BEET western yellows virus, mouse plagues, chemicals and soil biology were some of the topics discussed at a Grains Research and Development Corporation growers update in Horsham.
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Corporation southern panel member and agronomic consultant Bill Long said 83 farmers attended the day on Tuesday last week.
"We had a number of speakers on a whole range of issues that were relevant to the Wimmera farming community," he said.
Department of Environment and Primary Industries pathologist Frank Henry spoke about beet western yellows virus.
Mr Long said he gave a good account of the testing being done.
"While a lot of canola was affected early and badly, there are other crops with lower levels of infection and the yields in those crops might still be okay," he said.
"It's hard to estimate how much yield loss there will be, but the fear we had in the beginning that crops would completely deteriorate hasn't happened.
"The concern is still what will happen with the pulse crops - the chickpeas and lentils - and Frank suggested growers look at softer insecticides, rather than ones we know don't control green peach aphids."
Dow AgroSciences' Rob Buttimore of New Zealand discussed the chemistry within a spray tank.
"Rob had a fabulous presentation and talked about problems growers face when trying to mix a lot of chemicals together," Mr Long said.
"He likened it to having a party and the more people you have there, the more difficulty you can have."
Biosecurity SA researcher Greg Mutze spoke about this season's mouse plague.
"There have been a lot of mouse issues this year and there were good discussions around baiting and timing," Mr Long said.
"We learn more about mouse plagues each time we have one and this time we learnt to bait early - either before seeding or at seeding."
Department of Environment and Primary Industries soil microbiologist Lori Phillips discussed managing soil biology to optimise nutrient availability.
Mr Long discussed plant growth regulators.
Following the update there was a crop walk at Birchip Cropping Group's research trial site.
"We looked at the plots and related some of the talks we had in the morning to the plots at the site," Mr Long said.
"It was a terrific way of doing it and it is something we would look at doing again the future because we have the resources for it."
