Foreword

The 18th Australian Agronomy Conference, held in Ballarat, Victoria on 24-28 September 2017 had the theme “Doing more with less”. The conference organising committee chose this theme because maintaining international competitiveness of Australian agriculture requires continuous improvements in productivity, “Doing more with less”. Australian agricultural exports are worth over AUD$13.6 billion annually.

Agronomy is key to ensuring that farmland is productive across Australia’s diverse landscapes.  Innovation in machinery and precision technologies, plant species and varieties, soil and plant management allow the agronomist of today to successfully help agricultural producers thrive.  These innovations are timely as the world deals with increasingly variable climates, environmental degradation, and a more developed global community that requires more diverse products from agriculture.

Keynote presentations at the conference were made by Australian, New Zealand and Canadian speakers around the theme of “Doing more with less”.  In addition, 164 presentations in 28 concurrent sessions were made on cutting edge agronomic research.  All presenters prepared manuscripts for the conference proceedings and these are available on this website.

I also would like to acknowledge and thank our Conference Partner and sponsors who supported the conference.  Their financial contributions made the conference more affordable for delegates and ensured we could invite leading plenary speakers.

It is also important to recognise and thank those who organised the conference.  The Organising Committee led the process, and sub-committees with membership from Agriculture Victoria and industry supported them.  Liz Hafner, Conference Design Pty Ltd, Tasmania is thanked for her professional assistance in organising the conference. Linda Bennison, Executive Officer Agronomy Australia, is thanked for her valuable input into organising the conference and ensuring conference proceedings and these are available on this website.

Dr Chris Korte

President and Conference Convenor
Agronomy Australia

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