Episodes
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The GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT) new Variety Podcast series gives breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season.
This podcast focuses on wheat – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for barley, canola, field pea, lentil, lupin, oats and sorghum.
The varieties mentioned in this podcast have all been trialled through NVT – a program to help Australian grain growers make informed varietal decisions by providing comparative information on topics like yield performance, disease resistance ratings and grain quality.
Download the transcript for this episode.
More information:
Visit the NVT website
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Since 2013, an unidentified weevil has been reported by growers and advisers to be repeatedly causing damage to canola crops in localised areas of Dongara and Mingenew in WA's northern grain growing region.
As part of a two-year GRDC investment, the critter was recently scientifically identified and described as a new pest weevil species of unknown origin, representing a new genus of broad-nose weevil. In this podcast, Christiaan Valentine from WA's Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development shares the latest insight on its distribution and management.
Download the transcript for this episode.
Contact:
Christiaan Valentine
DPIRD, Research Scientist
[email protected]
More information:
Science pins elusive Dongara weevil
GRDC investment code: DAW2212-001RTX
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Missing episodes?
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The GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT) new Variety Podcast series gives breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season.
This podcast focuses on canola – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for barley, field pea, lentil, lupin, oats, sorghum and wheat.
The varieties mentioned in this podcast have all been trialled through NVT – a program to help Australian grain growers make informed varietal decisions by providing comparative information on topics like yield performance, disease resistance ratings and grain quality.
Download the transcript for this episode.
More Information:
Visit the NVT website
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Assisting growers to work smarter with their inputs to increase profitability is the focus of many GRDC investments. Recently, Australian maize growers have found there's a peak in the nitrogen response curve, beyond which there is no measurable effect on yield. Meantime, irrigation discussion groups expanded into paddock scale demonstration, which provided growers with the opportunity to further investigate key management options. This podcast explores the outcomes of those recent trials into irrigated grains, specifically maize.
Download the transcript for this episode.
Contact:
Melinda Mann
Events and Communications
Irrigation Farmers Network
[email protected]
More Information:
Grain maize good management guide
Project Investment Code: ICF2308-001SAX
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The GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT) new Variety Podcast series gives breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season.
This podcast focuses on sorghum, barley and oats – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for canola, field pea, lentil, lupin and wheat.
The varieties mentioned in this podcast have all been trialled through NVT – a program to help Australian grain growers make informed varietal decisions by providing comparative information on topics like yield performance, disease resistance ratings and grain quality.
Download the transcript for this episode.
More information:
Visit the NVT website.
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Widespread frosts on top of a very dry season mean that southern growers are having to make some tough decisions. We speak to consulting agronomist, Martin Culbert, who is traveling across the southern region and helping growers with their post frost decision making. Martin advice is to approach the situation logically, and to get out there and conduct an assessment of the entire paddock in order to get a grasp of where the worst impact is – before making a salvage decision. There may be areas within the paddock that growers can portion out - to get next year's seed. Martin has also developed a spreadsheet/in-paddock calculator that just requires time and some basic maths to conduct. Growers can use it to make a data based decision - as to what their next step is.
Download the transcript for this episode.
Contact:
Martin Colbert, Consulting Agronomist
[email protected]
More Information:
Frost Management Resources
Mallee Sustainable Farming - Better Frost Decisions webinar (25/9/2024)
IFarmWell
LifeLine - 13 11 44 (available 24 hours/ 7 days a week)
Project Investment Codes: AIP2404-001RTX, FAR2204-001RTX
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Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Belinda Cay.
Belinda Cay is an experienced agricultural communicator. Across her career she has had a breadth of experience that has uniquely put her in the position to “put others in the spotlight” in a way that has supported them and in turn the broader agricultural industry.
She grew up on a family farm and was influenced by her father, who was a plant breeder. Belinda's early connections to agriculture included riding bikes around the Department of Agriculture and helping with seeding. With a passion and interest in science, she pursued further education and discovered a passion for science communication, which led her to work at the famous Questacon in Canberra producing a kids science show.
In being awarded a GRDC Seed of Light Award, GRDC Southern Panel Chair and Victorian grain grower Andrew Russell said, “Ms Cay is an outstanding advocate for the grains industry, making research and development accessible and relatable to growers through her expert communications – ensuring that growers are engaged and can reap the benefits”.
Download the transcript for this episode
More Information
GRDC in Conversation is a limited series GRDC Podcast. It features in-depth interviews with growers and other experts in the grains industry who share their expertise, knowledge and experiences by exploring their personal stories, history, influences and motivations. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of GRDC, the interviewees’ employer, institution or other associated parties.
GRDC Project Code: HAG2308-001SAX
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Blackleg is the most serious disease in Australian canola, and while fungicides are commonly used to help manage this disease, there are concerns that an overreliance on fungicides could encourage fungicide resistance. In order to explore this further, GRDC is making a significant investment into fungicide resistant management strategies in blackleg in canola. Extensive research is taking place at the Grains Innovation Park in Horsham in Victoria's Wimmera region. We catch up with Dr Angela van de Wouw who is one of Australia's leading researchers into blackleg in canola and PhD student Alec McCallum, whose research is examining the emergence and management of fungicide resistance to blackleg.
