Articles and publications

This publication contains information to assist growers in understanding how biofumigants work and managing them for optimum efficacy against soilborne diseases.

Biofumigants are a unique type of cover crop that produce compounds with suppression effects on soilborne pathogens, pests and weeds.

This guide also discusses and presents data on a range of agronomic management practices of biofumigant cover crops including pest and diseases, nutrient uptake requirements, irrigation and incorporation methods.

Plant analysis is used as a tool to fine tune the nutrition of crops. The nutrient status of plants or parts of plants can be determined directly via laboratory analysis or estimated via in-field testing, while the overall health and nutrient status of a crop can be assessed via non-destructive sensing technologies, e.g. using colourimeters, Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) or other remote sensing technologies.

This guide only deals with laboratory based plant nutrient analyses, specifically dry matter analysis and sap analysis. These are analyses of specific plant parts sampled from an entire crop or distinct area(s) in a crop using standardised sampling and sample handling methods. The analyses can be used for leaves, petioles, fruit, tubers/rhizomes/bulbs or entire plants.

World Soil Day is held annually on 5 December to highlight the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.

Building and maintaining healthy soils is at the heart of the Soil Wealth ICP project and to celebrate World Soil Day this year, we're showcasing four of our vegetable and melon demonstration sites which are trialling different methods to build soil health.

The new Soil Wealth ICP demonstration site at Virginia in the Northern Adelaide Plains is off and running with native insectary sites planted on 19 October.

At the Gatton AgTech showcase in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, Dr Kelvin Montagu, Dr Doris Blaesing, and Steph Tabone showcased a Soil Wealth ICP cover crop trial, hosting two field walks under the theme Making the most of your cover crops.

Rombola Farms in Griffith, New South Wales, has become the second melon demonstration site for the Soil Wealth ICP project wot a focus on reducing plastic mulch and the effective management of fusarium.

Two new demonstration sites are being set up in Virginia, South Australia, with a focus on using integrated pest management (IPM) in protected cropping and open field sites to help control problematic pests.

The first melon demonstration site for the Soil Wealth ICP project is being established in Mildura, north-west Victoria, with a focus on the use of wheat straw as an alternative to plastic mulch in rockmelons.

Our Skye demonstration site at Butler Market Gardens in Victoria will give more “oomph” to sandy loam soils south-east of Melbourne through smart nutrient management. Read the latest update after our team visited the site in September 2023.

A new Soil Wealth ICP vegetable demonstration site has been confirmed in Tasmania’s Midlands.

Hosted by Simplot Australia, the Soil Wealth ICP team will work closely with Simplot agronomists and VegNET Tasmania to establish how growers can reliably produce high yielding pea crops.

Building on its previous success, Phase 3 of the Soil Wealth ICP project has expanded to include the Australian melon industry.

The inclusion of the melon industry was a result of discussions with key industry representatives and targeted interviews with melon growers.

Mulgowie Farming Company is back on board to host a Soil Wealth ICP vegetable demonstration site in the Lockyer Valley. Find out how the site will test the use of organic nitrogen sources as a sustainable and cost-effective solution to meet a crop's nitrogen needs.

Soil biology, with its vast complexity and diversity across regions, delivers many key functions to soil. Understanding how soil biology can be nurtured to best support healthy crops is important.

The Soil Wealth ICP and PotatoLink teams recently held a masterclass in Gatton, Queensland to provide growers, agronomists and others in the industry an opportunity to examine the theoretical and practical aspects of managing soil biology in vegetable and potato production. Read more in our wrap-up.

The Soil Wealth ICP team joined Greater Sydney Local Land Services (LLS) at a field day at Richmond Lowlands, NSW in June with a focus on farm practices that can help or hinder soil health and integrated pest management (IPM). The event, held in conjunction with the Chinese Grower Group's Annual General Meeting, brought together 50 enthusiastic participants. Read more in our article.

Drier than typical conditions are expected for much of Australia for the rest of winter and into spring. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, most vegetable and melon regions are likely to see warmer and drier than median conditions. Read more in this seasonal climate outlook for August to October 2023.

The Soil Wealth ICP team has been busy setting up a new network of demonstration sites around the country for the next five years. This will include 10 vegetable sites, aligned with VegNET regions, and four melon sites.

We’re excited to share an update on two confirmed vegetable demonstration sites in Victoria’s south-east and Gippsland: Skye (Butler Market Gardens) and Tarwin (Schreurs & Sons).

Vegetable and melon growers know that managing on-farm waste – whether it's organic, plastic or workshop waste – is a key issue that needs to be addressed to build a sustainable business. Two national projects have made significant progress in identifying the type and amount of waste in Australia's primary industries, including non-packaging plastic waste, and what steps need to be taken to manage it.

This guide enables field identification of the insects, diseases and disorders of Sweet Corn by providing:
- photos
- written description
- damage symptoms
- season when commonly found

This guide enables field identification of the insects, diseases and disorders of carrots, celery and parsley by providing:
- photos
- written description
- damage symptoms
- season when commonly found

This guide enables field identification of the insects, diseases and disorders of babyleaf vegetables by providing:
- photos of main pests
- description of main pests
- damage caused by main pests
- crops and season in which they are commonly found

A field identification guide or 'ute guide'

Ahead of Hort Connections 2023, Australian vegetable growers heard how their peers have worked with the Soil Wealth ICP project to improve their productivity, profitability and sustainability in field trials to boost soil and plant health at the Annual Vegetable Industry Seminar (AVIS) in Adelaide on Monday 5 June.

