• Coronavirus (COVID-19) update
• Contacting us
• Keeping our community safe during coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions
• Giving jobseekers a fresh start in agriculture
• The Fast Break
• Tractor operators - fire affected farmers need you
• Wine Grape Testing Rebate Program
• On-Farm Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate Scheme
• GMID farmers – use the drought resilience grant to restore your pastures

Farmers and producers are vital to all Victorian communities and play an important role during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Premier has implemented Stage 3 restrictions of non-essential activity aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Everyone who can stay at home must stay at home.

There are only four reasons to be out in public:

• shopping for what you need – food and essential supplies
• medical, care or compassionate needs
• exercise in compliance with the public gathering requirements
• work and study if you can’t work or learn remotely.

The new measures include a limit on gathering to no more than two people, except for members of immediate households and for work or education and social physical distancing rules of 1.5 metres between people should also be observed outside the home.

Stage 3 measures were effective from 11.59 pm on Monday, 30 March, and will be reviewed after four weeks.

The agricultural supply chain is essential to maintaining the flow of food to our supermarkets and kitchen tables.

We are working closely with industry to ensure that the essential services provided by the agriculture sector continue to operate as we move to Stage 3 measures to combat the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

The situation continues to change rapidly and we urge you to regularly check the Department of Health and Human Services website for the latest update: coronavirus.vic.gov.au.

The Victorian Chief Veterinary Officer has also developed a factsheet with advice for animal owners during the pandemic.

More information is available on the website at http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/emergencies/coronavirus

Agriculture Victoria office receptions across the state are now closed in order to reduce face-to-face contact between staff and members of the community. The decision is in response to the latest advice to help prevent the further spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Please consider whether the activity you are contacting us about is necessary at this time. Visit the Department of Health and Humans Services website for the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) advice.

Farms and agribusinesses are continuing to keep Victorian supermarkets stocked and food on tables through the challenges of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Chief Executive Dr Emily Phillips said Agriculture Victoria was working hard to support farmers and the Victorian community through this difficult time.

“Farmers, particularly those impacted by bushfires, drought and dry seasonal conditions and other challenges, should be reassured that support and services will continue to be delivered,” Dr Phillips said.

“We have been working hard to deliver and, where needed, redesign our services to ensure the safety of farmers and the people who live and work in our rural and regional communities.

“Your safety is our number one priority at this time.

“Many of our workshops and events will now be delivered by phone or via a digital platform, including our seasonal climate outlooks, the autumn livestock webinar series starting in May, and our financial literacy program which will be available soon.

“We will continue to provide our usual compliance and biosecurity services but with modifications to ensure your safety, and the safety of our staff.”

In recent weeks the fox and wild dog bounty collection centres have been operating with changes to enable physical distancing which included establishing drop off and exclusion zones.

The bounty program will continue; however collection events will be suspended from 30 March 2020.

Hunters are strongly encouraged to continue to collect fox scalps and wild dog skins within their properties during the suspension of collection events.

These pieces can be frozen or dried and submitted for reward when the fox and wild bounty collection schedule resumes, in line with bounty terms and conditions.

Arrangements have been made with a private company to enable us to continue to provide pig vaccine manufacturing and diagnostic services when the Pig Services Centre suspends its services from Friday 27 March.

The Responsible Pet Ownership (RPO) program has rescheduled all visits while schools are closed. Animal Welfare Victoria will continue to work closely with schools and preschools to resume the program once schools re-open and the restrictions on non-essential travel and physical distancing allow.

Animal Welfare Victoria is also exploring options to deliver the key dog safety messages live via online learning to maintain the interactive components of the program.

For information about changes to planned workshops and events follow Agriculture Victoria on Facebook or Twitter or visit agriculture.vic.gov.au. For the latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19) visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au.

The Victorian Government is giving workers who have lost their jobs a fresh start in agriculture and ensuring primary producers have the workers they need to keep producing at high levels during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development Jaclyn Symes launched the $50 million Agriculture Workforce Plan yesterday, which will provide practical support for critical food industries, helping the sector and regional communities.

