July 2019

July 26, 2019

Crops are doin’ it for themselves

We answer a few poignant questions in this insight, including: ‘Can crops do more of the heavy lifting when it comes to weed control than modern farming methods have allowed them?’

or

‘Have we tried so hard to protect crops from weeds that we have forgotten that they have innate mechanisms to ‘stand on their own two feet’ and ‘do it for themselves’?’

A series of important studies into the practical implications of harnessing the crop’s ability to defend itself against weeds are starting to produce important results, leading to improvements in farming practice and the development of new cultivars.

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AHRI Insight

July 11, 2019

No knockdown, no worries, if…

As AHRI and Weedsmart Western region agronomist, Pete recently gave a presentation to a group of high rainfall farmers who were concerned that they hadn’t had a decent knockdown for three years in a row.  What he came up with, based on research and experience, was that we definitely should not be waiting for a knockdown, but we need to throw enough weed management at the farming system to make it work. No knockdown, no worries, if… To find out what the “ifs” are, click through to read the insight.

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AHRI Insight

July 2, 2019

Thermal weed control – just hot air, or site-specific reality?

Did you know that rotary hoeing requires less energy than steaming? Or that offset discing requires less energy than microwaving?

Well, that’s the case when it comes to controlling weeds.

An epic effort to review 170 papers by a team from the University of Sydney (Guy Coleman et al) has shown that mechanical weed control options (eg. tillage) can use significantly less energy than thermal options (eg. heat) to kill weeds. Herbicide energy use sits somewhere in the middle.

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AHRI Insight
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