Grains and other field crops bulletins

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Soil pH in northern and southern areas of the WA wheatbelt

Chris Gazey and Joel Andrew

More than 80% of the topsoils sampled fall below the critical surface pHCaCl2 of 5.5 in the northern and southern wheatbelt study areas, with more in the south than the north. These results confirm soil acidity is a serious concern throughout the WA wheatbelt when ... Read more
Survey of Western Australian agricultural lime sources

Chris Gazey and Dave Gartner

As a service to WA wheatbelt farmers, to assist with cost effective management of soil acidity, a survey of agricultural lime availability and quality was conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia.

The quality of agricultural lime surveyed varied widely between pits. ... Read more
Diagnosing crop and pasture problems with Detective Doug

Doug Sawkins

There are numerous publications for diagnosing crop and pasture growth problems. Although they are excellent for experienced people, they can be time consuming and possibly misleading for the less experienced.

Many guidebooks assume that the user has already decided that their problem falls into the ... Read more
Identifying sub-tropical grass seedlings

Brad Wintle, Geoff Moore, and Phil Nichols

There is considerable interest in growing sub-tropical (or warm season) perennial grasses for out-of-season green feed, especially on the south coast and in the northern agricultural region (NAR). They consist of two types: creeping grasses, which spread by either above ground runners (stolons) or below ... Read more
Root disease under intensive cereal production systems

Bill MacLeod, Vivien Vanstone, Ravjit Khangura, and Ciara Beard
This Bulletin describes symptoms and control methods for the most commonly encountered cereal root diseases in Western Australia:
- rhizoctonia bare patch
- root lesion nematode
- take-all
- fusarium crown rot
- cereal cyst nematode
- common root rot
Producing lupins

Peter White, Bob French, Amelia McLarty, and Grains Research and Development Corporation

The book contains detailed information on lupin establishment, weed control, disease management and harvesting. It also provides an excellent background to the history of lupins in Western Australia, the development of the plant and its adaptation to the Western Australian environment
Wheat variety guide 2008 Western Australia

Christine Zaicou, Ben Curtis, Harmohinder Dhammu, Sarah Ellis, Dorthe Jorgensen, Shahajahan Miyan, Steve Penny, Brenda Shackley, and Darshan Sharma

This guide summarises performance characteristics of commercially available wheats and some pre-commercial lines. These lines have undergone testing in the National Variety Testing Project (NVT), Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) wide-scale crop variety testing (CVT) and/or variety specific agronomy projects. This information ... Read more
Returns to research and development investment of the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia : benefit cost analysis, 2006-2007

Peter Coyle, Editor; Roslyn Blanchard; Francis Bright; Paul Mattingley; and Manju Radhakrishnan

Strategic decision making is enhanced by the consideration of benefit cost analyses of many projects. Each year a selection of projects is evaluated to assist in the determination of the most appropriate allocation of funds. This is only one of the methods that are employed ... Read more
Returns to R&D investment of DAFWA: benefit cost analysis, 2005-2006

Nazrul Islam

The primary outcome or objective of the projects that are assessed, is to increase the market competitiveness and profitability of agri-industry.
Returns to research and development investment of Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia : benefit cost analysis 2005-2006

Nazrul Islam, Francis Bright, Peter Coyle, Peter Eckersley, Louise Evans, Joseph Gaffy, Allan Herbert, Ross Kingwell, Emma Kopke, and Peter Tozer

Programs of the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia apply benefit-cost analysis to assist in the allocation of funds to those areas likely to make the largest contribution to the rural economy and thus to achieve the Department outcome of increased market competitiveness and ... Read more
Nitrogen management for wheat protein and yield in the Esperance port zone

Jeremy Lemon

This manual is part of a joint project between the Department of Agriculture and Food WA and the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA) with funding from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). Growers in the Esperance port zone have been concerned with ... Read more
Tree windbreaks in the wheatbelt

Robert Sudmeyer, David Bicknell, and Neil Coles

Windbreaks comprising trees, or tree and shrub combinations, can offer many benefits on wheatbelt farms, particularly for protection of soil, stock, crops and pastures from damaging winds and erosion. Additional benefits include reduced evaporation from farm dams, reduced groundwater recharge, their use as nature conservation ... Read more
Root lesion and burrowing Nematodes in Western Australian cropping systems

Vivien Vanstone

Nematodes are common soil pests that feed on the roots of a wide range of crop plants in all agricultural areas of Western Australia, irrespective of soil type and rainfall. Nematodes multiply on susceptible hosts. Consequently, as nematode populations increase, crop production is limited. Cereal ... Read more
Milling oat and feed oat quality - what are the differences?

