LANDCARE
IN FOCUS
2017 ANNUAL SPECIAL PUBLICATION
FARMING INNOVATION AND BEST
PRACTICE LAND MANAGEMENT
2
Fairfax Media Special Publication
Innovation the key to productivity
BY LUKE HARTSUYKER
ASSISTANT TO THE DEPUTY
PRIME MINISTER
THIS is an exciting time for
farming.
Innovative use of new
technologies, including
digital technology and
robotics, has the potential
to transform our farm
businesses and land
management practices.
We all know that
innovation is a key driver
for productivity and
profitability in agriculture,
but what many people
might not realise is that
innovation in the agriculture
sector also delivers
significant environmental
and sustainability benefits.
In fact, as Landcarers
know, long-term
productivity and
profitability are inextricably
linked with sustainable land
management practices, and
how we manage our soils,
water and vegetation.
For example, precision
agriculture has the potential
to deliver significant benefits
not only for agricultural
productivity and profitability,
but also supports sustainable
farming practices.
Precision farm
management tools and
systems can provide
information at the field,
paddock or block level to
help optimise and minimise
inputs such as water,
fertilisers and pesticides.
This can help ensure that
inputs are used efficiently,
and allows for targeted
management of issues such
as nitrogen pollution and
soil fertility.
Precision agriculture can
further support sustainable
land management by
providing information that
allows farmers to match land
use and land capability.
This means farmers can
maximise profitability in
the productive parts of their
farms, while conserving
biodiversity and the natural
resource base in less
productive areas.
Many Landcarers will
already be familiar with the
CSIRO’s exciting work in this
space, including through
a $1.5 million grant under
the National Landcare
Programme to develop an
interactive system that will
give farmers near real-time
information about their farms.
This will help farmers
examine options for different
crop varieties and soil inputs
needed to make the most of
the soil moisture available
for their coming season.
This government is
committed to ensuring
that our farmers and land
managers can make the
most of the opportunities
presented by the digital age
and new technologies.
That is why, in
partnership with industry,
we invest heavily in rural
research and development,
to support the kind of
innovation that keeps our
soils, water and vegetation
healthy, productive and
sustainable.
For example, Horticulture
Innovation Australia has
helped develop an in-field
robot dubbed the Ladybird,
which provides intelligence
on pests, crop nutrition
and forecasts—meaning
growers can minimise and
better target their inputs for
maximum efficiency.
They are also partnering
with the University of Sydney
as part of the Horticulture
Innovation Centre for
Robotics and Intelligent
Systems (HICRIS)—
Australia’s first horticultural
robotics learning and
development hub.
In the dairy industry,
Dairy Australia’s Fert$mart
initiative is helping farmers
harness information about
soil condition and nutrient
loads to use fertilisers more
efficiently and judiciously,
reducing nutrient runoff
from their farms while
maximising pasture growth.
As a result of RD and E
by the Cotton Research and
Development Corporation,
Australia’s cotton industry
has adopted innovative
water use efficiency
improvements including infield moisture monitoring,
field and irrigation system
design, scheduling
technology, soil health
improvements and other
irrigation techniques.
Over the past 10 years,
these innovations have
allowed the industry
to increase water use
efficiency by 40 percent and
transform to grow more
than three times the world
average yield per hectare.
Of course, the
opportunities presented
by new technologies and
‘big data’ are impossible to
realise on the land without
the digital infrastructure
needed to unlock their full
potential.
The government is
investing $29.5 billion
towards delivering
Australia’s first national
broadband network to all
Australians, including those
on the land, and we are also
improving mobile phone
and wireless broadband
coverage and competition
in regional Australia
through the Mobile Black
Spot Programme.
Luke Hartsuyker MP.
We will continue to
work with you to ensure
that Australia’s farmers
and others who care for
our land can unlock the
benefits of innovative new
ideas and technologies, and
realise the opportunities
presented by this exciting
digital age.
Important role in sustainable land management
BY LANDCARE AUSTRALIA CEO,
TESSA JAKSZEWICZ
Landcare Australia CEO, Tessa Jakszewicz.
OUR 2017 annual special
publication has arrived, and I
hope you’ll find this technical
supplement a useful and
interesting addition to
our quarterly Landcare in
Focus publication.
This year’s theme is
‘Farming Innovation
and Best Practice Land
Management’.
Landcare plays an
important role in both
facilitating innovation,
as well as encouraging
adoption across farms.
Landcare Australia
supports this rapid adoption
of farming innovation
through our promotional
and educational activities,
such as the biennial National
Landcare Conference and
Awards, and publications
such as this one.
Australian farmers are
continuing to adapt to a
changing and challenging
environment, taking into
consideration seasonal
variability and consumer
and market-led demands.
Landcarers have an
important role in helping
to share information on
successful innovations,
coming together and
exchanging knowledge
so that all can benefit
from these new ideas that
address farming challenges
and land management.
Many Australian farmers
recognise the importance
of integrating biodiversity
and sound environmental
management into their
production areas, and
Landcare groups are leading
the way in many areas.
In this special edition
you’ll hear from Landcare
groups, researchers from
organisations including
CSIRO, the Australian
government, industry
leaders, forward-thinkers,
Indigenous groups,
and others.
You’ll learn about new
technology being adapted
into land management
practices, innovation in
weed control, soil health
and much more.
I would also like to
thank the Australian
government Department
of Agriculture and Water
Resources for their
continued financial support
of Landcare in Focus.
If you have any
feedback on this or any
edition, please email
[email protected].
Fairfax Media Special Publication 3
Innovative Landcarer
helps others adopt
sustainable farms
BY CHRISTOPHER GILLIES
SINCE winning the 2014
Bob Hawke Landcare
Australia Award, Colin Seis
has continued his work in
regenerating and sustaining
farming systems.
Invited by Landcare
groups across the country,
he has held workshops to
teach farmers and land
manager the techniques he
has adopted to successfully
repair and sustain the land.
“It’s been a great
opportunity to show farmers
how they can implement
principles that work with
the environment, and not
against it,” Colin said.
A key part of Colin’s
work is the development
of a cropping system that
takes advantage of native
pastures growth period
with winter crops.
The system involves
sowing of a single crop
species, like wheat, into
perennial grassland or
pastures.
Colin said his pasture
cropping system works
because native pastures grow
during summer months and
go dormant over winter.
This creates a system
for livestock to graze over
the summer, and as the
months cool and grass goes
dormant, the winter crop
grows and is harvested
before summer returns.
Colin has also travelled
overseas to provide
workshops.
To date, more than
1.2 million hectares of
farmland are adopting his
techniques around the world.
He said more farmers
are adopting a sustainable
approach, because they
could see the damage
done by using techniques
that didn’t fit with the
Australian environment
and the cost of chemicals
and inputs was becoming
too expensive.
Colin believes farmers
looking at ways to repair
their soils and adopt a
sustainable approach
should start from grassroots
and let nature take the lead.
“Plants - plant lots of
perennial plants,” Colin said.
Colin’s work is the
development of a
cropping system that
takes advantage of natural
pasture growth.
“Doing this repairs the
soil, that in turns cycles
nutrients, and are taken up
by crops and pastures.”
Colin is working on
pasture cropping further by
using multiple species.
This ‘multi species
pasture cropping’ uses
plants that grow good
quality forage, have a range
of different root systems
and will add organic matter
to the soil.
2014 Bob Hawke Landcare
Australia Award winner
Colin Seis is continuing
his work in farm
sustainability.
Later this year Colin
will be releasing his book
‘Regeneration’ that covers
his land management
techniques.
Scanning beyond the horizon
THINKING about the forces
likely to shape the future
helps us make decisions for
our industries to prosper as
the world around us changes.
Recent analysis by the
Australian Bureau for
Agricultural and Resource
Economics and Sciences
(ABARES) found that five key
factors will shape the future
of Australia’s farming sector:
markets, technology, society’s
expectations, climate change
and structural adjustment.
Markets for agricultural
products will change as
demand increases, particularly
in the developed world, and as
new competitors emerge.
More trade will mean the
risk of biosecurity incursions
will grow, and we will need
to adapt accordingly.
Domestically, production
will be affected by increased
competition for land, water,
labour and capital.
New technologies will
transform the nature of
farming.
Improved genetics,
machinery and chemicals will
be critical, and the importance
of tools for collecting and
analysing data will grow.
Changing social views
around issues such as
animal welfare, use of
chemicals and genetic
modification will continue to
drive changes in production
practices and technology.
Climate change will
alter the environment
faced by Australian farmers
and this will lead to
changes in how and where
agriculture happens.
Climate change may
also heighten the risk of
pests and diseases entering
Australia which will affect
how we manage biosecurity.
The structure of
Australian agriculture
is predicted to continue
changing in the direction of
fewer and larger farms.
Nonetheless, small and
medium-sized farms will
remain common in many
regions, just as they are now.
So, what do these
trends mean for Australian
farmers and governments?
“For farmers, the key
will be to keep improving
productivity, since this
is the main way they will
remain competitive in global
markets,” deputy secretary of
the Department of Agriculture
and Water Resources,
Lyn O’Connell said.
“This will mean
adopting new technologies,
changing practices and
learning new skills.
“Governments can assist
the sector by facilitating
incremental productivity
improvement, most
importantly by investing in
research and development
and ensuring that regulation
creates as few restrictions
and costs as possible, and
by maintaining a strong
biosecurity system.
“Our department will
continue to track trends in
the agriculture sector and will
make its predictions available
to the agricultural industry
through articles, such as this
story, seminars and panel
discussions,” she said.
Smart biosecurity investment makes good economic sense
THE famous adage
‘prevention is better than
cure’ is a cornerstone mantra
when it comes to biosecurity.
Not only is this
approach far more cost
effective for the agricultural
industry and broader
community, it enhances
this country’s reputation as
a clean, green exporter of
agricultural produce.
This tried-and-true
approach was enhanced by
two important biosecurity
initiatives announced by
the Australian Government
recently.
Late last year, the
Australian Government
invested $500,000 in proactive Foot and Mouth
Disease (FMD) training in
Nepal – a country where
FMD is endemic – and a
further $100,000 for better
brucellosis testing.
“A large outbreak of
FMD is estimated to
cost Australia more than
$50 billion over 10 years,”
Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister for Agriculture
and Water Resources,
Barnaby Joyce, said.
“Australia has an
internationally recognised
capability to deal quickly and
effectively with emergency
animal disease outbreaks.
