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Ground Cover Supplement : GC Supplement - Stubble
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2 Issue 135 | Jul – Aug 2018 | GRDC GROUNDCOVER SUPPLEMENT: STUBBLE GROUNDCOVER INTRODUCTION GroundCoverTM is brought to you by growers and the Australian Government through the publisher, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). GRDC: 02 6166 4500, fax 02 6166 4599 Write to: The Editor – GroundCoverTM , PO Box 5367, Kingston ACT 2604 GRDC Integrated Publications Manager: Ms Maureen Cribb, GRDC, 02 6166 4500 Coretext: 03 9670 1168, fax 03 9670 1127, editor@coretext.com.au, www.coretext.com.au Managing editor: Brad Collis Production editors: Victoria Amy, Natasha Batten Advertising sales: PulseHub – Media Sales, Ben Baker, ben.baker@pulsehub.com.au, 0429 699 553, www.pulsehub.com.au Advertising is subject to terms and conditions published on the rate card, available from PulseHub and on the website www.coretext.com.au Circulation: Ms Maureen Cribb, 02 6166 4500 Printing: Graphic Print Group, Adelaide ISSN 1039-6217 Registered by Australia Post Publication No. NAD 3994 Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared in good faith by the GRDC on the basis of the information available to us at the date of publication, without any independent verification. Neither the GRDC and its editors nor any contributor to this publication represent that the contents of this publication are accurate or complete; nor do we accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions in the contents, however they may arise. Readers who act on information from GroundCoverTM Supplement do so at their own risk. The GRDC and contributors to GroundCoverTM Supplement may identify products by proprietary or trade names to help readers identify particular types of products. We do not endorse or recommend the products of any manufacturer referred to. Other products may perform as well as or better than those specifically referred to. CAUTION: RESEARCH ON UNREGISTERED AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE Any research with unregistered agricultural chemicals or of unregistered products reported in this document does not constitute a recommendation for that particular use by the authors or the authors’ organisations. Copyright: © All material published in the GroundCoverTM Supplement series is copyright protected and may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the GRDC. All agricultural chemical applications must accord with the currently registered label for that particular agricultural chemical, crop, pest and region. Cover: Stubble in precision agriculture system. Photo: Rebecca Thyer GroundCoverTM Supplement edited by Katherine Hollaway A PROFITABLE STUBBLE SYSTEM By Andrew Etherton GRDC manager agronomy, soils and farming systems n Across Australia, stubble is retained on approximately 60 per cent of cropped land, with about three-quarters of this retained as standing stubble. The days of multiple workings of paddocks and summer dust storms that carried away precious topsoils are now fortunately a rare occurrence. Instead many growers have adopted stubble-retention practices because they know that despite the challenges faced, the benefits of improved soil water infiltration and storage, along with reduced soil erosion, are valuable to assist with managing seasonal variability in rainfall. The adoption of stubble retention has required significant changes in other farming practices. Yet growers have embraced stubble retention and adapted both their equipment and their farming practices. There will always be challenges to overcome in fine-tuning systems that incorporate stubble retention regardless of whether they are in the low, medium or high-rainfall areas. Concerns identified include confirming the amount of stubble needed to prevent erosion and evaluating the modifications that enable machinery to handle heavy stubble loads. To address these and other questions, the GRDC initiative ‘Maintaining Profitable Farming Systems with Retained Stubble’, also known as the Stubble Initiative, was developed to support grain growers across New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania through the development of regional guidelines to help growers retain stubbles profitably. Farm systems groups worked with growers on locally relevant issues, while contributing to coordinated R&D on pests, weeds, disease and nutrition in stubble-retention systems across southern Australia. The R&D was coordinated and supported by CSIRO, with communications and extension coordinated by SARDI. The Stubble Initiative, which concluded in June 2018, has enabled partners to address locally relevant issues with coordinated support for R&D and extension over five years. The goal was to provide growers from south-eastern Australia with practical information and knowledge to guide their cropping programs and crop-management decisions with the retention of stubbles while overcoming the associated challenges. Each group has developed (and has made available) regionally specific guidelines for stubble retention. These guidelines cover the five phases for stubble management: n harvest; n post-harvest; n preparation for seeding; n seeding; and n in-crop agronomy. This GroundCoverTM Supplement provides a snapshot of key recommendations for each phase, along with the outcomes of other research in stubble-retained systems. For growers it all begins with harvest, where decisions made about cutting height and trash management will affect operations throughout the coming season (pages 3 and 4). In post-harvest, summer/fallow management and grazing affect soil properties for following crops (pages 5 and 6). In preparation for seeding, growers select crop sequences that will influence nutrition requirements and decisions about reduction or removal of stubbles before sowing (pages 7 to 9). Sowing decisions depend on machinery, row spacings and placement (pages 10 to 12). Finally, retained-stubble systems affect in-crop agronomic management, such as weeds and diseases (pages 13 to 15). The farming systems groups participating in the Stubble Initiative were the Eyre Peninsula Agricultural Research Foundation, Central West Farming Systems, Mallee Sustainable Farming, Riverine Plains, MacKillop Farm Management Group, Birchip Cropping Group, Southern Farming Systems, Irrigated Cropping Council, Victorian No-Till Farmers Association, Mid North High Rainfall Zone Group, Yorke Peninsula Alkaline Soils Group, Upper North Farming Systems, Lower Eyre Agricultural Development Association and FarmLink Research. o More information: Andrew Etherton, 0408 505 566, andrew.etherton@grdc.com.au; https://grdc.com.au/stubble-initiative
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