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“Promoting economically viable and environmentally sustainable cropping systems”

Winter Crop Walks

North East  - Tuesday 14^th July

Start: 9:00 am sharp to catch the bus

Starting at Jamie Cummins - 309 Cummins Rd Burramine (from Yarrawonga take Katamatite Rd (4.8 km from railway) turn left onto Forges Rd and next right is Cummins Rd—opposite seven large cyclone silos)

Highlights:

· Phosphorous & seed dressing trials

· On farm grain storage

· DBS machine and inter-row sowing

· Variable rate phosphorous

· Liquid injection of trace elements

· Continuous cropping with 2cm guidance

· Stubble management

BBQ lunch sponsored by Agri-Chem

VNTFA members free, non members $15

Western - Thursday 16^th July

Start: 9:00 am

Gary and Luke Smiths', Benayeo

12 kms North West of Apsley

Highlights

· Gary & Luke Smith, Looking at the Adoption of 3 metre controlled traffic focusing on machinery setup.

·  Rob and Michael Lange, Apsley, Looking at modified seeder and focusing on seed placement.

·  Lee McGinty, Looking at modified combine and focusing on new adopters to No-Till cropping.

BBQ Lunch supplied

Cost: Members free, Non-members $15

Wimmera - Friday 17^th July

Start: 9:00 am

Rupanyup Football Ground

Highlights:

· Inter-row sowing

· Liquid Nutrition

· Disc Seeders

BBQ Lunch provided by Horsham Finance back at Football Grounds to wrap up the morning

Cost: Members free, Non-members $15

Southern - Tuesday 21^st July

Start: 10:30am for 11:00am start

Rokewood Golf Club

(Geelong side of township on Rokewood/Skipton Rd)

Highlights:

Speaker presentations before lunch

· Tom Dunstan  (no-till farmer, Telangatuk) - Summer cropping in a no-till system 

· Chris Drum ( no-till farmer and VNTFA President)  - Setting up a liquid fertilizer system

· Liquid system demo on seeder

· Inter row seeded cereals and beans (750mm row spacing)

· Crop establishment disc and tyne

· HRZ trial outline

· Continuous logging moisture sensors

Lunch provided by Western Plains Motors,

     Rokewood   

Cost: Members free, Non-members $15

Bookings essential

Please contact the office, 03 5382 0422,

vanessa.grieger@vicnotill.com.au or

SMS 0429 820 429

Mallee - Wednesday 22^nd July

Start: 9:30 am

Matt & Sam Parkers, Tutye

(follow signs down Tutye Sth Rd)

Highlights:

· New JD ConservaPak bar and JD granule and Liquid Airseeder Box

· Weedseeker Boom and farmer experience with Technology.

· Nutrition Management

· Legumes in the Mallee

· VRT Technology

· Broad discussion on many areas of interest.

· Managing risk in the mallee and the use of livestock and hay.

BBQ lunch provided. 

Sponsors for the day -  Brooks Grain

Cost: Members free, Non-members $15

Buses will run from Tooleybuc, Swan Hill & Sea Lake    

 Bookings essential by Fri July 17

Please contact the office, 03 5382 0422,

vanessa.grieger@vicnotill.com.au or

SMS 0429 820 429

Spring Crop Walks

North East  - Monday 31^st August

Mallee - Wednesday 2^nd September

Southern - Friday 4^th September

Wimmera - Tuesday 8^th September

The Spring Crop Walks will be a series of soil pits in the different regions with Kris Nichols as a guest speaker.

7^th Annual VNTFA Conference

"Refining the Art of No-Till"

Wednesday 9^th September 2009

Keynote speaker: Dr Kris Nichols, Soil Microbiologist, USDA, Agriculture Research Service

Kris Nichols began her research career with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in 2000 in Beltsville, MD. She joined the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory (NGPRL) in Mandan, ND in June, 2003 as a Soil Microbiologist. Nichols received Bachelor of Science degrees in Plant Biology and in Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Minnesota in 1995, a Masters degree in Environmental Microbiology from West Virginia University in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Maryland in 2003. Since 1993, Nichols has studied arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi - a plant-root symbiont. Her most recent work involves the investigation of glomalin - a glycoprotein produced by AM fungi. Glomalin contributes to nutrient cycling by protecting AM hyphae that are transporting nutrients from the soil to the plant and to soil structure and plant health by helping to form and stabilize soil aggregates. Nichols found glomalin to be a major component of soil organic matter (ca. 15-20%) in undisturbed soils and may be an agriculturally managed soil carbon sink. Kris has been examining the impacts of crop rotation, tillage practices, and livestock grazing management on soil aggregation, water relationships, and glomalin at NGPRL. Nichols had given numerous invited presentations to agriculture producers and educators throughout the U.S. and Canada. She has written several peer-reviewed journal articles and two book chapters. Numerous popular press articles have featured her work.