You're listening to the WeedSmart Podcast, where each fortnight we chat about dealing with those pesky weeds. Welcome to the weed smart podcast. I'm Jessica Strauss and on this edition of the podcast we're going to be chatting to Northern grower Alliance CEO Richard Daniel, about the results they got from a survey they recently did on optical spraying. Some of the results were quite surprising, especially when it came to how farmers were using their sprayers. So we'll talk about
that a little bit later on. And we'll also be hearing from cotton Australia chair Hamish McIntyre. He explains why the Roundup Ready extend cropping system from Bayer is so important for cotton growers. Hamish also provides some context around why ensuring the stewardship of this product is so essential. Peter Newman does join me How are you going Pete?
Very well. Jess, how are you?
I'm not so great. I could potentially lose my voice throughout this podcast recording. I've woken up with a very uncomfortable throat but we'll get through it. We're going to power through. How are you going?
Do you want me to do all the talking?
Yeah!
That's fine, I'll do all the talking. If your voice cuts out, I'll just cut in. Perfect.
Thank you, Pete. How are you going?
Very well, very well guess the newsworthy thing in Australian cropping. Anyway, Jess, is the grain prices we're seeing. So I'm not across all the pulse markets, really. But the wheat and canola prices, mainly bouncing around a bit but they're high. So very positive. And yeah, one of those times when US and Canada are not having a great run. And it's impacting on the prices and hopefully a lot of Australian growers can get a half decent crop this year and capitalised on those prices. Yes.
Yeah. They're pretty crazy prices from what you were saying. off mic, Pete. So what are some of the drivers? Obviously the weather conditions, those drought conditions. Is there anything else that's going on that's driving those higher pricees, do you think?
Yeah, well with the canola they also been neonicotinoid insecticides in Europe, which is also driving - so I guess they're growing less canola there. So that's driven the canola price up. But yeah, now we also have these dry and hot conditions in the US and Canada. So yeah, look, there's no point in trying to pick where the markets going next. But right at the moment, just we've got some pretty buoyant grain prices, which is fantastic.
Yeah, no, it's great. And today in the podcast, we're going to focus on a couple of things. First up, we're going to be talking about cotton. And there is a big crop predicted for cotton for the next season. And so that's why it's so important for us to talk about this Roundup Ready extend cropping system. Pete, what's your take on this system?
Yeah, Jess, it is just that thing where we talk a lot about mixing rotating. We particularly talk about mixing herbicides these days and, and this system allows growers to use multiple herbicides over the same weeds. So we're talking about glyphosate, glufosinate, endo, Kamba, all targeting one weed population. So a triple mix is, you know, it's a very positive thing for managing herbicide resistant weeds.
Well, let's take a listen and hear from Hamish McIntyre, who gives an overview of the stewardship and also just a bit more context around why this system is important. In this interview, we're catching up with farmer and cotton Australia chair Hamish McIntyre. He's going to be telling us all about the Roundup Ready extend cropping system and how it fits into his farming system, and also why it's important for farmers in his region. haymitch does farm at
St. George in Queensland. He's got 3200 head feedlot and grows wheat, barley, chickpeas and cotton. And according to our northern extension agronomist, Paul Macintosh, cotton is going to be a very large crop next summer and so ensuring the stewardship around weed control in cotton farming systems is really essential. So we're going to talk through that with Hamish today. Hamish does join us. How you going Hamish?
Well, thanks. Yes, yes.
We mentioned in the intro there that you're also a farmer yourself. So could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your farming system in St. George, Hamish?
Yes, we have a diverse farming system at home where we basically are value adding everything we produce through our beef cattle we we breed in southwestern Queensland, southeastern Queensland, and, you know, through our own family feedlot and then those animals are processed at meat works in
southeast Queensland. So we grow approximately 20,000 hectares of crops annually in a rotation system about 3500 hectares of that is irrigated depending on water availability of course and the balance is rain grown cropping anything from fodder crops or background in cattle through to cash cropping you know, wheat, barley, chickpeas, faba beans, mung beans, etc. So, depending on markets we roll with the times, keeping a very open mind and thinking about
those economic rotation. So weed controls a big part of what we do, particularly roundup resistant weeds that are popping up feathertop roads grass, particularly is something that we're all dealing with on daily basis. So technology like we're about to talk to, it will be a great help we hope controlling some of these tougher to control weeds.
