Future Farm December 2011

Breeding program delivers the goodsSteady genetic progress drives yield and oil

quality improvements in mallees

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ISSUE 9 december 2011

farmfutureI N N O V A T I O N I N P R O F I T A B L E P E R E N N I A L F A R M I N G S Y S T E M S

in this issue

Supported by

18

12

Kikuyu keeps soil under wraps

INFFER supports wetlands protection

6Pasture cropping offers flexibility

By Peter Zurzoloceo, Future Farm Industries crc

F lying back in to Perth after meetings in melbourne last week,

I was musing on the task of bringing a plane down to land and how that could be analogous to the current situation of Future Farm Industries crc. As we move into adoption and commercialisation, you could say, we’re coming in to land.

There are a couple of things being instigated to enable a smooth landing. one is a shift from Foundation Projects to delivery Projects. This is a recognition that some projects will not continue to be funded — either because they have already been completed or because they will not be able to deliver in the time left before the crc ends. other projects — delivery Projects — will be funded until June 2014. This change simply refl ects the reality that CRCs have a limited lifespan.

Another initiative to ensure a smooth landing is the Industry Use Plans currently being developed by FFI crc.

The Industry Use Plans (IUPs) are a detailed explanation of each project, in terms of its r&d outputs, commercialisation and utilisation outputs, education and training, the landscape or catchment niche it is relevant to, and a summary of who will directly benefi t from the project outputs.

I see the IUPs setting a new standard in how agricultural research is progressed from research to adoption and commercialisation. The plans set very clear guidelines as to how things fi t together and what the CRC’s research means for farming systems.

Coming in to land

Future Farm magazine is published three times a year by the Future Farm Industries crc ltd (FFI crc) AcN 125 594 765.

FFI crc is a unique co-investment between meat, grains and wool industry research corporations, the landmark agribusiness company, and the combined research power of cSIro, seven State agencies and four universities. It was established in 2007 under the commonwealth Government’s cooperative research centre Program to build on the research of the former crc for Plant-based management of dryland Salinity (crc Salinity).

DISCLAIMER

The information in this document has been published in good faith by Future Farm Industries CRC Limited to promote public discussion and to help improve farm profi tability and natural resource management. It is general information and you should obtain specialist advice on the applicability or otherwise of the information in this document. Neither Future Farm Industries CRC Limited nor any of its Participants endorse the information contained in this document, nor do they endorse any products identifi ed by trade name. The information in this document is made available on the understanding that neither Future Farm Industries CRC Limited, nor any of its Participants will have any liability arising from any reliance upon any information in this document. This document is subject to copyright, and the prior written consent of Future Farm Industries CRC Limited must be obtained before it is copied.

For further information about FFI CRC visit www.futurefarmonline.com.au

E: [email protected] T: (08) 6488 2505

ISSN (Print) 1835-9906 ISSN (Online) 1835-9914Published December, 2011

Design & production: Kondinin Group

our cover

Supported by

• Tedera on the increase ...... 3• Perennial mix builds

better balance ................ 4• barley provides

fl exible options ............... 6• Growing a new approach

to pasture ..................... 8• mightier mallees make

steady progress .............10• INFFer process secures

wetland protection .........12• lotus project puts

producers fi rst ...............14• Forage shrubs thrive in

tough times ..................16• Kikuyu holds it all

together ......................18

contents

ISSUE 7 APrIl 2011

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Kevin Goss (left) handed control of the FFI CRC executive to Peter Zurzolo at the end of September. (Photo Jad Goss)

They will be used as a tool to take the delivery Projects through from research to adoption and real change in Australian agriculture.

Just like an airline relies on the involvement and cooperation of a great many people to make planes get off the ground, stay in the air and land safely, so too, do crcs rely on involvement and cooperation of a great many people. developing the IUPs, and also the vast body of research that is the bulk of FFI crc’s work, is the combined effort of many talented people.

Some of that work and some of those people are highlighted in this issue of Future Farm. but, as always, this is just a small sample of the work being done. recently, I’ve been lucky enough to visit some fi eld sites and a few farms where real change is already evident on the ground. Seeing the transformation that can take place when Profi table Perennials™ are incorporated into farming systems is truly inspiring. I encourage everyone to get out and see the work on the ground if they get the opportunity. 10

The FFI crc mallee breeding program is set to provide a strong genetic pool for future mallee production.

• See full story page 10.

Photo: richard mazanec

By Jill GriffithsFuture Farm Industries crc

3ISSUE 9 december 2011w w w . f u t u r e f a r m o n l i n e . c o m . a u

R esearchers, impressed by tedera’s (Bituminaria bituminosa var.

albomarginata) remarkable drought tolerance, are keen to assess the plant’s animal production capabilities in the fi eld. To do this, a large fi eld trial is required but there is not currently enough seed available to do this.

dr daniel real (dAFWA), who leads the Future Farm Industries crc research on tedera said the fi rst step in progressing to large-scale fi eld trials was to increase the amount of seed available.

“We have just sown a total of 1.8 ha on two Western Australian sites to get the seed increase we need,” daniel said. “one of the sites is a relatively small irrigated site at dAFWA’s medina research station. The other is 1.4 ha and we believe it is the largest single planting of tedera from seed in the world. It is on david brown’s farm near dandaragan, WA and was selected by our landmark/SeedNet collaborators.”

The seed increase project is funded by meat & livestock Australia.

“The dandaragan site was sown this spring and we have had a fantastic germination; it hasn’t been formally assessed but I estimate it would be around 80% emergence. Just two weeks after sowing, the plants were clearly visible,” daniel said.

“Tedera has a large seed — about 25 mg per seed — which is a massive advantage for any forage species. For agricultural plants, it gives fl exibility in how deep you can sow, and you can sow into moist soil and then cover it to keep the moisture in.”

The tedera seed from the current planting will be harvested in summer 2012-13 and will be used for the large scale fi eld trials.

future farmI N N o v A T I o N I N P r o F I T A b l e P e r e N N I A l F A r m I N G S y S T e m S

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Tedera on the increase

Above: Tedera (bituminaria bituminosa var. albomarginata) at the fi eld site near Dandaragan, WA had about 80 % emergence.Inset: The tedera fi eld site was sown using relatively simple equipment. The main picture above was taken 70 days after sowing. (Photos: Dr Daniel Real)

“We plan to collect animal data from at least one 10 ha trial, which should commence in 2013. In the mean time, we are running other aspects of the tedera research project concurrently — for example, we are assessing palatability, drought tolerance, and conducting a breeding program to develop the fi rst tedera cultivars.

“We want to have a complete agronomy package for tedera when it reaches the market and by running the various components of the project concurrently, we will reach the point of commercialisation years earlier than we would if we worked through the various aspects of the project sequentially,” daniel said.

Peter Zurzolo, ceo of Future Farm Industries crc said tedera was on track to deliver commercial cultivars, largely because of the pro-active approach daniel had taken in managing the various aspects of the project.

“by working on many fronts at once and by actively going out and talking to various funding bodies, daniel has dramatically cut the lead time for getting tedera cultivars to market,” Peter said.

“In addition to the breeding work and seed increase project, daniel is leading a rIrdc-funded project to develop the seed production technology using conventional headers as well as a new experimental seed harvester.”

Tedera is originally from the canary Islands, where it is prized as a forage plant and survives harsh, dry summers. Tedera has remarkable drought tolerance due to its ability to utilise a range of mechanisms to reduce moisture loss and sunlight exposure without losing leaves.

• Dr Daniel Real, dAFWA T: (08) 9368 3879 E: [email protected]

contact

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4S t o r i e s f r o m A u s t r a l i a n F a r m e r sISSUE 9 december 2011

• Lucerne provides a reliable backbone in a pasture program, but can cause livestock health issues if used in isolation.

• Tall fescue in pasture mixes has provided excellent animal performance when managed to maintain palatability and persistence.

• Recent introductions of chicory, Zulu-leaf clover and prairie grass aim to produce balanced pastures that persist, respond to summer rain and have a low bloat risk.

key points

Perennial mix builds better balanceO bservations made during

nearly 10 years of prolonged drought have lead

cootamundra grazier Warren bailey to try a number of new perennial pasture mixes, while still maintaining lucerne as the backbone of his pasture program. Warren recently explained to Pamela lawson the main things he learnt about his pastures during the drought and his reasons behind trying some new species.

“We generally crop about 300 hectares annually, predominantly grazing wheats that are grazed for 6–8 weeks over winter, depending on when the autumn break comes,” Warren said.

“The rest of the property is sown down to lucerne-based perennial pastures, which are rested while the wheat is grazed allowing them to build up a handy feed wedge for use during late winter.

Setting the sceneUp until the drought really took hold during 2004, our livestock consisted mainly of trade cattle. but we had been having trouble with bloat in the cattle at certain times of the year on the lucerne–clover pastures we have down on fl at country.

At that time lambs were showing a better dollar return per hectare, especially during the really dry years, so we bought some ewes — I also believed sheep would be easier to manage than cattle if the dry seasons continued.

We now run 3000 ewes, consisting mainly of fi rst-cross ewes by SuperBorder rams, which are border leicester rams ranked by

lAmbPlAN to have superior genes for prime lamb production.

We are constantly trying to improve the genetics of the self-replacing portion of our fl ock and use Lambpro Maternal Primeline rams on a portion of our ewes. This produces a moderately framed ewe with high early growth, fertility, muscle and fat.

