Latest global resistance advice to benefit growers
About
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Category
- News
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Date
14 April, 2021
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Location
Perth, WA
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About
Category
- News
Date
14 April, 2021
Location
Perth, WA
Strong efforts to connect global weed and disease experts with the Australian agricultural industry despite COVID times is helping local advisers and growers “in the paddock’’.
Image: Tim Sippe (L) and Jeff Lander (R), Bayer, greet David Stead, Anasazi Agronomy, on his arrival to the company’s Connect event in Perth.
Recent instalments of annual Bayer Connect events with farm advisers, agronomists and researchers have included presentations and live crosses with experts in Germany to help discuss strategies and solutions to local issues.
The recent events included presentations from Bayer’s Senior Science Fellow and Scientific Director of Weed Resistance, Dr Harry Strek, and Principal Scientist – Fungicide Resistance Management, Dr Andreas Mehl, before both answered prepared questions on specific local issues during the live feeds.
Craig White, Bayer Leader of Integrated Weed Management in Australia and Market Development Manager in WA, said the events had always focused on maintaining the connection between global expertise and local experts and teams to help address problems in growers’ paddocks.
Craig said Andreas also was a founding member of the CropLife International Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC), which includes a team of global experts looking at management strategies for fungicide resistance, and that feeds down to country level committees like the Fungicide Resistance Management Expert Committee of CropLife Australia.
He said delegates tuned into Harry’s knowledge and understanding of weed resistance mechanisms and herbicide resistance, and advanced their understanding of fungicide resistance and related management strategies with Andreas.
Image: Garren Knell, ConsultAg, Nathan Dovey, Stirlings to Coast, and Bayer WA Market Development Manager Craig White enjoy a refreshment following the Bayer Connect event at Crown Perth
Fungicide resistance has increasingly impacted on crop management in recent years and its effective management has prompted robust discussions between local researchers, advisers and growers.
Andreas said the FRAC did not want the fungicide resistance trend in Europe to be followed in Australia and part of the management solution centred on how to effectively use SDHI (succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor) fungicides in the future.
Geoff Fosbery, with the WA farm advisory group, ConsultAg, said the opportunity to discuss in-depth scientific questions with Harry and Andreas around resistance and related industry outcomes was fantastic.
“We have learned some really useful things because they (Harry and Andreas) get down to the nitty gritty behind how herbicides and fungicides actually work, which we can then transfer out to the paddock,’’ Geoff said.
Image: Bayer Territory Business Manager Mitchell Tuffley caught up with Blakely Paynter, DPIRD, just prior to Bayer Connect at Crown Perth.
Courtney Piesse, Agronomique Services, which supports broadacre and horticulture growers in WA, said the latest Bayer Connect event was one of the most productive he had attended, with some valuable intelligence around fungicide resistance management.
This included using the best, most accurate rate when it comes to applying DMI fungicides, and prolonging their effectiveness even further by tank mixing.
Courtney said fungicide mixtures appeared to be “the way to go’’ for broadacre growers, and also were stressed by Andreas when applying SDHI fungicides in future.
“One of the keys is those growers who do a stand-alone seed treatment with foliar activity, they should then do a minimum one pass at a critical crop stage, perhaps first node to flag, with an effective rate of fungicide active from a different group,’’ Courtney said.
Andreas said for diseases such as net blotch in barley, where there was a high risk of resistance developing, stand-alone SDHI seed treatments with foliar activity should be avoided if possible.
About
Category
- News
Date
14 April, 2021
Location
Perth, WA