Stephen York from 7 Worlds Ag welcomed customers to the company’s trial site.
Field trials showing impressive control of broadleaf weeds in brassicas created strong interest among vegetable growers and advisers at the 2026 Victorian Vegetable Innovation Days (VicVID) hosted by Taranto Farms at Tyabb, Victoria, last month.
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On show for the first time, a new herbicide from 7 Worlds Ag showed excellent control of problem weeds such as fat hen, marshmallow, sow thistle, stinging nettle, common groundsel, chickweed, hairy nightshade and blackberry nightshade.
“Weeds like these are a headache for vegetable growers in cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, so our plots at VicVID created a lot of interest,” 7 Worlds Ag key account manager Will Jury says.
Will joined forces with the company’s R&D and technical manager, Orville Hildebrand, to organise the trials so growers could assess the results first-hand and share their feedback with the 7 Worlds Ag people on site at VicVID.
“The cold, wet conditions on May 6 and 7 led to a really good turn-out of growers, not just from local areas but from Tasmania, NSW, South Australia and New Zealand,” Will says.
“We were delighted by the level of interest shown by growers and how well the field days were organised,” he said.
The 7 Worlds Ag trials featured six different treatments in cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, testing the new herbicide post transplanting alone and in combination with a pre-emergent herbicide, S-metolachlor.
Two rates of the new herbicide were applied, reflecting low and high rates for the product label alongside untreated areas and allowing visitors to compare the overall weed control more thoroughly.
In planning the trials in the months before the field days, Orville Hildebrand said the trials aimed to do more than compare products and treatment rates.
“We also wanted growers and advisers to see how timing of application influences weed control and crop safety, a key consideration for growers that can limit the effectiveness of existing pre-emergent treatment options,” he says.
“This is where small changes in approach can impact overall control. This new herbicide under development has a later application window, allowing escape weeds to be controlled later than existing herbicides on the market.”
Recognising the significant pest and disease pressure that the trial crops would encounter in the weeks before the field days, field day organisers at the VicVID site used several other insecticides and fungicides from the 7 Worlds Ag range.
These included Clama 50C (emamectin benzoate) and Spinosec 240 (Spinosad) insecticides to manage diamondback moth and cabbage white butterfly, which can rapidly affect plant health and yield in brassicas.
The 7 Worlds Ag team, Niamh Turner, Will Jury, Orville Hildebrand and Ben Coombe.
Photo by
Laura Jayne Photography
The organisers also applied 7 Worlds Ag fungicides such as Fortuna Globe (mancozeb) to get on top of anthracnose, downy mildew and Alternaria, as well as Tribasic Liquid (tribasic copper sulphate) for downy mildew, to ensure the crops were in first-class condition for the field days.
Orville added he and Will received plenty of positive feedback at the field days from growers who appreciated there’s no substitute for looking at how herbicides perform in crops first-hand and sharing their observations and feedback with them.
“In coming months, we will also be sharing our insights from the field and what these mean in practice,” he says.
Will and Orville agreed VicVID 2026 proved to be among the best field days they have ever been involved in, bringing growers, researchers and industry suppliers together in a working farm environment to see a host of new developments.
“In the past two days, visitors had the opportunity to explore lots of trial plots in key crops, advanced seed genetics, crop protection and nutrition demonstrations, machinery and agtech displays, as well as meet with other growers, suppliers and researchers,” Will says.
“VicVID 2026 was a credit to Taranto Farms, the organisers and sponsors, and we’ll be back to support them again in the future.”
