Growers urged to count the yield cost of wide rows

NSW Department of Primary Industries Northern Cropping Systems Manager at the Tamworth Agricultural Institute Dr Guy McMullen said recent results from southern Australian trials supported the northern data and urged growers to consider their row spacing decisions both from a yield perspective as well as within the context of the wider farming system... Trial work has consistently demonstrated that crops sown in wide rows are less competitive with weeds, costing yield and enabling weed survivors to set seed and propogate... It is well recognised that stubble cover plays a key role in conservation farming practices by maximising water capture, infiltration and storage, and the adoption of wider row spacing has enabled growers to sow into higher levels of retrained stubble...