AGGREGATE: NEWS & EVENTS
Gravel project update

Francesca Brailsford leads Phase II of a GRDC-funded Murdoch University project focused on overcoming ironstone gravel soil constraints.
Francesca has been maintaining three field trials across WA in collaboration with Living Farm, and is currently collating emergence counts and preliminary crop nutrition data.
The project’s been excited to welcome Nicolas Farias Rabelo to the team, who is based at Murdoch and has been assisting with the design and maintenance of growth chamber experiments investigating new technologies for growing canola in WA gravel soil.
Francesca has also been busy recently completing reports updating on research progress, along with readying manuscripts for submission before the year’s end. Phase II of the project concludes in 2024 following the delivery of new knowledge on how gravel content alters root architecture, and the team are looking forward to sharing more of the project’s findings and discussing management options available to growers.
Current projects
MORE STORIES

Soil CRC: Soil management webinar series
The webinar series was produced by the Soil CRC and jointly funded through the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

UK soil ecologist Frank Ashwood photographs tiny creatures on Australian farms (ABC)
It seems incredible, but half the world’s animals live in the soil, and ecologist Frank Ashwood has been photographing them.

Podcast: Dry Season Resources – Best Practice Soil Management with DPIRD
Episode two of the South-West WA Hub’s Dry Season Resources podcast with DPIRD’s Dr Stephen Davies on best practice soil management.

Video: Plant Nutrition – the final Soil Quality ebook
A comprehensive survey of West’ Australian grain growers has revealed the key factors that most influence grain producers’ fertiliser strategies.