Cereal diseases, pulse variety and disease management, crop nutrition, vetch and barley agronomy and farming without glyphosate were hot topics at Birchip Cropping Group’s annual trials review day.

More than 170 BCG members attended the event last month online and in person to be involved in discussions about farming now and into the future.

Farmers discussed nitrogen management strategies for 2023 and how the longterm ‘N banking’ strategy of 125kg of nitrogen a hectare a year had stacked up in a season such as 2022, with high rainfall and urea prices.

Presenting the research, Dr James Hunt said during five years of the experiment N decisions based on 50 percent yield prophet or 125kg a hectare N bank strategy apply more N, 63kg to 74kg a hectare, and were $128 to $179 a hectare a year more profitable than the district average N rate of 21kg to 30kg a hectare.

“High urea prices in 2022 were offset by higher grain prices, and the most profitable treatments and N application rates remain the same over the