The vegetable industry welcomed the Victorian Vegetable Innovation Days (VicVID) at Catani from 27-28 April 2023.

The Soil Wealth ICP team enjoyed exhibiting at VicVID and supporting the communication of results from the seed and agrichemical field trials via Facebook livestreams, as well as discussing the results of our cover crop trial.

With winter on the way, growers and agronomists from the Bathurst region of New South Wales took advantage of a cover crop coaching clinic in April 2023.

Soil Wealth ICP team member Dr Kelvin Montagu delivered a mini-workshop and field walk which discussed how to select, manage and terminate cover crops to improve soil health and reduce fertiliser costs.

Soil Wealth ICP team member Carl Larsen was on-site at the Victorian Vegetable Innovation Days (VicVID) on 28 April 2023 to deliver two Facebook livestreams of the agrichemical and seed field trial results alongside event organisers and agronomists Stuart Grigg and Connor Steel.

The Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection (ICP) project works with growers to put soil management and plant health research into practice. This article explores what vegetable and melon growers can look forward to in this space over the next five years.

Soil Wealth ICP team member Doris Blaesing attended the Nutrien Ag Solutions South-East Agronomy Conference in Melbourne to present on soil borne disease management in vegetable crops. Doris spoke on the importance of soil health in managing soil borne diseases, and the practices that growers can use to promote healthier soils and avoid disease risks.

In recent years in warmer areas of Australia where brassicas are grown, diamondback moth (DBM) has developed resistance to most available insecticides including the Group 28 insecticides. Resistance to the Group 28 insecticides has now been observed in southern states, including Victoria and Tasmania.

Dr Paul Horne from IPM Technologies explains what growers can expect for control of diamondback moth using integrated pest management (IPM).

As the Soil Wealth ICP project approaches the end of Phase 2, we're inviting growers and industry to help us design and deliver the next phase of the project over the coming years (Phase 3).

Soil Wealth ICP team member Dr Doris Blaesing contributed to the updated Fertcare Plant Sampling Guide, which is now available and includes significant changes to previous sampling notes.

Last month, growers and industry members gathered at our demonstration site in Virginia, South Australia, for a workshop on integrated pest management (IPM).

The workshop was held as part of a field day in collaboration with Protected Cropping Australia. After visiting two nursery operations to see high-tech grafted tomato transplant production in action, around 30 growers and agronomists visited our demonstration site hosted by Braham Produce.

During a visit to Western Australia in September, the Soil Wealth ICP team joined PotatoLink for a field walk in Manjimup to discuss how cover crops can be used to improve soil health and crop quality.

The event had an impressive turnout with almost 60 growers and industry members.

Attendees observed the use of cover cropping and strip-tillage in two vegetable farming systems and cropping rotations at Manjimup with local growers, Jake Ryan and Andrew Falcinella.

Simplot held its grower R&D updates in August 2022 which provided growers and industry an opportunity to hear more about the 'Lily the Pink' project, a collaboration with the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) funded through a direct levy growers agreed with Simplot.

A group of vegetable growers and industry members visited Family Fresh Farms in Peats Ridge, New South Wales, for a Soil Wealth ICP event focusing on how growers can incorporate integrated pest management (IPM) in protected cropping systems.

The field day was an opportunity to discuss the fundamentals of IPM and ways for growers to improve their IPM practices.

On 27 June, a group of growers and industry members attended an inaugural field walk at the Soil Wealth ICP demonstration site in the Northern Territory.

Hosted by grower Jeremy Trembath in Katherine, the demonstration site has focused on improving soil health and building soil resilience to weather events, particularly during the wet season, to prevent erosion and to protect soils.

To achieve this, Jeremy has used cover crops and reduced tillage in preparation for his sweet corn cash crop, and has utilised an integrated approach to pest, disease and weed management.

The slow-release of predatory mites using sachet technology is being trialled in Australia to improve commercial integrated pest management (IPM) practices.

Biological Services, a commercial insectary and beneficial insect provider based in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland, is trialling the sachet packaging with the predator mite Cucumeris. This beneficial is effective in controlling thrips in crops such as cucumber, capsicum and eggplant.

The Annual Vegetable Industry Seminar, held ahead of Hort Connections 2022 in Brisbane, attracted a room full of growers on Monday 6 June.

Presentations included a grower panel from the Soil Wealth ICP project which discussed the cutting-edge practices and technologies that are key to improving productivity, profitability and sustainability in the Australian vegetable industry.

Soil Wealth ICP team members Dr Gordon Rogers and Carl Larsen facilitated the discussion with growers who currently or previously hosted demonstration sites as part of the project. The growers shared why they became involved in Soil Wealth ICP, the areas of soil management and plant health that their demonstration sites focused on, as well as the challenges they have faced and what’s next for their farms.

At our Sydney Basin demonstration site in Wedderburn, grower Kim Ngov has transitioned from a successful inter-row ryegrass program to now growing high seeding rates of ryegrass as ground cover, in replacement of plastic mulch.

Underperforming agricultural soils cost Australian farmers billions of dollars in lost revenue each year – but the good news is that all is not yet lost for our soils.

This Partnership Network article explains how the Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils (better known as the Soil CRC) is researching ways to build productive agricultural soils in Australia, including some exciting projects that will benefit vegetable and potato growers.