We join these ewe lambs at seven to eight months old, while Poll dorset rams are used as terminal sires over the remainder.

We lamb during July and August and aim to sell the lambs at about 4–5 months old, when they dress at 22–26 kilograms.

We still run some trade steers, to help keep the pastures at a manageable height during

certain times of the year for the ewes and lambs. After the steers come out, we have a worm-free pasture to drench the ewes and lambs onto at weaning time.

Lucerne lessonslucerne has always been the backbone of our pasture program as it performs particularly well in this region.

In any pasture mix I always use a highly-active winter lucerne as there is no point it being dormant during winter when that might be the only time of the year when we have plenty of moisture.

The 300 hectares of lucerne–clover mix we sow on the fl ats has its roots in the water

Case study: Warren bailey

Location: cootamundra, New South Wales

Property size: 924 ha

Mean annual rainfall: 600 mm

Soils: basalt

Enterprises: Prime lambs, trade cattle, winter cereal cropping

farm info.

Cootamundra grazier Warren Bailey has traditionally used a lucerne-clover pasture as the backbone of his prime lamb and trade cattle operation, but has recently added prairie grass and chicory to the mix (insert) to provide a more balanced, summer active pasture. (Photos: Mark Golder)

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table, resulting in a possible 3–4 cuts of hay each season from the better paddocks.

The lucerne held up particularly well during the drought, largely thanks to conservative stocking rates.

The cropping paddocks supported our grazing system during the drought allowing us to destock onto stubble paddocks after harvest.

We also were quick to erect drought feedlots to use immediately if needed, to maintain ground cover where possible. even so, during the drought I still found it diffi cult to maintain enough ground cover where I had stands of lucerne–clover pasture on sloping country.

Wind and water erosion still occurred between the plants, even when densities measured more than 30 plants per square metre.

A decade of tall fescueTo try and maintain more ground cover and provide year-round pasture availability for sheep, I started using a mediterranean tall fescue–lucerne pasture mix about 10 years ago, when this summer-dormant winter-active fescue became available in Australia.

The livestock performed well on the tall fescue, as long as we grazed it heavily during the spring, so it did not become too rank and unpalatable.

Tall fescue was also quick to break its dormancy during autumn in response to rain, providing a much faster feed resource than annual grasses were able to achieve.

In saying this, we did fi nd tall fescue plant density hard to maintain during the worst of the recent drought, so I have been attending local fi eld days and reading rural research articles to assess how suitable some of the new perennial pasture varieties might be for our region and requirements.

Into the mixlast year (2010) I decided to try a new pasture mix in our program, initially sown under 170 ha of wheat.

This mix consisted of Pegasus lucerne, prairie grass (Bromus wildenowie), chicory, Zulu-leaf clover and sub clovers.

I feel this is a better-balanced pasture for livestock than the straight lucerne–clover mix and believe it will respond well to summer rain, if it occurs.

If we get the rain, we will use this extra summer growth to fi nish late lambs and ensure we achieve high ovulation rates for joining the ewes during February.

I have included the chicory and Zulu-leaf clover to help prevent the bloat problems we have experienced in the cattle previously, and have found the performance of the cattle during the past 12 months on this pasture mix has been outstanding, with growth rates of up to two kilograms per day during spring.

I am also hoping there will be enough natural seed regeneration in the prairie grass to ensure it persists as a useful component of the pasture mix.

Management and maintenanceAll our pasture paddocks are top-dressed with single super annually, at a rate of 125 kg/ha.

our cropping–pasture rotation consists of three years of crop followed by a six-year pasture phase.

• This program is run in consultation with the local Landmark agronomist, Mark Golder.


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By Mark Golder, Landmark

• Despite the challenges with bloat and ground cover, lucerne continues to be the strength of Warren’s perennial pasture base and livestock system.

The lower country and fl ats are targeted to lucerne for two reasons — the fi rst is that this is some of the best country for growing lucerne for both soil type and moisture availability. Secondly, due to the low nature of these fl ats, there is a much greater frost risk for growing crops with substantial losses in both wheat and canola occurring during the past.

With the cattle trading system still a valuable part of Warren’s enterprise mix, it was important to have a pasture suitable to cattle with high-quality feed, while also reducing the risk of bloat.

Warren successfully grew mediterranean fescue–lucerne mixes in the past, although if the area of fescue is too large, maintaining a suitable pasture feed quality during late spring was diffi cult. Without enough grazing pressure during this time, the fescue

wants to mature, having a detrimental effect on the quality of feed on offer to stock. As such, we have been looking for alternatives for some time and after examining pasture trials in our area, Warren and I decided to try prairie grass in the pasture mix. With the wet summer of 2001–11, Warren’s perennial mix last season performed exceptionally well. even though it matured and ran to head quickly, the leaf and stem appeared to remain more palatable to stock.

The use of grazing wheats complements Warren’s livestock system and helps to fi ll the winter feed gap.

Wheat streak mozaic virus has unfortunately restricted the sowing window of the grazing wheats. These crops are now sown later to reduce the risk of infection and subsequent reduction in both forage and grain yields, if an infection does occur.

Forage oats are sown early if requiring an earlier bulk of feed before the grazing wheat is ready for grazing.

The cropping phase relies heavily on cereals, but is only short (maximum of three years) to clean up paddocks and prepare them to return to very productive perennial pastures. To manage disease in grazing-wheat paddocks, pastures are sprayed with a grass selective herbicide mid winter the year before coming into crop as well as a spray fallow during late spring.

To help manage leaf and root diseases, a fertiliser-applied fungicide treatment is used to help maximise production.

• Mark Golder is a production agronomist with Landmark in Cootamundra, New South Wales.

• Mark Golder landmark Pty ltd, NSW

T: (02) 6942 2122 E: [email protected]

contact


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Barley provides fl exible options

A dedicated beef producer, Grant bain is an old hand at perennials, having cultivated

subtropicals for about 12 years. but a decision to sow barley across slow-starting live perennial pastures has opened his mind to a new, fl exible farming system.

“last year I sowed a paddock (about 110 ha) to perennials — a mixture of panic, giant bermuda couch, kikuyu, Rhodes and buffl e grass — a bit of a combination of my own,” Grant said.

“The challenge with perennials is getting them established and the disappointing 2010 season didn’t help this particular paddock — the strike was not very successful at all, so winter feed production off this fi rst year stand was going to be low.

before sowing the perennials (August 2010) I spray-topped the paddock to eradicate the broadleaf weeds — this also reduced the weed burden the following year.

The disappointing establishment, early weed control and potential lack of winter feed led to me deciding to try my hand at pasture cropping during 2011, running in yagan barley (80 kg/ha), with a double disc opener.

I already had the yagan on hand and intended to graze the paddock after the barley had grown suffi ciently.

I had tried pasture cropping during 2010 but I spread the barley with a super spreader and left it to the cattle to sow the seeds — unfortunately our non-wetting soils meant the seeds never had a chance. The poor season didn’t help either.

So this year, in addition to using the disc seeder, I applied about 60 kg of di-ammonium phosphate (dAP) and 80 kg of urea/sulphate (40 kg/40 kg) per hectare.

As it turned out, at that critical stage during mid-July I couldn’t source the stock I needed, but I did have a very healthy barley crop.

Change of tackmy neighbour, who is an expert cropper, suggested I “shut the gate” and harvest the crop. So I carried out another broadleaf weed spray and watched the crop grow.

I’m still harvesting (as at November) but so far the paddock has yielded 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

It’s been a great little experiment — I feel like I’ve been able to have my cake and eat it too. I had the option to graze, but when the circumstances didn’t present themselves, I was still able to make a return with the change of strategy.

If I hadn’t sown the barley I would have grazed the perennials — and this wouldn’t

Dedicated beef producer and seasoned perennial grower, Grant Bain (right) shares his pasture cropping experience with Great Northern CRT principal and agronomist Tony Rosser at a recent evercrop fi eld trip (below). (Photos: Phillip Barrett-Lennard)

Case study: Grant bain

Location: 50 km south-east of Geraldton, WA



Soils: Sand and sand over gravel

Enterprises: beef cattle

farm info.

• Pasture cropping using barley over perennial pastures, provides the options of grazing and grain production.

• The practice provides fl exibility, allowing producers to react to the season as it pans out.

• Weed control is essential to the success of this pasture-cropping system.

key points


perennials. I believe our weed eradication is partly responsible.

The cattle are always on the move — they are rarely set-stocked for any length of time — after about 3–4 days they are moved on.

To graze or not to grazeThis experiment has defi nitely opened up a new option. Next year, if I am able to get the cattle, I will probably graze the barley, however there is still a shortage of light store cattle coming out of the pastoral regions — so who knows.

As the years go by and the different strategies are used, I’ll be able to do the sums, and weigh up the economics of each.

For now it is comforting to know there is a back up plan if Plan A doesn’t pan out.”

my harvest team also hadn’t harvested a pasture crop before and it turned out to be quite a learning curve for all involved. The challenge is getting the grain off without contaminating it with the green leaves from the pastures — which were looking fantastic at harvest.

With rain also hampering harvest efforts, we have only taken the very top heads off. However, the left-over heads will benefi t any stock grazing the paddock during summer.

Perennial experienceI’ve been sowing perennials for about 12 years and my system is somewhat unique — most producers up here run a cropping and grazing rotation, while I am strictly cattle.

