It’s looking like a slow start so far, but how does one region compare to another? And what’s the best management strategy for the moment?
Three agronomists give us their point of view on the current issues of the season and the next strategy to think about, including Rohan Brill (NSW), Jana Freebairn (SA) and James Bee (WA).
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Rohan Brill, Brill Ag, Riverina region, NSW
In the Riverina region, Rohan Brill said at the moment growers are applying nitrogen and some weed control, as well as managing livestock.
“We haven’t had a lot of rain. The crops are set up well in general, but there’s not a lot of subsoil moisture. We’re probably tracking about a decile 3 season where we are, but you’ve only got to travel an hour north of Riverina and you’re getting to areas where the rainfall picks up quite quickly,” he said.
Rohan said following on from 2022 where they were hit hard with septoria tritici blotch, everyone is planning a proactive strategy to react to outbreaks.
“We don’t want that to happen again. We haven’t been hit by that disease greatly in the past. And we probably thought we might have lost 300kg/ha from the disease, but it was more often in the order of about 1.5t/ha from septoria,” he said.
“So, if the season does start turning wetter, we’ll only enact those plans if it does go that way. And it probably has helped that a lot of better products have dropped a bit in price.”
Rohan said there’s been an increase in faba beans in his region, so people are planning disease management strategies to avoid diseases such as chocolate spot.
“One thing we’ve been measuring in some of our pulse trials is that it (faba beans) is a great crop in rotation with canola because it just doesn’t host a lot of sclerotinia compared to crops like lupins which has been the backbone of pulse crops in our environment, and hosts a lot of sclerotinia.”
Jana Freebairn, Pinion Advisory and WeedSmart, Freeling, SA
Jana Freebairn said at the moment growers are closely checking their crops for establishment, with a very light and dry start to the season.
“Just to set the scene, we’re sitting below decile 1 rainfall for the year. So where I am at Freeling, we’ve had 55mm for the year, and normally we would have had 200mm by now, so it’s been a very late start, and the germinating rain has been very patchy,” she said.
“Most people wouldn’t have a full emergence just yet of their crops, especially on the heavier soil types.
“People are starting their nitrogen programs too, so making the most of these early rainfall fronts and monitoring for weeds because in a season like this the weeds in the crop come up at the same time, so we’ve got a bit of a weed seed bank to manage as well.”
Jana said while it has been a late start, there’s still potential for an average or above average spring.
“So having a really close look at yield potential, looking at nitrogen budgets, considering stored soil moisture, because we do have a bit of carryover stored soil moisture in the profile, which does give that bit of reassurance,” she said.
“And I think given that the spring forecast could be above average, I don’t think we should be saying, we’re not going to see any disease this year. I think we still need to be very proactive in our fungicide and management strategies, especially in the medium to high rainfall areas.”
Jana said there’s been a spotlight on the commonly used fungicide carbendazine on pulses, with potential changes to Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) in international markets.
“So I think it is really important to think about what sort of strategy you’re going to be doing with your pulse fungicides this year and talk to your supply chain or your bulk handler and see what they think, whether you need to consider using it, and the implications and what other options there are.”
James Bee, Elders, Albany, WA
James Bee said growers in the lower Great Southern and South Coast are experiencing one of their driest starts of the season on record, currently at around decile 1 for rainfall.
“In our region there’s been a lot of dry seeding, which is unusual, and we have a fair bit of water repellent soil so we’ve got a lot of patchy crop emergence as well. So we’re watching the skies for more rainfall,” he said.
James said it will likely be a year with not too many blanket rules, anticipating a lot of individual conversations with growers for mixed situations.
He said at the moment they’re monitoring crops and trying not to overuse fungicides, hoping that the in-furrow fungicides will do the heavy lifting for cereals.
“And then we’ll protect the money leaves a little bit later on. But there hasn’t been a lot of early disease yet, no way near what we’re normally used to seeing,” James said.
“Also, with a long dry summer, zero green bridge, and because Planet barley has broken down for net blotch, we’re currently in a situation where we’ve got four or five different barley varieties being grown, where there’s no particular pressure on any one of them just yet.
“So at the minute, I’m looking forward to a low-pressure disease year where the variety resistance is going to perform to expectation.”
Mark Gibberd, CCDM Director
Mark Gibberd said with the year shaping up to be a difficult one in terms of rainfall for many people, there’s still hope for a reasonable finish in many locations.
He said it’s good to think of diseases as an interaction between the host, the pathogen and the environment, in a triangle.
“When you’ve had a dry start to the season and you know you’ve got a low pathogen load from last year, that’s quite an advantage and it means that it takes a little bit of pressure off the other two parts of the triangle,” Mark said.
He said using crop varieties with high levels of resistance and increasing diversity of rotations will have a big impact on disease.
“When we see susceptible varieties grown year after year and in the same location, that’s when we see a significant increase in disease pressure and the opportunity to really carry forward some of the fungicide resistance genes that are selected every time fungicides are applied to those crops,” Mark said.
“But one key message is, as we start to see some of the more resistant varieties come into the market, make sure that you keep your fungicide regime on hand, that you are talking with your agronomist about that, and that you don’t move away or hold back on your fungicides just with the hope that the crop genetics are going to be enough to see you through.
“It’s really important that the primary aim is to keep the disease pressure as low as possible and that involves the available host genetics, the role of fungicides and the role of rotation.”
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