MALLEE agricultural advisor Danny Conlan is the 2016 recipient of the David Roget Mallee Sustainable Farming Excellence Award. Mr Conlan was recognised with the award at the recent MSF research updates in the Vic and SA Mallee.

THE looming problem of herbicide-resistant weeds forced forward-thinking Swan Hill grain grower Leigh Bryan to become more inventive. Some years ago Mr Bryan began looking at wider row spacings as a means of making inter-row weed control easier and more effective.

GROWERS should look at more diversity, less intensity and develop off-farm income in their operations to maintain a sustainable operation. That’s according to agricultural advisory company Dodgshun Medlin managing partner Ian Dodgshun, who spoke as part of the company’s crop crawl series at Berriwillock last week.

CROPPING businesses are spending up to a quarter of their revenue on average to service machinery outlays, ­according to analysis by advisory firm Dodgshun Medlin. And farmers should think about reducing this figure to put their business on a more sustainable footing, the company’s managing partner Ian Dodgshun said.