Certainly, Hamish and yeah, we are going to talk about the Roundup Ready Extend Crop System today. But can you just give us a little bit - our listeners probably they would be familiar with this system, but for those who might need a bit of a refresher, can you give us an overview of what this system does entail?
The system entails applying Roundup Ready over the top of our existing cotton crops so years ago, we always use cotton chippers and other residual herbicides to control weeds but a technology Monsanto developed the trait they would enter the cotton or cotton varieties CSIRO team on their behalf has been a game changer for the industry obviously reducing the requirement until age and also casual labourers and the extent flex system is like that another level it gives us another
mechanical mode of actions. So that over the top control of these weeds, glufosinate and dicamba so on top of the round up action that's in the in the structure. So it obviously gives us another two chemistry families that will assist in controlling these resistant weeds.
Yeah, definitely. And Hamish, you did used to chair the TIMS committee which does down for transgenic insecticide management strategy. And this is an industry committee for those who aren't familiar with it organised by Cotton Australia, and its purpose is to develop and review cotton industry resistance management strategies. And you did touch on it there. Obviously, herbicide resistance is a high priority. What was TIMS' role in ensuring the stewardship around the Roundup
Ready extend crop system? And yeah, how do we ensure that stewardship into the future?
We just work in conjunction with whoever the chemical companies that owns the trade and in this situation, it's Bayer, so and helping them develop the stewardship resistant management tool that we can effectively use as growers obviously provide to them the practical side of it, what will work and what won't,
it's more advocacy role. And obviously, it's in our interest to to, to not over-use these products commercially available for us to use, you know, no farm existence for a long period of time, other countries around the world, and other countries around the world with these traits in their cotton varieties, due to lack of stewardship, lost commercial viability of these traits very quickly. So TIMS committee has provided an effective mechanism in conjunction with the trade
owner. You know, we're originally with Monsanto now Bayer own these traits to increase the longevity of the trade, which is a great benefit to we as growers in Australia, but also from a commercial point of view to for the companies
like Bayer. So teams provides the grower interactive face with these chemical companies, if that makes sense to help all of us work together to you know, increase the longevity of any of these traits that are brought into Australia that have been introduced into our cotton varieties.
Yep, that makes sense Hamish. And so you kind of touched on some of the points of why this is an important system for cotton growing regions in Australia. But can you just spell it out in a little bit more detail of why this Roundup Ready extend crop system is important to control weeds in particular?
The two new chemistry options that are in in the new extend flex system will give us more flexibility, controlling harder to control weeds legally bind certain areas, and also some of these roundup resistant grass species, we have to have some effect on there to like feathertop, roads, grass, combination, glufosinate, dicamba with round up, just gives us a more effective tool to control these weeds that are developing resistance just to
pure round up. So it's just another couple of modes of action, which will hopefully increase the longevity of all these technologies, it's in our interest to make sure we apply them appropriately in our farming systems that we don't obviously cause off target issues to you know, with riparian areas or other crops, we have to be very careful as we produce these new technologies that we are very aware of our surrounds and obviously hit the target that we are aiming for.
And that is on our own farms, responsibility that this technology doesn't move our farm and affect your neighbor's crops or riparian areas around our farm. So it's great technology. It's got a huge fit, to help with resistance control and just gives us more flexibility. But at the same time, we need to be very, very careful because use it in Australia that we don't have off. I think that you know America went through those issues which caused a lot of
problems. We have to be very careful that we were conscious of the conditions obviously for application.
Definitely, Hamish and yeah, as we've mentioned already, glyphosate resistance, obviously a massive issue. And as you've explained, this system does involve over the top application of glyphosate as well as Dicamba and glufosinate ammonium herbicides. But I did want to ask you what other Big Six principles growers can use, aside from this Roundup Ready system to prevent glyphosate and other herbicide resistances?
