Mapping weeds will help
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Cattle News
- Feb 22, 2018
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The use of paddock weed maps overlaid onto yield maps, variable rate technology and the way you access weather information will all be topics presented and discussed at the annual BCG Trials Review Day on Friday 16 February at the Birchip Leisure Centre.
BCG commercial services manager Cameron Taylor explained that technology is becoming more applicable and widely adopted, and now is the opportunity to investigate opportunities to use technology to increase efficiencies on-farm.
“Using GPS systems in tractors enables growers to get a better understanding of the location and quantity of weeds in paddocks,” Mr Taylor described.
This is exactly what is being trialed on Mr Taylor’s family property, Mayo Park Farms.
“When we are in the tractor, be it seeding, spraying, spreading or harvesting, we have the ability to use our GPS system to record areas of weeds in the paddock.”
Mr Taylor will be presenting how they use this information to produce weed maps and for decision making.
Farm maps have also been produced as part of a project funded by Landcare, looking into the use of variable rate technology in the Mallee.
Through this project BCG research officer Sebastian Ie worked with growers to undertake farm scale trials.
Growers identified one uniform and one variable paddocks to investigate whether Mallee paddocks were too uniform to benefit from variable rate technology.
Results showed that although growers did have a great understanding of their own paddock variability, variable rate technology could still play a part in providing efficiencies in the Mallee.
Mr Ie will be providing further information about this at the event.
CSIRO researcher Jaclyn Brown will open up a discussion about the way farmers access their weather information and how they use this to make decisions, both short term and long term on the farm.
The BCG Trials Review Day is a members only event. Lunch, refreshments and a copy of the 2017 BCG Season Research Results compendium are provided. Non-BCG members can purchase memberships prior to, or on the day.
For more information about the BCG Trials Review Day visit the website at www.bcg.org.au or phone the office on (03) 5492 2787.
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