Podcasts

With many parts of South Australia experiencing a dry start, independent Agronomist, Craig Davis talks to us about the challenges with controlling weeds and volunteer crops in his patch.

With so many new products hitting the market and plenty more in the pipeline, it’s beneficial to find out the details about these new products and how they might fit into farming systems.
Syngenta’s Technical Services Lead James Considine (pictured above in a faba bean trial last year, during the Victorian covid restrictions. Left of James is untreated and right is Reflex treated) joins us to give an overview Reflex.
Planfarm Agronomist, Nick McKenna is also our guest. Nick has been speaking with growers who have just received their first allocation of Reflex. He provides some insights on how it’s being received and what it could mean for the future of lupins and other pulses.
Planfarm Agronomist, Nick McKenna, Geraldton, WA.
Up next
Our next Regional Update will come out next Monday and is with Craig Davis who is an independent Agronomist based in South Australia. You can ensure you don’t miss it by subscribing to the WeedSmart podcast on your podcast app of choice.
New content
We’ve got great content on the WeedSmart website for you to check out. The question ‘How can I ensure my complex tank mix is compatible and sprays out? Is answered in our latest Ask an Expert with Stephen Pettenon, technical services specialist, FMC. Check it out here.
Also, don’t miss our latest Case Study on Kurt Mayne from Rolleston in Qld. Kurt discusses the decisions around swapping patch cultivation for optical spraying technology in fallow. Check it out here.
We also have another Case Study out this week on the Single family based in Coonamble, NSW. Farming moisture their risk management strategy and it has paid off time and time again for them. Make sure you’re following us on Twitter so you don’t miss it!

We’ve been following the innovative developments in the green-on-green space at WeedSmart quite closely, so we were excited to see Bilberry, SwarmFarm and Goldacres had teamed up to deliver some new autonomous spraying technology.
So, in light of this, we caught up with Goldacres technical guru, David Tuppen who recently commissioned a fully autonomous sprayer with green-on-green weed detection (pictured above) using a SwarmBot robot and Goldacres Prairie Special trailing sprayer.
We also hear from grower Broden Holland, who is based in Thuddungra, near Young in NSW. Broden is a keen precision ag farmer who has just updated to a G6 Crop Cruiser SP. We’re going to find out about his decision-making process behind this upgrade and his approach to spraying and spray drift prevention.
NSW Farmer, Broden Holland.
NEW ARTICLES
Ask an Expert with FMC’s Stephen Pettenon on “How can I ensure my complex tank mix is compatible and will spray out”. Read it here.
REGIONAL UPDATE
Regional Update – Brent Pritchard, Agronomist, Albany, WA. Listen here.
GETTING SPRAYING RIGHT
In the podcast we chatted about how using water sensitive paper is a great way to assess your coverage. This is well worth doing!

SUBSCRIBE
Make sure you’re subscribed to our monthly blog the WeedSmart Whip Around so you don’t miss out on any WeedSmart news. Subscribe here.

Brent recently featured in our WeedSmart article on managing fence line weeds off the back of research into glyphosate resistant capeweed which Brent had found at a farm near Borden in Western Australian. So, in light of this, we get a regional update from Brent and also discuss some of the strategies for fence line weed management.
Links
WeedSmart fence line management article
AHRI insight on glyphosate resistant capeweed
 

Bruce is primarily a winter crop grower but also has a block of sorghum on 50cm rows (pictured above) sown into a cover crop of barley & lentils.
Farmer Bruce Watson and daughter
We also learn about Bayer’s Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System. This is Bayer’s new cotton weed control system. Bayer Marketing Lead for seeds, traits & round-up Donny Benn & Bayer Market Advancement Manager Matt Hayes joins us to tell us more about the stewardship around this approach.
Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System Field Day (Feb 10, 2021) at Locharba, Bayer’s research farm.
Locharba Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System trial (Bayer supplied).
Xtend workshops
Register here.
New WeedSmart Content
Mix up your approach to fence line weeds – read more here.
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Producer: Jessica Strauss
Presenters: Jessica Strauss & Peter Newman

Our first guest is farmer Damien Schneider (pictured above). Damien farms at Culcairn in southern NSW with his wife Carissa and their four children. Ryegrass pressure is solid in this region given the reliable rainfall and huge seedbanks, but Damien is achieving solid gains with Big 6.
We’re also joined by farmer Paul Jarrett from Maitland, South Australia. Paul has a controlled traffic farming system and uses chaff decks. He shares his journey so far with this system.
Maitland farmer, Paul Jarrett.
On our next podcast we’ll be hearing from innovative growers from both the Northern and Western regions who will share will us their stories and some of the thought processes behind the decisions they’ve made for their farming systems.
New article
Our content producer Cindy Benjamin has updated the Messina family farm Case Study. As you would’ve heard from Andrew Messina on the podcast last year, the Messina’s are forging forward with new technology, including green on green from Bilberry. Check it out here.
Reminder
Just a reminder that quite a few of our articles now are being read as well. You’ll see a play button on those articles at the top. This is great for if you’re driving, especially with spraying and seeding happening. Here’s a great example of that on a soil degradation article.
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Podcast Co-Hosts: Jessica Strauss & Peter Newman
Podcast Producer: Jessica Strauss

Paul provides a great overview of what’s happening in the region and what to look out for over the next few weeks when it comes to controlling weeds.

Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries principal research scientist Dr Michael Widderick joins us to explain research which found that narrower row spacing in sorghum leads fewer weeds – in some cases halving weed seed production!
Dr Michael Widderick
We also are going to get a WA grower perspective in follow-up to our podcast last fortnight which looks at soil amelioration. Brady Green (pictured) from Yuna area of WA joins us to talk about what made him think seriously about implementing soil amelioration and the benefits he’s seen since doing so.
Brady Green, Farmer, Yuna, WA
WEBINAR
We’ve got a timely webinar coming up on Group Gs on Friday, Feb 26. Uni of Adelaide’s Dr Chris Preston & our Southern Extension Agronomist Greg Condon will be hosting this webinar aimed at growers. If you’ve got any specific questions about this, let us know on Twitter, and make sure to join us on the day where you can ask them live.
You can register here.
ARTICLES
Our latest news piece looks at making seedbank management your priority this year.
Another recent article looks at taking resistance into account when planning tank mixes.
PODCAST LINKS
Soil amelioration article.
Sorghum article.
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Podcast Producer: Jessica Strauss
Podcast Hosts: Jessica Strauss & Peter Newman