Improving farming systems efficiency in southern NSW was on the agenda at the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Condobolin Agricultural Research and Advisory Station 2022 Field Day.
The event was held on Wednesday, 7 September, with many local farmers taking the opportunity to listen to keynote speakers, attend presentations and visit trial sites.
The day got underway with registration and welcome by Deb Slinger and Glenn Orman from NSW DPI.
A trip to the trial sites was first up, as the wet weather began to close in. Key objectives discussed at the trial sites included converting rainfall into more profit across a cropping sequence; and managing soil fertility, weeds, diseases, and costs.
Key strategies of increasing diversity of crops/pastures (with legume options), earlier sowing systems (grazed and ungrazed) and N Fertiliser management (conservative/robust) verse legumes were also examined during the trial excursion.
During the first session, participants were able to gain valuable insights with Farming Systems Rotation, presented by Mehrshad Barary (NSW DPI), Mat Dunn (NSW DPI), Andrew Carmichael (NSW DPI) and Dan Sweeney (Baker Ag Advantage); and Phosphorus Placement, presented by Richard Maccallum (NSW DPI) and Shihab Uddin (NSW DPI).
Diana Fear and Rajdeep Sandhu of Central West Farming Systems headed the lunch session, where they made presentations in the Conference Hall.
Cereal Agronomy, presented by Mehrshad Barary (NSW DPI), Rick Graham (NSW DPI), and Felicity Harris (Charles Sturt University), was first up in the afternoon session.
Cereal and Canola National Variety Trials presented by Peter Matthews (NSW DPI) and Don McCaffery (NSW DPI); Canola Establishment presented by Col McMaster (NSW DPI); and Companion Cropping presented by Col McMaster (NSW DPI) rounded out the afternoon line up.
There were also displays and information from Condobolin Community Health (Margot Wynn – Community Nurse), Local Land Services (Jasmine Wells – Senior Land Services Officer), Farm Business Resilience Program (Lisa McFadyen – Project Officer) and Crown Lands (Geoff Heidemann – Project Officer).