THE South Australian Grain Industry Trust (SAGIT) has allocated $1.81 million in funding towards 25 research projects in 2018.
The trust received 36 applications for funding this year, with successful projects ranging from crop root health, the use of drones, salt tolerance in bread wheats and nutrients in lentils and chickpeas.
SAGIT chair Michael Treloar said applications were of a high quality which created challenging decisions for the trust, which is funded by a grower levy of 30 cents per tonne produced.
“We were really thrilled with the quality and diversity of the applications,” Mr Treloar said.
“We spend quite a bit of time going through them and it is a hard decision, however we only have so many funds.
“Our role is to make sure we invest the funds to give growers the best value for money.”
Mr Treloar said there were a number of exciting projects which would hopefully provide good outcomes for growers in the future.
“There’s been an increased interest in lentils in the past few years so the project regarding growing lentils in low rainfall areas is something new,” he said.
“The UniSA research regarding the effects of pesticides in soils is also a new area which will provide growers with important information about the effect chemicals have on soils.”
SAGIT has also boosted its funding for grower groups, allocating $20,000 to six funding applications which will help attract key speakers. Another round of funding for grower groups will be announced in July.
The successful research projects are:
| AgCommunicators | More than Gumboots and Tractors |
| Agronomy Solutions | Economics of high phosphorus rates on pulses |
| Australasian Plant Pathology Association | 10th Australasian Soilborne Disease Symposium |
| CSIRO Agriculture & Food | Improved capture of native soil nitrogen and urea fertiliser in wheat |
| Elders Rural Services | SA high-rainfall zone canola variable rate nitrogen prescription project |
| Global Grain Genetics | Rapid development of innovative lentils for low rainfall regions |
| Mallee Sustainable Farming | Investigating frost susceptibility in Clearfield varieties treated with imidazoline herbicide |
| Mallee Sustainable Farming | Identifying nutrient requirements of lentils & chickpeas grown in Mallee sands |
| MacKillop Farm Management Group Inc | Improved soil water decisions across the South East cropping region |
| Murray Plains Farmers | Profitable pulses for the Murray Plains |
| Rural Solutions | Publication of the 2019 Farm Gross Margin Guide for SA |
| SARDI | Benchmarking yield potential of barley in higher rainfall zones |
| SARDI | Making science useful for agriculture |
| SARDI | Drivers of flowering time in durum |
| SARDI | Further development of crown rot resistance in durums |
| SARDI | Grower crop root health workshops |
| SARDI | Establishing current levels of salt tolerance in Australian bread wheats |
| SARDI | Survey potential emerging pulse root diseases |
| SARDI | Improved crop nutrition for disease management and reduced fungicide dependency |
| Society of Precision Agriculture Australia | Conversations with farmers agricultural practice change with the PA early adopters |
| University of Adelaide | Phenotypic evaluation of a wheat RIL population for salinity tolerance |
| University of Adelaide | Development of wheat population using speed breeding for salinity tolerance |
| University of Adelaide | Herbicide residue effects on soil microbial communities in alkaline soils |
| University of Adelaide | Investigating the accuracy of plant traits measured using drones |
| University of South Australia | Comparative effects of agricultural pesticides on SA soil microbial functions |
The successful grower groups are:
| Ag Excellence Alliance | 2018 Ag Excellence Awards & Forum |
| EP Agricultural Research Foundation | Adjuvants information workshops |
| Mackillop Farm Management Group Inc | On farm optimisation of oat grain production & marketing |
| Upper North Farming Systems | Smarter Farmers, Smarter Farms. Upskilling the women of the UN to be future ready sustainable more productive farmers |
| Agriculture Kangaroo Island | Plot sprayer for research on Kangaroo Island |
| Mackillop Farm Management Group Inc | Mackillop Farm Management Group Annual Trial Results Book 2018 |
ENDS
