The Australian Government’s Smart Farms Small Grants are now open.

Up to $6.5 million is available, with funding between $5,000 and $100,000 (GST exclusive) for each grant.

Smart Farms Small Grants is an open, competitive, grant opportunity to support projects to increase farming, forestry and fishing communities’ awareness, knowledge, skills and capacity to adopt best practice sustainable agriculture.

The purpose of Smart Farms Small Grants is to support land manager practice change that will deliver more sustainable, productive and profitable food, fibre and forestry business while protecting Australia’s biodiversity; protecting and improving the condition of natural resources; and assisting Australia meet its international obligations.

Applications close 9 October 2020.

For more information and to apply, visit the Community Grants Hub website.

This change of season is time to start preparing for our warmer months ahead. The Limestone Coast Landscape Board together with Agriculture Victoria Seasonal Risk Agronomist Dale Grey, is providing a climate update for our region.

Dale is the author of the Fast Break climate newsletter, and will be covering a range of topics including, rainfall and temperature predictions for Spring, likelihood of any unseasonal frosts or heat events, and soil moisture updates.

So grab your lunch, and a comfortable spot and join us for what will be an informative webinar.

Date: 15 September 2020
Time: 12:30 – 13:30

For more information contact Skylea McLean 0427 030 734, or to register see eventbrite.

Looking for an excuse to stay inside a little bit longer on these cold mornings? Get an essential task done, stay inside and complete or review your bushfire preparedness plan.

With devastating impacts last summer and climate projections for the Limestone Coast region indicating our region's bushfire risk will increase over the coming decades, developing a preparedness plan is essential for everyone. The CFS ‘5 Minute Bushfire Plan’ or the Red Cross’s emergency management planning tools are useful resources for developing your plan.

The South Australian Government has useful information on preparing your farm, animals in emergencies and putting together emergency kits. Being well prepared for a bushfire isn’t just about cleaning up around the house and having a plan, it is making sure you consider your physical and emotionally preparedness.

For more information, visit the fire management section of the Limestone Coast Landscape Board website and the PIRSA website.

Nominations are now being accepted for an Independent Director and a Dairy Farmer Director for the DairySA Board.

If you are a Dairy Farmer with interest in developing your leadership skills and contributing to how RDE is delivered in South Australia, or an independent provider with skills in agribusiness, please consider applying.

The DairySA Board is responsible for deciding on and directing funding to regionally relevant research and development, contributing to an increase in the profitability and sustainability of the State’s dairy industry.

Completed nomination forms are due by Friday 2 October (5pm).

For DairySA Board applications, please contact Ms Melissa Hunter via email melissa@dairysa.com.au.

With the support of the Australian Government's National Landcare Program Smart Farms Small Grants, the Coorong Tatiara Local Action Plan and Coorong Water Security Advisory Group undertook the 'Coorong Water Security Innovations Applied Project' over the 2018-2020 period.

As well as running Water Security Tours supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board at Coomandook and Policemans Point in March, this project included producing factsheets, technical notes, and testing innovative water security technologies.

Information about the Water Security Tours can be accessed at the Coorong District Council website. The Water Security Fact Sheet series on Harvesting and Lined Catchments can also be found here. 

This fact sheet covers:

• Site selection and preparation
• Poly Liners
• Planning and Regulation
• Calculating the amount of water to be harvested from a given area
• Local Case Studies

Article provided by Tracey Strugnell
Coorong Tatiara Local Action Plan
Coorong and Tatiara District Councils

Improvements to Farm Household Allowance

The Farm Household Allowance (FHA) program will now include farm consultants and Rural Financial Assessments. Farmers and their partners will also now have access to a $10,000 activity supplement to seek independent expert advice, undertake training, or gain new skills and qualifications.

These new measures changes make the FHA payment simpler to access and improve the support available to farmers and their families.

More information on how the FHA can help support farmers and their partners in times of hardship is available via the Services SA website.

GRDC Nitrogen Reference Manual for the Southern Region

Delivering nitrogen to your crop is one of the more complex decisions to make each year. Have you supplied enough, or too much, to meet crop needs? This year you have a new friend, in the form of the Nitrogen Reference Manual for the Southern Region.

Learn more about good in-crop nitrogen application strategies from the GRDC podcast here and access the manual here.  

