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Loddon Mallee Ag News
 
Friday, 18 December 2020
In this edition:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) update
Together we can keep our town covidsafe

Update: COVIDSafe Summer restrictions

COVIDSafe Summer restrictions came into effect at 11.59 pm on Sunday 6 December 2020 and are now in place across Victoria until at least the end of January 2021. See the Premier’s statement or visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au for more details.

Victorian Border Crossing Permit

From midnight 18 December 2020 a permit system will be in place for all NSW residents travelling to Victoria, residents from other states travelling through NSW and Victorians visiting NSW and returning home. Anyone trying to enter Victoria from the Northern Beaches and other NSW exposure sites (red zone) will not be permitted to enter.

The Health advice for NSW travellers arriving in Victoria provides more details.  Stay up to date by visiting coronavirus.vic.gov.au.

From 11.59 pm on Sunday 6 December 2020 travellers from South Australia will no longer be required to carry a permit to enter Victoria.

Find out about the restrictions in place during Victoria’s COVIDSafe Summer.

COVIDSafe Plans are required for all Victorian businesses

It is mandatory for every Victorian business to have a COVIDSafe Plan.

To ensure compliance, random spot checks are underway.

Your COVIDSafe Plan must demonstrate:

  • your actions to help prevent the introduction of coronavirus (COVID-19) to your workplace
  • the level of face mask or personal protective equipment (PPE) required for your workforce
  • how you will prepare for, and respond to, a suspected or confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in your workplace.

Businesses must review and update their COVIDSafe Plans routinely, especially when restrictions or public health advice changes. Organisations with multiple worksites must complete a COVIDSafe Plan for each worksite.

You can stay up to date with restrictions and public health advice at coronavirus.vic.gov.au

Latest news
Grey nomads answer the harvest call

Retired consultant Cathy Downie has rolled up her sleeves, packed her new campervan and joined the growing band of grey nomads heading south for this year’s Big Victorian Harvest.

After 30 years in an office in Sydney, the 56-year-old recruitment specialist decided to buy a campervan and hit the harvest trail back in March.

As soon as she’s finished picking berries in northern New South Wales, she’ll be making her way south – stopping for Christmas in Wollongong with her family – before making her way across the border.

“I see there’s plenty of work in Victoria and it’s a lot cooler there,” she said.

Cathy is new to harvest work but has been amazed at how easy it is to find and loves the flexibility it offers.

She said it’s ideal for people over 50 who are travelling solo, want to pick up a little bit of extra income, see unique parts of the country and be their own boss.

Along the way she’s discovered hundreds of women over 50 doing the same thing and says the network is incredibly supportive.

She said her earnings are creeping up as she becomes more consistent at the work but doesn’t find it too hard.

“It’s empowering. You can work at your own pace, take a day off when you want.”

Horticulture business across the state regularly employ older people to work on farms during the harvest, in jobs such as sorting, packing and supervising.

Many retirees and grey nomads combine travel with harvest work, taking advantage of the short-term opportunities to supplement their income or savings.

With thousands of harvest jobs available, there’s work suitable for all ages in the Big Victorian Harvest.

The Working for Victoria job-matching platform, which links employers with jobseekers, is supporting employers and farmers find workers for this season’s harvest.

On Working for Victoria there are now more than 1,000 agriculture jobs listed.

The Victorian Government has also established hotlines to support businesses with seasonal workforce needs and provide jobseekers with extra information and support. 

  • Business Victoria hotline for businesses: 13 22 15
  • Jobs Victoria hotline for job seekers: 1300 208 575.

For more information visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/bigharvest

Setting Victorian agriculture up for growth and change

The Victorian Government is backing a bold new strategy for Victorian agriculture – helping the industry to grow in the face of constant change so it remains a cornerstone of the state’s economy and delivers better returns for farmers.

Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes unveiled the transformational strategy this week, highlighting the Waverly Pastoral Company in Maffra, which has received an Agricultural Energy Investment Plan grant to install solar technology that will reduce energy and water usage at their dairy farm.

Building on initiatives such as this – which put money back into farmers’ pockets and help tackle climate change – the strategy sets out the Victorian Government’s vision and commitments to drive a strong, innovative and sustainable sector over the next 10 years.

The strategy outlines fourteen commitments under five key themes of Recover, Grow, Modernise, Protect and Promote.

These include commitments to strengthen local supply chains and manufacturing jobs, export our world class products to more markets more often, increase access to AgTech and research, position Victoria as a leader in low-emissions agriculture, and make agriculture a career path for more Victorians.

The strategy will support Victorian farmers and producers to gain a competitive edge as the sector evolves over the next decade and beyond. It will also provide certainty and leadership to seize opportunities and take on challenges armed with as much knowledge and experience as possible.

