The quest for higher yields has an undesirable legacy – heavy stubble loads. These heavy stubbles create real challenges, in the establishment of subsequent crops, disease and pest carry over herbicide efficacy.
The grains industry has been active in trying to find approaches that minimise the negative impacts of high stubble loads, while trying to retain the benefits of retained stubble (groundcover, extra carbon and nutrients). Row spacings, inter-row sowing, no grazing, harvest height, bailing, machinery modification, incorporation are some of the tactics being employed. Burning is another tactic that, although practiced less often that decades ago, is still used because it ‘solves many problems’ easily and quickly (removes the stubble, kills disease, pest harbour, reduce weed seeds etc.).
The challenge is to enable growers and advisors to put together a number of tactics into a strategy that is, on balance, are appropriate for the time and the situation. The package of tactics is likely to change from region to region, year to year and even between paddocks with the same year. There is no recipe.
