Delegates from the Western Australia grower group alliance visited Birchip and BCG to gather knowledge on how BCG operates as well as learn about Wimmera and Mallee farming systems. The group arrived on June 24 to a welcoming and informative presentation by BCG CEO Chris Sounness followed by dinner at the Birchip Hotel where they had a chance to mingle with BCG employees.
The following morning the the extension and communications team discussed the BCG events and communications model and then the group was taken on a tour by BCG researcher Kelly Angel of the main field day site at Berriwillock where they also met one of the site hosts, Ash Summerhayes.
Great conversation, discussion and comparison was had during the entire tour by comparing row spacing’s, rainfall and yield patterns, crop varieties grown and the fact that Victorian growers roll their pulse crops which hasn’t been seen in WA to a large extent yet.
Discussion also included how WA growers manage their weeds and how this can be affected by growing season rainfall. Many of the members of the grower group alliance single handedly represented the growers in their region so they were very interested in taking back as much information as possible.
Interesting similarities were made when Ash and the delegates discussed the topic of soil moisture, Victoria and WA have similar annual rainfall of 275mm. Overall the tour was deemed a success as many ideas were conversed and discussed between WA and Victoria.