In 2021, Soil Wealth ICP team members Doris Blaesing and Donna Lucas shared their expertise with a group of students from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, who were conducting a trial on the effectiveness of an organic phosphorus fertiliser in providing adequate nutrients for plant growth when compared to an inorganic alternative.

Our team is always keen to support up-and-coming researchers who are interested in contributing to the future productivity and sustainability of the Australian vegetable and potato industries.

Andrew and Zurri Braham have grown capsicums under greenhouse on their farm in Virginia, South Australia, since 2006.

Through a demonstration site trial, the Soil Wealth ICP project is working with Braham Produce to showcase some of their work on using organic amendments, biofumigation and other soil health management practices in a protected cropping production system.

The commercial nitrogen fertiliser market has been very volatile the past seven months. Supply issues from China, Russia, as well as Europe, have caused shipping issues and shortages for all of Australia.

Given the price rises and uncertainty of nitrogen fertiliser supply, it’s a good time to look at legume cover crops.

After 30 years of growing vegetables in southern Queensland, Rob Hinrichsen is well placed to assess the impact of soil health on his farming operation.

Rob founded vegetable production and packing company Kalfresh with his father in the Fassifern Valley, with the operation having expanded considerably over the years to supply produce year-round.

The passion Rob brings for growing healthy, tasty, nutrient-rich food centres around healthy soils.

This article provides a general guide and tips from Kelvin Montagu for choosing a sorghum cover crop for Integrated Crop Protection in vegetable production.

Farming in the Northern Territory is notoriously challenging: it takes resilience and perseverance to battle the weather and soils.

The Soil Wealth ICP team is working with Jeremy Trembath to establish a new demonstration site on his farm in the Northern Territory. The site aims to build greater resilience to heavy weather events and soil erosion using cover crops, strip-til, soil biology inputs and non-chemical weed control.

With a strong focus on innovation and sustainable farming practices, Mulgowie Farming Company has teamed up with Soil Wealth ICP to take their soil management to the next level.

The Cradle Coast Authority Natural Resource Management Agriculture program discussed hillslope erosion risk reduction using autumn cover cropping at an industry forum in Tasmania in August 2021. This presentation highlights the key considerations for growers.

There are many things we can take for granted, and in vegetable and potato production this can be as simple as nutrition and its impact on a crop from a plant physiology perspective.

However, growers and advisers armed with a deep knowledge of nutrition and its practical application in a crop are better placed to ensure that crop achieves peak production. We spoke to our Partnership Network member Stoller Australia to find out more.

It’s rare to come across someone who is as passionate about soil health as Peter Wadewitz.

The founder and Managing Director of Peats Soil & Garden Supplies has dedicated the last 45 years to supplying compost, mulches and recycled organic resources to the horticulture, landscape and garden supplies industries in South Australia and interstate. The business operates on four sites across South Australia and recently expanded its presence to Darwin, South Africa and Qatar.

For Peter, it all starts with talking to growers about healthy soils, building organic matter and strengthening soil structure to produce a better crop.

Vegetable and potato growers across Australia will be familiar with the name E.E. Muir & Sons, a national distributor of agricultural products for crop protection and nutrition with a strong focus on horticulture and irrigated cropping sectors.

What they may not be familiar with are the discussions and collaboration that happen behind the scenes to provide the best information on agronomy, trials and product development to growers.

Vegetable growers and industry members recently came together in South Australia to hear about pest and disease management.

There are many factors that contribute to strong environmental stewardship in the vegetable industry, and improving soil management and plant health is an important component of business sustainability. But when it comes to finding evidence of the strengths and gaps of your growing operation, it can be difficult to know where to start.

This article from our Partnership Network member EnviroVeg explains how the program can help growers identify these opportunities and take action to ensure their vegetable growing business is environmentally responsible.

As the cost of production continues to rise and water quality becomes an increasing issue for vegetable growers across the country, precision agriculture technologies could play a key role in helping growers make more informed decisions on-farm. In this article, our Partnership Network member Metos explains the unlimited opportunities for the Australian vegetable industry to adopt these technologies.

Wet and warm weather continues in 2021. Most vegetable regions are likely to see warmer and wetter than average conditions.

A vegetable grower based in Bundaberg, Queensland is continuing to grow his business and find new uses for drone applications in horticulture. Read this article to find out more about the novel ways that drones can help on-farm productivity and profitability.

Patience was indeed a virtue for Tasmania’s agriculture industry after the 2020 Precision Ag Expo successfully went ahead on Monday 2 November at Hagley Farm School, following a six-month delay.

Doris Blaesing from the Soil Wealth ICP team was also on hand to share information on the project’s activities, resources and outputs with attendees.

An increased awareness of the impact of some long-standing farming practices and community expectations, combined with a greater interest and understanding of alternative systems and products has contributed to the evolution of sustainable vegetable production in Australia.

According to Soil Wealth ICP Partnership Network member and Sustainable Farming Solutions General Manager Steven David, while progress has been made in Australian organic production in particular, there is still room for expansion.

What are the key pests affecting potato production in other countries and what R&D is occurring to better manage them? This scan of international pest and disease research identifies current international research on key potato pests; research previously conducted in Australia on these pests; and useful 'ready to use' resources.

A project led by the Queensland University of Technology is focusing on providing farmers, agronomists and suppliers of manures and composts with a decision support tool for integrating organic amendments into farm nutrient budgets.

