There has been a lot of talk and promotion of harvest weed seed management to keep a lid on cropping weed numbers and when done properly it does work. Unfortunately it is human nature to hear the pieces of a message that appeals to us and we don’t give heed to the full story.

The burning of narrow windrows appears to fall into this category. Recently there have been some runaway fires which have damaged fences, stubble cover, dry pastures, remnant native bushland amongst other things. Luckily no one was injured or killed and livestock losses were also low. These incidents lead to difficult relations with neighbours and incur added costs and lost opportunities.

Stubble burnt from escaped burn. Loss of groundcover will create crop establishment problems with possible loss of crop yield.Sally Peltzer from the Department of Agriculture & Food WA has just put out a timely reminder in the latest edition of e-Weed of the do’s and don’ts of successful windrow burning.

Using the McArthur Fire Index, or if you are a hipster with an iPhone, the Pocketfire® app, are good places to start to tell you the conditions are suitable to get a good burn that kills weed seeds but can still be contained. Look at three and 10 day weather forecasts to get an idea of likely wind directions and speeds.

Remember basic fire safety. Never light fires alone and without fire fighting gear primed and ready.

Light the rows every 50 to 75 m depending on the conditions. Light into the breeze or have a cross breeze. Don’t light the up wind side and hope for the best.

Normally there is about a 3 hour optimum time every day to burn narrow windrows and aim to have them out by 10 pm. Check again next morning to put out any smouldering patches.

Burnt dry pasture could mean the need to hand feeding in a dry autumn and winter.

It is always interesting, for me at least, to have a close look at the vegetation when travelling, both around Australia and overseas. Guess it is my love of nature and the environment, plus living life as a scientist .

Last month I was working in northern South Africa for two weeks, then across to Botswana for two weeks of Safari.  This was our first time doing Safari and I will have to admit it was fantastic. Botswana has tourism down to a fine art and I highly recommend it as a safe and great destination. However I digress.Area of Botswana where we "safaried".

Between observing a fantastic variety African wildlife in their natural habitat I observed some very familiar plants. Both Australia and southern Africa have been busy exchanging native species that then become weeds in their adopted home.

The first was feathertop Rhodes grass (Chloris virgata) at Nxai Pan, which is becoming a major weed in northern New South Wales and Queensland. This was a minor part of the lush vegetation which would soon dry off and be eaten down to dust by the vast numbers of grazers who traverse the landscape.  It is interesting to note that one of its many common names in southern Africa is ‘Old land grass’, and it tend s to be found on heavily croChloris virgata at Nxai Pan.pped areas.

Some of the grazers at Nxai Pan.Next was a species of fleabane out in the wilds of the Okavango Delta. The area with the fleabane was soon to go underwater with the coming annual flood.  The plants looked like either Tall fleabane or Canadian fleabane, however the University of Pretoria’s Plant Science Herbarium lists 12 species. I know enough about plant taxonomy to know when I am beaten. Going down to species should often be left to the experts, and let them argue among themselves.Fleabane waiting for the Delta flood.

Flaxleaf fleabane is also major problem in horticulture in South Africa’s Western Cape, with populations resistant to both glyphosate and paraquat. So it isn’t just us having trouble with this species.

A week long workshop held in Polokwane and Thohoyandou, South Africa, last month has increased the communication and extension skills of the participants and helped the Limpopo Department of Agriculture re-focus some of their programs being delivered to their small holder farmers.

This was the final component of the University of New England’s delivery of the 2013 Australia Awards Africa Fellowship training for African Agriculturists in Water Harvesting & Small Scale Irrigation. The training consists of a five week training period in Australia followed by the one week training workshop in South Africa. There were a total of 27 participants from 14 countries across Africa. The participants came in two separate groups for the 5 week training in Australia while all participants attended the one week workshop in South Africa.Analysis of the field visits

The workshop aimed to expose the participants to a wide range of principles and examples of water use systems in small scale agriculture. The intention was to stimulate new ideas and cross-learning that will help participants identify planning and extension techniques and relevant technology that can be used in their country to enable a higher rate of adoption.

As part of the workshop we visited three communities and an independent farmer in the Vhembe district to see first hand the challenges and successes in improving food security and income for their families.

Chairman of the Palmary vill irrigation scheme sharing their successes and challenges with the participantsThe group looking at maize under a 'high tech' "floppy" irrigation scheme at Mbahela Cooperative. One participant identified Maize Lethal Necrosis in the crop. A new disease for South Africa.

The team in South Africa was made up of Joe Ramaru and Oliver Gundani from PICOTEAM Southern Africa, Peter Fitzgerald, University of New England, and myself.

A huge thank you goes out to Freddy Mudzielwana and his troops from the Limpopo Department of Agriculture for being so open and helpful, the communities of Palmary vill, Mbahela and Tshikonelo, along with independent farmer Elijah Mphaphuli for sharing their knowledge and experiences with us in such an generous way.

Tshikonelo farmer discusses how she harvests rainwater for growing vegetables during the dry winter months.

What is the truth and what is not? This question has been keeping philosophers busy for centuries.

In today's information saturated world it is getting harder and harder to know what is true and what is "spin". I read  an article yesterday claiming one of the world's largest media organisations is an ideological think tank that employs journalists. That is a fascinating way to think about the way media is run.

Therefore we need to be very critical of what we read and remember most media has bias, including many in agriculture and scientific fields. Much of this is driven by short term funding models which make it important "to be seen" and "be out there" so funding will be renewed.

The following link is to an fascinating interview the World Health Organisation conducted with Hans Rosling from Gapminder. He is a man that really knows how to interpret data and this interview give an insight into what is really happening in the health of people around the world and how the media fails to accurately report what is happening.

Read the interview here.