I attend most of the EverCrop workshops in the region, and this year I was able to draw on the experience of my neighbour in terms of growing the barley for grain.

We go to a lot of trouble to eradicate the broadleaf weeds — mainly Paterson’s curse and blue lupins.

To date, we’ve never had any livestock health problems, such as photosensitivity, with the

have given them time to establish as well as they have as a result of having the protection from the barley.

It must be said it was the ‘perfect’ season for such an experiment. We had about 130 mm of rain before the season started and we’re now about 120 mm above average.

As a result, at no stage after sowing did the barley look stressed and numerous people commented how healthy and robust the paddock looked.

The strategy was very low input — I estimate inputs equalled, at the most, $150/ha.

If the price of feed barley remains at about $250/tonne, we’ll be looking at a return of about $375/ha.

We’ve also kept some seed for sowing next year and also stock feed.

Harvest logisticsI’m a dedicated cattle man, so I’m not accustomed to the logistics of harvesting a crop for grain, especially not from a paddock with a perennial pasture base.

• During 2009, EverCrop® established two Local Adaptation Groups in the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR) of Western Australia to evaluate the viability of pasture cropping — planting a crop into a perennial pasture. The system is underpinned by complementary growth cycles between crop and pasture components, which minimises competition between the annual crop and summer-active C4 (tropical) pasture.

For livestock-dominant systems the crop can provide feed to supplement the perennial pasture, with crops ‘locked up’ and harvested only in years with excess feed. For cropping-dominant systems, where feed is a secondary consideration, pasture cropping might stabilise fragile soils, improve soil health and prevent summer weeds from growing.

Pasture cropping for grain production was found to be viable on a small-plot scale at moora during 2009, with buloke barley (sown over subtropical grass treatments) yielding over 2 t/ha (see Focus on Perennials, march 2010, www.futurefarmonline.com.au/_literature_50698/Pasture_cropping_provides_perennial_possibilities).

Grant’s experience demonstrates the viability and versatility of pasture cropping on a paddock scale.

Typically, fi rst-year perennial stands are weedy, not yet well established, with poor plant density and offer limited grazing potential. collectively, this contributes to the opportunity cost of establishing perennial pastures.

Grant has shown that a pasture crop can increase both the productivity of fi rst-year perennial stands and provide profi table options to adjust the use of the paddock (for feed, grain or both) as the season progresses, based on availability of livestock, commodity prices and seasonal outlook.

Pasture cropping has enabled Grant to signifi cantly increase the productivity of his fi rst-year pasture stand — it is a strategy worth considering.

It is worth noting that Grant achieved excellent weed seed-set control the previous spring because weeds were controlled before sowing the perennial pasture; this effectively sets the paddock up for a crop the next growing season.

Choosing to sow a crop across his fi rst year perennial pasture (i.e. pasture cropping) also enabled Grant to control broadleaf annual weeds in both the crop and pasture, and rest the perennials from grazing to aid their establishment.

Furthermore, sowing yagan barley gave Grant the fl exibility to either graze off the extra feed (as originally intended) or to lock up the paddock and take through

to grain production (as he chose to do this year).

However, a more detailed scientifi c examination of alternative pasture cropping systems across different seasons and environments is needed. To address this, EverCrop has implemented a wide range of activities including biophysical modelling, whole-farm bio-economic analysis, on-farm trials, demonstrations, case studies and workshops.

during the next two years EverCrop will also participate at a new focus research site established west of mingenew by the mingenew-Irwin Group (with caring for our country funding). This will complement the moora focus research site by providing replicated fi eld data on the viability of pasture cropping in an environment similar to Grant’s.

• Dr Perry Dolling, is Pasture Research Offi cer with DAFWA.

Dr David Ferris leads the Future Farm Industry CRC’s EverCrop project in WA.

• Dr David Ferris, dAFWA T: (08) 9690 2117 E: [email protected]

contact

• Grant bain M: 0427 812 963 E: [email protected]

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By Perry Dolling and David Ferris, DAFWA

future farmfuture farm

By Laureta Wallace

Growing a new approach to pasture

8F o c u s o n R e s e a r c hISSUE 9 december 2011

Farmers in the Northern Agricultural region (NAr) of Western Australia are looking

for novel and innovative practices to maintain the productivity of their land, which is constrained, in the most marginal areas, by deep pale sands. The EverCrop team is working with one NAr farming family to explore the environmental and economic benefi ts of pasture cropping in the region.

murray, Jenny and Kyle carson of West binnu started to cultivate the idea of pasture cropping during 2007.

According to research offi cer, Perry Dolling (dAFWA), the carsons were looking for new ways to achieve their goals of being successful croppers, growing their business and expanding their resource base.

“The threat of wind erosion to their fragile soils loomed but they wanted to make every hectare count rather than retire their weakest soil classes,” Perry said.

To assist the carsons in their endeavours, the Future Farm Industries crc EverCrop team monitored two pasture cropping trials on the carsons’ property:

• Pasture cropping a rotation of lupins and wheat into a mixture of subtropical perennial grasses (2009–10).

• Pasture cropping wheat into pure swards of fi ve different subtropical species (2010).

Murray Carson (left) with Tim Wiley examining pasture-cropped lupins. (Photos: David Ferris)

“The aim of the fi rst trial, which was initiated by the carsons, was to tease out some of the logistics of seeding into live perennial pastures and crop choice (2009) as well as to evaluate the longer-term impact of a lupin:wheat rotation over subtropical pastures,” Perry explained.

“The second trial sought to identify the perennial pasture base least detrimental to crop yield and the benefi ts of a tram-lining, auto-steer approach.”

Down to the detailThe fi rst trial was located in a paddock with pale deep sand and a uniform stand of signal, rhodes and panic grasses (see Table 1).

“The stand was sown during 2005 and had persisted through the drought conditions of 2006-07,” Perry said.

“The Carsons had divided the paddock in fi ve seeder-width strips that were each assigned to a different treatment.”

during 2009, the plots were sown to lupins before and after the break of season and wheat after the break.

To maximise crop yield, murray aimed for effective weed control to minimise the impact of weed competition on yield (see Table 2).

“Although murray found the density of annual weeds to be low when rotationally grazed he chose to apply in-crop selective herbicides,” Perry said.

“experience has shown him that wild radish and annual grasses, even at a low density, compete strongly with grain crops for moisture.”

In addition to weed control, murray managed for maximum yield through crop nutrition, applying fertiliser to the pasture-crop treatments in line with his normal cropping program.

lupins were sown with 50 kg of mono-ammonium phosphate and 20 kg of sulphate of potash per hectare.

Wheat was sown with 50 kg of di-ammonium phosphate and 20 kg of sulphate of potash per hectare. The wheat was top-dressed with 100 kg of urea per hectare a month after sowing.

The following year (2010), the carsons grew a wheat crop on the lupin stubble and a lupin crop on the wheat stubble after the break.

What they foundoverall, despite careful management, yields from the pasture cropping plots were low, ranging from 220–490 kg/ha. The average

• Benefi ts of pasture cropping include increased stocking capacity and year-round ground cover on fragile soils.

• Yields on the pasture cropping plots were lower than on non-pasture cropped paddocks.

• Mitigating factors could have been the poor seasons and soil type marginal for crop production.

key points Table 1 Details for the fi rst pasture cropping trial at Pine Crest across a mix of subtropical grasses

Crop Sowing date Sowing technique Grain yield (kg/ha)(a) Treatments in 2009

lupin (mandelup)

9 may (dry) 14-in. knife point 490

9 may (dry) 13-in. zero till 450

11 June (wet) 9-in. knife point 180

11 June (wet) 13-in. zero till 220

Wheat (Wyalkatchem) 11 June (wet) 13-in. zero till 370

(b) Treatments in 2010

CropA Sowing dateB Sowing technique Grain yield (kg/ha)lupin (mandelup) 25 may (wet) 10-in. zero till <100 — not harvested

Wheat (Wyalkatchem) 25 may (wet) 10-in. zero till <100 — not harvestedA: Wheat on the lupin stubble and lupin on the wheat stubble in the area pasture cropped in 2009b: dry sowing was preferred but not possible due to labour constraints with the purchase of youanmi (march 2010)

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yield across the carsons’ entire cropping program was 1.7–1.8 tonnes/ha.

“The low yields from the trial areas could be attributed to the marginal nature of the soil and the prevailing seasonal conditions,” Perry explained.

After harvest the carsons grazed the trial area (which was combined with an adjacent paddock of tagasaste) with cattle.

“The cattle were moved onto stubble paddocks after most of the green feed and dry matter was consumed,” Perry said.

“The cattle appeared to graze the lupins fi rst, then the perennials. At the end of the growing season feed-on-offer in the trial area was more abundant than in the non-pasture cropped areas.

“The 2010 crop was not harvested as a result of no fi nishing rains and only 212 mm of growing-season rainfall.”

Comparing pasturesduring August 2009 the carsons, in conjunction with dAFWA, established a new trial of fi ve subtropical perennial pastures — four grasses (panic grass, rhodes grass, signal grass and digit grass) and one legume (sirato). Herbicides were applied at establishment.

during 2010 the trial was lightly grazed during summer then pasture cropped.

“The dry summer meant the perennials were not actively growing by the break of the season,” Perry said.