In February 2020, six cover crop demonstration sites were planted in the lead-up to the Tasmanian Agricultural Productivity Group's Precision Ag Expo. Take a look at the summary of results from the trial which focused on nematode suppression, feed production, weed suppression, soil conditioning, pathogen control and nitrogen fixation.

The peculiar year 2020 will end wetter than average for most regions. Some regions might face warmer days. Key is to get on top of your irrigation in the following months.

Drones are becoming a useful tool in the fight against weeds, insect pests and diseases. This aricle highlights some of the benefits from using drones to spray herbicides quickly and efficiently on a farm in Bundaberg, Queensland.

As the weather begins to warm up and we look towards the summer growing season, it’s a good time to prepare for your upcoming irrigation requirements. In this article, SWAN Systems shares some key considerations to get the best results from irrigation scheduling software over summer, as well as insights from a trial at Harvest Farms in Richmond, Tasmania.

A series of guides are available to vegetable growers and agronomists to provide a better understanding of the best ways to use pesticides in an Integrated Pest Management Program to maximise the impact of beneficial species.

Looking for information on cadmium in agriculture? Australian scientist Professor Mike McLaughlin has recently refreshed content including reports and best management practice guides produced by the work of the National Cadmium Minimisation Strategy between 2002 and 2006. This information is now maintained and updated by Fertilizer Australia.

Over two days, 36 vegetable growers and agronomists across Australia took part in an interactive event which built on their existing knowledge and helped to improve their crop nutrition programs on-farm, particularly during difficult growing conditions.

The integration of remote sensing in daily farm management is a hot topic driven by the evolving range of applications through the Internet of Things (IoT). In this article, start-up company Hummingbird Technologies describes how the technologies in the Artificial Intelligence and remote sensing space can help vegetable growers to make the right decisions for weed control and harvest prediction. 

Cambodian Grower Group are exploring the potential of cover crops as part of an integrated weed management strategy.

As the use of biological crop products increases in the Australian vegetable industry, it is essential that growers have a clear understanding of soil biology and how these products can work effectively. This includes the role of mycorrhizae and how it can impact the quality and yield of a crop.

A quick guide to the use of the cloud-based IrriSAT app

Most good crop management practices begin with the soil. Enhancing natural populations of beneficial soil organisms can aid in the growth and establishment of crops, as well as improve soil health and sustainability.

Earthworms are known to be an indicator of healthy soil function, with the ability to improve soil structure and fertility as well as promote root and plant growth.

Tasmanian leafy salad growing operation Harvest Farms is taking part in a trial with SWAN systems, an irrigation and crop nutrition management software platform, to achieve greater efficiency across the farm's 85 irrigation zones. The company grows a variety of salad crops on 65 hectares under fixed sprinkler irrigation.

This article from Good Fruit and Vegetables provides an overview of the trial and initial results.

In 2019, the University of New England completed a case study assessment of the farm-level impacts of weeds in vegetable production, as part of Hort Innovation-funded project VG15070.

This article summarises the key results of its recently published report, Economics of weed management in the Australian vegetable industry. This was the first time a detailed economic analysis of weed impact and management has been completed at the farm-level in Australia’s vegetable industry.

This fact sheet provides an overview, identification, symptoms and economic impact of key viruses infecting Brassicas, including Turnip mosaic virus, Turnip yellows virus, Cauliflower mosaic virus.

Produced by the Hort Innovation project team VG16086 – Area wide management of vegetable diseases: virus and bacteria.

Cucurbits are susceptible to over 50 viruses, a significant number of which cause considerable economic losses in one or more countries.

In this booklet the symptoms, spread and control measures for viruses affecting cucurbits are outlined. The symptoms of many virus diseases are similar and more than one virus may be present in a plant or crop. Virus disease symptoms can also be similar to those caused by nutritional disorders, herbicide damage, insect feeding and environmental influences.

Management of rots, both in the field and postharvest, is an ongoing challenge for potato producers. The issue is usually managed by minimising the time interval between harvesting and processing of potatoes.

This trial was set up to explore the effect of sanitisers and/or drying on the development of rots in potatoes transported for 24 hours at high temperature and high humidity.

Read this research report to find out more about the trial set up and treatments, storage, assessment and key results.

Controlling pest species can be complex. Insect pests can be particularly hard to control due to their mobility and their ability to use different plants as hosts. They may also act as vectors for disease.

One approach to control a pest is Area Wide Management (AWM).

In order to determine the causal agent(s) of capsicum/chilli fruit rot in Australia and to develop effective control measures, we need affected capsicums and chillies from the Australian capsicum and chilli industry.

Irrigation and water management remains of paramount importance, as the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a drier and hotter than average remainder of summer. This comes after the dry year 2019 with some vegetable growing regions receiving less than half of their usual rainfall (see figure below).

What are the key projects currently underway that can add value or solve a problem in your vegetable growing business?

Get all the latest updates in this R&D update booklet, with a two-page snapshot across 17 of the most significant projects around Australia that cover everying from soils, weeds, consumer insights and leadership.

Soilborne diseases are a major limiting factor for the Australian vegetable industry and are costly and difficult to manage. Previous research has highlighted that practical and economic methods of disease control are limited once a crop has been established. Knowing the disease risk prior to planting allows growers to make informed crop management decisions.