The Government has invested $115 million in the Victorian Budget 2020/21 to develop and deliver the strategy. This includes $30 million to extend the popular Agricultural Energy Investment Plan that supports government partnerships with industry to build a more resilient, energy efficient and internationally competitive agriculture sector, and $50 million to upskill the next generation of farmers.

The strategy’s funding also includes $15 million to access leading AgTech, innovative farming methods and new skills, and $20 million for the Food to Market and Pathways to Export programs, supporting infrastructure and business development projects and dedicated agriculture export resources.

Working hand-in-hand with industry partners and the community will be critical to the successful implementation of this strategy.

To read the strategy and have your say, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/strategy.

Resilience of food and fibre sector sees record exports
Oranges

Victoria’s food and fibre producers have beaten the odds to deliver a record $14.5 billion in exports for 2019-20, despite the challenges thrown at them by drought, bushfires and the global pandemic.

Victoria is Australia’s largest food and fibre exporter, accounting for 28 per cent of total national exports. The recent release of the 2019-20 Victorian Food and Fibre Export Performance Report shows that Victoria is still on-track to reach its target to grow food and fibre exports to $20 billion by 2030.

While China continues to be Victoria’s highest value market for commodities such as horticulture and dairy, South East Asia and North America are becoming increasingly important markets, with exports to South East Asia growing by 8 per cent and North America by 7 per cent. Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are major markets for Victorian dairy, grain and horticulture and will continue to present strong export opportunities.

Since 2015-16, Victoria’s food and fibre sector - which includes dairy, meat, seafood, grain, as well as wool and wine - has increased its exports by a huge $2.4 billion.

Through Global Victoria’s network of 23 international specialised trade offices, the Victorian Government is working hard to ensure more pathways are opened for Victorian producers to do business around the world.

The Government has developed funding packages and programs to support the sector through the challenges of the past year, including the $15.7 million Export Recovery Package that will provide increased assistance for Victorian industry to address logistics, supply chain, and market access issues caused by the pandemic.

Other support for the sector includes a mentoring and business skills scholarship program for young farmers, the $5 million Wine to the World initiative, and the $8 million Growing Food and Fibre Markets program, which focuses on expanding international export opportunities by improving paddock-to-port capabilities.

The Victorian Food and Fibre Export Performance Report can be found online at agriculture.vic.gov.au/exports.

New community for energy smart farming

Farmers, tradespeople, service providers and anyone living on the land are invited to get involved in the new Energy Smart Farming Community of Practice.

The Community of Practice provides a great place to find information and chat about energy efficient and renewable energy technologies and practices that improve farm productivity and resilience.

The Community of Practice is a collaborative project between Agriculture Victoria and New South Wales Department of Primary Industries with participation from Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Sustainability Victoria and Regional Development Victoria.

Community of Practice Leader, Liz Hamilton, said the new Energy Smart Farming Community brought together farm energy experts including farmers, service providers, advisors, researchers and community advocates to share energy knowledge, research and solutions to help make Australian farming more profitable.

“Energy is crucial for agricultural production with factors such as rising energy costs of gas, diesel and electricity impacting most farmers,” Ms Hamilton said.

“Energy reliability and the financial barriers such as the high up-front cost of investment, concerns about return on investment and uncertainty around appropriate technologies create significant challenges to farmers looking to make the best energy investment decisions.

“Saving energy on farms not only helps farmers to sustain profitable businesses, it can also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Community of Practice is designed so that participants can share and build on the existing knowledge, around practical energy and money saving solutions for farmers by providing access to relevant information, resources and people who can help with energy efficiency and renewable technology.

Key features of the Energy Smart Farming Community include peer-reviewed articles on energy saving initiatives and renewables, farmer case studies, online events, as well as the ability to ask energy-related questions of the community.

This initiative is part of the Victorian Government’s Agriculture Energy Investment Plan, which is supporting producers to improve energy usage on-farm.

For more information, visit extensionaus.com.au/energysmartfarming

Milking the Weather – summer edition available now

Milking the Weather provides seasonal and climate risk information for the dairy industry four times a year at the beginning of summer, autumn, winter and spring.

Information includes regional round ups for the previous season seasonal climate outlook summaries, strategies on managing the season ahead and case studies on farmers managing climate risk successfully on their farms.

The summer edition features:

  • the Victorian seasonal climate summary for spring 2020 and the summer outlook
  • farmer case studies with Kevin Fitzsimmons from Merrigum in the Northern Irrigation Region, Craig Dwyer from Bullaharre in South West Victoria, and Brett Findlay from Towong Upper, near Corryong in North East Victoria
  • tips on managing the summer ahead, and
  • the latest seasonal soil moisture condition assessment.

Read the summer edition online, download a copy and subscribe to future editions here on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Summer Water Calculator

Now you can take the guesswork out of your livestock water needs with Agriculture Victoria’s new Summer Water Calculator.