Yeah, again, back to our traditional measures, you know, methods of indirect cultivation, of course, that that property had it was combination of inter row cultivation, some residual herbicides, and that's still very important to us now programmes even with his extended lecture technology, and also shipping very, very resistant weeds. So that's a manual labour side of it which is extremely expensive these
days. But in our rain grown cotton system, this technology is very important to operate the minimum till production system, the dryland Cotton's we call it. So, you know, cultivation, you know, is not an option to them in many situations. So, again, this technology had a huge fit for our dryland cotton producers
in Australia. But it's even more important in those cropping systems to make sure that it is emphasising input importance of that when we as farmers in Australia uses technology, that where we wish to apply it, that's where it is applied and stays there, you know? Yeah, definitely. Good message, Hamish. And what's the feeling out there? What's the perception of this system in cotton growing areas from what you've seen so far?
There's a mixed reception. Some producers believe you know, a phenoxy type technology add more the 2,4-D traits could have been a greater benefit to us. But anyway, this is what is coming to Australia via our system and our organisations which are higher and cottonseed distributors, particularly taking us down this track, it will be of great benefit to us.
But yeah, I just keep re-emphasising this fact that we have got to make sure that the application of these products is done within liable guideline or off target damage anywhere environment or other crops.
Definitely, Hamish. And we did mention in the intro to give some context around how important having these other options for weed control is and gave a bit of an hint at that being a very large crop next summer for cotton. Can you give us a bit more info on that? What's the estimations in terms of how many hectares there's expected to be?
Yeah, with water available in cotton growing valleys throughout Australia, and the subsequent moisture profiles that are developing with this great winter we're having we're predicting that there could be approximately, you know, 450,000 hectares of cotton planted throughout Australia. So that's a huge turnaround from where we were was only two years ago that we only produce 600,000 bales of cotton, which was our lowest
crop in 40 years. And if we are to plan 450,000 hectares next year throughout Australia, you know, potentially we could see a crop a four and a half million bales or more up to 5 million bales. Time will tell but it's a much improved outlook from where we were a couple of years ago just to the water and storage right throughout the Murray Darling Basin. But more particularly to the soil profiles that are building up right throughout the cotton growing belt,
certainly high emission. Yeah, so given that those estimations are where they're at at the moment, which is exciting. It's obviously Yeah, so important that growers are completely across how their system works. And so thank you so much for sharing the information with us today. Did you have anything else that you'd like to add before we wrap things up, Hamish?
No, not really just we are very conscious of an industry in Australia the importance of getting this right. Whenever we have something new in our toolkit to help us operate economically in a production cycle system in this base cotton, we just have to make sure that the rollout of it is not rushed. And it is done effectively and carefully. It just will not do us any good as an industry if we have growers get this wrong. Because off target damage is not acceptable.
We need as farmers to ensure that the products we apply to our crops today, stay there and do not move our farm. So I just really like to emphasise to everyone that please really operate within those label guidelines that are stipulated and set out on these products.
Certainly Hamish. Well, thank you once again for joining us. We really appreciate you taking the time.
Thank you.
Thank you so much to Cotton Australia Chair Hamish McIntyre for taking the time to have a chat with us there about the Roundup Ready extend cropping system. He emphasised in that interview how important it is to be aware of the potential for off site damage, particularly with dicamba obviously that was a massive issue in the US. What's your take on that? Do you have any other tips or comments you'd like to make?
Yeah, really, just to reiterate it Jess just said stick to the label. And really, you're the stewardship. Get to know the product and do it right. We don't want to repeat of what happened in the US. And yeah, I'd like to think that if it is done well that that we can avoid those problems.
Certainly, that's a very good point to reiterate, Pete. Now, up next, we're going to be hearing from Richard Daniel. He's the CEO of the Northern grower Alliance. And they've recently done this survey on optical sprayers, Pete. And yeah, basically getting a bit of a bigger picture of how growers are using them. And the survey Pete is a bit framed in that context of this being relatively new technology. But of course, cameras sprayers have been
around a while. But I suppose maybe there's not been a whole lot of research on cameras sprayers compared to some of the other approaches, and I guess it is kind of newer compared to other methods. But what do you think?
