The Limestone Coast Landscape Board invites you to be part of the soon-to-be launched Carbon Explainer video series which will be shared at two free breakfast events - one in Mount Gambier and one in Keith.

These videos have been filmed in collaboration with primary producers across the Limestone Coast and are a great resource for ayone interested in learning more about carbon manageent and soil health.

Land managers that are featured in these videos will be present at this Breakfast launch and will discuss their involvement increasing carbon on their properties.

These two free events will be held in celebration of World Soil Day:

Mount Gambier

• When: Friday 3 December
• Time: 7.30 am to 9 am
• Where: Commodore on the Park
• Register at eventbrite by Wednesday 1 December by 5 pm - numbers are strictly limited

Keith

• When: Friday 3 December
• Time: 7.30 am to 9 am
• Where: LC Landscape Board building - 61 Anzac Terrace
• Register at eventbrite by Wednesday 1 December by 5 pm - numbers are strictly limited

Please contact Kate Holberton by email or on 0438 726 315 for more information.

The Coorong Tatiara Local Action Plan (CTLAP) have had an active spring delivering a series of Farm Walks and Events at Coomandook, Meningie East, Field, Mount Charles, Keith, Western Flat and Bordertown.

A range of factsheets and presentations covering a board range of topics have been developed:

• Improving grazing production on non wetting sandy soils project to improve feed production on sandy soils (Meat and Livestock Australia)
• Carbon in your farm business - looking at carbon footprints, emission reduction and sequestration options, and looking at whether we can build soil carbon in our landscape
• Soil pH trends across the Tatiara and Coorong, impacts on yield and feed, and economic treatments to overcome acidity
• Applying the data - telemetry for weather, soil moisture, groundwater and salinity
• Cover cropping candidates
• National crop variety trial site
• Soil amelioration machinery and techniques

Email Senior Sustainability Officer Tracey Strugnell or Sustainability Officer Sam Blight for more information.

This project is supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board, through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program and other funding

Did you know that within the Limestone Coast region there are 62 different types of soil? Up to 59% of these soils make up the main soils such as sandy or clay? Through understanding soils and their constraints, landholders can make more effective on-farm decisions which in turn often boosts their productivity and/or profitability, and also protects the soils.

Earlier in the year the Limestone Coast Landscape Board produced five healthy soils webinars to help assist landholders with the management of the various soils within the Limestone Coast. These webinars are now online for anyone to watch. 

Speakers from PIRSA Rural Solutions presented these Healthy Soil Webinars:

• Dr Melissa Fraser
• Amanda Schapel 
• Claire Dennerly

The Limestone Coast Food and Agribusiness Cluster is an alliance of food and beverage producers, processors and manufacturers and agribusiness (including suppliers, researchers, local, state and Federal Government agencies) to grow the value of the region's food, beverage and agribusiness and industries. 

We are social - follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Join the Limestone Coast Food and Agribusiness Cluster Facebook Group.

We look forward to seeing you at the launch and celebrating a new and exciting Limestone Coast initiative on Thursday 9 December, 5 pm at Farmer's Leap, 41 Hodgson Road, Padthaway.

Register your attendence here.

UniSA and the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub (GTFIH) are holding the Trees into Farming public lecture which is about research that the GTFIH has been undertaking to understand how to optimise the region's existing fibre use and to explore new market opportunities to contribute to the nation's growing timber demands. This includes new partnerships with local landholders to introduce trees into farming which has the potential to develop new income streams for farmers.

Presenters are:

• Tim Woods, forestry consultant and data analysis expert - presenting his research in the Green Triangle's timber flows
• Braden Jenkin, Forestry consultant Sylva Systems - developing a tool kit to support local farmers to plant commercial trees, providing a pathway to gain carbon credits and provide a meaningful social and environmental benefit for our communities

Register via eventbrite:

• When: Thursday 2 December
• Where: UniSA (170-174 Wireless Road, West, Mount Gambier)
• Time: 5.30 pm onwards
• Cost: Free

You are invited to join Australian Rare Earths official opening for a Christmas get together at their Naracoorte premises on Thursday 2 December:

• 4.00 pm - Welcome drinks and nibbles and meet the staff
• 4.30 pm - Presentation 'The who, what, where and why of Rare Earths'
• 5.00 pm - Official Opening with Mayor Erika Vickery OAM
• 5.15 pm - In the warehouse: what happens to the core samples?

Register your attendance for catering purposes to Jacqui Owen by email or phone (0498 156 345).

Feral deer can reduce productivity on farms as they compete with livestock for pasture, damage infrastructure such as fences and have the potential to spread disease. As little as nine red stages on a property is the same as 387 rabbits and reduces the grazing capacity of that property by over 30 sheep.

The Limestone Coast (LC) Landscape Board is seeking interested landholders in the region to participate in the feral deer control programs offered by the LC Landscape Board. This register of interest is held by the LC Landscape Board and landholders will be contacted with more information when a control program is planned for their area. Please note all information kept by the LC Landscape Board is confidential.

Managing feral deer is best achieved by involving all land managers in the local area, as feral deer can wander across adjoining properties.

Visit the LC Landscape Board website to register your property and be alerted of future deer control programs in your area, and to find our more information on feral deer programs in the Limestone Coast.

Pest weeds not only reduce agricultural productivity, they also cause damage to the environment and natural resources.

Have you got any of these weeds on your property? Identifying pest plants correctly is key to planning a control program and knowing what plants you want on your property.