“Training industry
members in Nepal is
vitally important to equip
participants with the skills
and experience to recognise
and report FMD symptoms
and ensure we can act as
quickly as possible should
the need ever arise in this
country,” he said.
Australia has been free
from bovine brucellosis –
caused by Bovine Brucella
abortus – since 1989.
As a result, the
Australian livestock
industry has benefited
from the eradication
of B. abortus through
increased production
yields as well as the
opening of export
market opportunities
into countries such
as Indonesia.
“Australia has been free
from Brucella abortus for
over two decades, which
is essential to negotiations
for our livestock exports,”
Mr Joyce said.
The $100,000 will
go to the CSIRO’s
Australian Animal
Health Laboratory to
develop diagnostic
tests that can better
differentiate between
Brucella abortus and
Brucella suis – the latter
being present in some
feral pig populations
in Queensland and
northern NSW.
“Development of better
diagnostics represents a
strategic investment in the
system that underpins our
agricultural productivity,”
Mr Joyce said.
“It is vital that we
continue to improve our
ability to understand,
detect and respond to
pests and diseases –
such as Bovine Brucella
abortus – that could
hurt our farmers, rural
communities, agricultural
productivity and the
national economy.”
4
Fairfax Media Special Publication
Seaweed solves gas output
FEEDING livestock
algae-based foods might
help Australia reduce its
methane emissions.
The development of
algae based functional
foods for reducing enteric
methane emissions
project, funded through the
Filling the Research Gap
programme and conducted
by CSIRO in collaboration
with Meat and Livestock
Australia, showed that
feeding livestock red
macro-algae has the
potential to maintain
or increase productivity
while reducing methane
emissions.
The project, which
ran from 2012 to 2015,
evaluated the potential of
up to 20 different kinds
of algae for their nutritive
value and for their effect
on reducing methane
emissions in beef cattle.
For species of algae
that showed strong
potential, the project
undertook a more detailed
analysis to identify the
precise quantities and
combinations required to
achieve specific levels of
methane reduction, while
maintaining the efficiency
of feed utilisation.
Methane in the
atmosphere is a potent
greenhouse gas with
a global warming
potential 25 times that
of carbon dioxide.
Agriculture and waste
management combined
account for 62 per cent
of global anthropogenic
methane emissions,
and ruminant enteric
fermentation is responsible
for 58pc of the agriculture
contribution.
“In Australia,
contribution of methane
from ruminant livestock is
approaching 10pc of total
greenhouse emissions,”
research scientist and
project leader, Dr Nigel
Tomkins said.
“These levels have
invoked a universal effort
to reduce emissions from
ruminant agriculture
and one of the identified
processes to manage
enteric methanogenesis is
through feed modification.”
Experiments in cattle
and sheep have shown
that feeding dried and
ground preparations of the
species red macro-algae
(Asparagopsis taxiformis)
reduced emissions by up
to 60pc.
Total feed intake was
not significantly affected
and in some cases
actually increased.
“The red algae appears to
change the concentration
of short-chain fatty acids in
the rumen, which provides
an alternative sink for
hydrogen – a key element
in methane production,”
Dr Tomkins said.
“There is potential
for red algae to have a
major role in reducing
methane emissions
across all Australian
livestock industries.
“However, at present,
production costs are high
and availability is limited.
“Work is under way to
develop commercially
viable production
systems, potentially in
conjunction with marine
Asparagopsis taxiformis
is grown at a small
scale at the Centre for
Macroalgal Resources and
Biotechnology JCU.
CSIRO Staff and JCU PhD
student Lorenna Machado
prepare an experiment
in vitro.
aquaculture operations,
which would have the
added benefit of reducing
pollution.
“If production costs of
red algae can be reduced,
this practice would be
profitable for many
producers.”
A batch culture approach
in the laboratory is
first used to assess
the potential of algae
to inhibit methane
production in vitro.
Native species delivering sustainable farming
BY CHRISTOPHER GILLIES
PLANTING green belts
and using a targeted
approach to spraying
crops allowed cotton and
grain grower Andrew
Watson to substantially
cut down on pesticides
on his property in
Boggabri, NSW.
Andrew did it with
the help of native birds,
bats, and beneficials
(insects that perform
valued services like
pollination and pest
control) who have made
a home in the property’s
green belts, and in turn
are feasting on insect
pests in the crops.
The motivation toward
this shift began 25 years
ago when the family
noticed the erosion
around the riverbanks
caused by livestock and
non-native willow trees,
and a need to create
buffer zones around the
river to prevent spray drift
impacting water quality.
Harvester returns from a sweep through the cotton, the webs
show the spiders are thriving amongst the cotton plants.
To overcome these
problems, Andrew’s
mother and the family got
involved with Landcare
Australia to undertake the
work needed.
This included
fencing off the riverbank,
pulling out willow trees,
creating groins to slow
the flow of the river,
and replanting native
trees and plants along
the banks.
With the newly
revegetated sections
established, the birds,
bats and beneficial insects
returned to the property.
The family started
measuring the impact the
beneficials had on insect
pests.
Some bat species alone
eat their weight in insects
every night.
The appetite of the bats,
and other beneficials,
encouraged Andrew to
research further to see
how he could roll this out
across the property.
Adding to the
revegetated sections of
the river, the Watsons
planted green belts
around paddocks, linking
up areas of remnant
vegetation.
This linking of the
greenbelts meant
the beneficials could
easily move across the
property, especially
important for small
birds that like to be near
shelter to avoid large
predatory birds.
Creating the right
environment is vital
for creating the habitat
needed for the beneficials
to build up a strong
population.
In addition, planting
diverse winter and
summer crops meant the
beneficials could move
to one crop as the other
came off.
Proof the beneficial
insects move into crops
can be seen during cotton
harvest, when Andrew’s
harvester is covered in
spider webs.
Andrew said he
found that a lot of his
research and trialling led
to outcomes he did not
expect, and taught him
something new.
He also said it
proved sustainable land
management could
deliver outcomes that
were desirable.
It encouraged him to
look at farm practices
that worked in with the
greenbelts.
The Watson family have
also adopted alternative
strategies to managing
pests, such as using
overhead irrigation to
wash off the honeydew left
by aphids.
The honeydew cuts
down the quality of the
cotton, but he’s found with
10ml of rain or irrigation
water, the honeydew is
washed off without the
need for chemical sprays.
Andrew said as part
of their shift to sustainable
practices they have tried to
use the softest pesticides
(on beneficials) for the
times when spraying
is needed.
He has also taken a
targeted approach so
only the sections that will
have the most impact are
sprayed.
When combining all
these practices, Andrew
has virtually cut out the
use of insecticide sprays on
the farm.
When spraying is
required, it is sometimes
targeted only to the field’s
perimeter as some pests do
not tend to move into the
middle.
The outcome for
property has not only been
better for the environment,
but also for the profitability
of the operation.
Alongside using
Bollguard (genetically
modified) cotton, he
has only had to spray
five out of 40 fields once
since 2006.
Andrew said by
replanting native trees and
encouraging beneficial
birds, bats and insects,
he has been able to
have a positive impact
on his property and the
community, thanks to the
significant reduction in
pesticide used.
Fairfax Media Special Publication
5
Managing the fire recovery process
BY THE BAROSSA IMPROVED
GRAZING GROUP
AN extensive monitoring
program, native plant
identification, and soil
testing has helped producers
across Eden Valley, Hutton
Vale, and areas near the
Barossa Valley in South
Australia recover and
sustainably manage native
grass pastures that are
critical within their livestock
grazing systems.
In 2014, areas of the
eastern Mount Lofty Ranges,
near the Barossa Valley,
burned in two separate fires.
The Eden Valley fire
occurred in January
and burned over 24,000
hectares between Eden
Valley and Truro.
The following December,
the Hutton Vale fire burned
1,400ha east of Angaston.
The majority of the
areas burned were native
pastures, made up of a range
of species including native
perennials, legumes, and
other plants, which play a
crucial role within the local
livestock grazing system.
Producers rely on these
low input pastures to
provide feed through the
winter and spring, utilise
summer rainfall, increase
ground cover, and enhance
local biodiversity.
A community recovering
from a major bushfire
requires immediate and
ongoing support.
After the immediate
response, which generally
included destocking their
pastures, producers needed
to focus their attention
on ensuring their native
pastures returned to
productive potential.
The Barossa Improved
Grazing Group (BIGG),
in a project sponsored by
Natural Resources Adelaide,
Mount Lofty Ranges and
Natural Resources SA
Murray Darling Basin,
helped producers monitor
their pasture recovery while
helping to match it to their
livestock requirements.
Monitoring sites were
selected so that burned
pasture performance could
be compared side-by-side
with unburned pasture.
In addition, a site which
had been burned twice was
monitored to compare the
effects on recovery.
For one year after the
fire, all producers rested the
pastures, which resulted in
a 90 per cent recovery of the
native grass varieties, many
of which regenerated directly
from the burned plants.
However, the burned
areas still had significantly
more bare ground than
the unburned, with the
burned area peaking at
23pc bare ground in March
2015, compared to 15 in the
unburned area.
The production was also
three times lower in the
burned areas compared
with the unburned areas.
The second year proved
more difficult when it was
critical to manage grazing
to allow the pastures to
fully recover.
This was particularly
important in the paddocks
that were partially burned
because the feed quality
of the burned native grass
was much higher than the
unburned, due to fresh
growth compared to the
old unburned plants that
have a mix of dead leaf and
fresh leaf.
When the monitoring
sites were grazed, the
livestock selectively grazed
on the higher quality
regrowth compared
to unburned dry
native grasses.
They had to be moved
out of the paddock once the
burned area of the paddock
reached 1000kg/DM/
ha, the benchmark set to
promote recovery.
Daniel Schuppan and Nicola Barnes, from Natural
Resources SAMDB, monitoring pastures following the
2014 Eden Valley bushfires.
Three years after the
fire, the native grass
composition of the pasture
is comparable to the
unburned monitoring
sites, demonstrating
the resilience of these
native varieties.
However, the overall
pasture production in the
burned areas are still one
third less kilograms of dry
matter per hectare.
In addition, the area
burned twice is producing
half that of the area only
burned once.
These results indicate that
the recovery process after
fire takes much longer than
the anticipated two years,
and that careful grazing
management involving
strategic grazing to allow
seed set and promote growth
is critical for the restoration
and continued production of
native pastures.
Visit
www.biggroup.org.au.