The plan will match workers who have lost their jobs with employers in the agriculture sector, helping agribusinesses and primary producers to meet their labour and operational needs during this difficult period.

It’s part of the Government’s $500 million Working for Victoria Fund, established to help workers who have lost their jobs find new opportunities.

Agriculture Victoria and Regional Development Victoria are working together to match displaced workers to vital industries such as horticulture, dairy, meat and food production and manufacturing, as well as transport and logistics services.

The initiative will also help pay for training to ensure redeployed workers have swift access to any necessary upskilling.

It will aim to match workers to roles within their regions and towns, while looking across Victoria to fill unmet demand in food supply chains.

Workers will be given support to relocate if needed, which   will   provide   flow-on   benefits   for   the accommodation sector, which in some areas has been hit by the double impact of the coronavirus pandemic and bushfires. This will be done with the highest health and hygiene protections, and social distancing controls.

Employers and workers in the agriculture and food production sectors will also benefit from payroll tax refunds and deferrals contained in the Government’s $1.7 billion Economic Survival Package.

Other measures have been put in place to ensure business continuity, including lifting truck curfews to speed up restocking efforts and supporting important food processing facilities to continue safe production.

Individuals, farmers and businesses who wish to register for the Agriculture Workforce Plan can do so at vic.gov.au/workingforvictoria.

Some early autumn rain caused a flurry of excitement in March, but it has gone quiet of late. There were some increases in stored soil moisture, but once again it was patchy and confined to north of the Divide.

Oceans to the north of Australia are still capable of providing more moisture. Most models predict these warmer waters to hang around for some time.

In the Central Pacific, things are primed with generally more cool water than warm, from which four models are getting sniffs of a possible La Nina. The Trade Winds are also blowing a bit stronger which would need to happen for a La Nina to form later this year. Cloud patterns have come back from being El Nino like, to normal and pressure patterns are also normal. History tells us anything could happen in the Central Pacific from now on.

The Indian Ocean is just warm all over, with no phenomena apparent. Three models predict a negative IOD could pop up in late winter, but it’s very early for them to be making predictions about that, given IOD predictability isn’t very good this far out. Their signals are probably coming from a patch of undersea warmer water off Indonesia – so we’ll be watching that over the coming months.

Rainfall trigger mechanisms have shown drier tendencies. The SAM has been weakly positive and while it’s erratic in autumn, a neutral or negative SAM would fill you with more frontal confidence.

Pressure patterns are now in a summer pattern, not ideal for autumn and are forcing fronts and lows further south, where pressure has been higher, leading to stable weather over Victoria for much of the month.

Interestingly, there are some sniffs of 'wetter' from a number of models, but they are quite divergent as to what area of Victoria might get it. Tantalisingly, these suggestions of 'wetter' continue into the four to six-month outlook period, but at this time of the year it’s just eye candy.

For the near term, on balance most models are sitting on the neutral fence for the next three months, with drier, average and wetter and warmer, average and cooler all just as likely – code for plan for anything – but at least there is moisture about if the right event drops by.

Seasonal climate update webinar

Do you want to hear the latest science, insights and innovations happening in the climate and agriculture space? Then, why not log in to the 2020 Climate Webinar series.

Taking part in these webinars are climate specialists from Agriculture Victoria, BoM, CSIRO and other agencies. The series will run during morning smoko or lunchtime, or listen to recordings at a time that suits.

The next webinar will focus on seasonal climate outlooks for Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Southern New South Wales.

Date: 10am and 12pm, Wednesday 15 or Friday 17 April

Presenter: Dale Grey, Seasonal Risk Agronomist, Agriculture Victoria

During this 45-minute webinar Dale will explain in detail what the climate drivers and indicators are up to and predictions for winter and spring.

More information is on the Agriculture Victoria website or email heather.field@agriculture.vic.gov.au.

For a closer look at how the rains impacted your place, click on this link.

With the fire threat eased in the Upper Murray fire-affected dairy farmers are turning their attention to the dual tasks of repairing the damage and keeping the business running.

When asked what would really make a difference in the recovery, we keep hearing that just having somebody with experience to sit on a tractor would be really welcome.

