What an event!  Through rain and floods, to sunshine on the day, Southern Farming Systems had their premier event AgriFocus at Streatham in south west Victoria on Wednesday 19^th October. “It was great to have people on site face to face, networking, sharing their knowledge and experiences” Bret Ryan, SFS CEO.

 The choose your own AGRIFOCUS Adventure program attracted over 250 people to Streatham to hear from key speakers in the industry and interact with cropping research trials.

The well-rounded program included:

• Localised Seasonal Climate Outlook – Dale Grey, Agriculture Victoria
• The Launch of the My Farm Dashboard – Cam Nicholson, Nicon Rural
• Making subsoiling work – Simon Falkiner, Falkiner Ag
• The changing environment for biosecurity for mixed farmers – Dr Cathy Bunter, Agriculture Victoria
• Disease and variety resistance updates in cereals, canola and faba beans – Grant Hollaway, Agriculture Victoria; Steve Marcroft, Marcroft Grains Pathology; and Jason Brand, Agriculture Victoria & Greta Duff, SFS
• Variety by nitrogen management in canola and cereals – SFS staff, Grace Evans & Audrey Gripper; and Ashley Amourgis & Jessie Wettenhall
• Other industry experts on – wheat, barley, canola and faba beans, discussing varieties, nitrogen management, fungicides, disease packages, herbicides and grazing
• Plus machinery displays and new variety launches.

“Attendees can select the sessions they would like to attend to extend their knowledge tailored for their farming businesses. Crop pathology sessions in wheat and canola were very popular, with the wet season and disease resistance breakdowns in some varieties being reported” said Ms McClure AgriFocus Coordinator.

New crop varieties were launched at AgriFocus, from premier partner Seed Force a winter wheat, RGT Waugh. Patron partners AGT launched a spring wheat, Willaura, and AGF Seeds launched a spring wheat, Stockade. All varieties offer exciting characteristics for high rainfall zone growers.

The latest machinery was on display from SFS’s premier partner, Swayn & McCabe, Claas Harvest Centre and Landpower, with two seeders a Vaderstad Seed Hawk and Rapid and a Claas Lexion header with Flexi Front.  Other exhibits of interest in the main marquee included the National Centre for Farmer Health, Work Safe, Glenelg Hopkins CMA and Agriculture Victoria, with a focus on farming profitably and sustainably by looking after the work force and the land.

Southern Farming Systems is committed to our members and partners in producing an informative and interactive event that celebrates a continually evolving agricultural industry and assists with finding ways to improve our farming systems. Put it in the diary, the third Wednesday of October annually, AgriFocus!