A new start for Mark as ambitious technology trial rolls out

Bee biosecurity checklist for almond pollination

Australian Sheep and Wool Show (Bendigo)

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies with long-term feeding out

Keeping our livestock disease free

Latest soils e-newsletter out now

Want to improve your leadership or board skills?

Winter webinar recordings ready

Grain storage webinars

Sunraysia Young Farmers Business Bootcamp

Global Table exhibitor's participation call out

2019 Stonefruit Research Roadshow

Skilling the next generation of Victorian farmers

Farm drainage and reuse incentives for irrigation farmers

New feeding livestock website

Drought and dry seasons webinar series

Look Over the Farm Gate funding

Enter the Rural Press Club Awards now

What's On

Save the dates

The beginning of a trial aimed at uncovering the benefits of Internet of Things (IoT) technology on sheep farms has seen a new face start at Agriculture Victoria’s Bendigo Office.

Sheep Technology Coordinator Mark Sloan was recently appointed to support farmers taking part in Victoria’s On-Farm IoT Trial which will soon begin around Tatura, Serpentine, Birchip and Maffra.

Mr Sloan said the trial would support sheep farmers around Serpentine to test IoT technology.

It's his job to ensure farmers taking part in the trial have a local point of contact to help them select technologies best matched to the needs of their businesses.

“The trial will allow us to work together to investigate issues and find out how well IoT technology works in the practical day-to-day running of a sheep farming business,” Mr Sloan said.

“To ensure a lack of access to a reliable network coverage isn’t a barrier to farmers participating in the trial, the Victorian Government is also funding the delivery of IoT network connectivity to each trial region,” he said.

“We’re now calling for up to 25 sheep farmers in the region to express their interest to take part in the trial and access up to $30,000 to invest in IoT technology.”

Before joining the team at Agriculture Victoria, Mark worked as a technology support and product development consultant and has run his own small business providing technological solutions for the heavy vehicle industry.

“I now have a small property of my own north of St Arnaud – it’s a mixed farming enterprise. And when it comes to the Internet of Things - I’m keen to get out and about, work with farmers and the technology and see the tech options in action,” he said.

“I’m really looking forward to working with everybody and picking up some of their farming knowledge and sharing my experiences with technological solutions.”

Farmers interested in taking in Victoria’s On-Farm IoT Trial can submit their expression of interest at agriculture.vic.gov.au/digitalag.

Expressions of interest close on 2 August.

Agriculture Victoria is preparing for the annual almond pollination season with an estimated 150,000 hives set to arrive in North-West Victoria in coming weeks.

Agriculture Victoria Senior Apiary Officer Joe Riordan said such a large movement of bee hives increases biosecurity risks associated with hive to hive transmission of bee pests and diseases, most notably American Foulbrood disease.

“American Foulbrood can spread from an infected hive whether it be weakened or already dead, known as ‘dead outs’, by robber bees who take the infected honey back to their healthy hive,” he said.

Mr Riordan said he wanted to remind beekeepers who are planning to attend pollination that they should complete a four point checklist before leaving their premises.

“It doesn’t matter if they come from Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales or Queensland, all beekeepers need to ask themselves, have they;

• undertaken an annual honey culture test?
• completed the Biosecurity Online Training (BOLT) course?
• inspected their brood for exotic diseases and pests such as Varroa mite?
• acquired the necessary health certificate to enter Victoria if coming from inter-state?

“Undertaking the activities on the checklist will support Agriculture Victoria efforts to ensure best practice management of hives as required by the Australian Bee Biosecurity Code of Practice.”

More honey bee information can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Dr Jeff Cave
District Veterinary Officer

It is important to remember, even if the current dry seasonal conditions wane, many farmers will still be feeding-out to livestock due to the lack of nutritious pastures.

It is essential to provide stock with the minimum nutritional requirements to prevent deficiencies, sub-optimal production, disease and death.

As feeding-out to livestock continues, deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins, particularly vitamins A and E are possible.

It is worth remembering that vitamin A and E deficiency only occurs if green feed has been absent for many months.

Treatment for both vitamin A and E deficiencies are by supplementation via injection or drench but should only be considered if lambs and cattle have been lacking green feed for three to four months, or, for adult sheep, more than nine months.

Calcium, phosphorous and sodium deficiency are three mineral deficiencies that may also be seen during longer periods of feeding-out.

Calcium deficiency most commonly occurs in diets containing a high proportion of cereal grain.

The addition of agricultural limestone mixed with the ration can be an effective form of prevention.

