THE Hart Field Site Group held its timely Getting the Crop In seminar near Clare yesterday, attended by almost 170 farmers and industry personnel.
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Rabobank senior analyst grains and oilseeds Cheryl Kalisch Gordon gave an overview of market trends in her presentation ‘Trade war tremors descend on dry downunder’.
She spoke about the impact of politics in the United States and China on Australia’s domestic market, as well as a look at the Rabobank Agribusiness Monthly commodity outlook report which was officially launched the following day.
Hart Field-Site Group research and extension manager Sarah Noack launched the Hart 2018 trial results book, and highlighted some of the key research findings across a range of varieties, agronomy and paddock surveys at both Hart and Booleroo Centre, including winter wheat trials and ryegrass in canola observations.
The challenges of soil residual herbicides was addressed by David Keetch from Nufarm and independent agronomist Craig Davis.
Farmer guest speaker Ben Wundersitz gave a detailed insight into the growth of his family business Anna Binna of the Yorke Peninsula, including tips on how to increase fuel efficiency and reduce down time.
Rounding the day off via video link was seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey from Agriculture Victoria, who gave a climate outlook for SA, which included figures from the SA soil moisture probe network and model predictions for rainfall and temperature in the next few months.
He said SA wasn't facing the worst start to the year thanks to heavy rains at the end of last year, but said modelling predicted El Nino conditions for March.
Hart Field-Site Group chairman Damien Sommerville said it was heartening to hold a near sell-out event.
“Hart’s purpose continues to be to deliver value to growers and make agriculture better, in productivity, sustainability and community,” he said.
“Getting the Crop In for 2019 provided some great, rounded information that is pretty timely as we head into seeding, and we look to back that up with our Winter Walk in July, Spring Walk in October and of course our field day in September.
“To get a good crowd like we did today shows we’re on the right track."
