Crop production hit by unfavourable seasonal conditions
In its Australian crop report – February 2020, ABARES says production prospects for summer crops in Queensland and northern New South Wales remain well below average.
Exotic pest profile: spotted wing drosophila
The fly called spotted wing drosophila (SWD, Drosophila suzukii) is emerging as a global plant pest of significance. It attacks a range of soft skinned fruit and reduces crop yield and quality through direct feeding damage and secondary infection of the fruit.
Self-fertilising almond trees secure the future of industry
Australian scientists have successfully bred self-fertile almond varieties for growers that are not entirely reliant on bees for pollination.
Soil sampling in the spotlight
Growers dealing with highly variable soils are encouraged to take up to 30 soil samples in problem paddocks to ensure accuracy in test results, which will help to ensure they are not under-fertilising or over-fertilising crops.
Wheat disease ‘boom and bust’ cycle discovered
Latest research, led by the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM), has uncovered a ‘boom and bust’ pathogen cycle that may be the key to developing new and improved management strategies and disease ratings for the damaging wheat disease septoria nodorum blotch (SNB).
Safeguarding your stock before and after a natural disaster
Across Australia, extreme weather comes and goes with the seasons. Fires, flood, droughts and storms have formed part of the short- and long-term cycles of weather on this continent forever.
Fall armyworm detected in Torres Strait
The exotic plant pest fall armyworm has been detected for the first time in Australia, in a network of surveillance traps on the northern Torres Strait islands of Saibai and Erub.
Plants and animals sense nutrients the same way
Researchers at the University of Western Australia have discovered that plants and animals use the same signalling process to manage nutrient levels. The knowledge could help improve the use of energy in crops, leading to better yields in the future.
Irrigation helps beat the heat
Large-scale irrigation can help alleviate and even reverse hot extremes driven by human activity and other drivers of global warming, a new international study has found.
MLA launches new way to access red meat research
Producers, researchers and industry stakeholders wanting to keep up to date with the latest in red meat research and development will now have access to a new, easy-to-read e-newsletter focused on the latest Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) research.
Rule-breaking plants as climate change survivors
Plants breaking some of the ecological rules might have a higher chance of surviving climate change, according to researchers from the University of Queensland and Trinity College Dublin.
Lethal discovery in soil affected by bushfire
Geoscientists from Southern Cross University in northern NSW have made a world-first discovery in revealing the lethal legacy of soils scorched by bushfires.