Tony’s Tractors

South Australian grain producers are encouraged to closely monitor wheat crops following the emergence of both stem and leaf rust on the West Coast and in the Lower North. According to Dr Wallwork, leaf rust is now widespread in wheat crops on the West Coast of SA. With all three wheat rusts being present in SA, growers should monitor crops for the presence of each rust and consider fungicide treatments where crops are still young enough to benefit.

Two Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) reports launched today put the annual cost of cereal diseases at an estimated $1.165 billion - $913 million for wheat and $252m for barley. 'Wheat diseases cause an estimated current average annual loss of $913 million, or $76.64 per hectare, to the Australian wheat industry,' Mr Clark says. Mr Clark says the wheat report details results Gordon Murray and John Brennan's third study on the economic impacts of wheat diseases and is the first report since 1998.

Four new pulse varieties suited to the southern Australian cropping zone will be commercially available for the 2010 winter cropping season. David Shannon, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) southern panel chair, says the new varieties are part of a pipeline of pulse varieties that will be released by PBA over a period of five years. It aims to fast-track the release to Australian growers of new pulse varieties that have better disease resistance, are higher yielding and are adapted to Australian conditions.

Significant improvements in wheat yields have been achieved over the past 50 years while the global area sown to crops has remained reasonably constant. Dr Jacobs said the development of salt-tolerant crops was also a major focus. The ACPFG has over the past year or so achieved a number of research advances which have opened a wide range of new options.

The Rudd Government today acknowledged the hard work and talent of Australian women working and living in rural areas, ahead of the 14th UN World Rural Women's Day tomorrow (15 October 2009). Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke said rural women in Australia played a vital role in food production, including in agriculture and fisheries, natural resource management and the forestry sector. 'In 18 months we have increased the representation of women on our rural research and development corporation boards from 20% to more than 40% and that work is on-going.'.

Rudd Government reforms to Australia's dairy export system will cut red tape and help improve our market access in the United States and European Union. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke today announced the Government had overhauled the system for allocating the United States and European Union dairy tariff rate quotas. 'Australian dairy has a strong reputation around the world but our farmers are affected by factors such as the global fall in dairy prices,' Mr Burke said.

Helping drought-affected families with education expenses. The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, today announced funding of $17.4 million to help rural families whose children attend schools in drought-affected areas with education expenses. More information on the Drought Assistance for Schools program can be found at.

The Australian Government worked with its regional partners to reach agreement on the future sustainability of the Southern Bluefin Tuna fishery. Minister Tony Burke welcomed the outcome of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) in Korea, following very difficult negotiations. 'The decision to further reduce Southern Bluefin catch was not taken lightly,' Minister Burke said.

The Rudd Government is helping to promote Australian agriculture to our second largest export market by funding a new round of industry visits to China. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke said the Government would fund six industry visits to China in 2010 and 2011, under the Australia-China Agricultural Cooperation Agreement. 'We already export 60% of the food we produce and we will continue working with industry to expand trade opportunities,' Mr Burke said.

Well managed aeration and effective hygiene can overcome the majority of storage pest problems facing grain growers in Western Australia. A national program is being funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) to improve the efficacy of on-farm grain storage and reduce the damage done to stored grain. 'Once you start loading grain into the silo, use aeration to reduce the grain temperature to around 20 degrees Celsius.