The thousand-plot harvest

 

Shaping the future of Australian farming

 

By Andre Pasquale, Research Assistant, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Science, Faculty of Science

The University of Melbourne, Dookie Campus

 

 

See Jordi in ‘The Weekly Times‘

 

 

In a time when Australian farmers are grappling with climate change, droughts and soil depletion, a new generation of agricultural scientists is emerging to face these challenges head-on. Hailing from the rich agricultural region of South-West Victoria, two recent University of Melbourne Bachelor of Agriculture graduates, Jordi Ackers-Forbes and Ashleigh Seach joined the Crop and Agronomy Group, led by Professor James Hunt, at Dookie Campus, to gain hands-on experience in agricultural research. With aspirations of becoming landowners, farmers and agronomists – hopefully all in one – Jordi and Ash dived straight into the 2024 thousand-plot harvest.

Ash said, “I found the role immensely rewarding and enjoyable as I was able to work with a team that is passionate about the future sustainability and efficiency of broadacre farming in Australia.”

Jordi added, “Working with the Crop and Agronomy group alongside some of the best in the industry allowed me to build valuable knowledge and skills relevant to field crop trials. This has set me up to feel capable entering my graduate role in research and I will continue to use these skills throughout my career. I was very lucky to have this opportunity, and I recommend anyone who has the chance to do the same!”

It all began on 4 November 2024, when the duo arrived at the New Agricultural Engineering Shed at Dookie Campus, sporting custom-designed Dookie Campus RB Sellers shirts (side note: Richard Sellars-Jones was a Dookie student for a time in the late 1980s). It was a Monday, and I was feeling the pressure. As a first-time supervisor, I worried that Jordi and Ash would see straight through my feigned confidence. So, I decided to get it out in the open, blurting out, “Okay, I’m the new research assistant. I haven’t been here long, and I don’t really know what I’m doing, so just bear with me.”  They nodded, unfazed, and we were off.

 

A hands-on approach to research

From then on, it was all hands-on deck. We were on our knees in the field, draped in fly nets, hand-harvesting plots for various GRDC-funded projects. We worked tirelessly – harvesting, threshing, and dissecting countless wheat plants in the hopes our data would unlock new insights. Ashleigh meticulously assessed wheat spikes for sterility, counting each floret while keeping an eye out for the dreaded aborted embryo (sterile grain caused by frost). Meanwhile, Jordi focused on threshing, aiming for the cleanest, chaff-free grain possible

Despite the ceiling fans at full speed, the shed was always a hot, humid, and stifling place, but our work always got done. For larger harvest events, the team from Parkville – James Hunt, Corinne Celestina, and Juan Wang – joined our local Dookie crew, including Arjun Pandey, Lily Maul, myself, and of course, Ashleigh and Jordi. Together, we formed a tight-knit team, knocking out tasks in record time, and finishing our days at the Gladstone Hotel in Dookie township with all the regulars. By Christmas, we had hand-harvested and machine-harvested, threshed, and processed all the samples from our GRDC-funded trials. The 2024 harvest was a resounding success!

 

Adapting to changing conditions

Throughout the harvest, Jordi and Ashleigh worked alongside the Crop and Agronomy Group, collecting data for a range of important GRDC-funded projects. One of these was the National Risk Management Initiative, which compares various farming methods over 10+ years to assess their impact on crop yields, profitability and environmental sustainability. The research focuses on factors such as soil health, carbon emissions and nitrogen (N) losses, with a particular focus on N deficiency in Australian grain farming – a major factor in reducing yields.

Ash said, “Following the harvest, I was involved in soil sampling, which is of particular importance for nitrogen-based trials. It has only increased my eagerness to enter the research agronomy field since graduating from the Bachelor of Agriculture at the end of 2024.

Jordi and Ash also contributed to the Winter Wheat Harvest Index trial, which investigates the biology of winter wheat and high-yielding spring wheat varieties. This project aims to update the APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator) model, enhancing the use of available data. By comparing spring and winter wheat varieties in Victoria, our research gathers detailed data to address uncertainties around European breeding practices (Craigie et al. 2015). The findings will help validate new high-yield varieties and provide insights into why winter wheats have a lower harvest index than spring wheats (Porker et al. 2020). This study focuses on low-to-medium rainfall areas, with the goal of improving wheat performance in these challenging environments.

Lastly, the Long Coleoptile Wheat experiment, which saw Jordi and Ash tirelessly count the individual spikes harvested from over 100 plots, investigates the potential of long coleoptile genes to help wheat plants emerge from deeper soil and adapt to changing rainfall patterns. Since the Green Revolution, wheat has been bred with shorter stems to increase yields, but this has resulted in shorter coleoptiles (Rebetzke et al. 1999) – the protective sheath around seedlings – making it harder for wheat to emerge from deep soil or tough conditions (Rebetzke et al. 2005). This research aims to demonstrate the benefits of deep sowing, enabling wheat to access more moisture and nutrients from the soil. Long coleoptile wheat could provide farmers with a valuable tool to navigate climate challenges, especially in regions where water availability is increasingly unpredictable.

Jordi said, “It was really rewarding to see the data come in and the trials finish up for the year, knowing that everyone’s hard work will contribute to big things; advancements in environmental sustainability, improvements in on-farm profitability, and help to address challenges that come with changing climates.”

 

The next era of agriculture

These trials are more than just experiments; they represent the future of grain cropping in Australia. The projects that Jordi and Ashleigh worked on exemplify the innovative work being done at Dookie Campus, helping to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the industry. From nitrogen management to deep-sowing techniques, these innovations are laying the groundwork for the future of Australian grain farming.

I found working with Bachelor of Agriculture graduates – including Jordi and Ashleigh – incredibly rewarding. The hands-on learning at Dookie Campus – on the farm and in research – nurtures agriculturalists who understand that hard work, community, critical thinking and creativity all come together in the pursuit of sustainable food production – a vocation that attracts those with a true vision for the future.

In summing up, Ash said, “Throughout my degree I spent two semesters at Dookie Campus which I believe was incredibly valuable to my learning as I was able to apply what I had been learning in classes directly to the field as I was living and learning on a working farm. I would urge any student studying the Bachelor of Agriculture to consider a semester at Dookie as it is a great way to not only make meaningful learning connections, but also make lifelong friends and memories.”

Jordi concluded, “Studying and working at the Dookie Campus was the highlight of my degree. Living alongside the farm where you can watch the crop grow from emergence until harvest is the perfect way to consolidate your learnings throughout the semester. I also enjoyed being on campus with like-minded individuals and it was inspiring to watch everyone become passionate in their chosen fields, whether it was plants and soil, animal health or economics.”

 

References:

• Craigie, R. A., H. E. Brown, and M. George. ‘Grain Yield of Winter Feed Wheat in Response to Sowing Date and Sowing Rate’. Agronomy New Zealand 45 (2015): 1–8.
• Porker, Kenton, Michael Straight, and James Robert Hunt. ‘Evaluation of G × E × M Interactions to Increase Harvest Index and Yield of Early Sown Wheat’. Frontiers in Plant Science 11 (10 July 2020): 994. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00994.
• Rebetzke GJ, Bruce SE, Kirkegaard JA (2005) Longer coleoptiles improve emergence through crop residues to increase seedling number and biomass in wheat (Triticum aestivum).Plant and Soil 272, 87–100.
• Rebetzke GJ, Richards RA, Fischer VM, Mickelson BJ  (1999) Breeding long coleoptile, reduced height wheats. Euphytica 106, 159–168