Mallee variable fertiliser rates under scrutiny
BY THE BIRCHIP CROPPING
GROUP
APPLYING farm fertilisers
to match crop variability
can have significant
environmental and
economic benefits, but
only when the approach
is right for the season and
the paddock.
These were some of the
take-home messages from
the first year of Birchip
Cropping Group (BCG) field
trials examining variable
rate application (VRA) of
fertilisers on a commercial
paddock scale in Victoria.
VRA refers to the
application of different
rates and/or types of
fertilisers according to a
pre-set paddock map that
outlines different zones
within the paddock.
The objective is to
optimise economic and
management outcomes by
more efficiently targeting
Drones are one of the new tools that are being used to
examine variable rate cropping systems in the Mallee.
fertiliser rates, rather than
the traditional ‘blanket’
application approach.
The study, funded by
a Williamson Foundation
Scholarship and the
Telematics Trust, used
replicated test strips to
assess the performance of
an existing VRA system.
This involved different
fertiliser treatments being
applied in strips (about one
kilometre long) within a
wheat paddock.
The trial then compared
the performance of the crop
when grown with a fixed or
variable rates of fertiliser, or
with no fertiliser, taking into
consideration the cost of
each practice.
A paddock-scale
approach was used to keep
the research practically
relevant to growers.
The methodology also
allowed researchers to
explore and demonstrate
the value of modern
precision agriculture
(PA) technologies such as
drones to both farmers and
agricultural researchers.
BCG researcher Cameron
Taylor said although VRA had
been around for a while, and
had proven benefits in the
right locations, it was yet to
achieve widespread adoption.
“Many growers are
interested in VRA, but are
held back by uncertainty
around how to effectively
set up their zones and
rates,” Cameron said.
“Similarly, modern
technologies such as drones
could have great potential
for broadacre agriculture,
but exactly what they can
do, how well it works and
how much it costs, is not
widely understood.”
By comparing
neighbouring test strips
with zero and fixed rates of
fertiliser, researchers were
able to assess how well the
existing zones and rates were
capturing and reflecting
the underlying variability in
nutrient response across the
paddock.
NDVI (normalised
difference vegetative index)
imagery collected over the
season (which measures
‘greenness’) and yield maps
revealed variation that
generally corresponded
to changes in landscape
and soil type, but showed
that the farmer’s current
VRA practice may need to
be refined to capture and
manage it effectively.
The study also
reinforced the importance
of understanding the
underlying causes of
paddock variability
when setting up effective
management zones
and rates.
Cameron said it was
important to remember
2016 was an exceptional
season (decile nine rainfall),
and general conclusions
could not be made based on
just one year of results.
“Our findings, in terms
of where things needed to
change, and what might
improve the system, were
generally in line with what
the farmer had observed
over time,” he said.
“The technologies that
we worked with showed real
potential to help growers
implement VRA effectively,
but we also experienced
first-hand the practical
limitations such as drone
battery life that become
more relevant in a large-scale
broadacre environment.
“Ultimately, technology
doesn’t replace a good farmer,
but can give them new tools
for better management.”
The research will
continue to investigate the
performance of VRA over
the long term, and show
alternative techniques
that can be used to define
management zones and rates.
The 2016 BCG Research
Results compendium has a
full report of the trial findings.
Contact Sebastian Ie on
(03) 5492 2787.
6
Fairfax Media Special Publication
Traditional Aboriginal burning
in modern day land management
BY CHRISTOPHER GILLIES
FOR MORE than
50,000 years, Australia’s
Indigenous community
cared for country by
using land management
that worked with the
environment.
Using traditional
burning, fishing traps,
and sowing and storing
plants, they were able to
create a system that was
sustainable and supplied
them with the food they
needed.
When Europeans
arrived, they brought
farming practices suited
to an environment very
different to Australia, that
in the long-term caused
erosion and salinity.
While many historical
European accounts
of Indigenous land
management have faded,
today there is a shift to
recognise that Indigenous
people had sophisticated
sustainable agricultural
systems.
There is growing
adoption of these practices
to repair the damage done
by European farming.
One example gaining
traction is the use of
traditional Aboriginal fire
management.
Indigenous communities
used fire across Australia,
and in some areas this
created expansive grassland
on good soils that in turn
encouraged kangaroos
to come and were later
hunted for food.
Historians and
researchers believe
selecting what areas to
burn, when, and how often,
was part of Indigenous
knowledge of the land.
The result was a
mosaic of trees and
grasslands that meant
the highly combustible
Eucalyptus forests were
not likely to create
intense bushfires.
With the arrival of
Europeans, much of this
practice has given way as
fire became feared rather
than harnessed as a tool to
manage the scrub.
The result was the
grass plains gave way to
thick scrub and bushland
that was prone to intense
bushfires.
Australian National
University professor Bill
Gammage, an expert of
traditional Aboriginal
burning, told Landcare
in Focus the use of fire
could be adopted across
the country and used for a
variety of land management
problems.
“Fire can be used for
one of three outcomes,” Bill
said.
“The first, to encourage
native grasses to regenerate
and produce new feed, the
second to reduce scrub
and fuel to prevent intense
bushfires, and thirdly to
promote biodiversity.”
It is already in extensive
use across the country, but
particularly in the north
where native grasses grow
more vigorously in summer
and need to be controlled,
and where Indigenous
communities actively
manage the land.
“On public land,
national parks and public
reserves and larger pastoral
land it could be applied
very effectively,” Bill said.
Indigenous land management included using fire to regenerate flora.
“Aboriginal people
would apply it to very small
areas if necessary, like back
burning along creek front
or pushing back bush in
grassland.”
He also said land
managers need to
understand how plants
relate to fire and that this
was local knowledge.
The type and timing of
fire was dependent on the
season and location.
This was important,
particularly in the north
where grasses dry out
and a fire would be
uncontrollable.
Bill said fire was used
at a time following the wet
season while the grasses
and soil was still damp.
Across Australia there
are a number of groups
that work with farmers and
Indigenous people and
encourage them to work
together to share knowledge
and manage the land.
Some of these
groups include Local
Land Management,
the Aboriginal Land
Management Councils, and
Landcare groups.
These groups encourage
farmers and Indigenous
people to work together to
adopt land management
practices closer to those
used by Australia’s first
inhabitants.
While the use of fire
is not the only tool, it
is one the Indigenous
community can share.
More Kakadu plums a win for everyone
BY TERRITORY NATURAL
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
IN THE Northern
Territory’s top end,
harvesting Kakadu plums
(Terminalia ferdinandiana)
has always been popular.
Long prized by
Indigenous people for their
nutritional and healing
properties, people who
can’t pick their own bush
food are also developing a
taste for it.
Their demand for the
fruit, which is packed with
vitamin C, antioxidants,
lutein, folate, zinc,
magnesium, and calcium
Thamarrurr Rangers Maureen Simon and Angus Melpi
with re-sprouted Kakadu Plum tree.
has the aroma of stewed
apples and pears, and is
increasingly sought after by
Australian businesses.
In the Thamarrurr
region, nine hours’
from south-west
Darwin, Wadeye
community members
quickly realised
becoming a commercial
supplier could be
profitable, but also
came with risks.
Some were concerned
that heavy handed
harvesting could damage
healthy trees, while others
questioned how they could
move from harvesting for
local consumption to bigger
scale activities.
With over 100 Wadeye
community members and
their families involved in
the annual harvesting of
plums, the stakes were high.
With funding from the
Australian Government’s
National Landcare
Programme, Territory
Natural Resource
Management partnered
with the Thamarrurr
Rangers and local firm
EcOz Environmental
Consultants to help find a
way to grow the industry
sustainably.
Community members
were involved in
researching the effects of
poor harvesting techniques.
A video about the
Kakadu plum story and how
to avoid issues that can arise
from poor harvest practices
was produced, while a
monitoring system was put
in place to stop pickers from
damaging trees.
With the new system in
place, 157 pickers completed
the induction course and
harvested 5.4 tonnes of
Kakadu plums in 2016.
While the majority
of pickers followed
best practice protocols,
where damage did occur,
Traditional Owners
asserted their rights to close
some areas.
Wadeye community
members have praised
the program which
now earns money for
purposeful work and lets
them share knowledge
among family members
who go picking together.
■ Visit
www.territorynrm.org.au/
projects.
Fairfax Media Special Publication
7
Dairy farmers smarter about soil health and fertiliser
KATE KIRK suspected
too much fertiliser was
being used on the Loch
dairy farm she runs with
her husband, Jason, but
proving it was difficult until
she completed a Dairy
Australia Fert$mart course.
The farm’s paddocks had
always received plenty of
fertiliser to capitalise on
the high rainfall and strong
growth rates of the area.
But, Kate wondered
about the effectiveness of
the fertiliser regime and
was determined to put
some science behind the
farm system.
“I knew we used a lot, but
I didn’t think it was my place
to say anything when I really
didn’t know what I was
talking about,” Kate said.
Her first step was to
join a Fert$mart program
that was being run in her
local district.
Fert$mart was
developed by Dairy
Australia to provide
dairy farmers with
appropriate knowledge
and support to make good
decisions about fertiliser
application, and reduce
nutrient runoff from their
farms while maximising
pasture growth.
Fert$mart offers easyto-follow planning steps to
guide farmers and advisors
in their decision-making.
The Fert$mart planning
cycle begins with a
situation analysis, followed
by a management plan,
and then implementation
of the plan.
Loch dairy farmer, Kate Kirk.
Ongoing monitoring and
review are key components
of the cycle.
More than 500 Australian
dairy farmers – approximately
10 percent of the industry
– have participated in
Fert$mart programs.
Independent evaluation
found more than 80 percent
of interviewed farmers said
Fert$mart changed their
attitude towards nutrient
management.
This was typically done
by making them more
conscious of nutrient loads
and only applying fertiliser
where it’s needed.
All participants reported
intention to monitor
nutrients into the future.
The basic doctrine
of Fert$mart is that, by
getting soil and fertiliser
management ‘right’,
farmers should be able to
produce more feed at no
extra cost.
Having done the
Fert$mart course, Kate
was able to identify where
the farm’s fertiliser regime
was effective and where
it was a waste of time
and money.
Effective effluent use
is a key component of the
Fert$mart program, with
the Kirk’s seeing solid
results from this.
Kate said increasing
the use of their effluent
on paddocks had reduced
fertiliser applications, which
could then be utilised on
areas of the farm that were
not performing so well.
“It was a good way to
move the nutrients to
where they need to be
rather than just putting
on the same thing
everywhere,” Kate said.
