popping up in my head.
1982 was the year and I’m not sure if the song has stood the test of time but still memorable all the same.
https://youtu.be/Y2VNxmn0lNA