“Paraquat was applied pre-sowing to ‘defoliate’ the perennials and knock out annual weeds (brome grass, rye grass, radish and turnip).”

Wheat (mace) was sown using tram-lining and auto-steer and fertilised with mono-ammonium phosphate and sulphate of potash. Additional nitrogen was applied during August and the crop was sprayed again to control broadleaf weeds.

Grain yield for the wheat crop sown across the different perennial plots varied from 375–630 kg/ha. The grain yield in the better part of the paddock without perennials was 1.2 t/ha.

Panic grass and sirato appeared to impact on the grain yield more than the other perennial species.

Again, mitigating factors were the lack of rainfall after August and the poor quality soil in the trial area.

“While the results of these two trials did not demonstrate any additional economic benefi t, the Carsons believe they have achieved both economic and environmental gains from perennials and pasture cropping overall. These gains have been achieved through higher stocking rates and year round ground cover on fragile soils,” Perry said.

binnu is marginal for pasture cropping because of the risk of low rainfall, but despite this the carsons believe that, over time, pasture cropping over perennial pastures will improve water holding capacity, lift soil fertility and prove profi table.

results from pasture cropping trials around Irwin, WA which has higher average rainfall, were more promising than those from binnu. (See Future Farm Issue 6, december 2010 and Grant bain’s story on pages 6–7 of this issue).

• The evercrop project is funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

The complete Technical Report 7 can be found at — www.futurefarmonline.com.au/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=100714

• Perry Dolling, department of Agriculture and Food, WA


contact

The pasture cropping trials at Binnu, Western Australia

provide some general guidelines of what does and does not work with pasture cropping in the Northern Agricultural Region.

What worked?• Sowing early gave a defi nite yield

advantage during 2009 (see Table 1).

• Zero-till gave a better result than knife points.

• Perennial grasses recovered well after the grass-selective herbicide mix.

• Grain contamination was not a major issue when harvesting from pasture cropped areas.

• Tram-lining works. damage to perennial plants was minimised by sowing cropseed between perennial rows.

• Pasture cropping may be benefi cial to perennial pastures (‘lock-up between pasture cropping and harvest provided a rest from grazing’).

• Increased stocking rate (cattle).

What didn’t work?• Pasture cropping compromised yield.

• Wyalkatchem probably was not the right choice in 2009, as it is not the most competitive wheat variety.

• Not using a grass-selective herbicide in-crop during 2009 may have reduced yield potential. (It was not used in fear of compromising the perennials).

• Pasture cropping marginal land without a recent fertiliser history did not yield well.

• The seasons were not favourable. There was also a vermin problem during 2010.

Pasture cropping — lessons learned

Table 2 Weed control inputs for the crops sown into a mixture of subtropical perennial grassesC

Treatment Date ofapplication

Herbicide and rate per hectare

Purpose

(a) Herbicide inputs 2009

lupin (sown 9 may)

9 may 1 l Spray.Seed® +600 g Simazine

Suppress growth of the perennialscontrol future annual weeds

26 June 200 ml brodal® +200 g Simazine

control radish and turnip

lupin (sown 11 June)

11 June 1 l Spray.Seed® +600 g Simazine

Suppress growth of the perennials and control annual weedscontrol future annual weeds

23 July 150 ml brodal® +150 g Simazine


Wheat (sown 11 June)

11 June 1 l Spray.Seed® +1 l Precept®

Suppress growth of the perennials and control annual weedscontrol future annual weeds

26 July 600 ml Jaguar® +350 ml mcPA


(b) Herbicide inputs 2010

lupin (sown 25 may)

25 may 1 l Spray.Seed® Suppress growth of the perennials and control annual weeds

28 June 500 ml Status® using 1l KwickinTm/100 l water

control ryegrass and brome grass

13 July 200 ml brodal® +200 g Simazine


Wheat (sown 26 may)

25 may 1 l Spray.Seed® Suppress growth of the perennials and control annual weeds

5 August 1 l 2,4-d ester 680 control radish and turnip

C: This was the Carsons’ fi rst pasture cropping trial on Pine Crest; see Table 1 for crop and seeding treatments.

Growing a new approach to pasture

future farm

By Janet Paterson

N early 20 years of mallee development is starting to deliver dividends

with encouraging gains in biomass productivity and leaf oil content becoming evident in a Future Farm Industries crc tree breeding program.

The long-term nature of the research refl ects the challenges associated with breeding mallees, which can take three or more years to start fl owering and up to seven years to grow to a harvestable size.

Project leader richard mazanec, department of environment and conservation (dec) said the long-term goal of the breeding program was to make available high quality mallee seed to farmers in the wheat-sheep zone of southern Australia.

The FFI crc breeding program was established during 2009 using germplasm generated through the Western Australian dec mallee breeding program, which has operated since 1992.

The dec breeding program consists of four mallee species: Eucalyptus polybractea; Eucalyptus loxophleba sub species lissophloia; Eucalyptus kochii and Eucalyptus angustissima.

“dec transferred the best of its E. polybractea germplasm to the crc to enable the breeding program to be extended across southern Australia,” richard said.

In addition, FFI crc has initiated new breeding trials using E. loxophleba sub species lissophloia and sub species gratiae with a view to following the same development path as used for E. polybractea.

“So far, the largest genetic gains have been made with E. polybractea, which has been a primary focus of the dec mallee breeding program since it started during 1992,” richard said.

The fi rst stage of the breeding program involved the establishment of second-generation populations of E. polybractea. Seed was collected from the best individuals across the existing dec breeding population and established in trials in WA, victoria and New South Wales (see Table 1). At the same time, seed from previously untested parents has been established in separate trials to identify new germplasm to be introduced into the breeding program.

due to its economic value, genetic gains in the concentration of leaf cineole (a component of eucalyptus oil) were initially the major focus, along with improvements in biomass production. but the growing interest in carbon sequestration and energy production from woody crops has now tipped the balance in favour of biomass gains.

“Future selection regimes will focus on biomass production as the major trait of interest but leaf cineole concentration continues to be an important breeding trait to pursue,” richard explained.

Preliminary data from the E. polybractea two-year-old genetic gain trials at three WA sites suggest an average increase in biomass production at two years of about 20% and a 140% increase in cineole content relative to bush-seed control trees.

“While these data are only preliminary and require validation from ongoing trials they do indicate we are on the right track,” richard said.

Breeding program driversThe mallee breeding program arose during the early 1990s in response to widespread salinity across the WA wheatbelt.

Integrating mallees into wheatbelt farming systems was seen as a way to reduce water table recharge (and therefore salinity) while potentially providing an extra income source for wheatbelt farmers via electricity generation and cineole oil and biochar production.

A drying climate has since reduced the urgency of the salinity problem but mallees are still seen as a potential income source via biomass energy production and credits for carbon sequestration.

Tree breeding challengesThe time and space required to develop new tree breeds presents unique challenges not found in breeding annual plants.

“chasing genetic gains in tree species is slow because it takes so long for trees to mature and therefore for traits such as biomass production to be measured and assessed,” richard said.

The other issue is the land required to grow enough replicated trials to ensure measured differences in biomass and other traits between trees are in fact due to genetic and not environmental differences.

Mightier mallees make steady progress


future farm

Rows of eucalyptus loxophleba subspecies lissophloia progeny trial in Western Australia. Top inset: Planting carried out at the Victorian trials. Bottom inset: eucalyptus polybractea seedlings growing in the nursery. (Photos: Richard Mazanec and Paul Turnbull)

• A mallee breeding-program is delivering encouraging increases in biomass productivity and leaf oil concentration.

• The long-term goal is to make available genetically superior mallee seed to farmers in the wheat-sheep zone of southern Australia.

• A clonal seed orchard is being established north of Perth, Western Australia for mallee seed production.

key points

11ISSUE 9 december 2011

“Finding suitable land with adequate security of tenure is an ongoing issue for the mallee-breeding program,” richard said. “mallees grow into large plants and to establish a replicated trial can require 1–2 ha of land or more, an area which quickly multiplies if there are several trials to establish in any one year.”

Generating seed To produce seed for production planting the breeding program has established a clonal seed orchard north of Perth, WA.

“In a clonal seed orchard only the very best individuals are crossed to produce seed for production planting,” richard explained. “clonal seed orchards have the advantage of being reproducible on multiple sites and should yield the highest possible genetic gains.”

To support the clonal seed orchard a clone ‘bank’ has been established near brookton, WA to generate cuttings for clonal production in the future.

“The orchard is only in its infancy and we still have a range of genotypes that we want to capture and incorporate into the orchard,” richard said. “After this has been accomplished and the orchard has started fl owering we will then carry out yield trials to see if we have been successful in lifting genetic gain and also to identify the high-performing clones and those that need to be dropped from the system to maximise yield.”

Genetic gainThe crc trials for a species comprise what is known as a breeding population. Within it, many genotypes are compared over time and in different environments for biomass production and leaf cineole concentration. After the trees have been assessed for various traits, only the best individuals from the best families are retained to produce the next generation.

“The clonal seed orchard is derived from a subset of elite genotypes selected from across the fi rst generation DEC E. polybractea trials,” richard explained. “In this way, the

very best genotypes from a given generation are brought together into a single place for breeding.”

The idea is that with each turn of a breeding cycle, new material is generated for incorporation into the seed orchard. New clones can be added to the existing orchard or an entirely new clonal seed orchard might be developed if there is suffi cient difference between generations. eventually, older clones may become obsolete as genetic gains advance with successive generations.