“We also used lime
instead of the fertiliser to
neutralise some of the pH
levels which has given us a lot
more grass on paddocks that
were not working as well.”
Efficient nutrient use
is becoming increasingly
important to dairy farmers
as margins are squeezed
from every direction.
Pasture production
depends on sound use of
nutrients.
If best results are to be
achieved from fertiliser, it
is important to understand
soil conditions and identify
the constraints that could
be limiting production.
It is a win-win when
farmers can improve their
business outcomes while
reducing the environmental
effects of fertiliser applications.
Visit www.fertsmart.
dairyingfortomorrow.
com.au.
Buffel grass management in the
Alinytjara Wilurara Region
BY NATURAL RESOURCES
ALINYTJARA WILURARA.
INITIALLY introduced into
central and northern Australia
for pasture improvement
and dust control, buffel grass
(Cenchrus ciliaris) continues
to spread across the northern
deserts of South Australia,
transforming the landscape
and impacting heavily on
biodiversity.
For Aboriginal people
who have lived in these
regions for countless
generations, this invasion is
deeply concerning.
Although buffel grass
is widely considered
the species of choice by
pastoralists because of its
wide adaptation ability and
tolerance of drought, fire
and overgrazing, it is also
an aggressive coloniser
and was declared a weed
by the South Australian
government in 2015.
Curtailing its spread has
become a key objective
of the Department of
Environment, Water
and Natural Resources’
(DEWNR) Alinytjara
Wilurara (“north-west”
in Pitjantjatjara) Natural
Resources Management
(AW NRM) Board.
Spanning more than
250,000 square kilometres,
the AW NRM Region
covers over a quarter
of SA including a large
proportion of the Great
Victoria Desert (GVD).
Despite bordering the
Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara Lands,
where buffel grass is
thought to be irrevocably
established, outbreaks
within the GVD have been
limited to a few isolated
locations.
Trains travelling east
to west along the TransAustralian Railway line
inadvertently carry and
distribute buffel grass
seed from infested areas
to relatively untouched
landscapes in the AW region.
This necessitates
constant monitoring and
management of outbreaks
occurring along the railway
tracks and verges.
Natural Resources
Alinytjara Wilurara, in
supporting the AW NRM
Board, delivers hands-on
training for community
members to support them
in effectively monitoring
and destroying buffel
grass while maintaining
best practices in land
management.
These management
strategies are particularly
relevant at a local level where
it causes significant loss
of native flora and fauna,
and negatively impacts
on Indigenous cultural
practices, including hunting
and collecting bush tucker.
Being significantly more
flammable than native
grasses, it produces highintensity fires which damage
ecosystems never previously
exposed to such extreme
temperatures.
Such fires also present a
risk of damage to valuable
infrastructure and property,
as well as threaten the
wellbeing of people living in
remote communities across
the region.
Whereas traditional
Aboriginal patch-burning
encouraged regrowth of
native grass species, the
heat produced by burning
buffel grass destroys native
plants both above and
below ground.
Aboriginal women have
also pointed out that they
are reluctant to engage
in traditional gathering
practices because of the
thick buffel grass decreasing
visibility of snakes.
With the GVD being
one of the last deserts in
Australia that maintains its
pre-colonial biodiversity,
the importance of managing
the land and keeping
it free of buffel grass is
immeasurable.
In SA, Natural Resources
Alinytjara Wilurara is taking
Controlling the spread of buffel grass is paramount in
South Australia.
the lead on working towards
a ‘Buffel Free GVD’.
In Western Australia,
Spinifex Land
Management, supported
by the Rangelands NRM
Alliance, are playing a
crucial collaborative role.
The AW NRM Board
directs management
strategies to prevent the
spread of buffel grass
seed and the formation of
monocultures across the
GVD, around Aboriginal
communities and along
various transport routes.
The battle to keep SA’s
southerly agricultural
areas free of buffel grass
begins with keeping
desert regions healthy by
using best practice land
management techniques.
8
Fairfax Media Special Publication
Bringing life back to
legendary waterhole
WHEN Neale Griggs took
over the property next to
the West Haughton River
wetlands in Queensland
18 months ago, little did
he know he would soon be
playing a role in helping
to protect the Great
Barrier Reef.
The iconic ‘Crooked
Waterhole’ on Neale’s
property, once legendary
for catches of barramundi,
had become densely
choked with weeds.
When Greening
Australia approached him
about helping to restore
the wetland as part of Reef
Aid, a major program to
improve water quality on
the Great Barrier Reef, he
jumped at the opportunity.
“When we purchased
the property it was not
hard to see that the
creek had a problem,”
Neale said.
“Introduced species had
taken over and there was very
little fish activity or bird life.”
Working in partnership
with landholders like
Neale, Greening Australia
is restoring 200 hectares of
priority coastal wetlands
across two sites, the West
Haughton River wetlands
and Palm Creek.
Coastal wetlands play a
vital role in water quality,
filtering fine sediment and
nutrients from flood waters
before they are washed out
to the Reef.
“We have selected sites
that are inter-connected and
adjacent to the national park
and Ramsar listed wetlands,”
said Greening Australia
director of conservation
Jelenko Dragisic.
“Most sit on private land
and have significant fisheries
and biodiversity values.
“They also form an
important buffer between the
farmland and the Great Barrier
Reef World Heritage Area.
“Neale had done an
amazing job clearing the
China apple infestation
on his property and reestablishing grass cover.
“But, he lacked the
equipment, expertise and
resources to restore the
wetland.
“We teamed up with
Neale to help him return
the waterhole to its
natural state in a way that
complemented his farm
management.
“In three weeks we were
able to clear almost three
kilometres of channels.
“Due to the extremely
dense vegetation over the
channels we couldn’t use
a helicopter to spray the
weeds, it was too thick to use
a boat, and too dangerous
for people to spray by hand.
“Instead, we used an
amphibious excavator
which allowed our
contractor to do in seven
days what would normally
take a team months to do.”
Because the weeds were
largely floating, the use of
the excavator also caused
minimal environmental
disturbance, including
significantly reducing the
amount of herbicide needed.
“It was incredible
seeing the site after the
amphibious machine had
finished,” Jelenko said.
“It was like keyhole surgery
– not a branch was missing!
“They have done a
mighty job at cleaning and
restoring the creek back to
its natural state.”
Neale said: “I believe
that Greening Australia has
made a huge contribution
to the environment in our
little part of the country.
“With their help, we
intend to keep the creek in
pristine condition.”
Two sites in Crooked Waterhole before intervention
(left) showing dense stands of Olive hymenachne
and other weed species covering the water, and after
intervention (right) with open water.
Jelenko said they would
see life return to the sea in
the next 12 months.
“We have already seen
birds move back into the
estuary,” he said.
“With the wet season
flood flows we expect native
fish and crustaceans to join
them and in the long term,
maybe even crocodiles
“Building relationships
with landholders is critical
to the success of Reef Aid
as is the commitment
landholders like Neale
make to steward the land
and ensure that our efforts
are not reversed.
“We’re now waiting
for the rains to flush out
the channels and return
the land to its full natural
beauty.”
The site will continue
to be monitored to
track improvements in
fisheries, water quality and
vegetation.
The project is
supported by the Ian
Potter Foundation,
Virgin Australia, and the
Australian government’s
Reef Trust.
Visit
www.greeningaustralia.
org.au.
Weed control increases carrying capacity
BY MARK KLEINSCHMIDT,
DESERT CHANNELS GROUP
NEW generation
prickly acacia control is
leading to remarkable
improvement in ground
cover, land health and
carrying capacity in the
Mitchell grass country of
Queensland’s west.
Twenty years of
business as usual has
seen Queensland’s prickly
acacia infestations triple to
23 million hectares.
Without a dramatic
breakthrough, 95 per
cent of the Mitchell Grass
Downs will be impacted
by 2030.
That dramatic
breakthrough has
come from Longreachbased natural resource
management group, Desert
Graziers inspecting a treatment site discuss the program.
Channels Queensland
(DCQ), whose groundbreaking new techniques
and technologies perfected
over the past three
years has seen a 15-fold
increase in grass biomass
at one monitoring site
near Aramac.
CEO Leanne Kohler
said while this was
boosted by droughtbreaking rain, even during
the drought, the site had
shown a five-fold increase
in grass biomass.
“Before we treated this
site, it was fairly dense
prickly acacia with very
little ground cover around
100 kilograms per hectare
biomass,” Leanne said.
“A year later it was
500, and it’s now 1500
kilograms per hectare.”
Figures from Mackey
(1996) show pasture
production is halved
by a 20 per cent canopy
of prickly acacia, while
virtually all pasture growth
is prevented by a canopy
cover of 50 per cent.
It should not be
unexpected that removing
the prickly acacia delivered
this result.
What is surprising is the
way it has been done.
“We use time-series
satellite mapping to
identify the prickly acacia
hot spots in the landscape,
then we match treatment
techniques to infestation
densities, treating the
really dense stuff with
a helicopter drone,”
Leanne said.
“Two additional keys
to our efficiencies are an
Area Management Plan
under the Vegetation
Management Act
where we can kill
immature natives in
the course of treating
prickly acacia, as long
as we preserve the
mature natives - and
a federal permit to
use tebuthiuron in
ephemeral watercourses.”
These two regulatory
tools can only be
activated by a DCQ fiveyear weed plan, which
must be monitored
by DCQ.
Having redrawn what
effective prickly acacia
control looks like in
western Qld, DCQ is still
engaging landholders
in control agreements,
while their field team
continues to knock out
ultra-dense infestations
in riparian areas,
enabling the landholders
to clear their paddocks
in the knowledge that
the major seed sources
are gone.
Of no less significance
in this list of achievements
is the mindset change.
Historically, people
spoke of the need to
‘control’ prickly acacia,
which was likened to having
a test cricket match-plan of
not allowing the opposition
to score too many runs,
rather than aiming to bowl
them all out.
Language dictates
mindset.
Control is not a word
DCQ uses any more.
Now, the talk is of
eradication.
It may only be one
paddock at a time, one
property at a time, one creek
at a time, one catchment
at a time, but they are
eradicating prickly acacia.
Contact Desert
Channels Group on
(07) 4658 0600.
Fairfax Media Special Publication
9
Creating ‘volcanic’ soil in WA
BY WENDY WILKINS, SOUTH
WEST CATCHMENTS COUNCIL
INNOVATIVE thinker
and farmer Doug Pow
read about the benefits of
biochar and decided to
trial it on his own cattle and
avocado property.
