More than 300 farmers from across Australia have shared their thoughts on using Callisto pre-emergent herbicide, giving other cereal growers some points to weigh up in their own weed management programs.

Callisto was launched to support farmers with the management of hard-to-control broadleaf weeds in the pre-emergent window, usually when mixed with grass weed pre-emergents such as Boxer Gold.

Five years later, Callisto has found a welcome fit within many wheat, barley, oat and triticale programs, following widespread adoption and confidence with the technology.

Having heard many positives from the eld, it was evident growers across the country were experiencing benefits far beyond the management of broadleaf weeds with Callisto.

To create the definitive list of use cases, Syngenta recently invited farmers to describe which of the numerous benefits offered their enterprises the most value, for their chance to win one of three tool kits.

“We were blown away by the response,” Syngenta product lead Owen Langley says.

“We had a really hard time settling on three recipients for the Kincrome and Milwaukee tool kits.

“By sharing their experiences, other farmers can now look at their own weed management programs and talk to their agronomists about their needs.”

Here are the six use cases for Callisto herbicide in Australian cereal crops:

Residual activity: Up to 12-week residual activity is highly valued across all states.

Resistance management: Many respondents appreciate Callisto as a tool for managing herbicide-resistant weeds (Group 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 12 resistance).

Time and cost efficiency: Many value the potential to reduce the number of spray passes needed.

Flexibility: The ability to use Callisto in various crops – from wheat to barley, oats and triticale – combined with application timing flexibility, was considered a big plus. While offering an application rate range.

Early weed control: Removing early competition from hard to manage broadleaves, volunteer canola and pulses is seen as a significant benefit across states.

Compatibility: The ability to mix Callisto with other herbicides to cover both broadleaf and grass weeds early on, was frequently mentioned.

And the tool kit winners?

Here are their thoughts:

“Dropping out diuron, the residual 8-12 weeks with Callisto has been awesome as busy mixed farmers, having longer to apply an in-crop herbicide.” –Ben Creek, Mayanup, WA

“The early control of self-sown pulses and broadleaves allows more time to come back post-emergent, which is very valuable when planting a larger program.” –Joel Nield, Cleve, SA

“The extended control of broadleaves in our cereals allows us more time to get other in-crop spraying done on time. Fantastic results on volunteer legumes.” –Colin Gilmour, Donald, VIC.