Cesar Australia hosted the Crop Protection Forum back in November 2022, in collaboration with our partners AHRI, CCDM, The University of Melbourne and the support of the GRDC.
This event was delivered successfully in Wagga Wagga, NSW after months of coordination organised by the Cesar Extension team. Despite the challenge of the evolving flood situation, the event was able to go ahead in-person with over 100 advisors, farmers and industry representatives attending on the day.
We would like to thank everyone who attended and supported the event in Wagga Wagga. It was a great opportunity to connect with a growing network of growers and advisors to discuss the latest news and research across the insecticide, fungicide and herbicide resistance space.
Research exchange
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and gave insight into the different areas of concern for growers. There were a multitude of key take-home messages for the day, but the one resonated the most with attendees is ‘the importance of reducing unnecessary applications and emphasising rotating modes of action for all situations. For fungicides, pesticides AND herbicides!’
These types of opportunities to exchange information such as current challenges and new research is essential to drive the industry forward. Important research shouldn’t sit on the shelf – all CPF partners and presenters are motivated to educate and empower audiences to best manage on-farm activities and make sure valuable research reaches those who need it.
Fortunately, if you couldn’t make it to the event, recordings of some of the presentations are now available to watch online. We were lucky enough to have several of Australia’s leading experts join us and discuss their research.
Session 1: Resistance status updates
First up at the Forum, Associate Professor Fran Lopez Ruiz presented on ‘Fungicide resistance or resistance to change?’. His talk explores the complex answer and explains the context of fungicide resistance in Australian gain crops and takes us through new research and case studies of prominent disease outbreaks.
As pesticides remain the main way we manage pests in the grains industry, Cesar Australia Director and Associate Professor Paul Umina presented on ‘Insecticide resistance in grain crops’. Unfortunately, unable to attend the event in-person, Paul delivered his talk online. Watch his presentation to learn about the current state of insecticide resistance in Australia, including how we got here and tips for managing future challenges.
‘Herbicide resistance survey and findings’ was an engaging talk from Professor Christopher Preston who discusses the results from a recent herbicide resistance surveillance project funded by the GRDC. Watch to find out about the new trends in resistance, the new discoveries in the genetic mechanisms of resistance, and potential opportunities for controlling weeds going forward.
Session 2: New insights into resistance
This session included a talk from Brad Baxter from the NSW Department of Primary Industries discussing ‘IDM strategies for key necrotrophic disease of wheat in southern NSW.’ His talk goes in depth to uncover the what, the why and the how of disease and fungicide resistance. He provides a comprehensive look into integrated disease management (IDM). Watch to learn key strategies of how we can help control crop infection level and resistance development.
We were also joined by the AGPIP project’s very own Dr Josh Thia from the University of Melbourne who also presented on pesticides. ‘Predicting the risk of pesticide resistance in agricultural arthropod pests’. Thia explains how we can predict resistance risk, and how we can use this information to guide long lasting, pro-active resistance control plans.
Session 3: Resistance management in the field
This session covered insights into management and surveillance which can be applied on-ground. ‘Fungicide resistance in cereal pathogens’ by Dr Steven Simpfendorfer covers the repercussions of our over reliance on fungicides and focuses on the factors underpinning the conversations around resistance, the need for best standard practice for disease management, and he asks you: ‘what message is it that we want to send to the industry?’
Following on from this talk was Dr Lisa Bird who discussed a ‘Helicoverpa armigera and fall armyworm resistance update 2022-23’. She explains how to manage Fall army worm and Helicoverpa armigera, including how to differ between the two, their current spread across Australia and their resistance status.
The final presentation of the Crop Protection Forum was by WeedSmart Australia’s Jana Dixon. ‘Tackling herbicide resistance head on‘ is an engaging talk that aims to take back control from weeds and help you call the shots instead. Catch up on this talk to find out how you can achieve less weeds and more profits by utilising the WeedSmart Big Six Strategies.
The take-home message
One of the most valuable take homes from the event is always that the cross system (weeds, disease pest) discussions and presentations are extremely important to help both agronomists and researchers to address issues and to drive progress in industry sustainability. Cesar look forward to continuing our collaborations with CCMD and AHRI, and can’t wait to attend the event in 2023!
