Area wide management of pests - it can work!
Tanja Morgan: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the MSF Farm Talk podcast. I'm Tanja Morgan. And on today's episode, we're going to be delving into the topic of area wide management of pests. These could be insects, these could be weeds, but we've got a very special guest and I'd like to welcome, Matt Strmiska, who is the Consultancy Lead with EE Muir Sons.
Welcome Matt. Tell us about yourself and your role and a little bit about your background because you're obviously not from the Sunraysia region.
Matt Strmiska: I dunno what gave it away. I can't tell if it's my accent or what, but no, I'm from Fresno, California. I spent I don't know the first decade of my career working with some of the largest horticultural growers there. I owned a small consulting business where we really were focused on minimizing pesticide use by trying to apply knowledge in a practical way.
But in 2012, I wound up finding my way into this little place in north eastern Victoria called [00:01:00] Mildura, and it started a journey to understand what it meant for global knowledge and resources to make their way down to the farm level. And so, it's led to this opportunity with EE Muir where we've been able to do great work.
We've got over a hundred agronomists on staff, all the major horticulture regions and I get to work empowering them to deliver meaningful value. That's just, that's not just captured in a bottle. I think we have to work together and I think that's a big part of what I get to do in this role.
And, I'm fortunate to get to travel around the country and meeting people all the time, and I'm always impressed with what we have here.
Tanja Morgan: So how long have you been in Australia now?
Matt Strmiska: I moved in right before Covid in 2019. We live in Geelong as a family.
Tanja Morgan: How do you find the different farming systems in the States versus Australia?
Matt Strmiska: Yeah, that's, a very complicated question that I'll probably butcher with simplicity.
But California is [00:02:00] entirely different than the Australian context. Okay. And I think it's worth noting these key differences because it does help us in many ways but we have to have caution around how much we infer from our overseas counterparts, particularly around these shared issues like weed management or pest management.
So firstly, California is a very highly regulated state and all pesticide use is indeed public information. So the level of detail in reporting is intense. Okay. Regardless of any perceived negatives that may be attributed to that regulation, there are some huge benefits to knowing who, what, where, and when, and how pesticides are used.
And then another aspect I think, that have to highlight is that the expectations on the California growers are different than in Australia. And I think that has unique upsides. I think the growers here are some of the most innovative in the world. In California, the majority of the pesticide expectations lay on agronomists.
So, I think there's a difference in where efforts [00:03:00] are applied by industry, government and supporting businesses where, how they invest training and knowledge. So in, in California, it's really directed at agronomists who then go back to their mini growers and assist with these decision making processes.
And then, what's easily overlooked is the sheer size. So, Australia is huge, but its production is small. So, I had one citrus grower that grew more citrus than all of Australia combined. It's, the scale just changes how these things work. But I think we're really fortunate because that we have sizable distances between regions, but in California , they're basically border, wall to wall.
And I think it's important for anyone listening to understand that these area wide programs they can be very different depending on some of these factors. And I think in Australia it'll feel more I don't want to use the word organic, but community driven. Rather than one huge, massive data collection effort that's [00:04:00] driven by multitudes of different people.
So I think we're going to have to work together differently.
Tanja Morgan: In California, are you saying that people had to make their herbicide application practices public?
Matt Strmiska: Yeah, that's the law. That's right. Okay, so everything and everywhere. And when and how is reported on.
Tanja Morgan: Okay. So that's similar to like quality assurance programs. Some people in Australia can do, but they're mainly voluntary at this stage. That's right. Yeah,
Matt Strmiska: That's right. And I think those things are helpful, but it doesn't change the outcomes at the end of the day. I really think, I think where we're at is it's going to be, we're going to have these same truths and I think it's one farm can throw the work of a thousand others down the drain.
Yeah. And unfortunately, we can't control. So, we have to be careful with our expectations on the speed at which we're gonna be able to get on some of these problematic issues. And I, I think that there isn't an individual that is gonna choose to do the wrong thing. I think things just go wrong and yeah,
and if you're a grower that say in [00:05:00] an area or has a neighbor or an empty paddock or something that, that it looks like it's going the wrong way. Those are opportunities to really pay attention early, to start discussions quickly and then adjust accordingly. I just don't believe that success is guaranteed.