The Summer Water Calculator is a simple, user-friendly water calculator developed to help farmers prepare for dry seasons.

The web-based calculator is accessible on a mobile and assists farmers in estimating their livestock water requirements for summer. Access the calculator from the Agriculture Victoria website at https://go.vic.gov.au/3GOuKl and save the link in your browser for future reference.

Agriculture and climate change council appointed

A new ministerial advisory council has been appointed by the Victorian Government to help the Victorian agriculture sector prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change.

Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes this week met the nine new council members, with a broad cross-section of experience across farm types, regions and climate policy expertise, each with their own unique skills, knowledge and networks.

The Victorian Agriculture and Climate Change Council (VACCC) will provide independent and strategic advice to the Minister about the challenges and opportunities facing the Victorian agriculture sector from an increasingly variable climate.

The VACCC will help government to work with industry to deliver strong, lasting and collaborative action on climate change for agriculture.

CEO of the Rural Bank Alexandra Gartmann will steer the VACCC as Chair. Ms Gartmann is an experienced leader of rural, agriculture and community development focused organisations. She is joined by beef and wool farmer and carbon-neutral farming pioneer Mark Wootton as Deputy Chair.

The VACCC is part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to delivering strong and meaningful action on climate change in the agriculture sector. This includes working with industry to support action that is already being taken to manage climate change risks, build business resilience and improve productivity.

For more information about the Council and the full list of members, visit the Agriculture Victoria website.

Central Victorian sheep farmer on animal cruelty charges

An absentee producer agisting sheep in the Bendigo region was convicted of animal cruelty charges in the Bendigo Magistrates Court recently.

The producer pleaded guilty to a total of four charges, two of cruelty and two of aggravated cruelty, and was convicted and placed on an 18-month Community Corrections Order and required to complete 200 hours of community work.

Agriculture Victoria Animal Health and Welfare Compliance Manager Daniel Bode said the farmer failed to comply with notices under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986.

“Throughout the period of offending, the sheep continued to suffer and were not being provided with appropriate food or treatment, leaving our officers no alternative but to euthanise several sheep that were suffering,” Mr Bode said.

Between 3 May and 9 May 2019 authorised Agriculture Victoria officers attended the property and found 72 sheep were not provided with proper and sufficient feed.

Of the 72 sheep, nine had recently deceased, eight were seriously disabled and were euthanised.

As a result of the continuing non-compliance, Agriculture Victoria seized the remainder of the animals.

In handing down the sentence the Magistrate said if not for the plea of guilty, a term of imprisonment would have been imposed.

The Magistrate also commented farmers are the backbone of rural Australia, and the accused was giving farmers a bad name in such a shameful manner. His Honour also referred to the conduct as disgraceful.

Mr Bode said apart from the obvious pain and suffering of the animals, animal welfare breaches can jeopardise Victoria’s reputation on international livestock markets, which can affect all producers.

“This is a reminder to all livestock producers that animal cruelty will not be tolerated by the Victorian Government or the community.”

“Also, those producers who farm as absentee owners are reminded that adequate supervision is a requirement particularly during risk times such as summer to ensure animals have proper and sufficient feed, water and shelter.”

Anyone wishing to make a specific complaint in regard to livestock welfare can contact Agriculture Victoria on 136 186 or aw.complaint@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Students' creative approach spreads farm safety message

above: One of the winning entries in the KidSafe Victoria’s Farm Safety Creative Competition

Victorian students have drawn on their creativity to send a clear message about the importance of safety on farms, contributing to a new safety campaign that will be rolled out state-wide.

Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes recently visited Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School in Sunbury to announce the winners of KidSafe Victoria’s Farm Safety Creative Competition which include a video made by Holy Trinity’s prep students on how to be safe around farm animals.

The competition called on students to come up with their own farm safety designs based on the theme, Reducing Harm on the Farm. Students from Penshurst Primary School, Tarneit P-9 College, Willaura Primary School and Camelot Rise Primary School also won prizes for their outstanding posters and videos.

KidSafe Victoria will use the winning entries in a social media campaign in 2021 to raise awareness of farm safety among parents and carers.

As part of the Victorian Government’s Smarter Safer Farms initiative, KidSafe Victoria received $97,000 for a three-year program to help change attitudes about safety on farms from a young age and prevent deaths and injuries.

The Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) found that children aged younger than 15 in Victoria’s outer regional areas are four times more likely to die due to injury than children in our major cities.

Data shows that the major causes of hospital presentations and admissions for this age group are associated with transport, such as motorbikes and horses, and falls for the very young.

MUARC recommended addressing this problem through increased education and awareness of known injury hazards such as dams, farm equipment and off-road motorbike use.

