Winter cereal

And maybe in, in a wider s- conversation you should be having with your agronomist or something like that, is look at say alternative crops, like the likes of some of the beans or something like that, where you do have the likes of graminicides where you can control that and build that into your overall rotation.

Tillage farmers are in the thick of planting winter cereals at the moment, grabbing every available opportunity between the rain.

Achieving a good, well prepared seedbed is the goal for every grower, giving the developing crop the best possible start.

Alongside establishment, early weed control is a key part of the equation to keep crops clean, competitive, and growing strongly from the outset.

You're listening to the latest episode of The Tillage Edge with me, Michael Hennessy.

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Weed control on winter cereals has changed significantly in recent years with the loss of key herbicides, the spread of challenging grass weeds, such as black grass and Italian ryegrass, and the increased issues of herbicide resistance.

Getting weed control right early in the season has never been more important.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, is a 2014 California law placing new targets on groundwater recharge.

Today we'll be discussing research from the Public Policy Institute of California, analyzing SGMA-ready crops, which are low-water winter grains and forages that would keep some farmland productive while using much less water.

I'm joined today by Katie Peterson, Associate Center Director and Research Fellow, and Brad Franklin, Research Fellow with PPIC, Thank you, Katie and Brad, for joining the Maddie Report today.

Really appreciate you being on the program.

And how is it different from just switching to, say, a lower value crop?

Right.

So you mentioned winter grains and forages.

A Sigma ready crop could be many different things, though, not just that.