I think it takes a lot of effort and a lot of community connections and I think it's a wonderful result. But it isn't just, it can't be an assumed result.
Tanja Morgan: For people that are listening at home I ran into Matt at Weed Smart Week in Mildura, and we had a day focused on horticulture.
Normally weed smart weeks focused on broad acre ag, but we had a specific day set aside for horticulture and there was a presentation on the area wide wee d management program that MSF has been involved with. So really trying to get these concepts of industry to work together, getting land managers that side by side that might have completely different farming systems to work together.
And in our case, in the Sunraysia, we're [00:06:00] focusing on the control of fleabane. And I had great conversation with you Matt about some of the work that you'd done in the States you'd been working on an area wide program with managing pests. So this was focused on insect control. So area wide is not a new concept.but it's a different way of thinking about management. Tell us about your experiences with the insect program.
Matt Strmiska: It, it's what was wildly unpopular decades prior has resulted in massive shifts and improvements for today these programs. I really, I was trying to give it some thought, and I cannot think of a single change that hasn't resulted in real improvement to the region.
I think looking back I think and I still think it exists today, there's fear of change, but I would encourage our growers and our industries to fear stagnation and I think initially if I look back to having been mentored by people that have been in the industry for many years spraying was always seen as a silver bullet and I just don't think that's the solution anymore.
[00:07:00] We just can't spray our way out of these situations. And I think that was a part of the great value that Weed Smart event is it's about an integrated approach. It's about cross industry collaboration growers that are not similar crop wise working together. And so in, California, I think, like I can speak for my growers that I was working with, many of them saw a reduction of pesticides by 50% and a better quality crop. And I have to say for anyone that would know me that is listening to this, they would, they'd shellack me if I didn't say, when you go spray, do it well.
Tanja Morgan: How was the concept introduced to those growers in the early days?
Matt Strmiska: Yeah. I think if memory serves right, it was a lot by the industries working with the universities. So, part of the California context is agronomists are all licensed and insured as an individual, and they're required to continue to get hours of education a year.
And that is primarily done in group [00:08:00] sessions. So, getting these experts together, talking about these issues, looking over the research. So, it was a lot of outreach and extension work. And then there was accountability to it I think it's a fortunate situation that California had and will continue to lean on.
I don't know what all we can take from that, except for it will take education.
Tanja Morgan: Yeah. And time by the sounds. If you're saying that it was introduced a fair while ago and you're seeing remarkable changes now you know that's decades really, and I must admit I see saw the same thing having worked on the Broomrape eradication program back in my early career in the early 2000’s people were placed in quarantine back then to try and get this area wide management approach and eradicate a weed species. The changes we've
seen now and how people have improved spray practices has been remarkable and it has led to some amazing gains in the region.
So, I definitely agree with you that whilst there might be a bit of reluctance for people to take part in the early days or [00:09:00] they don't understand what they're getting into the benefits are usually huge. What are the things that you think worked well with that program? When you're looking at an area wide approach, so having those agronomists in the room together in the early days, what are the things that work well for growers?
Matt Strmiska: Yes. I remember these meetings. We would have. And I don't know if you watch the news or anything what happens in the United States, but things can be a bit loud at times. And I remember these meetings where we're talking about these things and change is hard.
I think what an amazing thing it is that we get to work in a primary industry where we have generations upon generations of families running land and the states four or five generations is not uncommon. And I know it's true here and it's a different history, but there's a rich history here with generations of practices and, and I think that change.
It's probably the thing that I I remember most [00:10:00] is change is hard, but so worth it. Yeah. And it doesn't always work, but there's been an attitude shift. I think just I guess in, in what I've been exposed to in many of the nations that are growing some of these high value crops is we are under pressure to do more with less and we have expectations placed on us by the consumers. And these are the types of things that don't have a downside. If we do these things well, everybody wins.