Phosphorus deficiencies occur when diets consist mainly of low-quality roughage for an extended period.

The main signs of phosphorus deficiency are shifting lameness, an arched back and difficulty walking.

With extended deficiencies, stock may chew sticks, stones or bones from carcasses in paddocks to gain their phosphorus requirements.

This then leads to a significant risk of botulism from the ingestion of bacterial spores in the decomposing tissues attached to bones.

Sodium is a major component of salt. Salt is important for the regulation of many processes in the animal’s body.

Most grains are deficient in sodium, so an addition of salt to diets containing a large proportion of grain, where stock drinking water has a low salt content, is recommended to prevent deficiencies.

The addition of salt to grain diets fed to wethers and rams may also assist in the prevention of bladder stones and urinary blockages by increasing water intake.

For further information please contact your local veterinarian or Agriculture Victoria veterinary officer or animal health officer, or in NSW please contact your Local Land Services.

Dr Paul Beltz, Agriculture Victoria Senior Veterinary Officer – South West

Together with the help of producers, Agriculture Victoria animal health staff work to uphold animal health and welfare standards.

The goal is to protect animal and human health, meet community animal welfare expectations, and to ensure markets remain accessible and open.

For markets to remain accessible, we need to continually prove to our trading partners that our animals are free of the devastating diseases found in many other countries.

One of the many ways our animal health staff and programs support producers is through the well-established Victorian Significant Disease Investigation (SDI) program.

The SDI program aims to ensure the early detection of animal diseases that might impact on trade, regional or national productivity, public health, or biodiversity, through subsidising the cost of investigating significant disease events.

For a disease to be considered ‘significant’, one or more of the following criteria must be met:

• Unusual signs of disease, including high numbers of affected or dying animals, or fast spread of the disease;
• An initial investigation by a veterinarian fails to establish a diagnosis including when veterinary treatment does not produce the expected response; or
• There are signs of disease suggesting a possible impact on trade of the viability of a livestock business, industry or region.
• This program is not for cases where there is a genuine suspicion of an emergency animal disease, such as anthrax or Hendra virus infection.
• These will be investigated by Agriculture Victoria staff as a priority.
• The Victorian SDI program provides subsidies to:
• Veterinarians for the initial investigation of a significant disease outbreak and, in some cases, follow-up investigations.
• Cattle, sheep, goat and pig owners for costs associated with engaging a veterinarian to undertake a significant disease investigation, establish a diagnosis and provide treatment

To be eligible for these subsidies the investigation must be undertaken by a private veterinarian and must be approved by an Agriculture Victoria District Veterinary Officer.

Where a private veterinarian is unable to attend, Agriculture Victoria staff are available to discuss the case and help to arrange an investigation if a significant disease event is suspected.

More about the Significant Disease Investigation program is available on the Agriculture Victoria website.

The 77th edition of the Soils Community of Practice Newsletter is now available.

In this edition Alexander Clancy, a Graduate Research Agronomist working with Agriculture Victoria, shares his ongoing research into precision agriculture in broadacre crop production.

Alex is currently undertaking an 18-month Agronomist Development Program supported through the broader Regional Research Agronomists program.

The program is part of the Bilateral Research Agreement between Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and Agriculture Victoria.

You'll find the e-newsletter here, where you can also SUBSCRIBE.

Whether you are an emerging or experienced leader, the 2020 Victorian Rural Women’s Leadership and Mentoring Program has funded places on a range of programs to inspire your next steps.

For more information and details on open programs go here.

Recordings of the recent seasonal climate webinars by Agriculture Victoria’s seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey are now available.

To access these recordings please click on the links below.

Each recording is approximately 30 minutes.

Victorian winter climate update
Held on Monday 15 July at 12 pm
Recording Password: ClimJuly19
Click here to listen to the recording

South Australian winter climate update
Held on Tuesday 16 July at 11.30 am
Recording Password: SAClimJuly19
Click here to listen to the recording.

Tasmanian winter climate update - 2019
Held on Wednesday 17 July at 12 pm
Recording Password: TasClimJuly19
Click here to listen to the recording

For more information about these webinars, please email Jemma Pearl at Agriculture Victoria jemma.pearl@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has come to the aid of growers interested in learning more about grain storage but lacking the time or ability to get to a workshop.

A series of grain storage webinars is about to be launched, providing growers with convenient, timely and relevant information and advice about all aspects of storing grain on-farm.