“The aim of the crc woody crop tree breeding program is

to increase the value of every mallee tree planted by improving their growth rate and cineole content,” richard said.

The trials require close attention to detail, precise data capture and analysis, and patience while waiting for the trees to mature.

“The seven-year life of the FFI crc might seem a long time but in the life of a breeding program it is just the beginning,” richard said.

• Richard Mazanec, dec T: (08) 9334 0523 E: [email protected]

contact

Another species with strong potential for drier environments is

Eucalyptus loxophleba sub species lissophloia and its close relative sub species gratiae. Progeny trials to assess biomass production and leaf cineole concentration of new material have been established in WA, SA and NSW.

E. loxophleba sub species lissophloia is a mallee species endemic to WA. It occurs naturally in the eastern wheatbelt and the goldfi elds of WA where annual rainfall can be less than 300 millimetres. The closely related E. loxophleba sub species gratiae has a more southerly distribution around Nyabing in the west to Hyden in the north and east to lake Grace.

Eucalyptus polybractea is endemic to the eastern states with naturally occurring populations near bendigo in victoria and West Wyalong in NSW. rainfall in its

Mallees for dry environments

Table 1 List of FFI CRC progeny trials Year Species Sub species Trial type Location Families Total trees2009 polybractea Second generation progeny lake Grace, WA 182 49682009 polybractea Second generation progeny bendigo, victoria 182 49682009 polybractea Second generation progeny condobolin, NSW 182 49682009 polybractea Infusion trial lake Grace, WA 66 16522009 polybractea Infusion trial bendigo, victoria 66 19202009 polybractea Infusion trial condobolin, NSW 66 19202010 loxophleba lissophloia Provenance/progeny trial lake bryde, WA* 132 36802010 loxophleba lissophloia Provenance/progeny trial monarto, SA 120 25602010 loxophleba lissophloia Provenance/progeny trial condobolin, NSW 132 36802010 loxophleba gratiae Provenance/progeny trial lake bryde, WA* 90 25842010 loxophleba gratiae Provenance/progeny trial monarto, SA 90 25602010 loxophleba gratiae Provenance/progeny trial condobolin, NSW 90 25522011 loxophleba lissophloia Provenance/progeny trial brookton, WA† 126 29402011 loxophleba gratiae Provenance/progeny trial brookton, WA† 90 21602011 polybractea clonal seed orchard North of Perth, WA 30 2282011 polybractea clone bank brookton, WA 30 211

* Poor survival † replacement trial

natural distribution ranges between about 470 mm and 540 mm.

E. polybractea is better suited to the wetter parts of the wheatbelt while E. loxophleba sub species lissophloia can be planted in drier areas.



By Catriona Nicholls

12ISSUE 9 december 2011 F o c u s o n R e s e a r c h

future farm

The Investment Framework for environmental resources (INFFer) has once again

played a pivotal role in securing the protection of environmental assets in an innovative approach that combines the efforts of private landholders and community groups, such as landcare.

In fact the recently-funded project for managing the moolort Plains wetlands in north central victoria is the single biggest project investment in victoria with a catchment management authority (cmA) and one of the largest caring for our country (cfoc)-funded projects approved under the 2011–12 business Plan.

The project will see $919,000 invested over two years to manage the wetlands across the area.

According to North central cmA chief Executive Offi cer, Damian Wells, the project is a win not only for the wetlands, but it reaffi rms the value of the INFFER process.

Wetlands, such as Frogmore swamp above, across the Moolort Plains are showing their full potential after rain. BELOW: Purple swamphen nest and eggs on Lakeside swamp (inset) and yellow-billed spoonbills at Lignum swamp. (Photos: Courtesy of North Central CMA)

INFFER process secures wetland protection

“INFFer has allowed us to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the high conservation value wetlands to identify how they could be protected and enhanced for the long term,” damian explained.

“landholders knew they had something special, but their high regard for the wetlands wasn’t explicitly shared by State agencies, which had constrained the ability to attract funds to protect them.”

damian believes this new-found recognition by investors is particularly exciting from a catchment management perspective.

“This project is relatively unique as it focuses on a wetlands system in the upper region of the catchment,” damian explained.

“This position in the landscape is important in terms of river systems, yet they tend not to attract a great deal of funding interest.

“There has always been work carried out on lower catchment wetlands. They get attention because they are on public land or controlled through a regulated irrigation system and there are various levers you can pull in terms of managing water.”

The 48 moolort wetlands are primarily located on private land, and as damian explained, this also provides challenges when accessing large-scale funding.

Community affi nityGeoff Park is a knowledge broker with the North central cmA and has worked closely with the moolort Plains community and damian to get the project off the ground.

“moolort Plains is a very productive mixed farming and cropping landscape and there is a strong affi nity with the wetlands and plains country.”

There are about 20 individual landholders who have wetlands on their properties and they are at differing levels of interest and motivation.

“It’s the same old story — the economics of farming means some people can afford to do things from an assets management perspective and others can’t,” Geoff said.

“our aim is to help people who can’t currently afford to undertake conservation to protect these assets.”

From Geoff’s perspective, long-term community engagement with the assets was a key driver for success.

“landcare has been active in the region since the 1990s and many private landholders have managed the wetlands sympathetically for a lot longer,” Geoff said.

ed Nisbett, President of the local landcare group, has been instrumental in developing the wetlands project with Geoff and damian.

While the community has been aware of the wetlands for a long time, ed believes the focus has increased with recent rain events and the North central cmA’s involvement.

“To some extent we had forgotten about the wetlands for a long time during the drought, with so many of the wetlands remaining dry.

“but rain has seen many of the wetlands burst into life — the frogs have been active since September 2010. It is amazing, even though you have the long dry periods the wetland species are alive there somewhere.”

“In particular, I think the whole process has given the youngest landholders a greater appreciation of the swamps and I have been surprised how many really value them.”

“many older producers have treated them as a special habitat for a long time, because in our barren landscape any sort of woodland is appreciated as shelter for livestock and wildlife. but when you talk to people one-on-one it really is surprising; their knowledge and how much they care about them.”

• INFFER continues to provide a sound assessment and planning framework to secure funding for the protection of key environmental assets.

• The recently-funded Moolort Plains project will see more than 20 private landholders join forces with community groups to protect a chain of about 48 wetlands scattered across more than 1000 hectares in the Loddon catchment, north central Victoria.

• From an investor perspective, INFFER is providing the rigour behind a project proposal, giving confi dence that the outcomes will be achieved.

key points


“Geoff said they invited the investors up to have a look and they didn’t hold out much hope, suggesting the group might get $50,000 – $100,000.

“That was like a red rag to a bull and we decided to use INFFer — we wanted to do it properly and turn the project into a full-blown cfoc proposal.”

Paving the wayWith existing funds, the North central cmA invested about $20,000 in a stocktake of the moolort Plains wetland complex as an asset and developed an understanding of the key drivers of the ecological values and some of the threats to these values.

“We held 11 community workshops and came up with 500 assets identifi ed across the North Central CMA region. This was the fi rst step in the Moolort Plains wetlands fi nding their way more formally onto the internal list of high conservation status locations,” damian Wells said.

“This gave us a base level understanding to undertake a full INFFer assessment, where we came up with some cost-effective and feasible interventions to protect and enhance the wetlands.

“The stocktake allowed us to actively interact with landholders, identify what was happening on their land and provide a shared understanding about species, the connectedness of the wetlands and seasonal drivers.”

“When you start doing one of these analyses you don’t really know what the project will cost, whether it will be cost effective and what the most appropriate policy tools might be — e.g. the offer of incentives or extensive on-ground works.”

“INFFer allows you to identify knowledge gaps and quantify what is required to achieve an agreed ecological goal.

“often project managers focus on what they can achieve with a certain amount of money — but INFFer helps work out how much money is needed to get results.”

Gathering supportAccording to damian, gaining the interest and confi dence of formal funding investors is a critical part of the process.

“It is when there is a shared commitment that the planets align between the prospective investor and the regional body,” damian said. “In this case the North central cmA, a series of motivated landholders and cfoc — it’s about shared investment goals and outcomes.”

“you’ve got to partner with the prospective investor and the earlier you join forces, the more powerful the outcome can be in terms of the overall shared understanding of the project objectives and commitment.”

In this instance, the North central cmA, through Geoff Park, invited their prospective investor (cfoc) to come and have a look at the wetlands for themselves.

“We wanted them involved on the ground and with landholders, so they could see the motivation and appreciation the landholders had for these sites,” damian explained.

“but at the end of day the investors aren’t involved in the funding process, it is the rigour around INFFer that cemented the success of the funding proposal.

“INFFer offers clarity to potential investors that there has been a lot of work, background thought and planning carried out.”

Broad benefi ts While the process was instrumental in securing the funding, damian is quick to point out that INFFer has more intrinsic benefi ts.

“The value of INFFer to me is such a no-brainer — it’s the best decision support framework I have seen in natural resource management. INFFer has had a profound impact on our organisation and the strength of our project proposals.

“We’ve got this incredibly powerful tool that helps us produce credible information and a business case that is investment ready.

“From my perspective it is what our overall North central cmA organisational strategy is about — maximising the investment in environmental protection in the region.

It’s about brokering outcomes, attracting investments between similarly motivated organisations to protect and enhance the integrity of our catchments.”

