WeedSmart Week 2025 – Geraldton, WA
Thank you to all attendees, speakers, organisers and partners who helped us bring WeedSmart Week 2025 to life.
We heard from 32 growers, technical experts, advisors and industry representatives at five different sites across three days.
Over 250 people attended the Forum day, including over 150 farmers and agronomists – sharing their expertise and engaging in in-depth discussion about weed management within farming systems.
Over 50 per cent of the farmers who attended WeedSmart Week went home with the intention to adopt at least one new Big 6 practice within the next 12 months. About one-third of the growers had already adopted the Big 6 strategies.
The Forum presentations are available in the video collection below.
A big shout to our WeedSmart team and the Geraldton WeedSmart Week organising committee for pulling together another outstanding event!
Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th of July 2025
Day 1 included the WeedSmart Week Forum, a day of sharing knowledge and the latest in weed control, hosted by our WeedSmart Agronomy Team with speakers from across the grains industry.
Day 2 featured field tours, where we visited some of the largest broadacre cropping systems in Australia, and saw the latest in weed control technology with the Machinery Expo.
Thursday 31st July 2025
Day 3 Self-Drive ‘Mix & Rotate’ Northern Trials Tour & Farming System Discussion Tour
Video recordings
All videos are listed below and can also be viewed in the Vimeo player here for easy reference.
The Big 6 – A short history of weed control in the Midwest and how the Big 6 works here
Session Chair: Peter Newman, WeedSmart Extension Agronomist
Panel Session: Bevan Addison, Adama; Andrew Messina, Grower; Tony Rosser, Agronomist
Mix & Rotate Session for the Midwest – Putting less reliance on one pre-em alone!
Session Chair: Peter Newman, WeedSmart Extension Agronomist
Panel Session: Matt Willis, Bayer CropScience; Ben Parkin, Syngenta; Steve Pettenon, FMC
Mix & Rotate in pre-emergent herbicides to manage ryegrass
Speaker: Craig Topham, Agrarian Management
Knockdowns – Future Challenges & Strategies
Session Chair: Peter Newman, WeedSmart Extension Agronomist
Challenges with glyphosate and paraquat resistant ryegrass
Speaker: Roberto Busi, DPIRD, Researcher
Managing glyphosate resistance – a grower’s perspective!
Speaker: Daniel Birch, Grower
Knockdown strategies to make the best of our future farming systems
Speaker: Bill Moore, Agronomist, Nufarm
Farming @ Scale Technology & Spraying
Boomspray setup for optical spot spraying
Panel Session: Bill Campbell, CampbellAg; Dylan Hirsch & Chad Eva, Growers
Challenges with glyphosate and paraquat resistant ryegrass (To come)
Speaker: Roberto Busi, Researcher, DPIRD
Getting swarm bot sprayers to work at scale
Speaker: Cameron Jenkin, Grower
Farming systems in Yorke Peninsula – Power of the Lentil (To come)
Speaker: Ben Wundersitz, Grower, Anna Binna, Fat Farmers Geraldton
The Big 6: Making Crop Competition Great Again
What to focus on with wide seeders at wide row spacing
Session Chair: Greg Condon, WeedSmart Extension Agronomist
Panel Session (Growers): Rod Messina; Brady Green; Austin Raynor
New summer weed challenges – Fleabane, button grass, caltrop, tomato weed
Session Chair: Paul McIntosh, WeedSmart Extension Agronomist
Panel Session: Greg Condon, Grassroots Agronomy; Jess Cole, Independent Rural; Sarah Johnson, Elders
Wild radish control with the threat of Group H (HPPD) and glyphosate resistance
Session Chair: Peter Newman, WeedSmart Extension Agronomist
Panel Session: Belinda Eastough, Elders; Grant Thompson, Crop Circle Consulting; Rob Campbell, Nutrien
The Big 6: HWSC in the Midwest – Do we still need it? (To come)
Panel Session (Growers): Andrew Messina, Steve Rowe, Lance Turner
Itinerary
