HORSHAM will be ground zero for this month’s Victorian No-Till Farmers Association conference, but there will be plenty of items of interest for farmers from the Ballarat region, according to the organisation’s Beaufort-based president.
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Tim Pilkington said the 12th annual conference would cover a range of topics of relevance to farmers in the region including cropping, using robotics to control weeds, slug control, and controlled traffic technology.
“It’s not just for association members. It is for all farmers,” Mr Pilkington, an agronomist with Elders, said.
“It is relevant to farmers from the Ballarat area because we are bringing in the best people to push the most innovative farming practices.”
Guest speakers will include an American conservation expert, leading agronomists and successful farmers from other parts of Australia.
Jay Fuhrer from the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Bismarck, North Dakota, will present the service’s research into diversifying within a no-till farming system.
Mr Pilkington said the research was relevant to this region.
“We’ve had farmers from south of Ballarat who have gone across to see Jay Fuhrer in the United States,” Mr Pilkington said.
“In the Western District there has been work on growing long season canola. They are growing it as sheep feed in October, and then they take the sheep out in May and run it as a crop from there on.
“This is taking things to the next level. (Mr Fuhrer) is using plant diversity to build organic matter, and when you do that you increase your water filtration rates and water holding capacity and soil nutrients, and decrease run-off and erosion.”
Mr Pilkington will deliver interim findings on using precision agriculture to get better efficacy from slug bait.
“It is local data from near Rokewood we are presenting on the day,” he said. “Slugs are having a strong year. We had a long spring last year and there were a lot of eggs left over.
“The one they pick on the most is canola but they will pick on anything.”
Professor Tristan Perez from Queensland University of Technology will present the latest on AgBot, a prototype machine which can automatically identify weed varieties and spray them.
The program will include farm workshops – at Raywood on July 7 and Streatham on July 9 – before the conference itself begins on July 11 at the Grains Innovation Park in Horsham.
Registration is open at www.vicnotill.com.au
