FAR held two major field events at the end of 2016, with a pleasing number of farmers and industry representatives attending from all over the country.
ARIA – Arable Research in Action – was held at FAR’s Arable Site in Chertsey on Wednesday 2 December, and attracted over 400 guests throughout the day.
The day saw a number of presentations from both local and international speakers, covering a wide range of topics relevant to all crop growers.
Managing winter barley, disease management, closing dates and PGRs for late season perennial ryegrass, and agrichemical resistance were among the many topics covered by guest speakers and FAR research staff throughout the day, which reached a
Guest speaker Dr Mike Wilkinson from the University of Nottingham addressed the need for collaboration between arable and livestock farmers when it comes to using quality silage, fodder crops and supplementary feeds.
In addition to Dr Wilkinson, Thor Kofoed (Denmark, EU) and Robert Park (Sydney, Aus) also attended as guests speakers, giving the audience in insight into the seed and cereal situation in the EU the Trans-Tasman cereal-rust partnership.
The FAR Researcher of the Year Award was also presented to Plant & Food Research soil scientist Dr Trish Fraser.
A replica event was held for the first time at FAR’s Northern Cropping Research Site Field Day (NCRS), the following week on Thursday 10 December. The event saw around 120 attend the event over the course of the day at FAR’s Tamahere Arable Site.
Topics presented were similarly focussed on agronomic issues and growing better crops, as well as discussing important environmental, water and nutrient issues.
Dr Wilkinson also attended the NCRS field day, reaching out to farmers most affected by the PKE imports. He was able to give tips around quality silage and supplementary feeds to both dairy and arable farmers.
Unlike ARIA, biosecurity and the maize industry was addressed by FAR CEO Nick Pyke to benefit the large number of maize growers in the North Island.
Mr Pyke says he was incredibly pleased with the turn out at the Tamahere event.
“It was great opportunity to interact with growers and industry personnel that we don’t usually see at our major events.
“These field events are a great way of informing our levy payers of new research and getting the feedback we need to benefit them further.”
ARIA and the NCRS Field Day are held every second year, the next events schedules for 2017.