A farm demonstration trial was set up for a preliminary assessment of the effect of soil amendment, Brassica carinata pellets (BioFence), on root health and crop growth of greenhouse capsicums in the Northern Adelaide Plains by the Hort Innovation soilborne diseases project (VG15010).

This report presents findings from a grower led, on-farm demonstration trial. Grower led pilot trials provide preliminary feasibility assessments of new practices. They can lead to on-farm adaptation of practices and/or replicated research trials to rigorously test assumptions made because of initial findings.

A Bathurst pumpkin grower, working with the Soil Wealth team is breaking new ground by using cover crops and strip-tillage to make his irrigation water go further.

The Soil Wealth/ICP team have set up a new demonstration site at Cowra to demonstrate the benefits of new tools to improve water use efficiency in potatoes.

This factsheet identifies and provides preliminary data on some soil health measures after long term (13 years) cover cropping at Forthside, Tasmania.

Greenhouse cucumbers can be one of the most productive of all crops. However, this productivity relies on accurate control of irrigation, plant nutrition and the growing environment, as well as effective management of pests and diseases. Only healthy plants can produce a high quality, marketable and profitable crop.

This manual provides basic guidance on growing greenhouse cucumbers. The focus is on modern, controlled environment production. However, much of the included information is relevant to all cucumber growers and, indeed, greenhouse producers more generally.

With hay prices through the roof, and farmers desperate for fodder to keep their breeding stock alive, it is seems almost criminal to plow in a cover crop.

However, before you call the hay contractor, think about how taking a hay crop may affect your next vegetable crop.

Knowing how wet or dry your subsoil moisture will help make decisions around when to start or increase irrigation, when to terminate cover crops, and how much "insurance water" you have in your soil.

Crop water use can increase by more than 400% in spring - early summer due to rapid crop growth combined with increases in seasonal water demand (ETo). Be prepared for the increase in irrigation demand.

Make sure your crop monitoring and soil moisture tools are working before it really warms up and crops really get going.

Understanding Irrigation Decisions has been written to put in content and provide guidance on irrigation decisions ranging from enterprise planning to the paddock. To understand the breadth of irrigation decisions requires consideration of the social, financial, agronomic and engineering aspects – a challenging task. Understanding Irrigation Decisions has combined this breadth into one document.

A check of your irrigation system will ensure you are ready to start irrigating on time and are set-up well for the season ahead.
This checklist, while developed for K-Line systems, is applicable to most irrigation systems used in vegetable production. Use it as a guide to your irrigation system check.

Bacterial populations such as Xanthomonas spp. causing bacterial leaf spot in tomato and capsicum and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato causing bacterial speck in tomato, often develop copper tolerance. This means they can tolerate higher concentrations of copper than sensitive populations. It doesn’t mean the bacteria are resistant and that copper has no effect.

Read this article from the area-wide management team at Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to find out more about how copper protects plants from bacterial infections, the types of copper products, suggested spray program, as well as futuer research directions.

Although, historically, area wide management (AWM) has been mostly applied to management of insect pests, it also has potential for controlling plant diseases, particularly those with aerial dispersal mechanisms such as insect- vectored viruses and bacteria. This type of management is contrasted with traditional management, essentially by scale and co-ordination. In AWM control tactics are applied over a broad area, incorporating multiple premises to maintain pest and pathogen populations below economic impact levels.

Biosecurity planning provides a mechanism for the vegetable industry, government and other relevant stakeholders to actively determine pests of high priority, analyse the risks they pose and implement procedures to reduce the chance of pests becoming established. AUSVEG delivers a number of extension projects with a core biosecurity focus, in addition to project partners like Plant Health Australia.

What is the latest research and development (R&D) on pest and diseases in the Australian fresh and processing potato industries? How can it help me on-farm?

Read this booklet to find out more from leading researchers on their project goals, what they're doing, the intended benefits for industry and growers, as well as a snapshot of their expertise and background.

A preliminary field trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of chemical and biological control treatments for damping off pathogens in spinach. We demonstrated that three fungicide treatments significantly reduced the area of diseased plants, however, they did not significantly increase spinach yield compared to untreated controls. This is most likely due to other variables affecting plant growth in the trial area.

This report presents findings from a grower led, on-farm demonstration trial. Grower led pilot trials provide preliminary feasibility assessments of new practices. They can lead to on-farm adaptation of practices and/or replicated research trials to rigorously test assumptions made because of initial findings.

Calcium cyanamide (Ca(CN)2) fertiliser was tested for efficacy against Pythium sulcatum and P. violae in a grower led demonstration trial in a commercial carrot crop in Western Australia. The wax coated fertiliser was applied according to manufacturer’s instructions at 300 kg/ha and 500 kg/ha of fertiliser to one full length carrot bed each. An untreated bed adjacent to each treated bed was used as control. All standard commercial crop management inputs were applied consistently to treated and control beds. This included nitrogen fertilisers.

This report presents findings from a grower led, on-farm demonstration trial. Grower led pilot trials provide preliminary feasibility assessments of new practices. They can lead to on-farm adaptation of practices and/or replicated research trials to rigorously test assumptions made because of initial findings.

Soil-borne diseases present an ongoing challenge to the Australian vegetable industry, with an estimated $120 million in losses annually.

Soil-borne diseases may be caused by fungi, bacteria, water moulds, nematodes and viruses living in the soil. These pathogens are able to survive for long periods on plant debris, organic matter or sometimes as free-living organisms, i.e. not requiring a plant host. The ability to survive for long periods in the soil, and often having a wide host range, makes control of soil-borne diseases difficult.

