In addition to being run as a face-to-face Update, the Joyes Hall sessions at the Wagga Wagga GRDC Grains Research Update will be live streamed for online viewing. Not all concurrent sessions will be run in Joyes Hall, so not all sessions will be live streamed. The livestream has been broken down into individual Zoom webinars for people to select those they are interested in. Click on the registration button below the session(s) of interest to register for those session(s).

If you are interested in the Goondiwindi GRDC Grains Research Update livestream please go here: Goondiwindi GRDC Grains Research Update livestream registration page

Day 1 - Wednesday 18 February 2026

Wagga Wagga General Plenary Day 1

Date: Wednesday 18 February 2026

Time: 10:00am – 12:20pm AEDT

Topics:

10:00 am - Welcome (GRDC)

10:25 am - Reflections on 30 years of GRDC Grains Research Updates

10:40 am - Legumes in cereal farming systems and the prospects of using legume crops to reduce reliance on N fertiliser. Mark Peoples (CSIRO)

11:15 am - Science driven decisions when margins are tight: advising growers with confidence when every dollar matters. Ways to use robust science to help growers in a tight economic climate. Jim Virgona (Graminus Consulting)

11:50 am - Introducing GRDC’s Sustainability Initiatives - Join GRDC representatives as they introduce the next phase of GRDC’s Sustainability Initiative and Communication Program. Mark Callow (GRDC)

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Nitrogen

Date: Wednesday 18 February 2026

Time: 1:20pm – 3:05pm AEDT

Topics:

1:20 pm – Regionally relevant nitrogen uptake and loss data. Graeme Schwenke (NSW DPIRD)

1:50 pm - Nitrogen loss via denitrification; the magnitude difference in N loss between cropping soil types, seasonal rainfall variability and N rates. Lillian Hearn (PhD) (Ag Victoria/ Uni of Melb)

2:20 pm - N fixation - how much do different pulses fix? Rohan Brill (Brill Ag) & Mark Peoples (CSIRO)

2:55 pm - Panel session. Graeme Schwenke, Lillian Hearn, Rohan Brill & Mark Peoples

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Soil zoning and targeted input applications

Date: Wednesday 18 February 2026

Time: 3:35pm – 5:20pm AEDT

Topics:

3:35 pm – Using technology to apply grower scale test strips and measure the profit impact in different soil zones – a case study: Optimising N decision making. Jonathon Moore (PCT)

4:05 pm - Identifying frost events and their impact on yield loss with data derived from large on-farm datasets. Si Yang Han (Uni of Sydney)

4:30 pm - SoilWaterNow: Soil water nowcasting for mapping plant available water (PAW) across paddocks for improved on-farm decision-making. Thomas Bishop (Uni of Sydney)

4:55 pm - Drones and other technologies combining LiDAR, hyperspectral and high-resolution photography for direct use in field trials, scouting and validation of satellite data. William Salter (Uni of Sydney)

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Day 2 - Thursday 19 February 2026

Soils

Date: Thursday 19 February 2026

Time: 8:30am – 10:15am AEDT

Topics:

8:30 am – Lime impact on pulse performance & farming systems profit. Mark Richards (NSW DPIRD)

9:00 am - Options to increase soil organic carbon in grain production systems. Andrew Regan (UNE/CSIRO)

9:30 am - Tools and process to measure and respond to soil paddock variability. Stirling Roberton (CSIRO)

10:30 am - Panel discussion Mark Richards, Andrew Regan, Stirling Roberton

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Disease management

Date: Thursday 19 February 2026

Time: 10:45am – 12:30pm AEDT

Topics:

10:45 am – Cereal disease update and management considerations for 2026. Brad Baxter (NSW DPIRD)

11:15 am - Management impacts in SNSW from fungicide resistance to blackleg and sclerotinia. Angela van de Wouw (Uni of Melb)

11:40 am - With new decision support tools, can we make better disease management decisions in wheat? Tom Price (FAR Australia)

12:05 pm - Disease legacies from crop choice and in-paddock management including key diagnostic tools. Steven Simpfendorfer (NSW DPIRD)

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General plenary 2

Date: Thursday 19 February 2026

Time: 1:30pm – 3:00pm AEDT

Topics:

1:30 pm – Net zero and grain production - where are we now and what's coming? Richard Heath (Net zero emissions from Ag CRC)

2:00 pm - Automation and AI - whats coming and how will it change how we farm grain crops in Australia? Max Cusack (John Deere)

2:30 pm - AI in grAIns: Are the gains intelligent or artificial. Treen Swift (Nuffield scholar, Kebby & Watson)

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