The costs of
incorporating it into his
paddocks were prohibitive,
involving machinery he
does not like.
So, he came up with a
unique solution.
In 2011, he began
feeding biochar to his cattle
so dung beetles could bury
it on his farm in Middlesex,
near Manjimup in the
south-west of Western
Australia.
This success led Doug
to commence a four-year
trial in 2014 with biochar
in a new avocado orchard
to increase drainage and
aeration, and facilitate root
growth in his soils.
Eighteen months after
planting, the trees with
biochar are twice the size of
the control row, and much
healthier looking.
“I’ve seen avocados
growing on a volcano and
I’d like to replicate, as best
I can, those andosol soils,
because avocadoes have
a very high requirement
for oxygen in the soil,”
Doug said.
“It’s a very tall order in
a soil which is of a very
high bulk density, like
our clays.”
The trial is comparing
three amounts of biochar 20, 10 and five per cent by
soil volume incorporated
in the soil to a depth of 600
millimetres.
The adjoining control
row is planted to avocados
the standard way.
There are varying soil
types within the rows.
At the top of the hill
is a red chromosol soil,
otherwise known as karri
loam, on a clay subsoil and
as you go further down
the hill it graduates into a
brown chromosol, and then
into a pure laterite with no
clay at 600mm.
Each of the different
volumes of biochar were
placed under groups of
four trees, which resulted in
12 trees on each of the soil
types down the hill.
Two of each block of
four trees is mulched with
biochar-enhanced mulch
under trees in both the
control and the trial rows.
You can’t see any effect
from that in either row.
But, that can’t be said
for biochar when it’s
incorporated into the soil.
“It’s quite astounding
the way it has enhanced
the evenness of growth
and the consistency of
tree size, trunk size, root
volume, and its ability
to absorb nutrients,”
Doug said.
“The avocado growers
that see the trial are very
impressed that it grows
such a big tree so quickly,
because little weak trees
are susceptible to all sorts
of things.
Doug Pow on his Middlesex, WA, farm with wood chips used for mulch.
“Getting a tree up
quickly is a real head start
and if you can cut a year
off your wait for the trees
to fruit, then that is an
economic return.
“It’s interesting that
we have tested five to 20
per cent biochar, which
is a 400pc increase in
biochar proportion in the
soil, but the trees look
exactly the same.
“Chances are 20pc is not
too much and five percent
is not too little.
“The first test will be in
fruit volume, fruit quality
and fruit size.
“The biggest test will
be if it affects biennial
bearing.
“It’s ability to help the
tree survive attack by
Phytophthora cinnamomi
(dieback) will also be very
interesting.
“Every tree I plant from
now on, I would plant in
biochar – that’s lesson number
one, in flashing lights.”
The project is supported
by the South West
Catchments Council through
funding from the Australian
Government’s National
Landcare Programme.
To see the full trial
update, including how the
trial was established, go to
http://bit.ly/2jy3nkf.
Finding pasture options for retired irrigation land
A FIVE-YEAR research
project into the use of
retired irrigation land in
the south-west Riverina
region of NSW is producing
findings with implications
for low-rainfall zones
throughout Australia.
The project, titled
Economically Viable
Options for Retired
Irrigation Land (EVORIL),
aims to help with
the structural challenges
faced by the community
in region due to declining
availability of irrigation
water.
It is investigating the
economic feasibility
and productivity of
various pasture species
in previously irrigated
land that has reverted to
dryland.
Site co-operators Tim and Tam Mulholand at their property
‘Operina’, Noorong.
The EVORIL project is
being carried out by the
Western Murray Land
Improvement Group
(WMLIG) and the Central
Murray BestWool BestLamb
Group, and supported by
Murray Local Land Services
and the National Landcare
Programme.
The declining amount of
irrigation water available
for agriculture due to the
water reform process has
meant that large areas of
land previously irrigated
have reverted to dryland.
Unfortunately, where
land levelling and soil
disturbance had been high,
the predominant heavy
sodic soils are dominated
by non-productive species
such as barley grass and
roly poly.
Commencing in 2013,
the project has now tested
44 new and existing pasture
species in replicated small
plot trials to evaluate
production, persistence and
regeneration over a range of
soil types and seasons.
Promising species
identified in the small plot
trials have been introduced
into larger grazing block
demonstrations to compare
livestock production
performance against
standard district practice.
WMLIG’s Rick Ellis
said there was still much
to learn and demonstrate
about species’ attributes
and adaptability to local
conditions.
“We need a resilient
pasture mix that improves
the feed quality, extends
the season and maintains
ground cover,” Rick said.
“The project has wider
applications across the low
rainfall zones nationally.”
WMLIG’s Damian
Jones said preparation was
imperative for successful
pasture establishment.
“It shouldn’t be a spur
of the moment decision to
sow,” Damian said.
“Look at weed control
at least the season before
you intend to establish new
pastures.”
Damian said the project
also examined return on
investment from sowing
costs.
“Don’t skimp on sowing
rates,” he said.
“Our variable rate sowing
trials indicated that investing
$70 per hectare instead of
$20/ha on seed returned a
net benefit of $179/ha.
“The higher sowing rate
also out-competed weeds
more effectively resulting
in additional labour and
chemical savings.”
The project is gaining
recognition.
Dr Peter Orchard,
pasture researcher with
the Graham Centre for
Agricultural Innovation is
one expert taking notice.
“The project is unique
in the range of material
that is being evaluated
and important for both
the region and NSW in
general,” he said.
“We need to identify the
best options with the least
cost or risk to establish and
expand into other areas
to broaden the landscape
mosaic with grasses and
shrubs, including saltbush.”
Farmers have made
practical changes to more
than 785ha of land and
intend to make changes to a
further 2540ha.
Others are still waiting
for further long-term
assessment on the
resilience and economic
feasibility of different
pasture options.
Visit
www.westernmurraylig.org
or contact Rick Ellis on
0428 372 357.
10 Fairfax Media Special Publication
Weed hunting tips for fireweed, African lovegrass
Get up early to find
fireweed and stay up late
to find African lovegrass
EARLY detection and
removal of problem weeds
can save landholders a lot
of money and time.
As the saying goes,
prevention is better than cure.
Anyone who has
managed weeds would
agree that action sooner
than later is best to prevent
weeds establishing.
However, finishing
the job thoroughly is also
important because just one
remnant weed can result in
rapid reinfestation.
“Detection of problem
species like fireweed
and African lovegrass
in low numbers is often
difficult,” said Department
of Agriculture and Water
Resources director of
sustainable agriculture
Ian Towers.
“Fireweed’s yellow
flower is often hard to
distinguish at distance in
a sea of yellow flowering
plants common to pastures
whilst African lovegrass,
before it forms a tussock, is
often not obvious.”
Unlike many other
yellow-flowered pasture
plants, fireweed does not
close its petals at night
(petal movements are not
nyctinastic).
This means flowering
fireweed can be spotted
when other yellow flowers
are closed.
“The trick is to search
for fireweed in the early
morning light before the
first rays of sunshine touch
the paddocks and cause
other flowers to open,”
Ian said.
“Just look for yellow
flowers and hone in to
investigate – it may be
fireweed.
“You might be surprised
how effective this
method is.”
African lovegrass can
be more readily detected
at night by using vehicle
headlights or a bright
torch shone knee-to-waist
height to scan across
the pasture.
“The dark seed heads
of African lovegrass
appear stark at night
and don’t blend in with
the background as they
appear to during the day,”
Ian said.
“Good luck with the
new approaches to weed
hunting.”
Why do you want to mess up
rivers and slow down the water?
BY DR SIWAN LOVETT,
AUSTRALIAN RIVER
RESTORATION CENTRE
THIS is a question often
asked by landholders when
they are thinking about
becoming part of the Rivers
of Carbon program.
Rivers of Carbon focuses
on boosting biodiversity,
sequestering carbon, and
empowering communities
to act with confidence in
response to climate change.
The program works
with landholders and
Landcare groups across
th Southern Tablelands of
NSW, and have projects in
the Goulburn, Breadalbane,
Upper Murrumbidgee and
Yass regions.
So, why do we want to
mess up rivers up and slow
them down?
To answer this
question, a broad range of
perspectives is needed.
The community was
invited to hear what experts
had to say.
A workshop was
organised, with a traditional
owner, wildlife ecologist,
river geomorphologist,
social scientist, and
landowner present to
address this question.
What became
immediately apparent
is that ‘messy’ is better
for wildlife, river health,
carbon sequestration,
biodiversity and recreation,
yet often the policies and
beliefs about what ‘good
land management practices
are’ has led to cleared
paddocks, less wood and
‘litter’, straightened streams,
and water flowing as
quickly as possible.
The presenters explained
how these activities reduce
the complex habitat native
wildlife needs to thrive,
decreases water quality and
bank stability, and impacts
the ability to spend time
along our rivers fishing and
connecting with nature.
Perhaps the most
compelling argument,
however, is that recent
research has shown that in
the efforts to ‘neaten’ rivers,
it has drastically reduced
their ability to capture
carbon, as geoscience
professor Ellen Wohl from
Colorado State University
explained at the Australian
Stream Management
Conference in 2016.
“Natural river systems
are complex, ‘messy’ and
retain water, nutrients and
carbon,” Ellen said.
“Modified river systems are
simple, ‘neat’ and designed to
keep water moving.
“These systems are
carbon poor.
“It is estimated that
modified river systems
store less than two
percent of the carbon they
used to.”
Rivers need to be messy
and have ‘room to move’,
so that they can perform
a range of functions,
providing habitat and food
for a wide range of animals,
as well as having a range of
flows and movement.
Disturbance and
movement is really important
for rivers, creeks and streams,
as the beds of rivers need to
‘turn over’ so that the water
is oxygenated, and pools and
riffles are formed.
Some fish only spawn in
submerged trees and logs, so
we need these structures in
our rivers for this to happen.
What the workshop also
showed was how much
landholders, working with
programs like Rivers of
Carbon, can do on their
place to boost biodiversity
and improve productivity.
Margie Fitzpatrick, a
Goulburn landowner, gave
an inspiring talk about the
range of methods she has
used to ‘mess’ things up
and slow the water moving
across her paddocks.
“Some have been ‘hard
engineering’ like flumes
and rock chutes, but
these have been mixed
up with ‘soft engineering’
using vegetation, logs,
rocks and hay bales, to fill
eroding channels, enabling
moisture to be retained and
plants to grow,” Margie said.