Download the transcript for this episode
Contact:
Angela van de Wouw , University of Melbourne
[email protected]
More Information:
AFREN
UCI Blackleg upper canopy infection management App
Blackleg Management Guide
Project Investment Code: CUR2302-002RTX
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Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Ross Kingwell
Ross Kingwell has had a long and distinguished career as an agricultural economist, with over 150 published journals and book chapters and 350 conference papers and major policy and industry reports.
In this GRDC In Conversation episode with Oli Le Lievre, Ross shares years of wisdom in research, science, agro-politics and some pivotal moments that shaped who he is today. His early years were influenced by family exposure to agriculture and then lecturers who taught critical thinking and effective communication.
He discusses his key collaborative achievements, including the development of a farming systems model and the introduction of endpoint royalties in the grains industry. Ross is offered an opportunity to reflect on his journey as he talks about receiving the GRDC Seed of Light award in 2024.
Download the transcript for this episode
More Information
GRDC in Conversation is a limited series GRDC Podcast. It features in-depth interviews with growers and other experts in the grains industry who share their expertise, knowledge and experiences by exploring their personal stories, history, influences and motivations. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of GRDC, the interviewees’ employer, institution or other associated parties.
GRDC Project Code: HAG2308-001SAX
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Neil Smith farms at Merredin in Western Australia and after dabbling in chickpeas in the early 2000s, he has now been growing the crop continuously for the past four years.
As president of MADFIG, the Merredin and Districts Farm Improvement Group, Neil is a big advocate of peer-to-peer learning and is a part of the cohort of 'Legume Leaders' that has been established by the Grower Group Alliance, with investment from GRDC.
In this episode, Neil shares the challenges and benefits of growing chickpeas, as well as his key tips for growers wanting to incorporate them into their farming system.
Download the transcript for this episode
Contact:
Neil Smith
Grower
[email protected]
More information:
Closing the economic yield gap of grain legumes in WA
Legume Leader bios and contact details
Project Code:
GGA2110-002SAX
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🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Ben Single
Ben Single, founder of Single Ag, discusses his journey from studying aerospace engineering to developing a weed mapping system using drones. This GRDC In Conversation episode with Oli Le Lievre explores the importance of controlling chemical-resistant weeds in agriculture and the challenges of implementing new technology on the farm.
Ben highlights the role of his family in the business, the need for clear communication and defined roles and the turning point when he decided to commit full-time to Single Ag and the subsequent growth and success of the company.
Download the transcript for this episode
More Information
GRDC in Conversation is a limited series GRDC Podcast. It features in-depth interviews with growers and other experts in the grains industry who share their expertise, knowledge and experiences by exploring their personal stories, history, influences and motivations. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of GRDC, the interviewees’ employer, institution or other associated parties.
GRDC Project Code: HAG2308-001SAX
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Shane Boardman and his family moved from Victoria to northern New South Wales in the late eighties. Not long after their move, they started dabbling in precision agriculture technologies. In the mid-nineties he commissioned an electromagnetic survey of one of his paddocks. At the time, he didn't have the machinery to take the EM data and apply VR technologies. It was when Boardman Ag took over Glen Ayr properties south of Goondiwindi, that they embarked on the next steps and turned their attention to variable rate technologies. This podcast explores the Boardman’s trials, and the benefits of using precision ag technology including how it's transformed yield on their broadacre cropping enterprise.
Download the transcript for this episode
Contact:
Christian Capp
[email protected]
More Information:
Society of Precision Agriculture
Project Investment Code: SPA2201-001SAX
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🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Loretta Serafin
Loretta Serafin is a research agronomist with the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. In this GRDC In Conversation episode with Oli Le Lievre, Loretta discusses her work in the summer grains industry and her passion for providing quality research results to growers.
She talks about her love of plants, the challenges and rewards of working in agriculture and the importance of access to reliable information.
Loretta is currently working on her PhD and she highlights the potential for expanding the production of summer grains in Australia and the focus on water use efficiency and early sowing techniques.
Download the transcript for this episode
More Information
GRDC in Conversation is a limited series GRDC Podcast. It features in-depth interviews with growers and other experts in the grains industry who share their expertise, knowledge and experiences by exploring their personal stories, history, influences and motivations. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of GRDC, the interviewees’ employer, institution or other associated parties.
GRDC Project Code: HAG2308-001SAX
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Instances of spot form net blotch in barley crops across the low rainfall zones of Western Australia have been increasing in recent years, mainly due to the increased area of barley on barley, and the use of more susceptible varieties in these areas.
A GRDC investment with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is aiming to quantify the yield impact of spot form net blotch in these low rainfall environments, as well as provide growers critical info on the disease's response to fungicide applications and if one is even needed at all.
In this episode, we sat down with DPIRD's Geoff Thomas to discuss what they're looking into in terms of stubble and disease carry over, economic analysis, and the impact of variety resistance.
