A demonstration site sown earlier this year at Kyalite, near Balranald is progressing well following inspections that were carried out at a Mallee Sustainable Farming workshop last month.
The Kyalite Crop Walk and Spray Application workshop, which was coordinated by Mallee Sustainable Farming and supported by stakeholders including Western Local Land Services, was held on 19 September and included inspection of the trial site and covered important information on herbicide resistance management and spray application.
The demonstration site, which was sown earlier this year on 11 and 12 May, will provide valuable insights on the impacts of pre-emergent herbicides on selected break crops and monitor the performance of break crops on two soil types.
Western Local Land Services were guided by landholders, who identified these as major issues for the local area.
Since the crops were sown in May, results have been gathered by Mallee Sustainable Farming agronomists and will continue to be throughout the remainder of the year.
Western Local Land Services Senior Land Services Agriculture Officer, Gregory Moulds has been pleased with the results that have been recorded thus far and that landholders had the opportunity to inspect the trial site themselves at the recent workshop.
“There were around 30 landholders and consultants at the workshop and they were all appreciative that they had access to this trial site in their area,” Mr Moulds said.
“Some important knowledge was also shared and demonstrations of how different nozzles can reduce spray drift, knowing when to spray and the need to record weather conditions was also covered off.
“Looking at the demonstration site we had at Tapio in Buronga last year, it showed that legume crops have excellent potential in the NSW Mallee region.
“That is information that was passed onto landholders for them to consider when planning their cropping and crop rotations and the information we’ll gain from the site this year will also be passed on.”
Landholders looking to get involved in a future trial site or any upcoming workshops are asked to contact Mr Moulds on (03) 5021 9444.