GRDC Podcast

Dr Rick Llewellyn is the recipient of the 2026 Grain Research and Development Corporation, Seed of Light South Award for his contribution to the grains industry. As a Senior Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO based out of South Australia's Waite campus, Rick has made it his mission to move the industry forward over a stellar career in the research field.   GRDC Seed of Light Award recognises outstanding individuals who have significantly contributed to communicating research outcomes to grain growers and others working across the grains industry.

Contact:

Dr Rick Llewellyn 

CSIRO 

[email protected]

More Information:    

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/grdc/awardsscholarships/csiro-scientist-receives-grains-industry-awards

https://grdc.com.au/about/rd-and-e-capacity-and-ability/awards              

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Growers, advisers, agronomists and researchers all using MyGRDC to access information and events relevant to them. Hear from grower, Tim McClelland, researcher, Greta Duff and agronomist, Quenten Knight about the benefits of using MyGRDC - including personalised event notifications, bookmarking relevant articles and easy access no matter where you are.

Contact:

MyGRDC Team

[email protected]

Website: my.grdc.com.au

Download app: App store or Google Play

More Information:   

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/mygrdc

https://youtu.be/LtnVWSmkaE8

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GRDC's Farm Business Updates have played a big role in updating growers about changing landscapes, including taxation and managing the ever-increasing asset base of their businesses. As part of a recent update, Joanne Gilbert from world leading tax and consulting service, RSM Australia spoke about the changes that have occurred in the years since the Covid pandemic. Joanne encourages all growers to take control of their income and we caught up with her post-update to find out more.

Contact: Joanne Gilbert

RSM Australia

[email protected]

More information:

https://www.rsm.global/australia

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/grdc/events/focus-on-farm-business-a-priority-this-february

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/grownotes/technical-manuals/farm-business-models

https://grdc.com.au/research/partnerships-and-initiatives/strategic-partnerships/riskwise

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/grdc-update-papers/tab-content/grdc-update-papers/2024/07/mastering-the-whole-system-managing-farm-business-risk-and-building-resilience

https://grdc.com.au/news-and-media/audio/podcast/2026/grain-automate-from-data-to-decisions

https://grdc.com.au/events/list/2026/04/grdc-farm-business-update,-online-from-busy-to-efficient-streamlining-operations

Project Code: ORM2401-001SAX

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Growers in Western Australia are aware of the benefits of growing legumes in their rotation. However, there are key considerations and drivers that need to be considered when making decisions. A GRDC investment with the Grower Group Alliance is aiming to help with that and in this four-part series, we tackle the agronomy, profitability, marketing, and harvesting of growing legumes. This episode explores what makes legumes profitable, how profitable they need to be to make it worthwhile, and the multi-year factors at play. We hear from grower, Timm House, and his agronomy consultant, Tom McInerney, who are both based at Gnowangerup, WA.

Contacts:  

Timm House

Gnowangerup Grower

[email protected]

Tom McInernery

Great Southern Ag

[email protected]

More Information:     ​

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/profitable-legumes-becoming-a-reality

​                  

Project Investment Code:   

GGA2110-002SAX 

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Jessica Koch grew up around farming and technology, developing an early interest in precision agriculture as a way to better understand variability in low rainfall environments. What began as curiosity about soils, mapping and machinery has evolved into a career focused on helping growers make clearer, more confident decisions using the right information at the right time. Now a precision agriculture consultant, grower and founder of Breezy Hill Precision Ag Consulting, Jess reflects on her journey from working at a local John Deere dealership to building her own business and backing herself to step out independently.

She shares a practical perspective on precision ag - not as perfection, but as using available tools and data to reduce uncertainty and improve decision-making. Beyond the farm gate, Jess discusses her involvement with SPAA and her role in establishing Ladies on the Land in South Australia’s Upper North, highlighting the importance of creating spaces where people feel included, supported and confident to build skills and contribute.

This episode explores:

- How drought shaped decision making and reinforced the value of practical, low-cost precision ag

Watch this episode as a video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pfN9ceGUzWQ

More information

https://www.breezyhillpas.com/

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/grdc-update-papers/tab-content/grdc-update-papers/2022/08/using-common-precision-ag-data-layers-to-accurately-and-economically-ground-truth

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:

HAG2507-001SAX https://grdc.com.au/grdc-investments

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GRDC’s Farm Business Updates play a big role in updating growers about farm management systems, including self-development. Dr Jane Foster teaches emotional resilience and has been a presenter at this year’s events. In this podcast Dr Foster discusses the importance of proactive communication skills on-farm to avoid conflict and keep everyone safe.

