Staying ahead of the canola game in WA
With an average annual rainfall about half that of Perth, the country around Ongerup in Western Australia becomes a little dry at times, but it’s nevertheless a prime agricultural area for wheat, barley and canola.
(R-L) Aidinville Farms’ Darren Baum, Pioneer Seeds Territory Manager Kim Mayfield and Aidinville Farms’ Alex Baum reckon there’s every indication the emerging Pioneer PY422G canola on the right will go well this season.
Located about 410 kilometres (250 miles) south-east of the WA capital with a population of fewer than 100 people, it’s been said that southern Ongerup is so quiet at night you can hear the canola growing (if you listen carefully).
Aidinville Farms’ Darren and Alex Baum are father and son growers in Ongerup who’ve been enjoying the sights and sounds of their emerging canola crop this year.
Darren says he was pleased to participate in a side-by-side trial comparing PY422G with a second generation glyphosate herbicide tolerance hybrid to evaluate its performance on 18 hectares of his Ongerup property in mid-April.
“As soon as we got it, we put it in the ground. It will be quite handy to have in the toolbox,” he says.
Already familiar with the advantages of Pioneer® brand herbicide tolerant canola traits, Darren says he’d been ‘down the Triazine-tolerant path’ for a while and wanted to try something different.
Primarily a cereal farmer working about 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres), Darren says he grows canola to ‘clean up’ ryegrass from paddocks, and the yield offered from Pioneer hybrids was always an added incentive for any rotation.
“I believe that Pioneer has got the best yield advantage,” he says.
Ongerup soils are chiefly duplex, mainly sand over clay, so Darren welcomed the 100 mm downpour his property enjoyed in early June, which broke what had been a dry start to the canola season.
“It’s been a different sort of year, but everything is up and growing now.”
Aidinville Farms’ side-by-side trial went into the ground on 14 April.
“We aim for 25 plants per square metre, but that can be higher depending on seeding rate and germination.
“We’re happy with the way the PY422G canola looks, and it came out the ground really nicely.”
“It’s now cabbaging and looking pretty good.”
“PY422G gives you a bit more time through the year to use glyphosate over it.”
“You can still use glyphosate when it starts flowering, and with the other varieties that’s when you can do the damage.”
Optimum GLY hybrids enable a broader range of glyphosate application rates.
This range increases the spectrum of weeds that can be controlled and allows a broader window of application, ranging from emergence to 10 per cent flowering.
Completing the necessary Technology Use Agreement -– which growers must undertake before obtaining, planting, or growing seed containing Corteva traits such as Optimum GLY – was a comparatively smooth process, Darren says.
“Just had to push a few buttons.
Reflecting on the progress of his PY422G canola, he said he thought his farm was “ahead of the game at the moment”.
Designed to optimise growth, Optimum GLY allows growers superior weed control by enabling a broader range of glyphosate application rates, which increases the spectrum of weeds that can be controlled.
Optimum GLY® is Australia’s newest, most advanced herbicide-tolerant trait technology in canola and will be offered through Corteva Agriscience seed brand Pioneer® Seeds, with licensing, education and demonstration trials in 2023 followed by commercial sales in 2024.