It’s time to get your WeedSmart Week study tour sorted
Every year, WeedSmart Week attracts growers from near and far, keen to learn from their peers about weed management tactics to keep weed numbers low in grain crops.
In 2024, Andrew Bissett from Wheelhouse AGnVET in Victoria took the opportunity to gather 11 growers and five agronomists (including himself) to take a GRDC-supported study tour to WeedSmart Week in Port Lincoln on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
Andrew says that growers and agronomists alike benefit from visiting other regions to see how other growers deal with weed challenges within different farming systems and environments.
“It is always interesting to see how much we have in common, even though there are differences in soil type, climate and weed spectrum between farms and regions,” he says. “Seeing what another grower is doing to address a problem often sparks an idea for something to try at home. Other times, there is confirmation that you are already on the right track.”
Andrew says that their tour group thoroughly enjoyed the forum day, farm tours and machinery expo, all of which are part of the WeedSmart Week event.
“At the forum, the key message that came through all the presentations was the importance of timely application of weed control tactics,” he says. “Getting your gear set up to be able to treat weeds when they are small and actively growing is key, no matter the scale of your operation. Our group also picked up ideas about better management of soil pH to promote competitive crops, particularly pulses.”
The farm visits and machinery expo are always a highlight, and Andrew’s group was very interested in the liming and drainage work that the Eyre Peninsula growers were doing to grow more crop and fewer weeds.
“We found the whole trip so beneficial that we are giving serious consideration to getting a group together to attend WeedSmart Week in Geraldton this year,” says Andrew. “It will be quite an undertaking, and we are not sure if it will be possible, but we are certainly going to try hard to get there.”
Registrations are now open for WeedSmart Week 2025 in Geraldton, WA, on 29 and 30 July, showcasing how the Big 6 tactics are safeguarding the profitability of large-scale cropping enterprises.
Day 1 is the WeedSmart Week Forum, a day of sharing knowledge and the latest in weed control, hosted by our WeedSmart Extension Agronomy Team with speakers from across the industry.
On Day 2, the field tour will visit some of the largest broadacre cropping operations in Australia and a multi-vendor herbicide trial. The latest in weed control technology will be on show at the Machinery Expo.
This year, the forum presenters will focus on the challenges of resistance and changes to herbicide registrations, setting up for precision spot spraying, growing competitive crops with different planting configurations, producing low residue grain, not over-relying on individual products, harvest weed seed control and contending with new summer weed species, along with the ‘old faithfuls’.
In addition to the usual forum, farm tour and machinery expo on Tuesday, 29 and Wednesday, 30 July, this year, agronomists have the option to attend an extra professional development session on Thursday, 31 July. Once registered, all attendees will have access to a self-drive tour itinerary for the journey to or from the event in Geraldton.
You can apply for study tour support to attend WeedSmart Week in Geraldton, WA, on the GRDC website. Registrations for WeedSmart Week are open, with an early bird registration offer available until 30 June, 2025.