If you have the skills and time, contact Lachlan Barnes at Murray Dairy 0438 092 352 or lachlanb@murraydairy.com.au

The Victorian Government has opened the Wine Grape Testing Rebate Program to assist Victorian wine grape growers impacted by the 2019-20 bushfires. 

The program will assess wine grapes grown during the 2019-20 growing season and offer a rebate on the costs of laboratory analysis of wine grape, grape juice and wine samples.

The program offers a rebate of up to $1,200 to Victorian wine grape growers on samples submitted for smoke testing between 1 January 2020 and 30 April 2020. It is open to all Victorian wine grape growers including wineries that grow their own grapes.

Regional Wine Associations and wineries may also apply where they have a pre-existing agreement with growers to test grapes.

The program has two objectives:

• support Victorian wine grape growers with access to information about the impacts of possible smoke exposure on grapes grown in the 2019-20 growing season
• support grape growers to make sound, evidence-based decisions about the harvesting and handling of grapes that have been potentially exposed to bushfire smoke.

Eligible activities

The only activity eligible for this program is the testing of samples of whole wine grapes, fresh grape juice or fermented grape juice for the effects of smoke exposure. Only samples of grapes or juice from grapes grown by the applicant are eligible. Applicants who both grow their own grapes and buy in grapes may claim a rebate only for testing of their own grapes.

Samples may be submitted to either of the commercial analytical laboratories in Australia offering analysis of smoke-related compounds in grapes and wine – the Australian Wine Research Institute (South Australia) and/or Vintessential Laboratories (Victoria). Samples submitted for analysis between 1 January 2020 and 30 April 2020 are eligible for the rebate.

Some regional wine associations and larger wineries or companies may have paid for testing of samples from multiple growers. Regional wine associations and companies in this position should include a statutory declaration with their applications.

Ineligible activities

Wineries may not apply for the rebate for testing of grapes that have been purchased from another grower unless there is a prior agreement between the grower and the winery that such grapes will be tested by the winery. In that case, the winery, not the grower, will be eligible for the rebate.

Samples submitted for testing before 1 January 2020 and after 30 April 2020 are ineligible for the rebate.  Samples from grapes grown outside Victoria are not eligible.

There are also eligibility criteria that applicants must meet.
For more information and to apply contact Rural Finance on 1800 260 425 or visit ruralfinance.com.au
 
Agriculture Victoria currently provides a shuttle service to enable the movement of wine grape samples from phylloxera management zones to designated laboratories for smoke taint testing.

Frozen diagnostic samples will be picked up at regional collection points.

North East collection points

• Rutherglen: Agriculture Victoria Rutherglen, 124 Chiltern Valley Road.
• King Valley: Brown Brothers, 239 Milawa-Bobinawarrah Rd, Milawa.

For more information, contact Agriculture Victoria smoke.taint@agriculture.vic.gov.au or
North East Victoria – Andy Clark on 0436 804 656.

The On-Farm Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate Scheme is now available for the purchase and installation of emergency water infrastructure for livestock.

The scheme is available to eligible farm businesses in a number of local government areas, including: Campaspe, Gannawarra, Greater Bendigo, Greater Shepparton, Loddon, Strathbogie, Swan Hill, Mildura and Buloke.

Farm businesses outside of the above local government areas can make an application if they can demonstrate a critical water need for livestock resulting from current seasonal conditions.

These applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The scheme is available for water infrastructure purchased since 1 July 2018 – guidelines and application details can be obtained from Rural Finance, call 1800 260 425 or visit ruralfinance.com.au

Farmers in the GMID are reminded that the $5000 On-Farm Drought Resilience Grant can be used to purchase seed and fertiliser to restore dry pastures.

With recent rainfall in the region, now is a good time to invest in on-farm infrastructure that will improve drought preparedness and better position your farm business into the future.

The infrastructure component of this grant must have been purchased or undertaken on or after 2 October 2019.

For more information and to access the grant call Rural Finance on 1800 260 425 or visit ruralfinance.com.au

For more information about other drought and dry seasonal conditions support from Agriculture Victoria go to agriculture.vic.gov.au/dryseasons or call 136 186.

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