SAGIT

With larger farm sizes and variable autumn rainfall, many grain growers are increasingly reliant on early dry sowing of crops in order manage timely seeding across their cropping programs. On the Upper EP, dry spring weather and challenging soil types has increased the need for guidance on dry sowing strategies.

 

In this podcast episode, Amanda Cook from the SARDI Minnipa Ag Centre details her research project which assessed the effects of soil type, sowing depth, herbicide, seed dressing, fertiliser placement and time of sowing on the germination and establishment of dry sown cereals in the region. (Full details of the treatments are available in the project report at sagit.com.au)

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

 

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Soil salinity is a billion dollar constraint on wheat production across Australia, and changes to climate, land use and water quality threaten to make the issue worse. Now researchers at the University of Adelaide, with long -term support from SA grain growers through SAGIT, are close to developing new wheat breeds that can deliver benchmark yields on saline soils.

 

In this podcast episode, University of Adelaide's Associate Professor Stuart Roy describes how his team has been working to isolate phenotypic and genotypic traits for salt tolerance, then breed these into elite Australian varieties to develop a salt tolerant wheat for South Australian conditions.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

 

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Saline and sodic soils are relatively widespread in South Australia, leaving many growers unable to take advantage of canola as a lucrative oilseed rotation. However, new super-high oleic acid (SHO) safflower varieties may offer an alternative crop with suitably high oil yields.

 

In this podcast episode, Associate Professor Rhiannon Schilling from SARDI talks about her SAGIT-supported research which investigated the ability of these new SHO safflower lines to perform on soils that are unsuitable for canola. She outlines the potential for SHO safflower to become another significant oilseed crop for SA grain growers in the near future.

---------- On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

 These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

With five jobs for every graduate in the agriculture sector, the importance of educating the next generation of agricultural workers about career opportunities is critical. To help meet this demand, SAGIT has invested in the state’s first ever Lead Agriculture Teacher, Sue Pratt. In this podcast episode, AgCommunicators’ Sue Pratt talks about her role supporting existing teachers and helping develop new ones. She’s travelled across the state providing individual support to teams to confidently deliver high quality, engaging food and fibre content. ----------

On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Soilborne diseases are a significant issue for South Australian farmers. Diseases such as cereal cyst nematode, take-all and rhizoctonia can cause significant yield losses. It is estimated cereal root diseases cost grain growers in excess of $200 million annually in lost production. Much of this can be prevented, but unfortunately often goes undiagnosed and untreated.

In this podcast episode, Dr Katherine Linsell from the South Australian Research and Development Institute, a division of the SA Department of Primary Industries and Regions, talks about a series of workshops designed to give growers and advisers the skills to help them identify root disease issues in their paddocks.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Recent research on Yorke Peninsula has shown significant yield gains for cereals and lentils if you sow within a centimetre of last year’s row. In this podcast episode, Dr Sean Mason from Agronomy Solutions, talks about various projects he has been involved with, including an ongoing project with Sam Holmes on the Yorke Peninsula looking at inter-row cropping. One project with Glenn McDonald looked at time of sowing and the influence on phosphorus requirements, and another collaboration with Liz Farquharson looked at optimising P nutrition in pulses to maximise nitrogen fixation. ---------- On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Awned wheat delivers high quality grain, but the downside is, if it’s damaged by frost, it can’t be cut for feed because the spiky awns can damage animals’ throats.

In this podcast episode, Dr Bertus Jacobs from Longreach Plant Breeders, talks about the development of high quality awnless varieties currently undergoing classification for release in 2025.

Not only do these new varieties have attractive frost management qualities, but their grain yield are equal to the best varieties currently available.  As Australia’s climate changes and we experience more extreme weather conditions, these varieties will play an important role.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Canola yields have improved significantly in recent years, thanks to new varieties and research into how to grow them in Australian conditions.

In this podcast episode, Andrew Ware, an independent agronomist with EPAG Research, talks about the deep-dive he’s taken into canola profitability research, looking at what the limits are in terms of yields and how far to push the economic viability of adding nutrients.

He also talks about his involvement with AIR EP and SAGIT and the importance of engaging interns and providing them a hands-on experience in applied field research.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Faba beans are one of the most commonly planted crops in the South East region of South Australia. However, there are many competing thoughts on what nutrients and fertilisers should be applied to deliver the highest yields.

In this podcast episode, Adam Hancock from Elders talks about his SAGIT funded research designed to quantify nutrient and fertiliser responses, particularly of the less commonly applied nutrients, as well as the validation of tissue testing results.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Huge areas of cropping land in SA are planted to lentils annually, however, issues such as weed control, herbicide damage, establishment, soil toxicity, frost, moisture stress, harvestability have slowed their uptake in low rainfall and sandy soil environments.

In this podcast episode, Dr Larn McMurray from Global Grain Genetics talks about his SAGIT funded research which has led to the development of germplasm with improved traits, and now, the release of two new varieties suited to these difficult areas.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

The risk of head-loss in barley crops is often enough of a deterrent for growers not to plant it. Finding a solution to this problem has been the focus of work undertaken by Associate Professor Matthew Tucker from the University of Adelaide.

In this podcast episode, Matthew talks about a couple of SAGIT-funded projects exploring a combination of agronomy, genetics and engineering principles to try and reduce the yield losses associated with head-loss.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Agrilink agronomic consultant Mick Faulkner talks about the Frost Learning Centre which Mick manages on behalf of the Mid North High Rainfall Zone Group.

The centre for farmers, advisers and researchers is a SAGIT and Grains Research and Development Corporation co-funded project with input from the Mid North High Rainfall Zone Group.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

Agronomic consultant Sam Trengove, of Trengove Consulting, talks about his SAGIT-funded work into increasing lentil productivity here in South Australia. Lentil production often underperforms on the sandy soils of the Yorke Peninsula, so the first project Sam ran sought to understand the causes of low performance and to identify cost-effective methods to boost productivity. 

SAGIT then funded a two-year project looking at increasing the reliability of lentil production on sandy soils. Based on the results of the earlier project, this project included field experiments on herbicide effects including herbicide tolerant lines, variety evaluation, nutrition (especially molybdenum) and liming the previous year.

A new two-year project is now specifically focused on improving crop safety and broadleaf weed control with herbicides in lentil.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.

In this podcast episode, Stuart Nagel, who leads the National Vetch Breeding Program (an investment by the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the South Australian Research and Development Institute, a division of the SA Department of Primary Industries and Regions), talks about a SAGIT-funded project he has led on common vetch as a break crop for marginal cropping systems.

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On average, SAGIT invests $2 million a year in supporting research crucial to advancing South Australia’s $4.6 billion grain industry.

These projects deliver real improvements in countless areas of grain growing, farming systems, soil management, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing, and they also provide technical information to growers.