The Cowra demonstration site in southern NSW is focussed on improving soil health through cover crops and improved tillage.

Read this update to find out more about the soil moisture monitoring results for summer 2019 following a ryecorn cover crop being sown in winter 2018.

When is the best time to spray during summer? What will maximise the effectiveness of the chemical and reduce off-target risk? Nufarm have developed this easy to follow poster to guide when to spray in summer and the key considerations around time of day.

And remember - always follow label instructions.

Looking to reduce establishment costs, improve your soil and save some time? Then have a look at strip-till this year.

Read this article to find out more about the benefits of stip-till, improvements to soil health, challenges, and what growers are saying after using stip-till.

This presentation by Ted Kornecki at the 2014 International Soil and Water Conference in the USA summarises work undertaken on roller crimper termination of cover crops at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, National Soil Dynamics Laboratory, in Alabama, USA.

Both large scale and small scale roller crimpers are tested on cereal rye and crimson clover.

Phosphorus is one of the most common elements found in plants, usually ranking 8th after carbon, oxygen, hydrogen (which combined make up around 95% of plant dry matter), nitrogen, potassium, silicon and calcium. Unlike these other 7 elements, phosphorus is almost universally deficient in unfertilised soils in south-eastern parts of Australia.

Read this excellent concise literature review by Glenn Bailey to learn more about how phosphorus behaves in the soil, including fixing reactions, buffer capacity, available phosphorus, soil reserves, plant requirements and leaching.

Vegetable growers and their advisers have identified soilborne diseases as one of their main challenges. Soilborne diseases cost Australia’s $4 billion vegetable industry an estimated $120 million each year.

This paper outlines the main soilborne diseases affecting major Australian vegetable crops and determine RD&E activities, and was included in the 10th Australasian Soilborne Diseases Symposium proceedings in 2018.

Read this update from the VG16009 project team being led by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Highlights include findings and next steps from the demonstration sites in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.

Hort Innovation supports research in sensing and digital technologies to improve irrigation decision-making for vegetable producers.

Identifying new ways to optimise irrigation is key to the ongoing success and sustainability of irrigated farming in Australia.

The rise of agricultural technology is seeing tailored farming solutions that marry microclimate sensors with data intelligence to provide accurate insight into the crop and soil water balance. By providing real-time information about what is happening in each crop, these emerging technologies can help growers make faster, more accurate irrigation decisions by backing up gut feel with hard evidence.

This levy-funded project aims to assist vegetable growers to implement precision technologies (VG16009). A key element is demonstrating what precision technologies are commercially available to assist in horticulture with identifying and understanding crop variability.

The Precision Agriculture Research Group from the University of New England and Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries recently published a number of articles in the WA Grower magazine.

Read these articles to get an update on mapping variation at harvest and yield prediction of vegetable crops.

Article by Len Tesoriero

A group of Australian growers and industry representatives recently attended the 4th biennial international spinach conference in Mercia, Spain. Among the wide range of topics presented they heard about research on key diseases with a strong emphasis on those affecting crops across Europe and North America. Some of these diseases pose a significant biosecurity risk to Australian producers while others are already affecting local crops.

Article by Stuart Grigg and Carl Young

February 14 and 15 2018 saw the International Spinach Conference converge on the Northern Hemisphere’s winter vegetable growing hub of Murcia, Spain. A contingent of 14 spinach enthusiasts from Australia comprising growers and industry representatives attended the conference and associated production tour facilitated by EGVID Pty Ltd. The largest spinach stakeholders globally attended the International Spinach Conference which has previously been held in the US, Europe and China to discuss the latest trends and issues the industry faces.

In this article in Vegetables Australia, researchers Dr Doris Blaesing and Dr Len Tesoriero discuss the Pythium
species that cause cavity spot and forking in carrots. This is one of several soil borne diseases under the
microscope in a vegetable levy-funded project that aims to assist growers in the management of these diseases.

This article appeared in Vegetable Australia, May/June pp16-17.

This presentation provides a great overview of the role of phosphorus in soil biology by Dr Cassandra Schefe, from Monash University and Schefe Consulting.

Members of the Soil Wealth and ICP team were recently interviewed for the Potatoes Australia magazine. The key message? Many of the soil health and plant protection practices relevant to vegetables, also apply to potatoes.

Click through to read the article.

The Vegetable SOILpak manual was developed by NSW Department of Primary Industries to provide soil information relevant to irrigated vegetable production in New South Wales. The manual aims to provide decision support for landholders and advisers, helping to maintain or improve productivity over both the short and long term.

Read this excellent summary of some common tools for managing soil health in cropping/mixed enterprises in Tasmania. Generally, the more tools you can use, the better!

This poster was prepared by Adrian James, NRM North, with contributions by Bill Cotching, Doris Blaesing, Greg Gibson and John McPhee.

There has been some great coverage of our economic case study for cover crops, as well as a demonstration site update on the compost trials from Gingin in Western Australia in the Winter 2017 edition of the WA Grower magazine.

Click through to read the articles.

Soil borne diseases are a serious concern for the vegetable industry, but can be managed, according to NSW Department of Primary Industries Senior Plant Pathologist, Dr Len Tesoriero. Dr Tesoriero has given a number of interesting and practical presentations at recent industry events on managing soil borne diseases in vegetable crops.