Margie concluded her
talk by sharing her reasons
A ‘messy and complex’ river, restored by planting a mix of grasses, shrubs and trees
and letting nature do the rest. Photo: Haydn Burgess.
for doing what she does,
which underpins the
reason for the Rivers of
Carbon initiative.
“My focus is growing
healthy fertile soils for
healthy grasslands, diverse
species, content animals
and happy people,”
Margie said.
“At the end of the day, it’s
good to breathe in the magic.”
The ‘Mess it up and slow
it down’ workshop is now
online for anyone to access
on the Rivers of Carbon
website titled ‘A great gig
in Goulburn’.
Rivers of Carbon is
a partnership between
the Australian River
Restoration Centre and
Greening Australia,
supported by federal and
state governments and
local Landcare groups.
Visit
www.riversofcarbon.org.au;
email [email protected]
or contact (02) 6247 7997.
Fairfax Media Special Publication
Native veg insectaries
creating a big buzz
REGIONAL Landcare
facilitator for the Port
Phillip and Westernport
Catchment Management
Authority (PPWCMA),
Karen Thomas, has been
investigating ways that
farmers could improve
their farm biodiversity
in combination with
adopting sustainable land
management principles.
The national
horticulture NRM
strategy, released in
2006, contained a small
case study on Integrated
Pest Management (IPM)
and research which
demonstrated the use
of native vegetation as
habitat for beneficial
insects.
Karen found that a lot
of work had already been
done in South Australian
vineyards, and a number
of resources were already
available.
Other than a single
vineyard in the Pyrenese,
there did not seem to be
much known about the
practice in Victoria.
So a few months later,
Karen spoke with some of
the researchers and found
a local ‘you-pick’ berry
farm in the Dandenong
Ranges willing to set up
a trial site.
The owners of the berry
farm began preparing areas
for planting by using a
light herbicide spray, and
a team planted the areas
with native tubestock in
August 2016.
Indigenous plants
that complied with the
documented Ecological
Vegetation Class were used,
alongside some non-local
Indigenous plants, to be
used as bush foods.
A main insectary was
planted along a fence line
between two paddocks.
This will become a multistrata shelterbelt creating a
corridor from the existing
native vegetation on the
property (25.5 hectares)
into the production area
(containing Rubus sp and
blueberries).
Smaller plantings
were scattered across the
production area in preexisting empty garden beds
and surrounding the ‘youpick’ gazebo.
The owners of the
property gained local
planning permits to
construct a restaurant onsite, so the incorporation
of bush foods and citrus
not only provides nectar
during flowering phases,
but can be freshly
harvested to supply
the restaurant, once
operational.
Mary Retallack from
Retallack Viticulture
has been conducting
PhD research into
native vegetation which
offers the greatest
nectar and shelter for
beneficial insects.
The PPWCMA hosted
three workshops with
Mary last year, where her
preliminary results were
discussed.
Mary has identified
three ‘hero’ native plants
that provide excellent
alternative habitat for
beneficial insects.
To monitor insect
diversity and abundance
across the property,
sticky traps and pitfall
traps were installed, with
monitoring conducted
monthly from October
to January.
Within 10 weeks of
planting, several native
plants were already
flowering and the
new insectary had an
abundance of hover flies.
A staggering 232 hover
flies were counted in
the 10 week flowering
insectary.
Interestingly, these
numbers were not found
anywhere else across the
property – only in the newly
planted vegetation.
11
Innovation to
improve subsoil
Encouraging innovation to
curb pests and weeds
IMPROVING the
condition of the subsoil
has the potential to reap
a $67 million benefit
for farmers in southern
Victoria.
That is one of the
findings from a recently
completed project
conducted by Southern
Farming Systems and the
University of Melbourne
where they constructed,
designed, and tested a
machine that could harvest
and deposit organic
material underground.
The project was
supported by the Australian
government’s National
Landcare Programme.
Despite being in a high
rainfall area, many crops
and pastures run out of
water in spring because the
ability of the soil to store
winter rainfall is limited
by the subsoil layer at 20
centimetre to 40cm depth.
Improving the subsoil
increases the soil water
storage, leading to better
growth late in the season.
The practice of
improving the soil is
commonly referred to as
subsoil manuring and has
been investigated for more
than a decade.
These small scale
experiments proved the
concept works, but taking
it to a farm scale has been
challenging, according to
Geelong consultant Simon
Falkiner.
“The materials and
machinery used so far
are uneconomic on a
commercial scale, so we
had to find alternatives,”
Simon said.
AUSTRALIAN government
grants to the value of $10
million are funding new
technology to combat
established pests and weeds.
These unwanted species
cost farmers about $4
billion a year in livestock
losses, disease transmission
control and weed
management.
The Control Tools
and Technologies for
Established Pest Animals
The Southern Farming Systems subsoil machine and tractor.
Karen Thomas talks about the purpose of the trial and
what native vegetation was planted across the farm.
Hover flies are highly
beneficial and after feeding
on nectar, the females seek
out aphids in which to lay
their eggs.
With re-vegetation
a part of good farm
practice, incorporating
native plants that provide
excellent habitat for
beneficial insects into
projects will vastly
improve conservation
biological control as a
crucial mechanism for
good integrated pest
management.
Developing and
introducing methods,
such as native vegetation
insectariums which
allow growers to better
understand the diversity
of beneficial insects
on their farm, the
services these insects
provide, the timing of
their abundance or
critical life stages for
bio-control alongside
softer pesticide options,
will mean growers can
vastly improve their
IPM strategies and
environmental assurance.
A copy of the
presentations from
the native vegetation
insectarium
workshops can be found at
www.ppwcma.vic.gov.au/
news/publications.
Contact Karen
Thomas on 0427 480 170
or email karen.thomas@
ppwcma.vic.gov.au.
and Weeds Grants will
finance a range of new
control technologies,
such as pest animal facial
recognition systems, using
drones in detection and
control, lethal trapping
and using new viruses and
poisons.
Visit http://www.
agriculture.gov.au/pestsdiseases-weeds/pestanimals-and-weeds/wpcomp-grants-programme
“The two promising
developments have been
the idea of growing as much
material as possible on the
paddock that is to be treated.”
Using a combination of
fast growing cereals and
legumes, more than 10
tonnes per hectare of dry
matter could be grown on
the paddock.
Any problem weeds also
become valuable material
to bury underground.
“The second challenge
was to create a machine
that could harvest this
material and bury it
underground, all in one
action,” Simon said.
In partnership with
a team from the school
of engineering at the
University of Melbourne,
a prototype machine was
designed that mowed the
green forage, picked it up,
and deposited the material
behind tynes that had
ripped 40cm to 60cm into
the ground.
Large blades and a
roller then covered the
green material with the
disturbed soil.
A number of farmer
demonstrations were
established in late 2014, but
unfortunately 2015 did not
result in any improvements in
yield due to the failed spring.
Luckily 2016 was a better
year and although harvest
is still underway, there were
major visual differences in
late season crop growth.
The subsoil machine
(with operator) is available
for hire from Southern
Farming Systems.
Contact Simon Falkiner
on 0407 319 967.
12 Fairfax Media Special Publication
Polymer trials for
erosion control
BY SUSIE CHAPMAN
DUE to its high rainfall
intensities and steep
topography, the
Pumicestone catchment in
south-east Queensland that
supports a variety of thriving
horticultural industries, has
a high risk of soil erosion.
We are witnessing this
risk increasing with extreme
rainfall intensity being
recorded out of season, as
happened in May 2015,
where 300 millimetres was
received in three hours at
Glass House Mountains.
Despite the best efforts
of farmers with their
application of erosion control
measures such as effective
drainage plans, use of living
mulch, grass cover, mulch
and compost and silt traps,
the rich volcanic soils are still
being lost to the waterways at
an alarming rate.
Maintaining farm
productivity, viability, and
healthy waterways calls for an
innovative approach to hold
the valuable soil in place.
Trials are under way on
macadamia and pineapple
farms to reduce soil erosion
by spray application of an
inert polymer product,
Vital Bon-Matt Stonewall,
produced by Brisbanebased and Australian owned
company Vital Chemical.
The Queensland
Department of
Environment and Heritage
Protection approves
the use of this polymer
on development and
mining sites for surface
stabilisation, yet this is the
first time it has been used
in agriculture.
With support through
the National Landcare
Programme, Healthy Land
and Water is working with
macadamia farmer Troy
Spedding and pineapple
farmers Murray and Sam
Pike, and Keith Morgan, at
Glass House Mountains,
to establish the most cost
effective way of achieving
maximum erosion control
on their farms using
the polymer.
At current market prices,
Stonewall costs $3000 per
hectare if applied at 10 per
cent concentration, which
demands a significant
benefit to offset.
On the pineapple
farm, the Pikes have been
impressed with the results
in 2016, using cone nozzles
on a boom spray to apply
10pc concentration of
Stonewall applied to the
whole bed following initial
settling rain.
To further minimise the
amount of product required
for effective soil stabilisation,
they are now refining their
approach by applying the
polymer only to the steeper
sides of the beds.
The trials are being
designed and monitored
using drone technology to
measure micro-elevation
through the University of
The Sunshine Coast with
the aim of strategically
targeting the application to
high erosion risk areas.
Polymer application at the Spedding macadamia orchard at Glass House Mountains with
Troy Spedding on the tractor and Marcus Koolen from Perfect Earth on the spray line.
On the macadamia
farm, Troy Spedding is
trialling Stonewall on his
steep sandy loam soils
that were severely eroded
in consecutive years of
intense rain events.
With support from Perfect
Earth, Troy has added
another dimension to his
trial by applying Stonewall
at 10pc concentration with
and without a compost layer
underneath.
It is hoped the polymer
will hold the compost
in place on the steeper
slopes and the surface
roots will be able to
incorporate the organic
amendment to build
structure and fertility
that will further maintain
the topsoil layer while
enhancing productivity.
The 2016-17 summer
season has as yet brought
no significant run-off rain
to test the effectiveness
of the polymer following
application.
The polymer is broken
down by sunlight and
microbes, so lasts longer
in the darker macadamia
orchard than on a bright
pineapple farm.
The soil protection
on the pineapple farm is
mostly required for the
first few months after
planting until the pines
grow enough to stabilise
the soil.
However, this is not the
case in the macadamia
orchard where the soil
stabilisation is required
throughout the harvesting
period to protect against
surface root exposure by
the harvesters.
