GRDC Podcast

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In this episode of the GRDC In Conversation podcast, Oli Le Lievre sits down with Ben White, a highly respected agricultural engineer, researcher, and extension specialist. Ben is known for his work at the Kondinin Group, where he has spent over 20 years testing agricultural machinery, developing cutting-edge research, and providing farmers with practical solutions to improve their operations. The conversation delves into Ben's early life growing up on a sheep and cattle farm, his passion for machinery, and how he transitioned into the grains industry. 

Ben talks about his work across a variety of fields, including grain storage, harvester setup, and mobile communications testing. He also shares stories about hands-on research, such as developing glow-in-the-dark bait for mouse baiting trials and reflects on the importance of communication and collaboration in translating complex research into practical advice for farmers. From mobile phone testing to preventing harvester fires, Ben’s work has had a broad and lasting impact on Australian agriculture. 

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Watch this episode as a video on YouTube 

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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Long coleoptile wheat varieties have the potential to deliver increased yield and therefore profit to Australian growers. That’s why GRDC is investing in extensive research to future proof the crop. 

Steve Simpfendorfer from the NSW Department of Primary Industries is part of the nationwide project team, and his area of specialty is looking at how disease interacts with deep sowing. 

This four-year long coleoptile wheat project, made possible with GRDC investment, is being led by CSIRO along with research partners including the University of Melbourne, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, SLR Agriculture, DPIRD, the University of South Australia, and EPAG research. 

Download the transcript for this episode.

Contact: 

Dr Steve Simpfendorfer 

[email protected]

More information:

GRDC announces $12.7M project for long coleoptile wheat

GRDC project code: CSP2212-007RTX 

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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 lentil, field pea and lupin – there are separate podcasts in this four-part series for barley, canola, 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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At Yuna, in Western Australia’s northern growing region, Jason Batten started growing vetch about three years ago, and so far, he’s been impressed with how well the crop grows in his corner of the world. 

As a member of the Yuna Farm Improvement Group, Jason 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, Jason tells us about how experimenting with serradella led him to growing vetch and how its stacks up in terms of productivity and profitability. 

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 Codes: 

GGA2110-002SAX 

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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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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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