Yeah, well, it is new for some growers. Yes, there have been around for 15 years or more. But like they say there are still plenty of growers who are considering whether they invest in this technology. So yeah, they knew for some growers and would be brand new for someone who adopts it near. But yeah, it is really, I mean, the survey is great. It's a really good look at some of the practicalities of adopting this technology, and then helping farmers make the decision whether it's for them.
Yeah. And Pete, we always do talk about that adoption curve with new practices and tools. Where do you think we are at with the camera technology?
We're into the dependables. Here, just the large group of growers that have sort of watched the pioneers take it on and, and the early adopters, or they're also known as the Dewar's, depending on which model you're looking at. But yeah, we've got this large group of farmers that we call the dependables, who do things very well, but it just tend to generally watch technology for a little while before they jump in. So yeah, I think, you know, still, still plenty of people are looking to adopt this
technology. And also, we've got green on green machines coming jest and that are out there. Now, that can also do green on Brown. So there'll be a lot of adoption of that as well. And so, camera sprayers will, whether it be just pure green on brown or a green on green machine that can do both is certainly going to be ongoing technology that that we're going to see a lot more of.
Certainly, alright, well, let's take a listen to Richard Daniel. Optical sprayers are still a relatively new technology, and they are still a pretty expensive investment. Many growers are still at the stage of determining whether they might be a good fit for their
farming systems. So in this interview, we're catching up with Richard Daniel, who is the CEO of the Northern grower Alliance to find out about the results from a recent survey they conducted on optical spot sprayer setup and use practices to get a bit of a better picture of what's going on in this space. Richard does join us How you going, Richard?
Morning, Jessica going well, thank you.
That's good to hear. Now, I just wanted to kind of get a bit of an overview of what from your perception is the main motivation that farmers have when considering getting camera sprayers I know they're out there in the space. But it would be interesting to hear from your point of view, you know, given you've done this survey, what that motivation is you think for farmers to adopt this technology?
The principal one, of course will be managing costs. So it's trying to reduce herbicide costs. But on top of that, there are some specific issues in terms of the weed scenarios, its management of hard to control weeds. It's also management of increasingly herbicide resistant populations
of words. And probably tied in with all of that it's the opportunity to use some more expensive chemistry where it can be targeted on 5-10 percent of the area that might not be affordable, going over a blanket sprayer or brought over spray.
Definitely, Richard, so you've done this survey, what actually prompted you to go out and do this survey?
Probably two main reasons. Firstly, from a Northern Grower Alliance point of view, we were wanting to see if there were any common threads in terms of scenarios or setups where growers were getting high levels of success using the equipment or conversely, set up where they were consistently getting poor results so that we could target some validation or extension work in terms of what some of those, those key aspects were. The second part was because the the equipment and the technology is still
relatively new. It was probably a good time to get some sort of benchmarking done in terms of how people are using it, what they're using, as well as their setups and practices.
Yeah, I think it's a really helpful survey that you've conducted. And so yeah, we're gonna get into some of the details of what you focused on in the survey and what the results were. So what were the main areas that you zoned in on when putting the questions together for this survey region?
From our point of view, we are most interested in the sort of setups, the sensitivities, the situations, they've been using those optical spots, fries. But to do that, we also had to capture some of the basic demographics. So that went back to a style of machinery with, you know, a whole range of of basic parameters as well.
Okay, great. And so let's dig into some of those results in so there were several key points that were raised from the survey answers, and we'll focus on a few of them. What did you find out regarding the average travel speed that people are going and the water rates that people were using, on average?
Look, the results, they're probably weren't terribly surprising. When you look at the average travel speed, it's slow to use these machines, the moment you really are wanting to be probably under 17 kilometres per hour. And roughly two thirds of the users were in that generally in that 14 to 17 Ks, and there's a reasonable number who would be below 14 kilometres per hour, you know, that's one of the
constraints of equipment. But it's it's certainly one of the important ones or aspects in terms of getting consistency and control. Same sort of statements apply to the water volumes that are used, in general 100 125 litres perspective being applied. But there's quite a few who are applying more than that, and getting up even over 150 Lakes to hit, that's going to change a little bit, depending on the way density, sometimes the weed size might slow down a
little bit. So obviously, they've water volumes are going up. But it's also one which again, is surprising. Were actually identifying what that water volume that has been used or applied is actually quite tough, because it's going to depend on how many nozzles are coming on for each of those weights, and a ratio of that across the whole sky job. So it's a it's a it's a bit of a grey area, in some respects.