One webinar will be held every month for the remainder of 2019 – each being 30 minutes duration and focused on different topics.

The free-of-charge webinars, facilitated by Birchip Cropping Group, will be led by members of the GRDC’s Grain Storage Extension Project team who are keen to ensure growers are extracting the most from their grain storage investments.

Chris Warrick, who co-ordinates the GRDC’s Grain Storage Extension Project, says the webinars are designed to be an easy-to-access source of valuable information to support growers with their storage practices and considerations.

“The webinars are a convenient way of accessing the latest advice without having to leave the farm or office and offer an opportunity to ask questions of the experts – they will be extremely interactive,” said Mr Warrick, who is also a consultant with Primary Business.

“It is so important to get grain storage right – because if you don’t the consequences can be costly.”

At the first webinar on Tuesday, 16 July the focus was planning for storage.

Other webinars will be on:

• August 13 – storage hygiene and structural treatments
• September 10 – upgrades to existing storage
• October 8 – grain bags and bunkers
• November 12 – grain protectants
• December 10 – aeration cooling.

To hear from Mr Warwick in person, register for a hands-on workshop hosted by Agriculture Victoria and Wal Wal Lubeck Landcare Group on Monday 29 July

Register online or phone Tony Fay, Agriculture Victoria, on 0427 347 403 or Peter Taylor, Lubeck Landcare, on 0429 986 721.

For more information and to register for the GRDC webinars, go here or contact Amy Harwood via amy.harwood@bcg.org.au or 0456 979 561.

Agriculture Victoria is running a highly motivating, two-day Young Farmer Business Bootcamp at SuniTAFE’s Cardross SMART farm campus on Friday 23 August and Tuesday 27 August.

The bootcamp will be delivered by Gavin Beever, Principal Consultant with Cumbre Consultants.

What: Two-day free Young Farmer Business Bootcamp, plus optional two-hour follow up session.

Where: SuniTAFE’s Cardross SMART farm campus, 161 Dairtnunk Avenue, Irymple.

When: Bootcamp delivered on Friday 24 August and Tuesday 27 August. Optional follow up session on Wednesday 28 August.

Create an account and register for this event at learning.agriculture.vic.gov.au

If young farmers can’t make it to one of our bootcamps, we urge them to visit the Young Farmer Business Network website and join the Facebook group, where they will have access to a wide range of resources tailored for them.

The bootcamp is hosted by Agriculture Victoria with funding support from LaunchVic, and support from Mallee Regional Partnership, SuniTAFE and Northern Mallee Leaders Inc.

For more information please contact Sarah Wallis, Young Farmer Project Coordinator at sarah.wallis@ecodev.vic.gov.au or on (03) 5761 1573.

The Victorian Government is seeking applications from export-ready Victorian food and beverage organisations to participate as official Victorian Exhibitors at Global Table 2019.

The world event is taking place in Melbourne from 3 to 6 September 2019.

Expression of Interest registration has been extended until 31 July 2019.

Global Table is a dynamic new business event that connects global industry leaders, innovators, corporates and governments who are committed to transforming the food industry towards a more sustainable future through trade, investment and innovation.

Emerging and export-ready Australian exhibitors in the categories of dairy, meat, grocery line, grains and baking, and non-alcoholic beverages are encouraged to take part in what will be Australia's biggest agribusiness event to showcase their innovation and expertise.

The Victorian Government will host a Victorian Trade Zone at the trade show to support eligible Victorian organisations to exhibit.

Victorian Exhibitors will have the opportunity to showcase their products at the Global Table Trade Zone and connect to new opportunities with international buyers and visitors attending the Expo.

The Victorian Government is offering a subsidy of up to $2200 for approved and qualified Victorian exhibitors. Places for the subsidy are limited though and will be distributed as a first-come, first-served basis.

Dates: Tuesday 3 September to Friday 6 September 2019

Location: Melbourne Showgrounds - Epsom Road, Ascot Vale

Cost for Victorian exhibitors: $2420 for a Standard Trade Booth - upfront payment is required.

Register your interest before 31 July.

The 2019 Stonefruit Research Roadshow will be held in the Riverland, Sunraysia and Goulburn-Murray regions across a series of events in August.

The roadshow is an opportunity to meet with growers and industry to discuss the latest results from Agriculture Victoria’s Profitable Stonefruit Research Program undertaken at Tatura and at AgriBio at Bundoora.

