Spring Field Day 2021
This year’s Spring Field Day was held on 8th September in the Jacup area. A perfect day for spending outside looking at crops, we had c 60 local farmers plus industry in attendance. We kicked the day off with a bacon & egg brekkie sponsored by Lawson Grains at the fantastic facility that is the Jacup Fire Shed.
We heard from Ian Donaldson from Rabobank who gave an insight into current rural land prices which provided plenty of discussion and food for thought. Interesting to hear that the WA market is still underdone relative to the East Coast.
From there, we jumped on the bus or into utes and headed down to Mal & Mel Smith’s farm on Quiss Road. Mal talked about his experience in seeding using the Mic Fels’ designed Alpha Disc2.0. The disc seeding units were bolted onto Seedhawk frame. This year was his first seeding program using the units. He had been looking at changing from a tyne to a disc system for some time and had found the conversion to the Alphadisc system to have worked really well in his cropping system.
We then headed north to Brad & Jess Bailey’s farm on Fence Road where we looked at some Nutrien trials in barley, as well as discussing variable rate inputs with insights provided by local agronomists Kyran Brooks (Foreman Rural, Nutrien Ag) and Graham Laslett (Combined Agronomic Services).
The next stop was at Viridis Ag “Amarinya” on Jacup North Rd where Ops Manager James Lyall took us through their Illabo wheat crop and Jeremy Curry of DPIRD Esperance discussed different wheat varieties and some of the trials and research he is involved with along the South Coast.
Back at the Fire Shed, after a delicious lunch provided by JDHS P&C, Svetlana Micic, DPIRD Albany, discussed a few insect-related issues and research she is involved with. This included red legged earthmite research, and insect and vertebrate pests to look out for, such as Russian wheat aphid, mice and plague locusts.
Mic Fels then joined us via Zoom to discuss some technical aspects of his disc system and we then heard from Kyran Brooks and Graham Laslett on a range of agronomic issues for this season and heading into 2022. A key take home message was the importance of forward planning inputs but also ensuring timeliness of operations.
We then ended the day with CBH – Rodney Scott (Business Relationship Manager for Albany Port Zone South) encouraged farmers to attend their local bin meetings ahead of the expected big harvest, and Trading Manager (Protein & Oilseeds) Dane Robertson gave some insights into canola prices and current market influencers in general. We also thank CBH for once again sponsoring the sundowner.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the day – all attendees, host farmers, speakers, sponsors, Kemp & Bev Brooks for the bus, and Jacup BFB for the use of the shed.