Using on-farm research to refine management guidelines.

Cereal crops are the mainstay of the cropping enterprise for farmers in the medium to low rainfall central wheatbelt of Western Australia. Barley grown for the premium malting and Shochu markets is a profitable crop in this district to the extent, that barley is increasingly being grown as consecutive crops which is a practice considered likely to be courting danger with disease. This has been allowed with the advent of fungicides that have application of economic merit given current barley yields and premiums for malting grade. Extended cereal crop sequences also have implications for crop nutrition with nitrogen management being prominent in this. Developments in cropping technology over the last decade have enabled growers to have the ability to examine agronomic issues with greater precision. On farm research (OFR) is now easier to perform with confidence of relevant results applicable to the grower’s environment. This allows growers to refine current intensive research findings through OFR to develop agronomic management packages of more relevance to their district. Over the last three years members of the Kellerberrin Demonstration Group have conducted a number of OFR experiments to assist in the management of barley crops in their environment. These have been to determine the more appropriate application of foliar fungicides to combat leaf diseases and to fine tune crop nutrition. The results of this work are outlined along with the management practices developed to underpin productive and profitable barley crops in the central wheatbelt. Keywords