The results from agricultural research trials carried out by Birchip Cropping Group last season will be officially released at the organisation’s annual Trials Review Day on Friday, February 19.
The event, to be held at the Birchip Community Leisure Centre, promises to be a thought-provoking day for farmers who will receive practical and relevant information ahead of the 2016 cropping season.
In 2015, BCG managed 86 trials at 20 sites across the Wimmera and Mallee region. Many of the results from these trials will be discussed and debated at the popular Trials Review Day and the full reports released in the 2015 BCG Season Research Results compendium, which will be launched on the day.
The program is bursting with information and will feature presentations by BCG research staff, leading farmers and agricultural industry specialists, including renowned machinery researcher Dr Jack Desbiolles from the University of South Australia and Agriculture Victoria climate specialist and Very Fast Break host Dale Grey.
Dr Desbiolles will talk about his research into seeding systems and provide growers with tips on selecting machinery according to stubble load and soil conditions.
The 2016 weather outlook will be presented by Mr Grey, along with a review of 2015. Mr Grey will provide information on how to interpret weather forecasts, including long-term outlooks and, importantly, their reliability early in the year.
To start the day, the audience will have the chance to cast their minds back to 2015 and think about how they confronted the challenges and opportunities that came with the dryer-than-average year. This year, the conversation will be led by Donald farmer Adam Campbell and Piangil grain grower Alistair Murdoch who will share their experiences and learnings from season 2015.
The highly anticipated results from BCG’s independent wheat, barley and oat variety trials will be presented by Claire Browne, Linda Walters and Alison Frischke (BCG) and followed by an open discussion with growers.
A discussion about the performance of new and current pulse varieties in 2015 research trials will be led by Agriculture Victoria senior pulse research agronomist, Dr Jason Brand.
Other presentations will focus on the Farm 4 Prophet farm planning tool (Harm van Rees, Cropfacts and Phil O’Callighan, ORM), Grain and Graze (Alison Frischke, BCG), barley sprouting tolerance and head loss (Linda Walters, BCG) and the impact of crop nutrition on frost (Kelly Angel, BCG and Richard Bell (Murdoch University).
Weed management will feature in two presentations delivered by BCG senior research Kelly Angel. Kelly will present the results from research looking at how sowing direction and row spacing influences weeds as well as the findings from a trial testing knockdown options for glyphosate resistant ryegrass.
BCG’s strategic plan for 2015-2020, which aims to strengthen operations at BCG and respond to a changing environment, will be presented by BCG Board chairman Caroline Welsh and board member Alan Bennett.
BCG’s new website, and an exciting new app, will also be launched at Trials Review Day by BCG extension officer Alli Elliott. Alli will deliver an interactive demonstration of BCG’s latest on-line communication platform which will see that members get the information they want, when they want it.
The BCG Trials Review Day is for BCG Members only. Non-members can purchase a membership prior to the event or on the day. Registration is from 8:15am with sessions to begin at 9:00am sharp. For more information, including a full program, visit www.bcg.org.au or phone (03) 5492 2787.
