That was the main message that emerged from last week’s Grains Research and Development Corporation’s grains research update at the Corowa RSL, hosted by Riverine Plains.

And the message was well received, according to Riverine Plains chairman John Bruce.

“We had about 120 attend the forum and there were some very good farmers among them,” he said.

“And they certainly came along to learn all they could in relation to production.”

Mr Bruce said the update was timely .

“Things are always good when you’ve had a bit of rain,” Mr Bruce said.

“And we’re just about to get into the cropping season.

“The mood in the room certainly seemed to be optimistic.”

The forum also had an international flavour to it, with Malcolm Morrison from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada speaking on innovations that underpin yield improvements in the Canadian canola industry.

The presentation covered recent physiological and agronomic outcomes from Canadian science that targets canola productivity.

The CSIRO’s John Kirkegaard spoke on optimising grain yield and grazing potential purpose crops while Harm van Rees gave a view on the technological breakthroughs to sustainably push the production frontier.

“The talk centred on things such as zonal mapping and fertiliser application rates,” Mr Bruce said.

“It was basically about pushing farmers to be open to ideas and to move with the times.

“And at the same time reducing risk and input costs.”

Dr Cassie Schefe from Riverina Plains gave an update of trials conducted by the organisation in relation to the last topic.

Mr Bruce said another underlying theme was sustainability.