Kellie Winfield, Maurice Hall, and Blakely Paynter

This Bulletin explains the differences between oat products used for human and animal consumption and the importance of the quality parameter to the quality of the end product. It also indicates why different varieties are suited to different end markets.
Farming for the future self-assessment tool (SAT)

Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia; Danielle England; Rebecca Ashley Jones; John Noonan; and Jon Warren

Western Australian produce is some of the cleanest, safest and most reliable in the world. It is also being produced in an increasingly sustainable manner as our primary producers adopt documented and industry agreed, current recommended practices. International markets and local consumers want to be ... Read more
A Manual for raised bed farming in Western Australia

Derk Bakker, David Houlbrooke, Greg Hamilton, and Cliff Spann

This manual provides a complete set of information on the nature, location, occurrence and reasons for waterlogging and how to prevent it. The preventative technology, raised bed farming, is explained in terms of: how and why it works; the practical means of installing and maintaining ... Read more
Feed grain report - current and future demand in Western Australia

Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia

Authors: Martin Barbetti, Pam Burgess, Dave Eksteen, Trevor Lacey, Reg Lance, Peter Metcalfe, Dane Robertson, Greg Shea, Sofia Sipsas, Mark Sweetingham, Graham Walton, Peter White, Anne Wilkins

Markets are rapidly changing and new industries are emerging at a faster rate than previously recorded in history. ... Read more
2005 Crop variety sowing guide for Western Australia

Jenny Garlinge

The Crop Variety Sowing Guide attempts to present all the information that is necessary for you to make the best choice of variety for each of the major crops. As well as varietal characteristics and performance, it contains information on herbicide resistance, disease, agronomic factors, ... Read more
Successful cropping in the high rainfall zone of Western Australia : crop research and extension in the zone

Narelle Hill, Heping Zhang Dr., Tim Trezise, John Young, Natahan Moyes, Laurence Carslake, Neil C. Turner Dr, Walter Anderson, and Michael Poole

This manual is a review of all the relevant and current information relating to cropping systems in the high rainfall cropping zone (HRZ) of Western Australia. It functions partly as the final report summarising research results and extension activities and discusses recommendations and potential outcomes ... Read more
Producing pulses in the northern agricultural region

Peter White, Martin Harries, Mark Seymour, and Pam Burgess

Pulses, like most other temperate crops, are ideally suited to environments with mild temperatures, adequate rainfall and free draining soils that have a deep uniform profile, a medium to fine texture and slightly acid to neutral pH (6.5-7.5). Pulses when grown on these soils and ... Read more
Subsurface acidity

Mike Bolland, Chris Gazey, Amanda Miller, Dave Gartner, and Julie-Anne Roche

Productive agriculture increases the concentration of hydrogen ions in soil, which acidifies the soil.

Aluminium is a component of many soil constituents, including clays and oxides, and is also present on the surfaces of soil organic matter. As the concentration of hydrogen ions in soil ... Read more
Topcrop W.A. state focus 2002-2003 wheat protein

Alison Slade and Jeremy Lemon

The State Focus program is supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) in conjunction with TOPCROP to provide grower groups with a new learning concept. The concept was developed in Victoria and has been adopted by South Australia and Western Australia.

Wheat protein ... Read more
Tramline farming systems technical manual

Bindi Webb, Paul Blackwell, Glen Riethmuller, and Jeremy Lemon

Tramline farming improves farm production and efficiency by controlling traffic and confining compaction to permanent tramlines and reducing overlap. This manual will help you develop your farming system to get the tramline farming benefits. The manual contains information on the principles and techniques of implementing ... Read more
Zone management in precision agriculture by matching fertiliser input to crop demand

Daya Patabendige, Mike Wong, and Bill Bowden

Growers in Western Australia who have been yield mapping since the mid 1990s have come to realise that grain yield varies across different zones of their paddocks in any given year, as well as between years depending on the seasonal conditions and crop type. This ... Read more
Successful field pea harvesting

Glen Riethmuller and Ian Pritchard

Many thousands of hectares of field peas are harvested trouble free each year. Growers experience together with recent machinery innovations and modifications have solved the majority of harvesting difficulties. Optimum harvesting conditions are in a crop of uniform density on a level soil surface with ... Read more