The Land

SA grain growers reap benefits from seed treatment combination

South Australian farmers Simon and Nick McCormack with Mick Coleman from Hannaford.
South Australian farmers Simon and Nick McCormack with Mick Coleman from Hannaford.

Story sponsored by UPL Australia.

Protecting their cereal crop during the vulnerable establishment stage is a strategy that has paid off for SA grain growers Simon and Nick McCormack.

Simon and Nick, of McCormack Farming in Barunga Gap, are the fifth generation on their farm, which was established in 1873.

Their father Paul is still actively involved in the mixed farming operation, consisting of 2,100 hectares of cropping and 500 hectares of hill country for running sheep.

"We've been no-till farming since 2001 and zero till for the past five years," Simon said.

"We are also a full CTF farming system with no livestock on cropping paddocks."

With an average rainfall of 400 mm, the McCormack's cropping program consists of lentils, wheat, canola and barley, with benchmark returns of 4t/ha on cereals and 2t/ha on lentils and canola.

Their wheat this past season was sown in early May at 80kg/ha with in-furrow fertiliser.

"We've used Mick Coleman of Hannaford for several years to clean Scepter wheat and to treat our seed," Simon said.

Following grading, their wheat seed is treated with Rancona Dimension at 3.2L/t, Guardian at 1.2L/t and Zincflo Plus at 3L/t, to protect the seedling during the establishment stage.

"We've used Rancona Dimension for several seasons," Simon said.

"It's been effective in managing our target crop diseases - rhizoctonia and crown rot - and it's really easy to handle and use," he continued.

"We've also seen improvements in the crop standing as well as higher yields using this program, which all leads to increased profits at the end of the day."

Comprising two powerful active ingredients, ipconazole and metalaxyl, Rancona Dimension offers premium protection against crown rot and rhizoctonia root rot, as well as control of smuts, pythium and bunt in wheat, barley and oats.

Combined with excellent seed safety, it allows faster emergence, ideal seedling establishment and healthier and more vigorous plants.

A unique micro-emulsion (ME) formulation provides extremely low dust-off with Rancona Dimension at application, giving good seed flow through equipment and easy clean down of machinery compared with other products. It also provides for better distribution of the fungicide and contact with pathogens.

For more information on UPL seed treatments contact your local Ag-chem distributor or Hannaford Seed Protection Specialist - www.hannafords.com

Story sponsored by UPL Australia.