Preview of the 2021 WMG Spring Field Day

We're previewing the biggest day of the WMG Calendar, Spring Field Day! WMG Executive Officer, Nathan Craig, walks us through the agenda of the event and what to expect for Spring Field Day. Guests on the podcast include: • Matt Willis from Bayer Crop Science presenting his work on optimum pre-emergent herbicide strategies• Daniel Real who will be presenting his work on established crops at the field day in the main tent. The West Midlands Group 2021 Spring Field Day is on September 21st, and will showcase a packed agenda. Held at John and Emma Scotney's farm, 'Warialda', in Badgingarra, trial sites include break crop trials at the main site as well as the cereal site and Bayer herbicide site on Mungedar Road. The usual NVT's will be at the site - wheat, barley, oats, canola and lupin. These will be presented by Richard Devlin (Living Farm), Michael Hickey (Nuseed) and Dion Bennett (AGT) This year, West Midlands Group will be running concurrent sessions, to give attendees the opportunity to maximise value by choosing a personalised agenda that closest aligns with their interests. This allows attendees to focus on livestock, cropping, or mixed systems at their desire. There is truly something for everyone!Topics for the day include: •  WMG pasture mixes and evaluation of soil biology below by Pauline Roberts• Mike Ashworth from the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative will be sharing in the main tent how herbicides degrade in the West Midland region compared to other regions in WA. •  Mark Seymour will be on hand to present the evaluation of herbicide tolerance of break crops, including all the tadera, chickpea, lentil, faba beans, lupin, blue lupin to name a few. •  What's new in vetch varieties and their sustainability for our region. •  Soil amelioration: winter amelioration strategies to lower wind erosion potential, crop nutrition following amelioration•  Cattle production with Erin O'Brien• The keynote address for the day will be given by Cec McConnell who is the Soil and Land Commissioner and has been overseeing the development of the new Soil Health Strategy that is currently under development. All this, amongst more, will be followed by the Rabobank Sundowner!Demonstrating new ideas, practices and technology will also be a big focus of this years Spring Field Day. Support the show