Vegetable growers and their advisers have identified soil borne
diseases as one of their main challenges for soil management
and crop protection. Soil borne diseases cost Australia’s $4 billion
vegetable industry an estimated $120 million each year.

The purpose of this guide is to help growers and agronomists interpret conventional ‘chemical’ soil tests and identify soil chemical constraints for commercial vegetable production in Australia.

This resource can be used to guide site specific decisions on nutrition management. It does NOT provide prescriptive information on how much of a certain nutrient or fertiliser to apply to various vegetable crops. A recipe approach is not recommended because results in crop performance would be unreliable.

A soil test, combined with a visual soil assessment, and knowledge about paddock history and production plans, provides a sound basis for a nutrition program. A conventional soil test can provide some information about biological and physical soil properties. While a complete soil condition assessment covers physical, biological and chemical soil properties of the topsoil and subsoil.

The psyllid is a tiny sap-sucking insect. Tomato potato psyllids go through three stages of development – adult, egg and nymph.

The tomato potato psyllid can cause capsicums and chili plants to die back. Foliage symptoms include leaves becoming misshapen, pale green or yellow with spiky tips and leaf stalks appear stunted.

It's importnat to practice sound crop hygiene/biosecurity practices to prevent the entry, establishment and spread of pests and diseases. Read this fact sheet from the Department of Agriculture and Food WA for more information.

Modern crop protection chemistry such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, is crucial to farming in Australia and around the world. These essential products and tools are a core foundation to food production and their safe and sustainable use is of critical importance.

Find out more by reading this useful best practice guide developed by CropLife Australia.

An on farm trial tests the yield or economic effect of a management treatment on an agricultural system. This information can then form the basis for wider application of the treatment in other parts of the farm. Precision Agriculture (PA) tools offer a simple and effective means to implement and measure such trials as part of a normal farming operation. This booklet uses working examples of how PA tools have enabled growers to measure the economic returns of treatments to help them with whole farm decisions.

The Darwin Soil Wealth/ICP site on David Boehme’s property was set up with help from Territory Natural Resource Management (TNRM) and NT Farmers, to showcase several organic approaches that are now considered to be best practice for the broader horticulture industry.

David Boehme is one of Australia’s most experienced organic farmers and he suggests that “every farmer should first learn to farm organically to understand soil biology, beneficial predators, useful non-chemical approaches, and sustainability.

David’s organic farm at Lambells Lagoon, 47km east of the Darwin CBD, is demonstrating cover crops, biochar, reduced tillage and managing pests and disease in an integrated manner.

Read this great summary of carrot disorders to better understand what may be affecting your carrot packout. This includes corky brown rot, cavity spot, sclerotinia rot and violet root.

This poster was prepared by By Dr. Hoong Pung & Pam Cox, Serve-Ag Research in Tasmania.

Did someone say popcorn? This is just one of the crops involved in the Soil Wealth extension project at the Cowra site. Along with chickpeas at Kalbar, eggplant in Darwin, carrots in Gingin, coloured lettuce in Gippsland, and 8-kilo cabbages in Bathurst – these various projects look at tillage, soil structure, cover crops, and the resulting healthy soil using compost.

The Werribee demonstration site held its first farm walk on 2 September 2016, hosted by Andrew Fragapane. After three lettuce crops over 10 months it was time to have a look at how the crops and soils were measuring up under the conventional-, reduced- and minimum-tillage practices. With the number of cultivations at 23, 6 and 2, respectively, some big difference could be expected.

Despite the hard setting soils the reduced-till practice was coming out as a clear winner, maintaining yields and reducing tractor, fuel and labour costs, and allowing the soil biology to do some of the heavy lifting in building a more stable soil structure which the crop roots seems to be enjoying.

The Soil Wealth and ICP projects have managed a demonstration site at Kalfresh since early 2015.

The results from the demonstration site confirm that by following four principles in managing vegetable cropping soils, both soil condition and financial returns can be maximised. It’s a true win:win situation.

This summary provides Australian vegetable growers with an understanding of available and emerging irrigation practices and technologies that could improve profitability and encourage the uptake of more efficient water practices.

The objective of this Standard is to provide manufacturers, suppliers, customers and government bodies with the minimum requirements for the physical, chemical and biological properties of composts, soil conditioners, mulches and vermicast, as well as labelling and marking, in order to facilitate the beneficial recycling and use of compostable organic materials with minimal adverse impact on environmental and public health, by avoiding biosecurity and phytotoxicity risks associated with inappropriate product.

David East is a lettuce grower with Bewray Pty Ltd east of Manjimup. Since 2011, David has been growing the biofumigant mustard Caliente during winter between his summer lettuce crops.

The Soil Wealth and ICP project team set up a “cover crop” trial there as a real farm demonstration to help growers adopt sustainable practices, and, importantly, improve their bottom line. The trial, near Cowra, in the Central West region of NSW.

All the cover crops resulted in higher yields than the fallow control. The highest yields in this trial were obtained with clover (+48%) and field peas (+36%), but ryegrass alone and compost were also effective in increasing yields compared to bare fallow.

On September 17th a field day on biofumigation at David and Lee East’s Bewray farm at Manjimup, WA attracted over 45 growers and industry specialists.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a gas which under certain soil and environmental conditions is produced from both soil mineralised and fertiliser nitrogen (N) by de-nitrifying bacteria. For the farmer this represents a loss of soil fertility and/or loss of applied fertiliser. Additionally, when in the atmosphere N2O is a potent greenhouse gas. This is why it is important to minimise the loss of valuable soil and fertiliser N to the atmosphere through these processes. This BMP fact sheet sets out how this can be achieved by farmers producing vegetables.