Avian influenza – changes to Control Area near Kerang
map - changes to control area near kerang

The avian influenza Restricted Area near Kerang has now been removed and the Control Area has been contracted to ensure a staged progression towards eradication of this outbreak. Bird owners should continue to follow good biosecurity practices and monitor for signs of disease.

Remember that permits are still required to move poultry, poultry products or equipment into, out of or within this Control Area.

Further details and more information on keeping your birds disease free can be found at www.agriculture.vic.gov.au/avianflu

Head to Help

What is Head to Help?

HeadtoHelp is a free mental health support service that helps Victorians navigate their local mental health system, to find the best help for them.

It's for anyone of any age, including children, young people and older adults, whose mental health is suffering because of COVID-19 and its social, emotional and financial impacts. It's also open to people from our border communities and offers help to anyone experiencing addiction, families and carers, refugees and people of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. It is even available to those who don't qualify for Medicare.

No referral is required, simply HeadtoHelp by calling 1800 595 212 between 8.30 am and 5 pm, Monday to Friday but not on public holidays.

To find out more visit the website, Facebook and Instagram page.

Are you a podcast listener? Take our survey!
man working with headphones in

Here at Agriculture Victoria we are interested in getting feedback about your interests and preferences to help us improve our podcasts.

While we know they are a great medium, we are interested in how you listen to them and what you like about them. This will help us improve our approach in the future.

We are seeking your thoughts with this short survey. It won’t take any longer than five minutes and will help us in creating new podcasts.

Complete the survey here: https://bit.ly/39hlrrO

Victoria’s on-farm Internet of Things trial
Do you want to invest in digital technology for your farm?

Do you want to invest in digital technology for your farm?

A trial to test Internet of Things (IoT) technology on sheep, dairy, horticulture and cropping farms is underway in Victoria.

As part of the trial, grants of up to $25,000 are available to help farmers in Loddon Shire, Buloke Shire, Moira Shire and the City of Greater Shepparton invest in IoT technology and get down to the nitty-gritty of works and what doesn’t on their farms. Network connectivity will also be provided to farmers taking part in the trial.

For more information call Agriculture Victoria Industry Technology Coordinator:

  • Loddon Shire – Mark Sloan on 0463 833 668
  • Greater Shepparton and  Moira Shire – Andy Clark on 0436 804 656
  • Buloke Shire – Mark Gould on 0448 086 059.

Or visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/digitalag

What's on?

Details about Agriculture Victoria events can now be found in one spot on our website. Log on to agriculture.vic.gov.au/events to find out what's on.

Save the dates – Hands on precision agriculture training

The Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC) has funded the Society of Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA) and leading grower groups to develop and deliver free precision agriculture (PA) training to growers across Victoria.

Ten ‘Hands-on PA Training’ workshops will help Victorian grains growers make use of PA equipment and data to improve the speed and accuracy of decision making, reduce production costs and increase farm profitability.

They will provide growers with hands on experience with the range of PA technologies available and how they can be used to identify and manage variability and key constraints to improving their productivity and profitability.

Workshop sessions will focus on proven technologies and practices currently in use by growers and advisors including:

  • how to identify variability (yield mapping, remote sensing, soil and pH mapping, in season monitoring)
  • how to identify the key causes of yield and profit variability (including acidity/alkalinity, nutrient deficiencies, weed pressure, water logging etc.)
  • techniques to address yield and profit variability (variable rate, in paddock blending
  • predictive analytics (yield forecasts, input management, pest and disease forecasts)
  • mobile device, tablet and computer based integrative/farm management platforms.

In total, 10 workshops will be held across Victoria in during 2021 – five initial events in March, followed by a further five follow up events in the same locations September:

  • 1 March 2021 – Yarrawonga (coordinated by Riverine Plains)
  • 2 March 2021 – St Arnaud (coordinated by Birchip Cropping Group)
  • 3 March 2021 – Dunkeld (coordinated by Southern Farming Systems)
  • 4 March 2021 – Horsham (Longerenong) (coordinated by Birchip Cropping Group)
  • 5 March 2021 – Manangatang (coordinated by Birchip Cropping Group).

Each workshop will start at 10:00am and run until 3:00pm with lunch provided. The hands-on nature of the content means that numbers may need to be capped – early registration is encouraged to avoid disappointment.

Registrations for events being coordinated by BCG can be placed through the BCG Website at: https://www.bcg.org.au/events/

For more information contact: tom.draffen@bcg.org.au

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Contacting Agriculture Victoria

Call 136 186 from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call (except for mobiles and public telephones).

If you are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment contact the National Relay Service on 133 677 or www.relayservice.gov.au

All contact points can be found at: agriculture.vic.gov.au/about-us/contact-us

Don't forget to check out Agriculture Victoria's social media sites for up-to-date information and news.

 

 

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