Agricultural
20 August, 2025
Trial co-operators' breakfast in Pittsworth
Pacific Seeds and Syngenta hosted a trial co-operators' breakfast last Friday providing agronomy updates and trial feedback for growers on the Downs.
About 81 people from across the Toowoomba Region attended the breakfast at the Pittsworth Motor Inn.
The guest speaker was Pacific Seeds Summer Grains Agronomist Trevor Philp.
He reviewed the 2024-25 season, and updated growers on Sterling, a new medium-quick maturity grain sorghum hybrid.
"Last year was probably the best sorghum season I've experienced," Mr Philp said.
The best yields were from long fallow fields, with short fallows lacking nutrition.
Mr Philp said there was an average of 30 per cent better yield across the board.
He said the season suited fuller season hybrids, but higher tillering hybrids suffered from midge and ergot issues.
Sterling, the latest available sorghum hybrid, can deliver on performance, protection and profitability, and Mr Philp said the trials have revealed a high yield potential, excellent disease tolerance, improved standability and operational efficiency, and good adaptation to all planting windows.
"It would be my first choice for a late plant," he said.
A discussion on late nitrogen application was followed by a brief recap on the damage of fall armyworm (FAW), and deciding on the appropriate time to spray.