There seems little doubt
the polymer can assist
agriculture to stem the flow
of sediment to the streams.
The trick now is to
tailor its use in a way that
complements other erosion
control measures to achieve
desired environmental
outcomes whilst
maintaining farm viability.
Email Susie Chapman
at Healthy Land and
Water on susie.c@
hlw.org.au or visit
www.hlw.org.au for
project information;
or email Carlos Mira at
Vital Industries carlos.
mira@vitalindustries.
com.au for product
information or visit www.
vitalindustries.com.au.
Increased productivity on marginal saline lands
BY DAVID BROADHURST AND
GONSALO MATA
FOR the past two years,
South Coast NRM has coordinated a project where
scientists from CSIRO and
farmers Ian and Mike Walsh
have identified how to
reduce their farm’s carbon
footprint and improve farm
productivity.
By incorporating native
and non-native perennial
shrubs into their marginal
lands, the Walshes have
demonstrated a reduction
in the intensity of methane
produced from merino
lambs, getting them to
market quicker compared
to district practices.
This trial, utilising
emission monitoring
technology in the project
Sheep leave the poly tunnel after having their methane
emissions measured for three hours after their
morning graze.
‘Capitalising on perennial
forages suited to the
Western Australian south
coast to reduce methane
emissions intensity’, was
funded by the Australian
Department of Agriculture
and Water Resources as
part of the Carbon Farming
Futures Action on the
Ground program.
“This is the first time we
have looked at this as a way
to reduce on-farm methane
emissions while increasing
productivity,” said South
Coast NRM land program
leader David Broadhurst.
Incorporating
perennial forage species
can increase the area of
productive land, improve
nutrient cycling, reduce
seasonal feed gaps
and increase the soil’s
carbon content.
Improving the
nutritional management
of livestock can reduce
methane emission intensity
through the timely
provision of nutrients to
improve efficiency of feed
conversion and growth.
The project was
established on the Walsh’s
farm in Cranbrook in the
Great Southern Region of
WA during autumn 2013 on
a six-hectare site.
“We decided to work on
our poor land so we could
increase our production by
using perennials,” Ian said.
“This has increased our
sheep-carrying capacity
while maintaining our
cropping area.”
A variety of perennial
shrub species including old
man saltbush and other
commonly used species were
established and then grazed
by merino lambs for 35 days.
Oat stubble was used as
the control for comparison.
The lambs were placed
into an inflatable polytunnel
for three hours after their
morning graze to measure
the methane produced.
Results showed the
group grazing shrubs
gained weight over the
full 35 days of grazing
while the group grazing
stubble only gained
weight for the first
fortnight and then
gradually lost weight for
the last three weeks.
On average the shrub
group was 2.5 kilograms
heavier after 35 days.
Peak emission intensity
was almost 39 per cent lower
for sheep grazing shrubs
compared with stubble.
The profile of methane
after peak emission for the
shrub groups showed a
linear decline.
For the oat stubble
group, the results showed
little change after peak
emissions, typical of diets
with a slower digestion
rate that limit daily
feed intake.
Consequently, the
sheep grazing on shrubs
got to marketable weight
quicker than sheep grazing
oat stubble, and emitted
less methane.
Visit http://
climateactionfarming.
com.au or contact
(08) 9845 8537.
• David Broadhurst is from
South Coast NRM Inc.
and Gonzalo Mata is
from CSIRO.
Fairfax Media Special Publication
A quiet revolution
shifts Bengworden
BY WEST GIPPSLAND
CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT
AUTHORITY
AGRICULTURE is one
of the biggest industries
around the Gippsland
Lakes, Victoria, and plays
a large part in the health of
these significant waterways.
Jenny Robertson of
Gracemere Merinos, a wool
operation at Bengworden,
said decisions made onfarm can have a direct
impact on the lakes.
In recent years, the
Robertson’s and other
farmers in the district
have adopted grazing
practices that have had
great benefits for their
properties, profit margins,
and the Gippsland Lakes.
The 1980s and 1990s
were tough on the region,
with a run of droughts and
the wool price crash.
Buying feed, reduced
stock numbers, and poor
commodity prices led
to widespread financial
difficulties.
The land was suffering
from loss of ground cover
and topsoil, so when it did
rain, there was nothing left
to capture the moisture,
taking more soil and
dumping the sediment in
the lakes.
“We were basically in
survival mode,” Jenny said.
“By the end of 2008,
everything was looking
pretty terrible and we were
all emotionally, physically
and financially exhausted.
“We were thinking: ‘Is
there a future here?’.”
That is when a chance
family gathering around the
television set watching a
program on time controlled
rotational grazing led to
the Robertson’s three
daughters saying ‘Dad, why
don’t you do that?’.
The couple had done
Grazing for Profit training
about 10 years previously
with a number of other
farmers from the area,
Jenny Robertson on her property in Bengworden, Victoria.
but there had been no
local support.
They implemented some
of the principles, but had
lots of challenges getting it
to work.
But, eventually a group
of local farmers all reeling
from the effects of the
prolonged drought, got
together and decided
they needed to be more
resilient for the next
inevitable dry period.
An opportunity came
up when state government
funding for the Gippsland
Lakes became available
to participate in a training
program ‘Retaining topsoil
and associated nutrients
in the catchments of
the Gippsland Lakes
through improved grazing
practices that reduce soil
erosion at its source’.
Together, the farmers
formed the Bengworden
Grazing Group, a subset of
Bengworden Landcare, and
successfully applied.
The program included
a bus trip to NSW to meet
with farmers successfully
implementing time
controlled rotational
grazing principles, and
three workshops were
held locally and on-farm
for each farmer as they
started trialling what they
had learned.
“With rotational
grazing, you mob up – run
your stock in larger mobs
- in smaller paddocks
and rotate them around
according to the recovery
period of the grass they
need to go into next,”
Jenny said.
“Running the sheep
at a high stock density
(100 per hectare) for a
short duration greatly
reduces the stock
camp effect.
“This is where sheep in
a set stocked system camp
at the top of the hill every
night and leave all the
fertility there.
“Rotational grazing
let the stock leave their
droppings all over the
paddock therefore
spreading the fertility
more evenly.”
Jenny explained that the
grass needs to be recovered
to a stage where it has dry
leaf matter on it.
The goal is to get
perennial grasses back into
the system.
They have a deeper root
system that decreases as
the grass is grazed off and
grows again with the grass.
Back in 2008, Jenny said,
when the property had no
ground cover, a big rain
event saw all the water
that fell flow down the hill
into the lakes, taking the
Robertson’s topsoil with it.
“That didn’t give us a
good basis for recovery,”
Jenny said.
“It took so much longer
for things to bounce back
because we were starting
from nothing.
“With what we are doing
now, if there was a similar
event, we could bounce
back much quicker.
“We are trying to
keep the risk out of our
farming system and
develop resilience for
the tough times.”
13
Dung beetles get
busy on water quality
A GROUP of cattle
owners from the Atherton
Tableland, Queensland,
have introduced select
species of dung beetles
with the aim of improving
pasture condition and
water quality.
Nineteen properties
have been strategically
chosen as ‘seedproperties’ for the dung
beetle introduction
and environmental
evaluation project,
supported by Terrain
NRM through funding
from the Australian
government.
The Tableland currently
has 500 cattle businesses,
managing 90,000 head of
cattle, with each animal
producing up to 20
kilograms of manure a day.
If left on the surface,
cowpats can lose up to
80 per cent of their nitrogen.
An active dung beetle
population has the
potential to cycle nutrients
and organic matter back
into the soil within 24
to 48 hours, instead
of it being lost to the
atmosphere, surface water
or groundwater.
This can reduce the
need to use as much
fertiliser for pasture
maintenance, and
nutrients are prevented
from being washed into
waterways by heavy rain.
“Though there are some
beetle species already
here, they are not active
in all seasons or across
all properties, soil types,
rainfall zones and the
like,” said Rob Pagano, a
main project driver.
“What the project has
done is introduce a greater
diversity of species to
see if they can survive,
thrive and expand across
the region under those
varying conditions.”
Six species of beetles
have been released across
the properties.
The producers have
been monitoring species
survival rates and
their spread across the
property as well as their
Grazier and president of the
Malanda Beef Plan Group,
Bruce Carcary. Photo:
Terrain NRM Tableland.
effectiveness in processing
the dung.
The new and improved
dung beetle population will
also combat an unpopular
stock pest, the buffalo fly,
by destroying the fly’s cow
dung breeding ground.
This would be another
welcome outcome for
producers.
President of the Malanda
Beef Plan Group, Bruce
Carcary, said that cattle
owners need to use
more selective worming
formulations for beetles to
thrive across the region.
“In order for us to reap
the benefits from beetles,
we need to make an attitude
shift and use more selective
worming formulations for
our stock so that the dungbeetle larvae are not wiped
out,” Bruce said.
“This is essential
for the beetles to survive and
expand across the region.”
Rob said: “It can
take up to three
years before it can be
determined if species have
successfully established.”
“This is due to the very
varied seasonal activity
and lifecycles of the
different species as
well as variations in
weather conditions.”
For the Malanda
Beef Plan Group, it
is now a matter of
patient monitoring
and encouraging the
use of beetle-friendly
worming formulations.
Contact Terrain NRM
on (07) 4043 8000; email
[email protected]; or
visit www.terrain.org.au.
14 Fairfax Media Special Publication
Inaugural AgCatalyst event
challenges data mining teams
BY CSIRO
FARMS across Australia
are generating troves of
information every second.
There are harvesters
collecting information
on yield, fuel usage and
elevations; sprayers are
logging spray rates, soil
and moisture probes, and
fertiliser application; and
real-time and weather
station data.
As part of CSIRO’s
inaugural AgCatalyst in
Sydney in December 2016, a
number of teams competed
in the AgData Challenge,
looking to understand how
big data can be used to
benefit farmers.
National cropping
company, Lawson Grains,
provided access to a
variety of data collected
during their regular
farming practices, and
set the teams the task
of interpreting the data
and collating it in an
understandable way.
Lawson Grains General
Manager Russell Cavill
said the sheer volume and
disparate nature of the data
resulted in the company
seeking a non-traditional
avenue to find answers.
“We are collecting
an immense amount of
data across our business
and this data has the
potential to strengthen our
decision around nutrition,
machinery logistics, staff
productivity and much
more,” Russell said.
Winning team leader
and CSIRO scientist Ross
Searle said most farmers
do not have the capacity,
the time, or the software to
analyse the raw data that
their equipment generates.