Yeah, no, I understand. And I just wondered, Richard, were there any really surprising results that you got out of this survey where you thought, oh, we're really gonna have to do some work on extension on getting this right, or did anything pop up like that?
in terms of the scenario for growth, we're having most consistent success, it really was focusing on keeping those travel speeds quite low. Certainly the water volumes as per the manufacturer specifications. But to me, one of the key ones that came through that, perhaps was a little surprising was, there's been quite a dramatic shift, right, I would have read of a thing, quite a dramatic shift in the way people are using the
equipment. So quite often, when they purchased the gear, it was seen as a bit of a salvage option, a herbicide resistance tool, where we've been speaking to these growers, probably within a couple of years, it's become nearly a tool that they're using for the vast majority of their diets, Brian, so a change in terms of the position or the usage they've had, and the more they're using it, the lower the weed seed bank. So the more suitable it is, to use the equipment more
frequently. And so there are a number of grounds where I said, Look, we've got to the stage now where we're spraying over our fellows. And pretty much as soon as we finish, we start again. Yeah, right. Very interesting. And that's why you're getting on top of Sammy issues with spray misses on very small words, if they're turning around and coming back four or five weeks later, even those ones that were too small, still are good sides for being cleaned up the next time around. Yeah, very good.
Which is quite a different usage, really, to what a lot of them thought they were going to have when I first bought machinery.
Yeah, for sure. And what are some of the other uses for optical sprayers that came up in the survey?
I suppose. And it's a little bit of a hard one because so many of these might even overlap. When we looked at that sort of salvage spray type option, which a lot of people initially was a key reason for the optical spot sprayers you would have brought out a spray down. You've had herbicide resistant weeds or large weeds that have come through. And by the time you have been aware that they haven't been controlled, the weeds are getting very large. That's the
salvage job. That's where an optical spot spray will come in. roughly a quarter of the respondents were using the equipment quite a lot were using it where they were targeting hard to control weeds in our environment might be things like fleabane common South is good when it's glyphosate resistant or Port feathertop hopes grass, where we might have to do a double knock approach. And so quite often they're using it for the first or second local or
both events. And then there were probably 30% or so of the respondents who who responded that they were using the the optical spots sprayer in all the passes are doing from a fallow management point of view. It just ranges between those different segments.
Oh, very interesting. And, Richard, you mentioned at the start there that obviously, this technology does open up some of those more expensive herbicides might not be suitable if you had to use traditional spray methods. So what did you find in terms of herbicides being used? Was that kind of reflected in the results that you got?
Yeah, okay. It's an interesting one as well. Certainly, having access to optical spot spraying equipment has allowed for the use of active ingredients like blue phosphonate, in baster and where it's a product, which is much more used in horticulture, but has a pretty good fit from a fellow management point of view, except for cost. And so there are now some registrations for that active ingredient to be used from an optical Spotfire
point of view. And it really is helping out in some of the key ways that we have in our farming system. The other interesting part, I suppose, was that initially, I think, or a common
thread. Initially, a lot of growers were trying to use weights specific treatments that might have been we're trying to control barnyard grass, and we're trying to control that the top roads grass will play by and having perhaps a specific mixture that suited that that way, the more or the the way we've read some of the results, the more experience and use of head with the equipment, the more they've been developing robust, broad spectrum treatments, which ties into spraying pretty much all of
their passes with the same gear. So rather than just going into targeted a specific way, they're using it in terms of a try to cover everything from a fallow point of view in that particular Sprite. And so I've really tried to get on the ground and try mixture or or treatment.
Yeah, interesting. And what about weather? Obviously, weather has an impact on what people do in terms of spraying, what did you find for the results of the survey and considering weather conditions and the impact of weed control?