There has been a renewed focus to better understand the role and function of soil carbon in Australian agricultural situations. This summary provides a snapshot of current knowledge and signposts the key messages and reports coming from recent research and investigations across Australia. It includes:
• An introduction to soil carbon and its role
• An overview of recent research and implications for land management practices
• Useful links to key information sources.

Steve Groff, farmer and the founder of Cover Crop Solutions, Pennsylvania, USA provides an excellent overview of cover cropping in the USA.

This booklet produced in 2014 provides information on managing root-knot nematode including:
- chemical and non-chemical control
- the impact of environmental conditions on nematodes
- nematode biology, and
- the symptoms of a nematode infestation.

This book is a practical guide to ecological soil management that provides background information as well as details of soil-improving practices. It is meant to give the reader an appreciation of the importance of soil health and to suggest ecologically sound practices that help to develop and maintain healthy soils.

This guide enables field identification of the insects, diseases and disorders of Sweetpotato by providing:
- photos
- written description
- damage symptoms
- season when commonly found

This article by Bob Shaffer discusses the need for curing, techniques and the potential benefits of curing compost.

This presentation by Patrick Brown from the University of California provides an outline of the principles of plant nutrition including nutrient function and mobility in plants, soil and leaf testing, nutrient management, and plant nutrient uptake and response to fertiliser.

This book by Gary Zimmer, a farmer in the United States, provides support for farmers who would like to reduce chemical inputs and use natural processes within their farming systems.

This publication from ATTRA (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service) in the United States provides information on improving disease suppression within soil.

This guide provides a context for soil health by looking at soil ecosystems and how they function, providing simple descriptions of soil organisms likely to be found, guiding understanding of what may be good or bad populations of organisms, and outlining a range of management practices likely to impact both positively and negatively on soil ecosystem function.

This article discusses the benefits and challenges of incorporating mixed cover crops into a farming system.

This handbook published by the Sustainable Agriculture Network in the United States provides helpful maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, chapters about specific aspects of cover cropping and extensive appendices that
will lead you to even more information about managing cover crops.

This article from the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation discusses the outcomes of a long-term experiment comparing selected no-tillage grain cropping systems and a reduced-tillage organic system.

This book chapter provides information based on the current body of scientific knowledge regarding composting.

This scientific review provides insight and data on:
- the types of organic amendments available for use in Australian agriculture
- the purported benefits of applying different groups of organic amendments to plant-soil systems
- why adoption of organic amendments in Australia has been relatively slow
- why organic amendments will become increasingly important in Australian agricultural systems.

Specialists in all areas of lettuce production, including insect, disease, nematode, weed and virus have combined to pool current knowledge on best practice IPM principles.

Rather than prescriptive rules for each problem, the information provides knowledge and general principles that you can use to plan for an integrated approach to crop production.

“SOIL health to create wealth” was the motto at an AusVeg farm tour last week as the tour visited the Soil Wealth Kalbar.

ONCE a thorn in the side of vegetable growers, insects and bugs are now being welcomed back into commercial crops.

The guide to common diseases & disorders of bunching vegetables (2003, 58 pages) was produced by the R&D levy funded project VG010045. The diseases and disorders listed in this book often occur on bunching vegetables in Australia and several can occur on plants at the same time.

This "Guide to Common Diseases of Parsley" (2006, 46 pages), describes 18 parsley diseases and disorders common across Australia. Symptoms are clearly shown in over 30 colour photos and practical control measures are suggested.

Authors
Elizabeth Minchinton, Len Tesoriero, Desmond Auer, Heidi Martin

Many carrot and celery diseases and disorders also affect parsley and several can occur on plants at the same time. This guide was produced by the R&D levy funded project VG04025.

The Field Identification Guide is designed to assist growers, workers, students and consultants to correctly identify pests, beneficials, diseases and disorders in cucurbits in Australia.

Intended to be used as a tool in integrated pest management in cucurbits, it draws on the experience of a range of scientists and industry experts. The guide represents over 270 colour photographs in 147 pages of illustrations and text. It contains a comprehensive list of organisms and nutritional disorders identified as currently important to this industry.

This publication is only available as an e-pub for use on iPad, iPhone and iPod. Download from the Apple iBookstore.

This publication is the first comprehensive field guide to pests, beneficials, diseases and disorders of commercially grown vegetables in the Northern Territory.

This booklet provides concise information on the biology of both tospoviruses and their thrips vectors. This information is then related to the range of integrated methods that may be used to reduce the damage from both insect and virus.

Specialists in all areas of brassica production, including insect, disease, nematode, weed and virus have combined to pool current knowledge on best practice IPM principles.

Rather than prescriptive rules for each problem, the information provides knowledge and general principles that you can use to plan for an integrated approach to crop production.

This document incorporates information essential for the economic and sustainable control of sclerotinia in lettuce.

The following document incorporates information essential for economic and sustainable control of sclerotinia in green beans.

This guide has been produced in conjunction with participating greenhouse growers to provide a practical guide to help you to economically and effectively introduce preventative and integrated control strategies to manage pests and diseases in your greenhouses.

This book provides a diagnostic guide and a key reference for diseases affecting vegetable crops in Australia.