The Elders WA agronomy team recently spent three days in the Great Southern region, collaborating with key suppliers and visiting 14 farms to explore a variety of innovations and farming practices.
The three-day event provided valuable insights into local challenges like waterlogging, crop rotations, and herbicide resistance. At several farms, the team examined precision agriculture tools that help growers better manage water and fertiliser, improving both productivity and environmental sustainability.
Bill Moore, Elders Technical Services Manager – West, highlighted the importance of events like this to help the team in their understanding of new crop varieties and chemical options.
“With so many new canola varieties available. It’s crucial we understand their strengths, we can help our clients choose the best fit,” he said.
“The changing landscape of agriculture means we need to be continually researching ways to make farming more sustainable for our growers.”
Another major focus of the tour was tackling herbicide resistance.
“We visited a site dealing with resistance to both glyphosate and paraquat in ryegrass, exploring ways growers can sustainably control this weed.”
The team also visited the CSBP Research Site, where trials are underway on high yielding canola and barley.
Bill said the event gave the agronomy team new knowledge which they can pass on to their clients.
“Suppliers like Syngenta use these tours to show us their products in action,” Bill said.
“We saw both the benefits and limits of their new fungicide, Miravis Star, especially under drier conditions.
“Both our clients and Elders as a business rely on our agronomists to be at the forefront of the latest innovations and information, and so it is pleasing to be able to be introduced to new ideas and products in action.”
This professional development event strengthened relationships with suppliers and ensured the team stays up to date with the latest innovations, all aimed at supporting growers across Western Australia.