From improving on-farm storage to promoting student engagement in crop production, the latest list of projects selected to receive funding from the SA Grain Industry Trust reflects the diversity of the state's cropping sector.
In total, SAGIT's 2019 funding program has awarded $1.97 million to 18 research projects.
Chosen from a pool of more than 35 applicants, the successful topics also include deep ripping, seed priming to improve germination, increasing lentil production on sandy soils and investigating the basis for head-loss in barley.
SAGIT chairman Max Young said the trust was impressed with the range and variety of applications submitted this year.
"I would like thank all applicants and congratulate those projects that were successful," he said.
"The applications were impressive and diverse in both ideas and regional impact."
Mr Young said it was imperative the trust - which is funded by a voluntary grower levy of 30 cents a tonne - continued to support industry research, even in the wake of tough seasonal conditions.
"Although SAGIT levies collected from the 2018-19 harvest will be down due to the poor season, the trustees decided to dip into reserves to fund as many projects as possible," Mr Young said.
"It is important that as growers we continue to fund research and we hope that this round of funding will continue to improve our knowledge and add value to our farming systems."
Of the $1.97m in project funding, $32,000 has been allocated towards industry-related travel and grower groups, including the Ag Ex Alliance's annual conference, the MacKillop Farm Management Group annual trial results book and Society of Precision Agriculture Australia expos and symposiums.
Successful research projects:
- Agronomy Solutions - Optimising P nutrition in pulses to maximise N fixation and yield
- AgXtra - Promoting secondary and tertiary student engagement in crop production
- CSIRO - Soil water and temperature thresholds for early wheat establishment
- Hart Field-Site Group - Long-term cropping systems trial
- Mallee Sustainable Farming - Deep ripping to enhance production on Mallee sandy soils
- Rural Solutions - Publication of the 2020 Farm Gross Margin Guide for SA
- SANTFA - Seed priming to improve South Australian crop germination
- SARDI - Agronomic and quality analysis of high protein malt barley in SA
- SARDI - Improving the early management of dry sown cereal crops
- SARDI - Improving productivity of oats
- Soil Science Aust (SA) - National Soil Judging Competition
- Trengove Consulting - Improved Phosphorus prescription maps - beyond replacement P
- Trengove Consulting - Increasing reliability of lentil production on sandy soils
- University of Adelaide - Development of a probe for continuous measurement of soil nitrate
- University of Adelaide - Saline field evaluation of a wheat population identifying novel salinity tolerance
- University of Adelaide - Revealing the basis for head-loss in barley
- University of Adelaide - Novel plant growth-promoting bacteria from Australian Soil Biodiversity: Evaluation, Understanding and Application
- University of SA - Strategies to enhance the value of on-farm grain storage in South Australia
- Upper North Farming Systems - Upper North barley time of sowing; frost / heat stress effects
