Rural Focus 080323 with Craig White from Bayer

In this conversation, Troy interviews Craig White from Bayer. They discuss Bayer's investments in research and development, as well as the importance of using Bayer products for crop growth. They also mention specific products for disease control and weed elimination. Craig talks about their podcast and upcoming topics, including sprayers and application technology. He also provides contact information for Bayer's technical support. The conversation concludes with a reminder for farmers to get organized and visit the Bayer website for more information. It is Troy with Rural Focus, always nice to catch in with Craig White from Bayer. Let's do it. Good morning, mate. Good morning, mate. Great to be into another week in March already, mate. Gosh, the year's flying by. Absolutely, mate. How are things going with you and the team there at Bayer? Yeah, really good. It's been a great start to the year, lots of data crunching and making sense of last year's results still back in the last couple of months. We had our national technical review last couple of weeks ago. That was very interesting and some of the new projects as well and actually just the point there, Troy, to probably say just a general point is that Bayer global investment in research, development and discovery actually of new active ingredients is around two billion euros. It's a bit over three billion Australian dollars and pretty not insignificant. So just a reminder, when you do invest and trust in a Bayer product, about one in every ten dollars going back into that reinvestment for the future. So I think that's just the point that's important and yeah, there's lots of product choices but certainly we do invest a heck of a lot of money, time, energy to make sure Australia is right at the front of growing crops for a long, long, long time to come, Troy. Absolutely. I suppose now is the right time to get organised, mate, and get on in otherwise the growers around WA just might miss out a bit. Yeah, that's right. Getting on to things like seed prunes, what's going to be your disease program, planned program this year? I saw discussions being had and have been had with crop advisors everywhere but in the case of right now, Evergold Energy for those using it either in furrow, if you've got that system set up or applying it to seed, for rhizoctonia, crown rot and pythium and as well as smut diseases. So in the cereal crops, really important there. We'll team that up later on with Aviator X Pro, of course, which we'll talk about further on when there's actually a crop coming out of the ground or in the ground. And then, of course, knockdowns, obviously Roundup Ultramax being a really important part of that too. And I know just to call out that there's lots of really strong resources available. If you go to the crop.bayo.com.au website, there's a resources tab there. So you find the label safety data sheets really easily and if you just click on the little resources tab, there's a lot of information on how to optimise and get the best value out of the products and use them in the right place. And yeah, we're also approaching that time when crops will start going in, maybe later this month, a few early ones, but certainly in April, as we know, and the Matino Complete that we launched last year for broadleaf and grassweed control, both pre-emergence or post-emergence use for both crops. Now, last year, it was for wheat only post-emergence, early post-emergence, but the registration is now through and clear use forward for barley as well. And some really good tips on how to fine tune it and make sure you understand where it's got the best fit for your operations. So Evergold Energy on the seed, Roundup Ultramax for knockdown, anything that's there ahead of and Matino Complete to get rid of those pesty weeds, as we always say, and we'll talk about more. And we don't want to rob you of all that good effort that goes in, those early ones are the ones that really, really take it away from the end yield. So plenty of information from Bayer, of course, as always, Troy. Absolutely. And of course, your podcast is going gangbusters, mate. Yeah, that's right. We'll be recording another one. I was trying to actually get that done last week, late last week, but with some advisor meetings and the research updates, GRDC updates in Perth, we just didn't quite get around to it, all good intentions of doing that on the sidelines, but so many other side meetings and discussions, really good to catch up with a heap of people. And look, it was fantastic to see some growers at the research updates as well, that I hadn't actually seen for a long time in areas where I've worked in the past. It was really, really great to see their faces and reconnect a little bit. So fantastic. And thanks for coming up to us and having a chat. Those that are listening to this will know who you are and I really appreciate that, as always. But yeah, crop cast coming out soon, the Broadacre one and also doing the horticulture one as well. So if you're doing horticultural crop, that's a good one to listen out for. And we've got some really exciting topics to look at this year, including sprayers 101 and application technology and things like that we'll be bringing in there as well. All right. What else is happening with you and the team there at Bayer, mate? Oh, that's about it at the moment. I think that's plenty actually at the moment, Troy, so yeah, plenty going on. But yeah, please look at crop.bayer.com.au, good network of reps around the countryside and yeah, we've got a full, you know, everyone on board from Geraldton, Northampton, I suppose, right through to Aspen and everywhere in between. And of course, the technical support number, which is 1-800-804-479. People need that as well. And it's sort of very general inquiries, but they'll put you in touch with your nearest Bayer representative. Absolutely. So yes, if you're not organised as yet, farmers, get organised today and yeah, plan for your week and follow on everything else, so check out the Bayer website there today. Mate, always nice to chat on Rural Focus. Thanks for joining us and we'll chat again soon. Always a pleasure, Troy. We'll speak again very soon.