Australia
December 8, 2016

Registrations are now open for Western Australia’s premier grains research forum in 2017.

Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Western Regional Panel chairman Peter Roberts (picture) said the GRDC Grains Research Update would be held at the Crown Perth on February 27 and 28.

He said the annual event was an important source of agronomic and industry information for WA grain growers.

“The GRDC Grains Research Update provides information on the latest innovations and research results and helps fine tune growers’ management strategies for the coming season,” Mr Roberts said.

“Last year, it was attended by more than 500 growers, advisers and other industry personnel.”

The grains industry continues to be the main agricultural industry contributing to the WA economy, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the farm gate value of agriculture in the State.

The GRDC Grains Research Update, Perth will boast five international experts and more than 50 presenters at the cutting edge of delivering grains research and development (R&D) for WA grain growers.

UK speakers David Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London, and David Jackson, director of LMC International, will unravel the impact of global consumer trends on the grains industry and the future for grain exports from Australia, to provide growers with ideas on changes they might make to their future cropping programs.

Danish researcher Lise Jorgensen, senior scientist at the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University (Flakkebjerg), will present on the European experience with fungicide resistance. She will outline the strategies used by European farmers to manage fungicide resistance and offer suggestions on how the Australian grains industry and growers can manage fungicide resistance before it becomes a major problem. 

‘Whether Big Data is hype or a necessity for grain growers’ will be a topic explored by visiting researcher Bruce Maxwell, Professor of Agroecology/Applied Plant Ecology in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Science at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, USA, and Simon Cook, the newly appointed WA Premier’s Research Fellow in Data Analytics, Curtin and Murdoch Universities.

Extended sessions at the Perth Update will focus on management strategies for frost; unleashing the productive potential of soils; management strategies for canola diseases; getting the most out of the grain enterprise on a mixed enterprise farm; and exploring new plant breeding directions and technologies.

Mr Roberts said the two-day GRDC Grains Research Update in Perth would be complemented by three one-day GRDC Grains Research Update events held in Mingenew, Kendenup and Merredin to enable growers to access a subset of the available information of particular relevance to that region.

Discounts apply for early-bird registrations for Perth’s GRDC Grains Research Update, until January 29, 2017.

To register, go to www.giwa.org.au/2017researchupdates. More information can be obtained by viewing GRDC’s Update Dates at www.grdc.com.au/updatedates, or by contacting the Grains Industry Association of WA on 08 6262 2128 or email researchupdates@giwa.org.au.
 

Website: http://www.grdc.com.au

Published: December 8, 2016