From the respondents, probably one of the major limitations, and the major concern with poor jobs is wind speed, and particularly when you deal with cross winds, because from a normal blanket or broadacre spray, that wind hits, but you've also got all the other nozzles upwind or downwind to provide that coverage. In the case of a spot sprayer, that can obviously have a pretty major
thing. So that's one of the biggest management issues as far as in terms of getting consistently good results is that wind speed and even more so wind direction, the other one that came up much less frequently, there are a number of growers or operators who would either avoid spraying at sort of First Light, and also middle of the day where they might be getting a bit more glare and perhaps not as good a resolution of the weight in
terms of the detection. But apart from that there weren't too many other things, which were indicated from a widower point of view as as constraints. Yeah, just like a normal broadacre sprayer.
Yeah. Okay, great. And so, obviously, we talked about the fact that, you know, the surprising result in the survey results was that US Patent of the optical sprayers, do you think that is something that will influence more growers to adopt this technology? Or is there any other considerations, or messages that you think might be influential in getting people to consider this technology?
The big constraint at the moment is the upfront cost of machinery to a degree, it's the availability because there don't seem to be a large number of contractors with that sort of equipment either. And so it all comes down to the economics on particular properties. The larger the area that's being farmed, obviously, the easier it is to justify that cost. But I suppose the other thing that will help going forward is where there are additional uses for the
equipment. And I suppose that's reflected by some of the feedback we've got from the
growers. In terms of how they're using machinery, they might have thought it was only going to be salvage sprain or some of the resistance management issues and the more comfortable and the more familiar they've got with the equipment, the more they've realised they're using it, in some cases as nearly their primary fellow management ascribe, and by that stage, suddenly all those benefits are reduced herbicide cost accruing spray after spraying, and suddenly your payback is a lot quicker.
It's sounding like there's gonna be some really interesting case studies coming out of people using this technology. We've already seen some, but I think as time goes on, it definitely seems like there's gonna be some really interesting stories.
Oh, absolutely. And even in the group we interviewed, there are a couple where they shared a machine between two properties. Again, because of that upfront costs, the property sizes weren't quite big enough to justify individually, and they've got a cooperative arrangement. So they essentially both winning.
That's great. Okay, Richard. So we've given a good overview of those survey results. So far, but I did want you to now just change focus a little bit and look into the future a little bit more as I wanted to ask you what you think the future of green on brown technology will be? Do you think this technology will continue? Or do you think, with green on green technology that can also do green on brown that that technology will take over? What's your perception there?
Gosh, look, I think for the short term, the green on Brown, is probably going to be the major focus, but there's absolutely no question that, again, to get most benefit out of the investment, you're wanting to use it as much as you
can. So if we've got green on green capability, as well as being our, it's our capability of timing out those weeds in crop, as well as the ability to be using it for all our fellow management in suddenly makes it a much more valuable tool on the farm, quicker to pay back, it's all going to be driven by cost, I suppose. And as that green on green technology improves, and gets easier and easier to apply, and you'd expect that would
probably take over. And that nearly came back certainly came back in terms of some of the wishlist type messages at the end of the survey, growers are looking at getting better mapping capabilities for some of the equipment so that if I know that, you know, they've had some patches of feathertop, roads, grass or some other problem weighed, much easier, much quicker to be able to get back there next time, or maybe go and do something with some residual chemistry in those small areas,
they're certainly very keen on green on green capability, because they get more value and usage out of the equipment. The other one that came through quite clearly from a large number of them was high levels of success in terms of controlling Jobs was often linked to having a good operator
and a consistent operator. And that can be a bit of a balancing act to some degree, because someone might find themselves just doing all of the optical spots brain many days of of every week, which can be a bit of a might become a bit mundane. Yeah. But that also leads into the extra issue, which is looking at the autonomous machinery, you know, getting the
robots in. Yeah. roboticized optical sports, prions is probably going to be where we get to here, we know we've got very good consistency with proper speeds, right? That's probably where we're going to get to I suppose. The other on that growers are very intereste in is what could be done to imp ove the technology to allow per aps use at higher speeds, or u ing slightly stronger crossings.