Putting plans into actiondamian and his team are now in the process of developing an internal project management plan (PmP).

“All the assets are described and articulated. Next we will engage with landholders to see what is possible in terms of land use changes, ranging from fi ve-year management agreements through to a full-blown covenant on the property title,” damian said.

“The greater the long-term commitment, the greater the premium the landholder is paid for making a land use change.

“It is appropriate for private landholders, who are potentially enduring some economic opportunity cost, to receive some recompense for achieving a public-good outcome.”

“A series of conversations to get a refi ned understanding of landholders’ motivations is important.”

“you can have an in-principle discussion, but when the contract is in front of them people start asking for more detail about what their opportunity cost will be for changing their farming system”.

“We will be using an objective process with agreed metrics to determine this cost, which will form the basis for a legally-binding offer they either accept or reject. before we get to this point we will have talked at length to fully appreciate landholders’ views — it’s a three way partnership between science, government and community.”

• Damian Wells, NccmA M: 0429 132 827 T: (03) 5440 1853 E: [email protected]

• Geoff Park, NccmA T: (03) 5440 7124 E: [email protected]

contact




future farm

Anew three-year project, funded by the Future Farm Industries crc is set to deliver

a comprehensive birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) management package for producers across the high rainfall zones of southern Australia.

As new birdsfoot trefoil varieties, with improved drought resistance and seed production potential, enter the commercialisation phase, the project provides a timely path to adoption.

According to New South Wales department of Primary Industries (dPI) researcher, Graeme Sandral, the unique project, developed with signifi cant input from producers and farm advisors across two states, will allow potential users to evaluate their options before dipping their toes in the water. And if they choose to take advantage of the benefi ts offered by the hardy perennial legume, the package will give them new tools to adopt with confi dence.

“We currently have plant breeders’ rights (Pbr) on three promising lines of birdsfoot trefoil and our new three-year project will really put them to the test across a range of practical scenarios,” Graeme said.

The features“In developing new cultivars, we were interested in drought-tolerance with fl owering time up to two months earlier

New birdsfoot trefoil (lotus corniculatus) varieties are the focus of a new three-year project that will deliver a comprehensive management package for producers. (Photo: Graeme Sandral)

Lotus project puts producers fi rst

than the current commercial option, Goldie — we used a plant that fl owers on heat units not day length.

“We were looking for both persistence and recruitment from seed set and what we’ve got is early-fl owering varieties, fl owering within the time frame of cereal crops, to allow maximum seed production while there is still adequate soil moisture.”

Graeme said these varieties were quite different from everything else on the market.

A new project will evaluate these varieties across the high-rainfall zones (600–850 mm) of southern NSW and victoria.

The projectThe new project has been developed in conjunction with producers and advisors to ensure maximum on-farm relevance of the project outcomes.

“before starting the project we collaborated with farmers and extension agents across victoria and southern NSW to ask what research they would like to see carried out,” Graeme said.

The result of this consultation is a series of experiments that will focus on:

• benchmarking production and feed quality of birdsfoot trefoil against existing options.

• Pasture sowing payback periods for birdsfoot trefoil compared with sub clover.

• Testing new pasture establishment methods.

• right plant, right place — where in the landscape does the pasture perform best?

• Grazing management for pasture production and persistence.

• The fi nal package will give producers confi dence when adopting the new pasture varieties.

“The three-year trial across a range of environments, from orange, NSW through to Hamilton, victoria will allow us to put together numbers and carry out economic modelling and analysis. This means, through the modelling we can scale up the trial work

to a paddock and whole-farm scenario,” Graeme explained.

The experimentsThe fi rst area under the spotlight will be comparing species.

“Producers are keen to understand the infl uence of species on production and feed quality,” Graeme said.

“We will compare a mix of the birdsfoot trefoil plus perennial grass against sub clover and the same perennial grass, in plots side by side.

“The only thing that changes is the legume component and we will measure production and quality throughout the year and across three years.”

The next area under investigation is the pasture establishment payback period.

“The truth is, the number of years it takes for perennial pastures to pay for themselves varies from farm to farm, location to location and season to season,” Graeme said.

“but what the comparison of the payback period does is it allows you to compare pasture species under the same conditions and time frames.”

Graeme said that, within reason, the actual numbers are irrelevant to some producers but the comparison did provide a relative measure of various species’ payback times.

“So producers can sow knowing whether birdsfoot trefoil is equivalent to, faster than or slower than sub clover in terms of its payback period.”

Getting establishedThe other aspect producers and advisors were keen to better understand was the impacts a range of sowing treatments had on establishments.

“In particular we are keen to look at the difference we can achieve with a new system where we sow monoculture rows of each species in the mix,” Graeme said.

• A new three-year project will deliver a comprehensive management package for new birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) varieties.

• The new varieties offer drought resistance and improved seed production potential.

• On-farm research will focus on plant and animal production, pasture establishment, grazing management and profi tability.

key points

By Catriona Nicholls

Weed risk note: An environmental weed risk assessment has been carried out for birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). The weed risk was found to be negligible in WA and SA and low in NSW and victoria. The full assessment can be found at: www.futurefarmonline.com.au/_ /about/weedrisk.htm


“To explain this, imagine you are standing in a paddock and as you look down the paddock you would see a row of perennial grass (say phalaris) and then two rows of birdsfoot trefoil, then phalaris and two rows of birdsfoot and so on.

“We will compare this to the traditional method of sowing a batch of mixed seed.

“If it proves a successful option, producers can create these monoculture rows by placing tin dividers in their small seeds box that are pop riveted into place.

“When they fill the seeder, they put phalaris in every third section and birdsfoot trefoil in between the phalaris.”

Graeme explained that this new method came about from discussions about how to prevent establishment failure from early competition between species.

“The competition is reduced through monoculture rows and now we want to test if that is of greater value to producers than sowing a mixture in each row.”

mixed sowing will be compared with monoculture row sowings at a 2:1 legume to phalaris ratio.

Phalaris has been chosen as the perennial grass species, as it is currently the number one perennial grass sown across large areas of the landscape. but Graeme is quick to point out it won’t always be phalaris, but the principle applies to all perennial grasses.

“If we show it works in one grass species the probability is that it will apply in others that have the same growth periods,” Graeme said.

Into the establishment mix, researchers will also carry out herbicide tolerance screening, so in the first year, if producers run into broadleaf weed challenges, they will know what herbicide options they have for broadleaf weed control.

Right plant — right placeProducers and advisors were also keen to better understand the impact of “right plant, right place” on the hardy perennial legume — where does birdsfoot trefoil perform best in the landscape.

“This aspect of the project will see us compare trial plots across upper and lower slopes in the landscape and those with north, south, east and west aspects — eight combinations,” Graeme said.

“And added to this will be some river flats comparisons.

“These comparisons will show where in the landscape birdsfoot trefoil performs best and worst, so we can say to producers where they should get the best bang for their buck.”

Grazing managementThe final piece in the puzzle is to determine the best grazing management for production and persistence. researchers will compare set stocking against rotational grazing.

“In addition to comparing the two grazing strategies, we will have treatments under each regime that allow flowering and seed set, where the seed can fall to ground (seed rain) and others without seed rain (i.e not allowing the pasture to flower).

“The aim of this comparison is to see if seed rain promotes stand thickening, increasing the overall legume content and therefore delivering higher livestock production potential.

“While we are not sure what to expect in terms of results, the outcome will certainly tell us what the best management strategy will be to keep birdsfoot trefoil in the mix for the long term.”

Ultimate packageThe unique combination of experiments across the three years is set to deliver a

comprehensive management package that supports interested producers to achieve success with the new varieties.

“The outcome will be that we can confidently say what the best establishment method is, where it is best to grow birdsfoot trefoil in the landscape, what the best grazing regime is and how this stacks up financially compared with a standard perennial pasture system,” Graeme said.

• Graeme Sandral research Agronomist, NSW dPI


contact

Lotus corniculatus is no newcomer to the perennial pasture

scene — not in South America anyway.

According to researcher Graeme Sandral, the seed market for Lotus in South America for Lotus is huge.

And it is to South America that Australian researchers have gone looking for the elusive characteristics and commercial support that will make the species a success locally.

“In Australia, for a pasture variety to be successful, seed companies like to have 50 tonnes of seed produced per year or more,” Graeme said.

“If they can’t get that annual production sold in the marketplace they tend to lose interest — they need volume to justify ongoing investment in varieties.”

As Graeme explained, this is why having an international market is useful, especially when pushing a completely new option in a local market.

It is not just access to the market that has been important, Australian researchers have been working closely with the South Americans to develop the new varieties.

In the early stages, the FFI crc team signed a contract with National Institute for Forestry and Agricultural research (INIA) Uruguay to get access

to 75 breeding lines that had important characteristics of interest. The agreement also gave INIA Uruguay a vested interest, with equity on the resulting cultivars.

“Their cultivars were very productive, disease resistant, they are grown on acid soils, but they weren’t drought tolerant — we wanted a more drought-tolerant version with earlier flowering.

“We combined this breeding material with the collection we gained through North Africa and the southern mediterranean, which was drought tolerant and early flowering.”

The result is three lines of birdsfoot trefoil that show significant potential for the local and international markets:

LC07AUF — selected for early and uniform flowering.

LC07AUYF — selected for yield and flowering.