This year's roadshow presenters and topics include:

• Industry updates – Trevor Ranford, Summerfruit Australia CEO
• Harvest maturity impacting fruit quality – Christine Frisina, Agriculture Victoria
• Irrigation management impacts on fruit quality – Dr Mark O'Connell, Agriculture Victoria
• Observations from monitoring export fruit: sea freight and air freight – Glenn Hale, Agriculture Victoria
• Stonefruit cultivar performance during export and predicting shelf life – Dr John Lopresti, Agriculture Victoria
• New fruit quality monitoring technology – Dr Dario Stefanelli, Agriculture Victoria
• Profitable Stonefruit e-newsletter, plus new website features – Mark Hincksman, Agriculture Victoria

Visit the 2019 Stonefruit Research Roadshow at:

• Renmark at 7 pm, Tuesday, 13 August, Renmark Hotel, Murray Avenue, Renmark, SA
• Swan Hill at 7 pm, Wednesday, 14 August, Murray Downs Golf and Country Club, Murray Downs Drive, Murray Downs, NSW
• Cobram at 7 pm, Thursday, 15 August, Grand Central Hotel, 36 Punt Road

For more information please contact Mark Hincksman on 0437 254 913 or at mark.hincksman@ecodev.vic.gov.au

For more information please contact Mark Hincksman on 0437 254 913 or at mark.hincksman@ecodev.vic.gov.au

The Victorian Government’s Upskill and Invest Young Farmers Scholarships are now open to young farmers looking to access study and training, and then invest on-farm or in further professional development.

Applications for this year’s round of scholarships are open to farmers aged 35 or under who have been working in farm businesses at least three days a week for the past three months, with at least two years total experience on-farm.

To find out more about the program and to apply for a scholarship visit agriculture.vic.gov.au.

The drought and dry seasons phone seminars/webinars which focussed on assisting livestock producers manage farms in drought and dry seasonal conditions were recorded and are now available online:

Establishing a stock containment area
Farm water supply
Livestock feeding and nutrition in dry times
Pasture recovery after rain

The program encourages community groups to think creatively about what single event or series of events would be most effective.

It could be anything from a barbeque and comedy night, regular fitness meet-ups in the park, or a family movie night.

Look Over the Farm Gate is a mental health and wellbeing initiative funded by the Victorian State Government.

It's managed by the VFF in partnership with the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Country Women’s Association, the Country Fire Authority, and The National Centre for Farmer Health.

For more information about eligibility and how to apply, visit the website.

The awards night celebrates the best journalism and photography from regional and rural Victoria in 2018/9, including;

• Journalist of the Year
• Ray Frawley Young Journalist of the Year
• Photographer of the Year
• Media Outlet of the Year

Journalists and photographers have until tomorrow (19 July) to enter the awards.
Date: Friday, August 23 2019
Time: 7pm
Location: Showtime Events Centre, South Wharf Promenade, South Wharf
Members Price: $110 (plus GST)
Non-Members Price: $140 (plus GST)
Dress code: Lounge suit/cocktail dress
Queries: Please contact Laura Poole at admin@ruralpressclub.com or on 0402 046 742

MAKE A BOOKING - individual or tables of 10.

To check if you're a member or to renew your membership, go here.

These small group workshops will run for 1.5-days.

Participant numbers are limited to ensure active participation and discussion.

Many previous workshops have ‘sold-out’, so registration is essential to secure your place.

While the workshop content is targeted to experienced agronomists, interested growers are welcome to register online here.

Cost is $165 ($150 + GST) per workshop.

The program

18 September: Why do we need Regenerative Agriculture?  What is the history of our landscape and what does this tell us about the future? What do we need to understand about our changing climate and how are communities coming together to respond to challenges?

19 September: How do we do Regenerative Agriculture? Foundational technical learning in building and maintaining healthy soils, ground cover and pasture management.

20 September: What would my business look like? Hear about examples of successful regenerative agriculture businesses at all scales. Understand the challenges and opportunities that you might face.

Times

Wednesday, 18 September 2019 | 8.30 am – 4.30 pm

Thursday, 19 September 2019 | 8.30 am – 4.30 pm

Friday, 20 September 2019 | 9 am - 4:30 pm

3rd Australian Pulse Conference,16 and 17 October

Please join us on what will be an exciting journey into pulse research and development – linking cutting edge technological research to improved profitability for growers and providing healthy options for human consumption – Taste and Technology.

Call for abstracts are now open, closing 27 June.

Early bird registration closes 8 August.

To register or view the program.

Subscribe here to the 'Loddon Mallee Ag News' e-newsletter and share this link with your colleagues.