And so there might be some twea ing that can can occur ther in terms of how to better se up equipment to use in those t ose sort of scenarios. There' no question when you've got big cars to cover or big area to cover having to keep to 1 or 15. Congress Brown, not id al. It's not ideal. Yeah. But ag in, that's where the autono ous units come in, when they ca be just set set off and runn ng. And that speed isn't suc an issue.
Richard, there was one more question that I wanted to ask you. And that's just in relation to some of the barriers. We have mentioned some of them already, but was there anything really clear that came through in the survey as a barrier?
Look, one of the challenges at the moment is that there are limited product registrations for high rates of herbicides, through an optical sports bra. We can use equipment with the broad acre rights without any problem. But at this stage, we're really still in that catch up mode of getting new registrations coming
through. And the only other one there is perhaps the use of the equipment on Do you live in country because of the variability in height of the camera and the nozzles that can have an impact in terms of control.
Okay, interesting. Thank you, Richard. We are just at the beginning of this technology. And I think it's so great that you've done this survey, because it does really highlight some of the interesting use patterns that the technology has been useful. And it's really interesting to hear about those, those wish lists as well, because obviously, that is going to drive the future of the technology the farmers experience. So yeah, I think it's been so valuable for you to chat with us today.
And look at this stage, if only I think you're fine with any of these surveys. You get to the end of it and go wow, there's a whole range of other questions, and hopefully others can take type of wager next to start teasing out who the needs or or anything else,
Certainly. Well, thank you so much, Richard, really appreciate you taking the time.
Thanks, Jessica. Thank you so much to Northern Grower Alliance CEO Richard Daniel, they're giving us an overview of that survey that they ran and got a bigger picture of how farmers are using optical sprayers. p. Today we have focused on a lot of the different herbicides that can be used within different farming systems. Can you give us a little bit of a wrap up of how these two interviews we've done today are connected?
Yeah, they're c mpletely connected aren't the
Jess. The first one Hamish talked about the system Rou dup Ready extend where it is a combination of three herbic des that you can use on the sa e population and weeds and Ri hard Daniel then talking about the camera sprayers which llows growers to use a combinat on of herbicides in that came a sprayer, which normally ight be a little expensive if you're a blanket spray, but iven that it's a camera spra spraying over a small area, we can use those more robus , sometimes more expensive mixes
So yeah, mixing herbicides al ays a good thing just and ultiple mixes of different he bicides that are active on the s me way is a very good herb sal resistan
It certainly is Pete and thanks once again to ur listeners for listening to he vo eatsmart podcast today. A ig thanks to our guests once aga n, Richard Daniel from North rn grower Alliance and also Ham sh McIntyre from cotton Austral a. Our next regional update P te is going to be out next Mond y and we'll be talking to one f our weed Smart Week presente s, so don't miss that one. We'v also got a new article on kicki g the herbicide habit, very her
icide focus podcast today. And w look at how random weed surve s are continuing to ident fy an increasing trend in her icide resistance across broa acre cropping regions in Aust alia. So we get comments fr m Dr. Peter but Silas and als john broster. Who Yeah, add the r two cents in there. It's very interesting read. But Pet WeedSmart Week is just aroun the corner. What do people ne d to
Yeah, just just a reminder that they can buy the tickets now and for Esperance, wait Smart Week, the early bird price is $190. And that ends on the 31st of July and then that price goes up to $250 after that. So if you're planning on going get your tickets sooner rather than later to get the discount. A link to the tickets can be found in the show notes. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We post seasonally relevant information on weed control and promote good
discussion. So I can also sign up for our monthly blog. The weeds map whip around our content from last month is featured so it's easy to get all the latest news in one spot.
And we'll provide the link to that one in the show notes as well so you can easily sign up. Thank you so much Pete. And just finally, it would mean the world to us if you could help us by spreading the word smart message by sharing this podcast with your friends. You can also leave us a review on Apple podcast which is also a massive help to get the word out. And if you haven't already, make sure you're subscribed on your podcast app of choice by searching weed
smart podcast. But until next time, thank you so much for joining me and thanks to you listeners for tuning in. We'll see you next time.
Thanks Jess, I'm glad your voice held in there.