Whereas nitrogen (N) fertilisers are applied to boost the production of cereal crops and grass based pastures, caution should be taken as N use can accelerate the acidification of soils.

GRDC Acid Soils SA - new website

The development of acidity can impede plant root growth and exploration, release toxic amounts of aluminium into the soil solution and reduce N fixation by legumes and the decomposition of organic matter.

Tools to assess the contribution of N fertilisers to developing soil acidity can be found on the Resources section of the new GRDC Acid Soils SA website.

More information about soil acidity can be found on the Limestone Coast Landscape Board website.

The Our Coorong | Our Coast project is looking to work with landholders in the Coorong, to expand the African Boxthorn control program.

African Boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum), a Weed of National Significance, poses a persistent threat to sensitive environment and the diverse ecological features throughout Coorong National Park.

Our Coorong | Our Coast Project Coordinator Julie Palmer said there have been good results from the control work already completed.

“Controlling Boxthorn from the helicopter is efficient and effective, and means we can treat difficult to access terrain,” Julie said.

Pest plant control is one of the key steps being taken towards preserving the environmental values of the Coorong.

For more information and to get involved, contact Julie via julie.palmer2@sa.gov.au or 0467 739 211.

This project is supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board though funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Heritage Agreement Small Grants

$10,000 funding is available to landholders to improve and protect their Heritage Agreement area.

Landholders who own or manage a Heritage Agreement under the Native Vegetation Act 1991 or its preceding Act are encouraged to apply for Heritage Agreement Small Grants.

Eligible activities include:

• Developing good conservation strategies for the Heritage Agreement area
• Management and/or action planning
• Weed control, mapping and/or identification
• Fox, rabbit or other pest animal control
• Repair of damaged areas e.g. previously cleared or eroded sites
• Internal property fencing to exclude stock from Heritage Agreement area
• Mapping of native plants or native vegetation communities
• Native animal survey (permits needed)
• Revegetation using local provenance seed from the Heritage Agreement area or nearest appropriate site
• Improving fire management for conservation purposes
• Local/minor trials of good conservation management techniques.

Applications close 15 September 2020.

For more information visit the Nature Foundation website.

2021 Science and Innovation Awards

Applications are open for the 2021 Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

This is a competitive annual grants program assisting young Australians aged 18-35 to conduct new and creative research that will benefit Australia's primary industries.

Applications close 2 October 2020.

For more information, and to apply, see the Department of Agriculture Water and the Environment website.

Virtual Herding Project Webinar

Enhancing the profitability and productivity of livestock farming through virtual herding technology is a 4-year project that began in July, 2016 and received $2.6 million from the Australian Government through its Rural R&D for Profit program.

The webinar will present the main findings from the Virtual Herding Project and the implications for the livestock industries in Australia.

Using Virtual Herding technology, the Project Team investigated the potential to; constrain animals to certain areas for better grazing management and environmental outcomes, autonomously herd animals, or move individual or groups of animals in a herd differently to the rest of that herd.

Date: 17 September 2020
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm AEST

For more information and to register see eventbrite.

National Soil Strategy - Have your say!

You are invited to provide input into the new National Soil Strategy currently under development by the Australian Government in collaboration with all states and territories.

You can provide input into the Strategy by completing thirteen short questions which will take approximately 15 minutes. Please complete the HAVE YOUR SAY SURVEY today!

The survey closes on Friday, 25 September 2020.

For more information, contact the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Water - Soil Policy team.

Landcare in Focus - invitation to submit content

Landcare Australia is welcoming content submissions for the next edition of the Landcare in Focus magazine.  The results from a readership survey found that readers find the following topics most useful and would like to read more of:

• Before and after photos – positive stories about the project, people, community
• Biodiversity/habitat restoration and revegetation
• Sustainable agriculture and farmers making use of natural assets for productive purposes
• Indigenous land management
• Disaster recovery and resilience
• Community workshops including mental health
• Junior Landcare projects for students and facilitators
• Climate change adaptation and impacts on farmers, community projects and vegetation
• Projects relating to our coast, rivers, wetlands and other waterways
• Weed control
• Soil health and management information
• Education programs for landholder and local community
• Landcare community projects including challenges, success, useful tips for other groups

If you have a project or group who have a great story, submit content contributions of up to 300 words with a high resolution photo by October 1 to digital@landcareaustralia.com.au.

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