MORE than 40 Riverland agriculture professionals witnessed demonstrations of new crop varieties and industry practices during a recent farming showcase.
Forty-five local primary producers attended last month’s annual Loxton to Taplan Driving Field Day, hosted by Mallee Sustainable Farming.
Mallee Sustainable Farming communications and media manager Tegan Buckley said the event highlighted new technologies and techniques aimed at maximising profits and improving farming practices.
“It is important for farmers, researchers and agronomists to get together at field days,” Ms Buckley said.
“We talked about what research and trial work has been done recently along with what results and learnings we can take away from our work, for adoption in our low rainfall farming systems.
“It was fantastic to hear from and take on board farmer questions and ideas so we can keep researching and trialling sustainable farming practices to increase profitability and productivity in the Riverland.”
Locations visited during the Driving Field Day included the SARDI trial site for SAGIT Clearfield Frost and an Elders herbicide trial site – both near Loxton – plus a tour of Kenton Porker’s NVT wheat site near Nangari.
Ms Buckley said a number of presentations over the day covered topics including paddock responses to the use of a tyne ripper and new pulse varieties tolerant to herbicides.
“It’s the best time to ask questions, gain new ideas and share feedback and experiences,” she said.
“We had some really insightful discussions within the group as we visited various trial sites throughout the day.
“Participants took plenty away from the day as it was jam packed full of sites to see, research updates and trial plots. We had plenty of positive feedback from attendees.”
Ms Buckley advised local farmers Mallee Sustainable Farming would continue hosting the Driving Field Day in future years.
“We have many projects on the go across the Riverland, with more coming up this year,” she said.