LC07AT — selected for high tannin content (high tannins provide additional bloat protection and reduced methane production).

All three lines are currently going through the commercialisation process with PGG Wrightsons. Graeme expects that, all going well, seed will be commercially available during 2014.

Looking out for Lotus


Forage shrubs thrive in tough timesEarly results from one of the

Future Farm Industries crc Enrich project sites at cowell,

South Australia, is showing that a mix of perennial forage shrubs can survive and thrive in dry seasonal conditions. eyre Peninsula farmer Scott Williams, fi rst profi led in Future Farm december 2008, and Farming Systems Offi cer for the eyre Peninsula Natural resource management board (ePNrm) Neil Ackland recently shared some of their experiences with Kylie Nicholls.

“continuing dry years and increasing problems with non-productive areas of land, which we call magnesia patches, have encouraged us to look at the potential of forage shrubs to help reduce erosion and improve soil cover and productivity,” Scott said.

“magnesia patches salt up, particularly when it’s dry and just become scalded bare ground where nothing will grow.

We thought this forage shrub system could be well-suited to our environment and decided to get involved in the Enrich project, with support from Neil Ackland, who works as a Farming Systems offi cer for the EPNRM.

We planted an initial one hectare site with 15 perennial forage shrub species and the results have encouraged us to expand the project site and plant another 5 ha with some of the best-performing shrubs.

I view the forage shrubs as a living haystack, providing a feed reserve for when times are tough, such as providing a feed supply during the autumn feed gap after stubbles have been grazed and before winter growth gets going.”

Testing shrub resilience“The one-hectare trial site was fenced into four plots and planted during July 2008 with

15 perennial forage shrub species that had shown promise in trials at the main Enrich project site at monarto,” Neil said.

The fi rst year was very dry and we decided not to give the plants any supplementary watering so some of the shrubs did struggle, particularly in the plot affected by magnesia, but overall survival rates were good.

We also sowed a range of grasses and medics in the inter rows between the shrubs to try and increase the ground cover more quickly.

The site received its fi rst light grazing during march 2010 with 20 sheep grazing each area for about 8–9 days at a stocking rate of 75 dry sheep equivalents (dSe) per hectare.

We also provided supplementary hay to the sheep, as the inter-row grasses had really struggled through the earlier dry times and were non-existent.

We didn’t want to graze it too hard and found in the early plots some of the shrubs didn’t get grazed at all, such as the Atriplex

and Rhagodia saltbushes, but as the sheep moved through the plots they grazed the shrubs more readily and by the end, they had consistently grazed all the shrubs.

during April 2011, the trial site was ready for another graze and after a better season the shrubs had grown quite signifi cantly and the ground cover had improved, we were seeing more native grasses, ryegrass and self-seeding saltbush across the site.

We lifted the stocking rate to 120 dSe and increased the time in the trial site to 59 days, with no supplementary feeding, as the inter row grasses were abundant.

Scott and I also decided it would be benefi cial to introduce sheep that were familiar with grazing old man saltbush — I think this helped as well.

most of the shrubs were chewed back to bare sticks but they have recovered well and are re-shooting nicely.”

Case study: Scott Williams

Location: cowell, eyre Peninsula, SA



Soils: Grey ash

Enterprises: Grains and sheep

farm info.

Cowell farmer Scott Williams and Eyre Peninsula NRM Farming Systems Offi cer, Neil Ackland, monitor the growth of perennial forage shrubs in an on-farm trial. They believe the shrubs could help reduce erosion and provide a valuable feed supply. (Photos: Tony Zwar and Neil Ackland)


future farm

S t o r i e s f r o m A u s t r a l i a n F a r m e r s

• Preliminary trial results of forage shrub survival and growth show promise.

• Perennial forage shrubs are helping to tackle the issue of ‘magnesia’ soils and wind erosion through increased ground cover.

• Forage shrubs could provide a valuable feed reserve during dry times.

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17

I N N o v A T I o N I N P r o F I T A b l e P e r e N N I A l F A r m I N G S y S T e m S


Another option might be to plant the forage shrubs in rows in an alley farm system so the crop can still be incorporated in the paddock.

A good quality water supply is also an issue as I certainly noticed how much more water the sheep drank.”

Having the trial site fenced off and locked up for such a long time has encouraged the ground cover to return and the rain we have had during the past year has certainly helped.

In the next part of the project it will be good to investigate the animal production side of it, the sheep took a while to get used to grazing the saltbush but they came through it alright.

It will be interesting to see whether forage shrub systems like ours will simply provide maintenance for sheep in dry times or whether they will have a positive impact on sheep condition.

Broadacre application needs workon a larger scale, we are still trying to work out the practicalities of the shrubs, as I think you would need to fence the forage shrubs off and how that would look fi nancially within the whole farming system needs to be calculated.

We also need to fi nd easier ways to sow the shrubs, as tubestock is more expensive and time consuming to plant.

Hopefully there might be an option of putting seed through the airseeder and sowing it that way, several of my neighbours have trialled this, with varying levels of success.

Expanding the trial“Further funding support from the National landcare program and the ePNrm, has enabled the Enrich project to expand with the planting of a second 5 ha trial site,” Neil said.

“Four star performers from the fi rst trial have been selected, based on survival rates, palatability and nutritive value, which includes old man saltbush, ruby saltbush, silver saltbush and sea-berry saltbush.

The four shrub species were planted during May 2010 in 200 metre rows of fi ve, replicated twice, which will enable us to look at specifi c grazing trials of each shrub as a monoculture or as a mix of shrubs. Temporary electric fencing will be used to manage the grazing.

Animal performance will also be an important component of the trial with sheep condition measured before and after grazing.”

Forage shrubs benefi t soil“I have been encouraged by the growth of the perennial shrubs and the ground cover now in the trial site,” Scott said.

“The fi rst trial site is located running north-south and we found the wind would still blow up and down the rows when there was little cover, so you really need that ground cover to reduce the wind erosion, particularly on the magnesia patches as they are susceptible to powdering up when sheep are grazing them.

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By Jason Emms, SARDI

• The Cowell Flats area on the Eyre Peninsula has been battered by a string of dry seasons and is also restrained by areas of ‘magnesia soil’ where little will grow.

Ground cover is vital in this region, but it is not just about having any type of cover. Ideally we want ground cover with production benefi ts that can contribute to farm business profi tability.

Perennial forage shrubs fi t well into this system — they are resilient, can survive tough conditions and add stability to the feed supply instead of just relying on a few annual grasses to grow through winter if it rains.

The Enrich project at Scott’s place originated during 2008 and is part of a larger network of 15 sites located throughout WA, SA, victoria and NSW. The aim of these sites was to take the promising shrub species grown at the main Enrich project site at monarto, SA and trial them more extensively in a wide range of environments.

despite the tough start at Scott’s place, the results in the initial trial site were encouraging with an overall survival

rate of 76% — the only shrub with a low survival rate was the exotic tree medic species. The highest survival rates were achieved by the old man, ruby and silver saltbush species.

The next focus was on production, with the plants being measured twice yearly. During the fi rst 18 months, conditions remained pretty tough so the growth was not exceptional although the survival rates were still high.

Improved seasonal conditions during 2010 and into 2011 led to a signifi cant increase in production, with most of the plants growing more than three times their initial size in less than one year.

Grazing has not affected the survival of most of the shrub species, which is encouraging. The only species that continues to struggle is the tree medic with a 20% survival rate.

Increasing diversity is a key component of the Enrich program and is important for animal health and production. Animals need a range of different shrub species with different traits to provide a fully balanced diet. For example, ruby and seaberry saltbush have shown positive

nutritive value traits which make them valuable additions to the feedbase. The inter row pasture and companion plantings are also incredibly important to the system.

being perennial plants their ability to persist is critical. The ePNrm board has taken a long-term view of the trial so it is hoped monitoring of the site will continue with Neil Ackland providing signifi cant support.

In the future we want to focus on animal performance including weight gains and condition scores.

• Jason Emms is the Enrich project leader and a senior research offi cer with the South Australian Research and Development Institute.

• Jason Emms, SArdI T: (08) 8303 9602 E: [email protected]

contact

future farm

• Scott Williams M: 0429 949 471 E: [email protected]

• Neil Ackland, ePNrm T: (08) 8688 3401 E: [email protected]

contact

Perennial Forage Shrubs can be downloaded at — www.futurefarmonline.com.au/ LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=88398

future farm


Kikuyu holds it all togetherF arming on a coastal sandplain

in Western Australia can have its challenges, but kikuyu is

helping provide some solutions, as catriona Nicholls found out when she spoke with erica Ayers.

“my partner Phil and I have been farming for the past seven years on my family property near esperance, WA,” erica said.

“during this time we have increased the existing 50 ha of kikuyu to about 250 ha in varying stages of establishment. We try to sow a new paddock of kikuyu in most years.

compared with other perennial pastures, kikuyu offers better summer production under set stocking and no matter how hard we graze our established paddocks, it comes back.

Keeping groundcover year-round is critical with the coastal soils and kikuyu has proven an important tool against wind erosion.

Not only does it provide groundcover and a source of quality feed, but it also provides immediate growth and response to out-of-season rainfall, extending the growing season quite substantially. It will grow right through the year, using any summer rainfall, and if we get a false break it just keeps growing.

Establishment successIn terms of establishment, weed management leading up to sowing is particularly important.

