Former Beef+Lamb NZ CEO appointed head of Foundation for Arable Research
Former chief executive of Beef+Lamb New Zealand Scott Champion will head the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) from July.
FAR cultivar and herbicide trials with resurgent crop oilseed rape promise to help growers hone their agronomy on the resurgent crop.
A much tighter range of yields in cultivar trials shows selections are closing in on types that suit New Zealand, FAR’s Jen Linton told farmers at the Timaru meeting.
At Waimate there was no significant difference between the six hybrids and one conventional cultivar, DK Cabernet, in the trial which averaged 5.04t/ha. Cabernet top yielded at 5.19t/ha.
It was the same story at Fairlie with the conventional topping the 5.52-6.07t/ha yield range and a site mean of 5.8t/ha. “It shows we are picking and choosing the right varieties to grow,” Linton said.
Overall yields were about 2t/ha higher than the previous year when high winds caused severe seed loss prior to harvest.
This year the short cultivar DK Exstorm was the lowest yielding at both sites but Linton said if the plots had been hit by high winds again, “as the name suggests [Exstorm] would have been the best one.”
The headline message from a 10-treatment herbicide trial targeting hairgrass in oilseed rape at St Andrews was to get the first spray on in May. At that timing all treatments gave over 90% control but when application was delayed to July the best control was 55% and the worst only 3%. “There were massive populations [of hairgrass] in some areas.”
Defoliation as a means of plant growth regulation and feed provision continues to be investigated in oilseed rape with this year’s results from trials at Chertsey showing no significant difference in yield between plots defoliated by cutting hard at the green bud stage, given a light mow at yellow bud, or treated chemically with plant growth regulators (pgrs) Cycocel, Folicur or Moddus.
“There was no significant difference but it’s pretty exciting that we could grow 5.5t/ha at the arable site,” said Linton.
On this occasion the feed potential of defoliations was limited. “We only took half a tonne off. In the past we have taken two-and-a-half tonnes [per hectare] off but at the arable site it’s been hard to get the crop that bulky.”
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
Nationwide rural wellbeing programme, Farmstrong recently celebrated its tenth birthday at Fieldays with an event attended by ambassador Sam Whitelock, Farmers Mutual Group (FMG), Farmstrong partners, and government Ministers.
Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.
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