The Liebe Group held its annual Trials Review Day in Dalwallinu on March 7, drawing in 45 local graingrowers and industry representatives for an afternoon of interactive presentations.
Nine concurrent sessions took place with expert industry representatives from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Elders Dalwallinu, Summit Fertilizers, Syngenta, CSBP, Bayer, the CBH Group and the CSIRO.
Liebe Group research and development co-ordinator Daenia Dundon shared the results of the risks and rewards of sowing canola early project in 2023 as part of the first concurrent session.
Liebe Group project officer Aeneva Poulish discussed the Grains Research and Development Corporation's RiskWi$e Project.
She also shared some of the results from the crop sequence x nitrogen strategy trial at Pithara.
The last concurrent session featured Liebe Group executive officer Chris O'Callaghan and local grower Dylan Hirsch presenting the results from the strip and disc trial at Latham.
The highlight of the afternoon was the weather insurance panel session, which featured three Liebe Group growers - Casey Shaw, Mr Hirsch and Stuart McAlpine.
Much like the focus of the RiskWi$e project, the weather insurance panel focused on identifying the risks and rewards to better inform growers in their decision-making processes.
The growers on the panel had all had experience in recent years using weather insurance products.
Perenjori farmer, Mr Shaw, explained they had used insurance when their business was exposed to extra financial risk.
"In our case, we were keen to look into something that could protect against that seasonal variability,'' Mr Shaw said.
"The first year we took it out, we had just purchased a farm, so with that financial risk, we wanted to make sure that we were protected in the event of a poor season."
It also became clear the situations where you can utilise weather insurance was wide and varied, with Buntine farmer Mr McAlpine indicating the ideal scenario was where you don't get a payout.
"I've taken out insurance twice and I've been unlucky enough to get a payout twice,'' Mr McAlpine said.
"Now that might sound a bit strange, but you're far better off if you don't get a payoff.
"The first thing you've got to understand, is that you're protecting the down side but you're always going to make more money if you don't get paid out."
Latham farmer Mr Hirsch said it had helped them mitigate the impact of climate change.
"The reason we have gone into weather insurance is all about climate change, we have got all these things that are changing our climate, and we are adjusting and managing it,'' Mr Hirsch said.
"We are doing things like responding to lower autumn rain and higher summer rain, but it is hard as we're getting more erratic seasons."