“Bringing the disparate
data sources together into
an open source format
that we could easily
access and analyse was
a challenge for our team
of data scientists, so you
imagine it would be a
problematic task for most
farmers,” Ross said.
“The team developed web
apps that used yield data and
ran a data mining process to
develop yield models using
different rainfall and fertiliser
scenarios.”
Second place was
awarded to a team of
PhD students from the
University of Sydney.
It has only been in the
past decade that equipment
with data-capturing
capabilities has begun to be
widely available.
However, farmers are
struggling to see the benefits
of this captured information,
and that is where big data
could hold the key.
“You can learn a lot
from your data, but you can
also learn a lot from other
people’s data in the same
region,” Ross said.
“Think of every crop
you plant as a separate
experiment, where you
capture your own data
such as your crop variety,
soil type, rainfall, fertiliser
usage and yields.
“By taking that next
step and making that
data available, you can
look across an entire
region and see how others
have performed with
different methods, which
could enable farmers
to make more informed
management decisions.”
Despite the hype around
big data in agriculture, not
many people are actually
working in the domain due
to the current difficulty in
obtaining data from separate
proprietary farming systems
that do not communicate
with each other.
“Going to individual
farmers and collecting
information can be
difficult,” Ross said.
“However, working
with data from a large
organisation like Lawson
Grains made it possible to
explore these issues easily.
“It was a positive step
towards understanding
how we can bring this
information together and
help farmers, consultants
Ross Searle, CSIRO, presents the winning team’s data
solutions.
and technology providers
to benefit from this data.”
From Lawson Grains’
perspective, Russell said the
AgData Challenge was an
opportunity to consolidate
its data gathering systems.
“The Ag Data Challenge
was extremely beneficial
to our business as it gave
us a real insight into what
we could do with the data,”
Russell said.
“It has prompted us
to commence looking
at data management
systems that will allow us
to quickly analyse our data
and use it in more future
decisions.”
Continued developments
in data accessibility will
bring the benefits of big
data closer to farmers.
National biodiversity data at your fingertips
BY HANNAH SCOTT AND
PETER BRENTON, ATLAS OF
LIVING AUSTRALIA
SUSTAINABLE land
and natural resource
management relies
on many things, but
at the core of it, timely
accurate data at the right
resolution is essential for
benchmarking as well as
monitoring status and
change.
Such data helps to
improve productivity and
yield, better manage and
enhance biodiversity and
natural assets, and adapt
to changing climates and
land use pressures.
Thanks to rapidly
evolving technology
The ALA features a wide range of powerful, open
source mapping and analysis tools, which allow users
to explore and analyse information in new ways.
Photo: Jess Rozas.
and publicly accessible
‘big data’ capabilities,
it is now easier to
make environmental
management decisions
informed by large volumes
of information.
With open access
to millions of digital
records at your fingertips,
Australia’s national
biodiversity database, the
Atlas of Living Australia
(ALA) has a range of online
tools and services that
support environmental
management and
allow biodiversity and
environmental information
to be analysed in new ways.
A common question
asked by Landcarers is
‘What should I be planting
on my property to minimise
changing climate impacts
and maximise the long-term
success of my plantings?’.
The ALA is being used
to help answer questions
like this, along with
questions such as ‘I want
to grow a particular crop,
where are the best places
to do this, both today
and under future climate
scenarios?’.
The potential questions
are endless, but some useful
case studies have been put
together at Spatial Portal
Case Studies (www.ala.
org.au/faq/spatial-portal/
spatial-portal-case-studies/).
The ALA’s ‘explore your
area’ feature allows you to
enter a location and very
quickly find and access
records of species found in
that area.
Alternatively, you might
already know the species
you want to plant, but want
to see if it is appropriate to
plant in your location.
The ALA allows you to
search for species via maps
as well as by query and
filtering, access occurrence
data and get information
about the species found.
You can even import
your own data temporarily
and use ALA’s powerful
tools to visualise and
analyse it, together with all
of the other ALA data.
With over 67 million
digital occurrence records
at your fingertips todate, the ALA has troves
of information about
Australia’s living things
including species and their
environments.
It can be used in
multiple ways for the
experienced conservation
planner, researcher or
ecologist; farmers, teachers,
gardening enthusiasts, and
the general public.
Visit www.ala.org.au
Fairfax Media Special Publication
15
Web and mobile apps put
the power in your hands
THE power to accurately
predict agricultural
conditions and analyse
situations to make
informed decisions
is rapidly moving
directly into the hands of
end users.
Mobile and wireless
technologies now allow
those decisions to happen
right in the paddock.
Web and mobile apps
developed by CSIRO
and collaborators are
allowing farmers to ride the
precision agriculture wave
themselves, as well as play
their own part in providing
scientific data.
SoilWaterApp
One example of how users
can make informed crop
management decisions
via an integrated suite
of functionalities is the
SoilWaterApp (www.
soilwaterapp.net.au and
iOS), created by University
of Southern Queensland in
a collaboration with CSIRO.
Users input information
on their location, soil
type and current crop
management.
The app finds the nearest
weather station, and on a daily
basis will predict the soil’s
moisture levels throughout
the cropping season.
SoilMapp
SoilMapp (www.csiro.au/
soilmapp and iOS) provides
direct access to national soil
data and information from
the Australian Soil Resource
Information System (ASRIS
www.asris.csiro.au) as well
as the APSoil database.
Developed by CSIRO
in conjunction with the
Australian Collaborative
Land Evaluation Program
and the Grains Research and
Development Corporation,
the app provides information
on the total amount of water
that more than 1,200 soils
across Australia can store and
release to different crops.
System upgrade boosting best
practice in the cotton industry
BY COTTON AUSTRALIA
THE AUSTRALIAN
cotton industry is now
reaping the rewards of
an 18-month program
to improve its best
management practice
program, ‘myBMP’,
enabling growers to
maintain best practice for
land management.
Upgrades to the myBMP
program, supported by
funding from the Australian
government’s National
Landcare Programme
(NLP) and the Cotton
Research Development
Corporation, maintained
best practice standards
while streamlining
content, requiring
growers to complete less
checklist items.
The myBMP team
worked with consultants
and technical specialists
to review and update each
of the 10 modules within
myBMP.
Each module has
specific industry standards
supported by checklists,
additional information
Cotton growers can maintain best practice land
management with myBMP. Photo: Janelle MacPherson.
and resources, and cover
the following practices:
• Natural assets;
• soil health;
• water management;
• energy and input efficiency;
• integrated pest
management (IPM);
• pesticide management;
• petrochemical storage
and handling;
• biosecurity;
• fibre quality; and
• HR and WHS.
In addition, the myBMP
website infrastructure was
upgraded to provide an
improved user experience,
compatibility with mobile
devices which include a
specialised auditing tool,
spatial mapping reports
to monitor best practice
uptake, and a sustainability
dashboard reinforcing the
industry’s approach to
management.
“The NLP funding has
also supported alignment of
myBMP with programs that
promote and encourage
responsible and sustainable
cotton production in
Australia and around the
world, including the Better
Cotton Initiative (BCI) and
Cotton LEADS,” myBMP
manager, Rick Kowitz said.
Email [email protected].
au or contact Rick Kowitz
on 0427 050 832.
Yield Prophet
Developed by CSIRO and
the Birchip Cropping
Group (BCG), the Yield
Prophet platform uses the
Agricultural Production
Systems Simulator
(APSIM) to calculate yield
probabilities across a
range of data, including:
in-season rainfall, soil test
results, crop management
strategies, and localised
historic climate data.
BCG’s Tim McClelland
said one of the app’s core
strengths is its integration
with other apps, including
Crop Manager and
SoilMate.
Apps help farmers make good decisions.
MouseAlert
Web technologies such
as MouseAlert (www.
mousealert.org.au and iOS)
also have the potential to
save crops from an entirely
different threat to their
yields – mouse plagues.
The easy-to-use
MouseAlert app only
requires basic information
on observed numbers
(around five mice per
hectare is the average),
damage caused and any
control activities.
It is also quick to use,
taking less than five
minutes to complete,
enough time for
machinery operators to
lodge a report before they
finish a row.
Real time mapping of plant pests
ALL around Australia,
farmers, government
officers, agronomists and
other consultants make
checks of crops looking for
plant pests and weeds.
While it’s helpful for
farmers to know about
any pest problems on
their property, without
national coordination the
full benefit of this vast
surveillance activity has not
been harnessed.
With funding provided
by a National Landcare
Programme innovation
grant, Plant Health Australia
(PHA) has developed
an innovative tool,
AUSPestCheck, to collect,
track, analyse and display
plant pest surveillance data.
The system provides
users with a real-time
picture of pest numbers
and spread, and can handle
information collected
from both general and
targeted surveillance
activities in agricultural and
environmental settings.
Data can be entered
using mobile devices,
handy for field checks, and
all information is held in a
secure cloud environment.
Added together, the data
forms maps of pests and
weeds, or their absence,
and can track the spread of
pests over time.
For example, PHA
used the system to track
the spread of the new
pest Russian wheat aphid
from South Australia
across south-eastern grain
growing regions in 2016.
On the other hand, having
records that pests are not
present is also important
because such evidence can be
crucial for accessing markets
for our produce overseas.
Nearly 300,000 records
have been captured.
So far it is primarily state
government officers entering
and accessing data.
The system is not yet
accessible to the public,
but the plan is to broaden
accessibility down the track.
Reports are generated
in real time, with access
to the data available to all
contributors.
In-built alerts advise
users when the numbers of
a target pest increase above
a threshold or when a pest
moves into a new area.
The search function allows
users to look back in time to
see how pest numbers and
spread have changed.
Plant Health Australia is
the not-for-profit coordinator
of the plant biosecurity
system in Australia.
Email [email protected].
au or phone (02) 6215 7700.
Get the facts on tax incentives
THE Australian Tax Office
has produced a fact sheet
about tax incentives for
professionals, volunteers,
landholders, and anyone
connected with primary
production entitled
‘Establishing shelterbelts
on land used in primary
production business: Can
I claim a tax deduction?
What you need to know’.
It was developed in
a partnership between
ATO and the Basalt to
Bay Landcare Network in
December 2016.
The pdf is available as
a free download at www.
basalttobay.org.au/
publications.
Landcare in Focus is proudly supported by the
Australian Government Department of Agriculture and
Water Resources, and published by Landcare Australia
in partnership with Fairfax Agricultural Media.