Spring rainfall in the year of establishment is critical and this has been an issue during recent years, with particularly dry summers.

our strategy to manage this as much as possible is to sow the kikuyu as early as we can during spring — towards the end of August or early September.

To reduce weed competition during establishment we typically carry out two knockdown sprays — the fi rst during July and then immediately pre-sowing.

depending on the paddock and the season we may carry out a follow-up post-emergent weed control spray if needs be.

Grasshopper control is another challenge in our area during establishment. In many years we have to spray two or three times during the fi rst summer to ensure survival. During subsequent years we will sometimes spray grasshoppers to maximise production, but it isn’t necessary for pasture survival.

because the grass seed is so small, it needs a carrier at sowing. We typically sow our kikuyu at about one kilogram per hectare, with a low rate (10-20 kg/ha) of barley or oats. This cover crop provides groundcover while the kikuyu establishes and offers a grazing opportunity during october–November.

Grazing the cereal at this time also reduces competition for the establishing pasture.

We use cattle to graze the cereal as they don’t graze as close to the ground as the sheep, which can uproot the establishing kikuyu seedlings.

The cattle might be on the paddock for about a week or 10 days depending on stock numbers and the paddock.

Grazing managementIn terms of overall grazing management after establishment, it really depends on the year — if there is suffi cient summer rainfall more weeds will come through the kikuyu and we may use stock to manage weeds.

In a dry year we potentially wouldn’t graze a new pasture at all until march or April and then only lightly.

The key to grazing a new kikuyu pasture is that it needs to be fairly stable in the ground before putting stock on.

We never supplementary feed on our new kikuyu paddocks — we put the stock in to graze and then we pull them out.

If you damage the runners as the pasture is establishing it will slow down growth signifi cantly. However, when established the kikuyu is very hardy.

Defi nite drawbacksAs good as it is, kikuyu is not a total grazing solution — it does slow down annual pastures coming through the sward. Annual pastures are really important as part of our system, but

Erica and Phil are steadily increasing the area of kikuyu across their farm each year. Inset: Even on grey-sandy soils, kikuyu has established well on Erica and Phil’s farm. (Photos: Erica Ayers)

Case study: erica Ayers and Phil cleghorn

Location: esperance, Western Australia



Soil type: coastal sandplain

Enterprises: Sheep and cattle, small amount of canola (to control grass weeds)

farm info.

Weed risk note: An environmental weed risk management guide has been prepared for kikuyu. It is available on the FFI crc website at: www.futurefarmonline.com.au/_literature_70121/Kikuyu_Fact_Sheet

• Kikuyu provides year-round groundcover on fragile sandy coastal soils.

• Weed and insect (grasshopper) control is critical for establishing kikuyu successfully.

• Sowing with a cover crop, such as barley or oats, provides groundcover while the pasture establishes. It also offers a late spring–summer grazing option.

key points

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19




or three month rest over summer on annual pasture paddocks to call them clean, with kikuyu you need a much longer period.

Invasive intentionsIn terms of its invasive nature, kikuyu certainly invades other areas and we are starting to see it in paddocks in which it hasn’t been sown.

This isn’t a signifi cant problem for us at the moment, but I think potentially it would be a downside if we wanted to crop into it — it could be very competitive and hard to slow.

We are working on getting the annuals within the kikuyu working better. last year we planted lupins into a kikuyu paddock and were pleased with the results. It was an opportunity to clean up some of the silver grass and then resow with clover and ryegrass.

We are fi nding with multiple false breaks during the past few dry years, the annual pasture seed bank has reduced.

they are certainly slower coming through at the start of the season. legumes for nitrogen production in the kikuyu pasture are ideal.

I think a total farm area of 50% kikuyu would be our goal, relying on annual pastures such as ryegrass and clover for winter feed.

on a year-round basis our kikuyu allows us a stocking rate increase of about 25% on annual pasture alone, but this varies with seasons.

We are moving from set stocking to rotational grazing with our kikuyu, dividing paddocks and improving pasture production through management.

recent trial data in the EverGraze project comparing grazing days between kikuyu and an annual pasture paddock confi rms about a 25% increase in stocking rate on the kikuyu.

during summer we tend to use the kikuyu for weaner cattle and sheep who get preferential feeding at this time.

We do have worm control issues with sheep on the kikuyu. Where you may look to a two

To date kikuyu is our best perennial option for our environment and livestock system, although a 10 ha lucerne paddock also shows potential in terms of production, high feed value and fi lling the autumn–winter feed gap.”

• EverGraze — More livestock from perennials is a FFI CRC, MLA and AWI research and delivery partnership. For further information, go to www.evergraze.com.au

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By Ronald Master, DAFWA

Table 1 Average DSE and grazing days Grazing 2008 Grazing 2009 Grazing 2010

Summer–autumn

Winter–spring

Summer–autumn

Winter–spring

Summer–autumn

DSE Grazingdays

DSE Grazingdays

DSE Grazingdays

DSE Grazingdays

DSE Grazingdays

Kikuyu 17 3113 9 1630 9.5 1732 10 1775 8.5 1554

Annuals 4 678 16 2991 7 1333 7 1339 3 623

Table 2 Supplementary feeding for kikuyu and annual paddock Dec 2007–June 2010

Pasture type

Barley (kg)

Lupins (kg)

Hay rolls (500 kg rolls)

Kikuyu 24,100 7680 48

Annuals 15,325 960 27

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• The key aims for establishing kikuyu on Erica and Phil’s property was to provide more out-of-season feed and stabilise the paddock. The kikuyu achieved both aims however the story was not that simple.

Kikuyu provided a signifi cantly higher stocking rate throughout 2008, 2009 and 2010 (see Table 1). The supplementary feeding data though for the two paddocks tells a different story (see Table 2).

While the kikuyu used far more lupins, barley and hay than the annual pasture, this occurred during 2008 and early 2010, and no supplementary feeding was required on the kikuyu during 2009.

As it turned out, 2008 was a particularly diffi cult year with a late break and little feed early in the season. The annual paddocks were starting to bare off and become susceptible to erosion, so the kikuyu was essentially used as a feedlot.

It was stocked for nearly two and half months with almost all of the feed going on to the kikuyu during this extended grazing period.

Using the kikuyu like this reduced grazing pressure on the annual paddocks, limiting the wind erosion in a diffi cult year and allowing the annuals time to recover.

Amazingly, despite the heavy stocking rates of between 21 and 37dSe/ha for the two and a half month period, the kikuyu did not blow and remained stable. This was repeated during summer–autumn 2010. The paddock was grazed for more than four months and again used as a green feedlot for 613 weaned lambs plus cattle and dry ewes at various periods. There was no erosion and the deferred grazing allowed the annual paddocks to get ahead of the stock.

The ability of kikuyu to stabilise soil and support high stocking rates makes it one of the most valuable perennial plants for the south coast region of WA.

A combination of rhizomes and stolons give the plant the ability to regenerate across the entire paddock even when it has been grazed right back to the runners. This is a bit of a double-edged sword because of its unusual growth habit kikuyu can form dense mats. These can become

so thick they smother annual legumes trying to germinate. This could lead to winter feed gaps due to the summer growth pattern of kikuyu. management is the key.

Heavy grazing towards the end of summer is crucial to open up the stand. This allows annual clovers and grasses to germinate, increasing winter production.

Some producers are experimenting with overcropping into kikuyu at strategic times, like autumn. Some are using oats and ryegrass while others like Phil and erica are using lupins, which is a fairly innovative approach. lupins are a fantastic strategy in a kikuyu pasture as it provides both high-quality legume grain for the stock and nitrogen for the pasture.

• Ronald Master works for the DAFWA beef and farming systems program and has been involved with perennial pastures for the past 10 years.

• Ronald Master, dAFWA T: (08) 9892 8521 M: 0437 519 875 E: [email protected]

contact

• Erica Ayers T: (08) 9078 3030 E: [email protected]

contact

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Please return this form to:Future Farm Industries CRCThe University of Western Australia M08135 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009Tel (08) 6488 2505 Fax (08) 6488 2856Or email: [email protected]


Supported by

In the last issue of Future Farm (August 2011) it was reported

that the mallee harvester was undergoing trials in New South Wales and would return to Western Australia this year. That proposed return has since been delayed.

Peter Zurzolo, ceo of FFI crc said that in the trials in NSW, the harvester worked near areas known to be infected by myrtle rust — a fungal pathogen that infects some plants in the Myrtaceae family, including eucalypts. myrtle rust is not known to occur in WA and concern was raised within FFI crc that the mallee harvester may facilitate the spread of the disease.

“With this in mind, we chose to leave the harvester in eastern Australia until we could be certain that it did not pose any threat,” Peter said.

“We are now continuing to assess the risk and if and when we are confi dent that quarantine measures can eliminate the potential spread of myrtle rust by the mallee harvester,

we will revisit the idea of bringing the harvester to WA. Until that time, we will not take the risk.

“This does not mean the development work has stopped and the prototype mallee harvester should be completed by the end of this year. currently, work on the fi nal milestones relating to the throughput the machine can handle are nearly completed.

“Not bringing the harvester back to WA this year, while disappointing for the mallee growers in WA, is not a major setback for the project. The mallee harvester is an integral and essential part of the mallee biomass supply chain and we are determined to see it realised.”

The fi nal word

Future Farm December 2011

Documents

Transcript of Future Farm December 2011