Postdoctoral researcher at CSIRO with a GRDC ECR Fellowship. Trying to do agronomy like a physiologist and physiology like an agronomist.

Adelaide, South Australia
New (open-access) paper! I tried to figure out how to talk about pod-set in faba bean properly. Key takeaway: Interactions between pods are agronomically irrelevant except after stress that kills flowers/pods. Focus on crop growth from flowering! doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraf176
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One for the trial perfectionists! Precision planting without a small-plot precision seeder 🤤 Phillip Porter at Livyn Seeds can (very affordably) place your seeds in dissolvable tape at the desired spacing. livynseed.com.au/
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We know from theory that cereal crops should attain 95% light interception by flag leaf emergence to maximise their potential. In my post-doctoral fellowship funded by @theGRDC and @CSIRO, I'll validate, revise and/or qualify this target for southern Australia.
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Excited to unpack my PhD findings with growers! I aim to clarify what faba bean is doing so that we can make it do what we want it to do better. I'll also aim to use better sentences than that one.
🎤 Wimmera faba bean growers – don’t miss out! Join @trialsofJManson at March discussion groups as he unpacks ‘From Flower to Pod to Yield: What’s Holding Your Beans Back?’ 🌱 🔗 RSVP: surveymonkey.com/r/keenbeans #WimmeraBeans @jasonbrand @michaelmoodie @nickzordan @matthew_sparke
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Hey look what I found on Kangaroo Island
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We love the jacarandas in Adelaide. I love the opportunity to show how nearly all flowering plants overproduce and cull flowers, not just faba bean 😉🤓
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James Manson retweeted
Great turnout at our South Australia Crop Technology Centre field day today. Morning sessions provided some great insights into the canola and bean trials. Thanks to guest speakers Dr Angela van de Wouw of @UniMelb and James Manson from @UniofAdelaide for joining us to share their expertise. @Pooley_Nick_FAR @darcydww2 @Daniel_in_Ag @AaronVague @Blooming_fields @GRDCSouth @theGRDC @MacKillopGroup
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James Manson retweeted
REMINDER: THIS THURSDAY AT RENDELSHAM Register today: bit.ly/FAR_SACropTech_FD
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Can this be my thesis introduction?
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James Manson retweeted
Is it worth windrowing faba beans? Possibly. Much easier to pick timing compared with canola and the crop can be surprisingly green when ready. dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets…
Once all seeds have black line at hilum faba beans are ready to windrow. This sample a few days off. #easytopick http://t.co/InyxcwHhlv
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<insert cheeky comment about molecular biology here>
This is apparently a protein-protein interaction diagram... Published in 2024 by Elsevier's Journal of Agriculture and Food Research. doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2024.…
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James Manson retweeted
New Group 1 powerful chemistry coming to control FOP/DIM resistant grasses. It should be similarly very effective on ARG. 👍 @SyngentaANZ pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.102…
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Q: How has breeding changed Australian faba bean varieties? A: See our new paper! (and comments below) sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
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A (2/2): Yield hasn't increased across the collection, and seed number went down as size went up. To get more seeds, with same or bigger size, we need to increase harvest index and/or biomass somehow. Tackling GxE is also going to be important.
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Many thanks to supervisors and co-authors, including @SC_Catt, @Sara_N_Blake, @_mattdenton_ and @JasonBrand!
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James Manson retweeted
A picture is worth 1000 small plots?
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Short answer? Growers: Probably not. Researchers: Maybe. Everyone: Start with what happened during the critical period, then see if you need to account for additional, 'growth-independent' factors.
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A lot of people have done a lot of plant density trials for faba bean (myself included), so here we put them all together to see what we could learn. Open access! 1/4 sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
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This was my first first-author paper :D Thanks to my supervisors, @AgrifoodUoA and @theGRDC
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@tony_swan64 The final version is out :)
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