Foreword

The 20th Australian Agronomy Conference will be held in Toowoomba, Queensland between the 18th and 22nd of September 2022. The theme of the conference is “System Solutions for Complex Problems”. The theme underpins the need to strengthen collaborations between practitioners and researchers from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds to address increasingly complex problems and uncertainties. So, the question is not If, but when and how, multidisciplinary collaborations can be developed.

Here we argue that the sustainable intensification of food and fibre production systems face multiple challenging and complex problems and opportunities, requiring new more integrative science approaches and clearer pathways to impact. History supports the claim, as past gains in productivity have resulted from the interactive synergies from improvements in agronomy, breeding, and the cropping or farming system - and there is no reason to think that the future will be any different. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that – anywhere in the world - the large majority of the adaptations that have created significant gains in productivity have been system innovations. Examples include, the rapid adoption of stubble retention, fallow weeding, rotations with legumes, the use of multiple purpose crops, as well as changes in sowing windows with important impacts in cropping intensities. Therefore, at the 20th Australian Agronomy Conference we have proposed that agronomy and agricultural research in general, will increasingly require those cross-links between disciplines, system integrations, and participatory approaches as the underpinning principles of future sustainable gains in farm profitability.

The 20th Australian Agronomy Conference features leading international and national speakers addressing system approaches to foster soil biology for enduring profitability, carbon sequestration, herbicide resistance, and the interwoven relationships between food production, energy and the environment.

Agronomy Australia acknowledges and thanks our Conference Partners and sponsors who supported the conference. Their trust and endurance in times of COVID have made this conference possible.

Let me also mention that organising an international conference during a global pandemic was only possible thanks to the commitment of the organising team. Let me first thank the Executive Officer of the Australian Society of Agronomy Linda Benison, her experience made complex situations seem casual, these proceedings testify to that; published way ahead of the conference. The discussions at the Executive Committee with Barbara George-Jaegli, Lindsay Bell and Ben Biddulph were always enriching and augmenting. We are also indebted to the wider Organising Committee, and sub-committees with membership from all R&D providers across the Northern Grains Region including CSIRO, USQ, QUT, CQU, QDAF, NSW DPI and UQ. The team of Expert Events led by Lidia Dalton, and the help of Vanessa Wright and Zoe Keogh has been extremely professional and extremely patient and understanding to help us find ways around the pandemic. Thanks to you all.

Prof Daniel Rodriguez
President and Convenor of the 20th Australian Agronomy Conference 

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