Contact:         

Dr Jane Foster

Emotional Resilience Training

[email protected]

0425 718 632

More Information:   

Mental health resources

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/resources/mental-health

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/farm-business/business-management/a-full-wellbeing-silo-key-to-mental-health

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/innovation/industry-insights/boundaries-key-to-preserving-mental-health,-expert-says

https://grdc.com.au/news-and-media/audio/podcast/2025/skills-for-agronomists-to-handle-tough-conversations

https://grdc.com.au/news-and-media/audio/podcast/2024/finding-your-feet-as-an-agronomist

https://grdc.com.au/news-and-media/audio/podcast/2023/talking-mental-health-in-a-tough-year

The Farm business update in February:

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/grdc/events/focus-on-farm-business-a-priority-this-february

Upcoming Farm Business updates and GRDC events:

https://grdc.com.au/events/list

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Matthew Howell is an agronomist, grower and regional advocate based in South Australia’s Upper South East. Over the past two decades, he has worked alongside growers through a major shift from mixed farming to large-scale continuous cropping, driven by rainfall, soil development and opportunity. In this conversation, Matt reflects on his journey from Cummins on the Eyre Peninsula to building a life and career in Meningie, sharing what it’s been like to work in a rapidly changing region where former dairy country has been converted to broadacre cropping and growers have had to adapt quickly.

Matt speaks to the value of being actively involved through agronomy, mentoring, trials and advocacy. He explores what real practice change looks like, how tough seasons sharpen learning, and why regional leadership matters, highlighting the balance between profitability and sustainability and the need for stronger support in precision ag, data and training.

This episode explores:

Watch this episode as a video on YouTube https://youtu.be/_rNR6XSV2u8

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.

More info: https://grdc.com.au

Subscribe: https://grdc.com.au/grdc-subscriptions

For LIVE Events go to https://grdc.com.au/events/list

Get the latest from GroundCover: https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/

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Controlling disease in crops has traditionally been the ultimate game of chance. However, work being done in faba and broad bean crops in South Australia has taken some of the risk out of the equation. In this episode, Max Bloomfield, a research manager at Field Applied Research Australia or FAR Australia explores strategies to manage major foliar and soil-borne

Contact:           

Max Bloomfield

FAR Australia

[email protected]

More Information:    

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/all-publications/nvt-crop-sowing-guides/sa-crop-sowing-guide

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/legume-challenges-addressed

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/grain-legumes-initiative-aims-to-close-the-yield-gap-in-sa

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/grdc-update-papers/tab-content/past-update-proceedings/2026/grdc-grains-research-update-bendigo-2026

Project Code:   

UOA2105-013RTX

https://grdc.com.au/grdc-investments/investments/investment?code=UOA2105-013RTX

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Disease prevention is pivotal in any cereal crop. This episode explores recognising and preventing diseases in lentils with research scientist Mohsen Khani from the South Australian Research and Development Institute. Lentils are often favoured because of their profitability, but diseases can undo a season's work in a matter of weeks if not kept in check. GRDC has invested in a multi -year grain legume project in South Australia, with part of that study focused on what to look for and how seasons affect disease development and progress.

The SA Grain Legume project: Development and extension to close the economic yield gap and maximise farming systems benefits from grain legume production in South Australia is led by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), the research division of the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, alongside a number of project partners.

Contact:   

Mohsen Khani

South Australian Research and Development Institute

[email protected]

More Information:  

https://grdc.com.au/search?query=%E2%80%AFUOA2105-013RTX&collection=grdc%7Esp-grdc&profile=grdc-global&form=web

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/legume-challenges-addressed

Project Investment Code:        

UOA2105-013RTX

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In this episode, agronomist Sam Trengove, from Trengove Consulting, and lentil farmer Tim Millard talk about one of the greatest challenges for legume growers - lentil pod loss. Lentil pod loss can be devastating to a crop. In some instances, farmers can lose up to 60 percent and the main cause, wind, is out of their hands to control. GRDC has invested in a multi-year grain legume project in South Australia, in part looking at how to prevent such dramatic lentil seed pod losses between maturity and harvest. While researchers found no silver bullets, they emphasise controlling what you can and using harvest timing, machinery setup, and awareness of conditions to capture as much of the crop as possible, while research continues to search for longer term solutions.  

In addition to the comments within this episode, agronomist Sam Trengove emphasises the question of what growers can do now in terms of timing of desiccation and timeliness of harvest with respect to wind events. He states that growers with large programs should stagger their desiccation times in line with their harvest capacity, so that they don't have all their lentil crop ready to harvest on the same day when it will take them 10 days to harvest. For example, if they have capacity to harvest 100ha of lentil per day and 1000ha of lentils to harvest, then staggering the desiccation time over a 10-day period may help to reduce the risks of having the whole crop ready and vulnerable if it is all sprayed within a couple days. A range of sowing dates and/or mix of variety maturities may also help to stagger the desiccation timing.  

The South Australian Grain Legume Project, is a joint initiative between South Australian Research and Development Institute, or SARDI and GRDC, led by the South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA). 

Contact: Sam Trengove  

Trengove Consulting Pty Ltd  

[email protected] 

Tim Millard 

Grower in Goalpara, South Australia 

[email protected]  

More  Information:  

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/fine-tuning-legume-agronomy-to-benefit-sa-growers  

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/closing-the-economic-yield-gap  

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/weeds-pests-diseases/chemical-regulation/herbicide-tolerant-lentils-registration-and-impacts  

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/legume-challenges-addressed  

https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/crops/pulses/less-haste,-more-speed-for-lentil-desiccation-timing    

Project Code: UOA2105-013RTX  

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