Now is also the ideal time to start planning control of the following summer weeds on your property:

• Blackberry
• Wild Rose
• Innocent weed
• Caltrop
• Bathurst burr
• African lovegrass
• Silverleaf nightshade

Preventing spread, and decreasing weeds on your property can be a great benefit to the productivity and profitability of your land.

Landholders can contact the Limestone Coast Landscape Board office to be put in contact with a Landscape Officer in your area by calling our offices in Mount Gambier (8735 1204) or Keith (87551620).

The damage to both primary production and infrastructure in infested areas caused by rabbits can be devastating with a single pair of rabbits having the potential to breed and multiply to up to 180 rabbits in 18 months under ideal conditions.

Landholders across the Limestone Coast are urged to maintain rabbit control as an abundance of food and ideal breeding conditions fuels population growth in some areas.

Monitoring populations on property and maintaining pressure on rabbits each year improves farm productivity, reduces food resources for foxes and feral cats and helps protect remnant native vegetation and wildlife habitat.

The best approach to managing rabbit populations is through a coordinated rabbit control program utilising a variety of rabbit control methods such as trail baiting with poison 1080 oat bait, poison pindone oat or carrot bait, fumigation, biological control with rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), warren and harbour destruction.

For more information on rabbit management in your area contact your local Landscape Officer by calling the Limestone Coast Landscape Board in Mount Gambier (8735 1204) or in Keith (8755 1620).

The $5 billion Future Drought Fund supports initiatives that will help Australia’s farmers prepare for the impacts of future drought.

The Fund has released its first annual report which details its beginnings, what’s been achieved so far and how success is measured.

Consultation is an important element of the Fund’s journey to better prepare farmers and regional and rural communities for future drought.

The Australian Government is committed to providing farmers and communities with the tools they need to prepare for, manage and sustain their livelihoods through drought. Some good groundwork has been set in the Fund’s first year and your feedback is sought to ensure efforts are well directed and effective.

Share your thoughts through our Have Your Say webpage before 15 December 2021.

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment has produced eight 2021 Environmental Biosecurity webinars, from April to November, explored some of the biosecurity risks to our unique environment and their impacts on our ecosystems, biodiversity and way of life, with a focus on the release of the National Priority List of Exotic Environmental Pests, Weeds and Diseases which draws attention to the most unwanted exotic species.

Links to the eight webinars are below:

• Webinar 1: Biosecurity, a weakness in one is a vulnerability to all
• Webinar 2: Connecting the EEPL to the people
• Webinar 3: Where there's a path, there's a way - pest pathways
• Webinar 4: Pests and Ecosystems - exploring risks to forests and parklands
• Webinar 5: Pests and Ecosystems - exploring risks to our marine and freshwater environments
• Webinar 6: Pests and Ecosystems - exploring risks to wildlife in their environments
• Webinar 7: Tools and technology for detection, control and eradication
• Webinar 8: Indigenous perspectives of environmental biosecurity

Landcare Australia is pleased to call for the submission of abstracts and posters for the 2022 National Landcare Conference. The bi-annual event will be held from Tuesday 23 to Thursday 25 August 2022, at the International Convention Centre Darling Harbour in Sydney.

The theme for the 2022 National Landcare Conference is Power of Landcare | Shaping Our Future which affirms the importance of looking to the future when addressing the issues and opportunities open to Landcare. Presenters are asked to explore how their submission ties in with the 2022 theme.

We invite abstracts from individuals, groups, networks and organisations involved in protecting, enhancing or restoring and educating about the natural environment in their local community through sustainable land management and conservation activities.

For more information and to submit an abstract please go to the 2022 National Landcare Conference website. 

Landcare are inviting nominations for the 2021 State and Territory Landcare Awards which recognise individuals, communities, and community groups across the country for their outstanding contributions to preserving the unique Australian landscape.

Eight national award categories are now open for nominations:

• Australian Government Individual Landcarer Award
• Australian Government Partnerships for Landcare Award
• Australian Government Landcare Farming Award
• Coastcare Award
• ACM Landcare Community Group Award
• Woolworths Junior Landcare Team Award
• KPMG Indigenous Land Management Award
• Steadfast Young Landcare Leadership Award
• Green Adelaide Urban Landcare Award

Applications close Monday 6 December

For more information or to nominate someone go to the Landcare Australia website.

The Fire Danger Season dates have been declared for 2021/2022.

In our region, bushfire is a real threat. Be sure to understand your bushfire risk so you can prepare your property and know what to do if a bushfire starts. Preparing for a bushfire will not only help to mitigate the impact of fire on people, homes, animals and businesses but also helps to protect our regions natural resources.

We can all be bushfire ready. There are nine simple steps to surviving a bushfire. 

1. Do your 5 minute bushfire plan.
2. Talk about your plan to family, neighbours & friends.
3. Have flexibility in your plan.
4. Clear around your property.
5. Have an emergency kit ready.
6. Know when to leave and where to go.
7. Listen to the weather and know your total fire bans.
8. Subscribe to the CFS warning email.
9. Check radio, website, social media and news updates.

For more information about preparing for bushfire season go to the CFS website or visit the Limestone Coast Landscape Board for a collation of resources (sourced from a variety of organisations such as the CFS, Australia Red Cross, Department of Environment and Water and Department of Primary Industries and Regions)

Get involved!

AgConnect promotes the latest sustainable agricultural news and events across the Limestone Coast. If you have an upcoming event or agricultural news you would like to share contact us:

Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitators

Skylea Mclean: skylea.mclean@sa.gov.au

Eykolina Benny: eykolina.benny@sa.gov.au