Tanja Morgan: Yeah, definitely. And I think that's the thing to take on board. Out of all of these programs, you know, It's hard for people to think what's the benefit of me doing a massive change in practice so that the whole area benefits. It's hard to see how that can improve on your own productivity when you're just trying to, stay sustainable and profitable yourself. But I think if we bring it back to the individual and just having this good neighbour approach as a starting [00:11:00] point which is what we're really trying to focus on with fleabane control in the Sunraysia, if you're doing the right thing for yourself in terms of weed control, improving your own production, decrease in chemical use, that has an impact across the farm gate and what's happening next door as well.
Matt Strmiska: Yeah, I'll add to that. I always appreciate the Australian sentiment around this. And, I have the awful ability to do terrible accents, so I
won't even try , but it's mates taking care of mates and I think that, yeah, definitely that is something we cannot lose here. And it'll continue to work.
Tanja Morgan: Yeah. That's right. You might not know every farmer in your district, but you know your next door neighbour and if you want to do the right thing by them, you're doing the right thing by yourself. Eventually we will get an area wide management change. So that's something to look forward to. And I guess this project here is only in its early days and you know, these things take time.
So, I'm optimistic about where we can head with this sort of stuff, especially based on your experience. How are things going in the states, do you think, with that program? [00:12:00] Is it still in existence? Do you know?
Matt Strmiska: No. It's no longer needed.
Tanja Morgan: No longer needed?
Matt Strmiska: It's just standard. It's just done. You don't do it differently now and that's how it should be.
Tanja Morgan: Absolutely. So, we're trying to tackle fleabane in the Sunraysia and it's been a wet spring as everybody would know. It's likely to be a challenge for growers managing weeds over the summer and probably fleabane in particular. I haven't been to the Sunraysia for a few months no w, but I can imagine that there's probably a massive germination of weeds. What do you think will be important for growers to get the best from their weed management in a tricky spring summer season?
Matt Strmiska: I'm gonna rattle off a couple thoughts here. I think you need to get advice on multi-species cover cropping or inter cropping.
Tanja: So, for our listeners that's mixed species and intercropping in a horticultural situation.
Matt Strmiska: I think this is a time that if you thought about trying something different, now is a good time to try. Yeah. The resistance to chemicals is going to tend to show up more in times like this. And I think if you don't know how to identify tolerant weeds, I think there's great ways to get educated on that. [00:13:00] And I'd really advise you to get your weeds tested for resistance if you're suspicious.
And if you are not calibrating your sprayers, and if you're not putting on new nozzles, you're not running at the right pressure, slower speeds, putting on enough water and making sure that your coverage is superb, I don't think it'll end well.
Our products are fantastic. We've got amazing additives to help penetrate these hairy weeds. We've got wonderful skills and knowledge throughout most of these regions. I think when it, when it really comes down to the nitty gritty, I would just really encourage that when you do go out to do it, prepare to do it well.
Tanja Morgan: Some good advice there for growers. We're going to put some links to some of the work that we've done into the show notes.
There's been some great work done in vineyards and citrus, jump online and log into some of those immersive trials that we've done to show how well some of these herbicides work under optimum application. Anything else you want to add, Matt?
Matt Strmiska: Yeah, I'd say have fun. Don't forget what we're [00:14:00] doing.
Tanja Morgan: Definitely. Yep.
Matt Strmiska: And I think sometimes things are bad, but they're often really good.
Tanja Morgan: Yeah. Good to see the rain. There's definitely it's optimism in the region again. Yes. So that is, it's great. Thank you very much for joining us today. It's been tremendous to hear about your experiences, particularly coming from a different region.
And we're really looking forward to what we can achieve with this project. Yeah, learning more every day about area wide weed management. Thanks for joining us.
Matt Strmiska: If anybody wants to contact me, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. My email is mstrmiska@eemuir.com.au and my mobile 0400 860 426.
I'm always happy to talk to people.
Tanja Morgan: Fantastic. And we'll put that information in the show notes too.
Matt Strmiska: Great.
Tanja Morgan: Excellent. We'll catch you next time.
Matt Strmiska: Thanks, Tanya.
Tanja Morgan: This project is supported by the department of agriculture, water, and environment with funding from the Rural R and D for profit program the GRDC and the Cotton RDC.
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