Download the transcript for this episode
Contact:
Geoff Thomas
[email protected]
More information:
Spot Form Net Blotch Factsheet
Paddock Practices: Variety selection key to controlling SFNB in low-rainfall barley
Project Code:
DAW2104-001RTX
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🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Jan Edwards
Jan Edwards is the Director of Agronomy and Ideation at Incitec Pivot Fertilisers. In this GRDC In Conversation episode with Oli Le Lievre, Jan talks about her varied upbringing in different areas of regional Australia and her following career journey.
Jan has worked in both the private and public sectors and was part of early climate change research. Today, Jan is occupied by team management, planning and improving decision support systems in her role. The conversation concludes with a discussion with a focus on opportunities, which Jan narrows down to efficiency and cost-effectiveness for product development and materials in fertiliser being incorporated into a circular economy.
Download the transcript for this episode
More Information
GRDC in Conversation is a limited series GRDC Podcast. It features in-depth interviews with growers and other experts in the grains industry who share their expertise, knowledge and experiences by exploring their personal stories, history, influences and motivations. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of GRDC, the interviewees’ employer, institution or other associated parties.
GRDC Project Code: HAG2308-001SAX
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Variable rate technology falls under the umbrella of precision agriculture and it includes a range of tools that are not only becoming commonplace, but also constantly evolving. New South Wales grower, Mike Smith has been using variable rate technologies for more than 20 years and has some valuable insights. We visit Mike on his property just southeast of Moree, and he explains how technology and the data it provides helps him increase yields and profitability.
Download the transcript for this episode
Contact:
Angelique McAvoy
[email protected]
More Information: Society of Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA)
GRDC Code: SPA2201-001SAX
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🎙️ Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Tom and Melissa Andrews
Tom and Melissa Andrews, founders of Connected Farms, discuss the importance of connectivity in agriculture and how it can improve technology adoption, operational efficiency, farm safety and overall well-being. In this GRDC In Conversation episode with Oli Le Lievre, The Andrews highlight the role of connectivity in enabling the adoption of AgTech and data-driven decision-making on farms and emphasise how connectivity is the foundation for digital agriculture.
They share their personal backgrounds in Scotland, northern New South Wales, marketing and the military, and how these experiences have shaped their work in the industry. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the future of connectivity in the grain sector, including the integration of robotics, edge computing, and shared data for informed decision-making.
Download the transcript for this episode
More Information:
GRDC in Conversation is a limited series GRDC Podcast. It features in-depth interviews with growers and other experts in the grains industry who share their expertise, knowledge and experiences by exploring their personal stories, history, influences and motivations. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of GRDC, the interviewees’ employer, institution or other associated parties.
GRDC Project Code: HAG2308-001SAX
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Wanting to incorporate more legumes into the rotation, West Cranbrook grower Mark Preston has found faba beans were suited to more soil types on his farm than what lupins has been. He did a lot of research before starting to grow the new crop and has found they fit into the operation relatively seamlessly.
Mark is a member of Stirlings to Coast Farmers and is a part of the cohort of 'Legume Leaders' that has been established by the Grower Group Alliance, with investment from GRDC.
In this episode, Mark tells us his secrets to success when incorporating faba beans into the plan.
Download the transcript for this episode
Contact:
Mark Preston
Grower
[email protected]
More information:
Closing the economic yield gap of grain legumes in WA
Legume Leader bios and contact details
Project Code: GGA2110-002SAX
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🎙 Today's 'GRDC in Conversation' podcast interview is with Maurice Hayes.
Maurice Hayes pioneered a lot of spray machinery and was involved in the evolution of farming towards zero-till practices.
In this particularly insightful GRDC In Conversation episode with Oli Le Lievre, Maurice, or ‘Cutter’ as he is well known, shares his remarkable journey in the grains industry, which started off after High School driving tractors and living in a caravan with no electricity.
Back in his day, R&D was done through networking at the local hotel and he was in an area where people embraced innovation. To this day, Maurice emphasises the importance of perseverance, teamwork and enjoying the journey.
Maurice believes that the future of farming lies in soil science and nutrition and encourages young people to seize opportunities and contribute to their communities.
Please be advised that today's conversation includes more colourful language than usual, which may be inappropriate for some listeners.
Download the transcript for this episode
More information
GRDC in Conversation is a limited series GRDC Podcast. It features in-depth interviews with growers and other experts in the grains industry who share their expertise, knowledge and experiences by exploring their personal stories, history, influences and motivations. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of GRDC, the interviewees’ employer, institution or other associated parties.
GRDC Project Code: HAG2308-001SAX
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What images or themes come to mind when you think Australian agriculture in 10…20….50 years’ time?
In this podcast Futurist at Work Futures, Reanna Browne, offers up new perspective and practical advice for the grains industry to approach the future as something in the present, not a distant concept. Reanna was the keynote speaker at the recent 2024 Victorian GRDC farm business updates and encouraged the audience to challenge their assumptions about the future and think about change in practical ways.
Download the transcript for this episode
Contact
Reanna Browne
Work Futures
[email protected]
More information
GroundCover – Spotlight on high performance farming
GRDC Code: ORM2401-001SAX
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