• Coronavirus (COVID-19) update
• Maintain grain quality with hygiene essentials
• Dairy farm monitor reveals lift in average performance
• Ask the researcher
• Simple steps to improve cash flow management
• Supporting more rural women in agriculture
• Lucerne hay rivals costly supplement diets
• Rolling deep ripped paddocks could remedy yield
• Avian influenza - know your biosecurity basics
• Soil Moisture Monitoring report for Victorian pastures
• Wine grape smoke taint grant
• Fox and wild dog bounty collection schedule for North West Victoria
• Agriculture Victoria has a fantastic new opportunity for young farmers!
• AgVic Talk podcast - latest episodes
• What's on?
• Climate webinars

Safely reopening Victoria

A roadmap for reopening Victoria has been announced by the Victorian Government.

There are two separate roadmaps in Victoria: one for metropolitan Melbourne and one for regional Victoria regarding how we live and how we work. Each roadmap outlines safe, steady and sustainable steps to COVID Normal.

The Roadmap for reopening: regional Victoria provides steps on easing restrictions, dependent on how many active coronavirus (COVID-19) cases are in the community and public health advice.

From 11.59 pm on 16 September 2020 regional Victoria moved to the Third Step on the roadmap.

From 11.59 pm on 27 September 2020 metropolitan Melbourne moved to the Second Step on the Roadmap for reopening. This step included some small but significant changes to the planned roadmap based on current case numbers and the latest modelling and projections.

Visit Roadmap for reopening for more details.

COVIDSafe Plan now required for regional Victorian businesses

From 11:59 on 13 September 2020, it is mandatory for every Victorian business to have a COVIDSafe Plan.

To ensure compliance, random spot checks are underway in metropolitan Melbourne and commenced in regional Victoria from 29 September 2020.

Your COVIDSafe Plan must set out:

• your actions to help prevent the introduction of coronavirus (COVID-19) in your workplace
• the level of face covering 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
• this plan must demonstrate how you will meet all the requirements set out by the Victorian Government. Some higher-risk industries or workplaces have additional requirements of employers and employees.

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.

For more information and for templates and guidance on how to create your COVIDSafe Plan, visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au

State-wide rainfall late in the cropping season sets Victorian grain growers up for a terrific harvest this year.

Agriculture Victoria grains industry Biosecurity Officer Jim Moran said to maximise financial returns from this year’s harvest, growers must maintain grain quality by implementing excellent hygiene practices.

“Hygienically harvesting, transporting and storing grain requires active and ongoing interventions to ensure the harvest income isn’t reduced by storage pests and diseases which can reduce quality, price and consequently limit your market options,” Mr Moran said.

Hygiene strategies that should be put in place now, include;

• Clean up grain residues and spills around silos, bunkers and sheds
• Clean out empty grain storages, grain handling and harvesting equipment and machinery (apply a structural treatment such as a desiccant dust to each surface prior to using)
• Repair seals around hatches, latches and chutes to prevent access by insects
• Plan for the capability to aerate the new crop in the silo as a cooler environment slows down the insect breeding cycle, making it easier to control arriving insects
• Get advice on chemical grain protectants to use on new grain and how best to apply if you plan to store grain for lengthy periods
• Stay informed: Get a free copy of the Monitoring Stored Grain on Farm booklet and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) publication Grain Storage GrowNote from Agriculture Victoria
• Ensure grain from this year’s harvest isn’t mixed with grain from previous harvests to prevent the risk of cross-contamination from any persistent insects or disease
• If using a contractor, ask these five important questions; Where did you last harvest?, Did the property have any hard-to-kill or herbicide-resistant weeds?, What was the last crop harvested?, When, how and where did you clean down? Did you use a desiccant dust to eliminate stored grain pests?

Mr Moran said he recommended farmers insist any contractors coming to work on their property cleans vehicles and equipment before entering.

“Soil and plant material can carry weed-seeds and pests when left on tyres, radiator grilles, wheel arches, floor mats and work boots.

“Make sure you check any machinery or vehicles that are going to be working on your farm and remember if you are not satisfied with their cleanliness, you can direct them to your vehicle clean-down station or a designated area which can be monitored.

“If there are no clean down facilities on farm, explore other options in the community that can provide wash down facilities or similar service. There are other options to doing nothing.”

If you would like a free biosecurity gate sign or other grain biosecurity information please contact Jim Moran at Agriculture Victoria on (03) 5430 4479.

Mr Moran is also wanting to test grain storage insects for Phosphine resistance under a GRDC program and is looking for sites for setting Khapra Beetle surveillance traps under the Sentinel Silo program.

More essential grain hygiene information is available here www.farmbiosecurity.com.au and here www.agriculture.vic.gov.au

The Victorian Government’s annual economic snapshot of dairy farms has revealed a lift in average performance across the state.

Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes today released the 14th Dairy Farm Monitor Project (DFMP) which shows a challenging first six months of 2019-20 were followed by favourable conditions in the second half of the year to lift average performance across Victoria’s dairy regions.

While nearly all DFMP farms experienced positive profits, with consistent performance reported across the regions, many farms are still not fully recovered from the recent years of drought and challenging conditions.

Respondents say Victorian Government and Dairy Australia support services have played a role in assisting them navigate both seasonal and business challenges.

Farms showed resilience and innovation to lower costs and with a 17 per cent increase in milk price, average earnings before interest and tax was $1.68 per kilogram of milk solids or $346,000 per farm.

Farms in the South-West and Gippsland lifted milk production by sourcing relatively cheaper feed or capitalising on greater pasture availability.

Northern farms budgeted for high water prices and many chose to purchase fodder in favour of irrigating which lowered costs and contributed to the better performance (see 'What's On' section below for more details).

Most participant farms across all regions are expecting profits and milk prices to either remain stable or increase in 2020-21.

The project is a collaboration between Agriculture Victoria and Dairy Australia and the full report is available for download here agriculture.vic.gov.au/dairyfarmmonitor.

A call out to dairy farmers in Loddon Mallee region.

On Wednesday, 21 October Agriculture Victoria scientists Dr Jo Newton and Dr Phuong Ho, and Murray Dairy’s Ross Read will be answering questions about the application of milk mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) technology on farms.

The virtual forum will begin at 12.30 pm.

To register, go to Dairy Australia’s website https://tinyurl.com/ATRMIR

Managing and forecasting cash flow is essential for any business.

For farmers it’s particularly important given the highly variable income that comes with seasonal conditions, market fluctuations and unforeseen circumstances such as fire or floods.

Agriculture Victoria Livestock Extension Officer Greg Ferrier said being prepared, both on the farm and on the books, will assist farmers when it comes to managing challenging situations.

“For individual farm businesses, financial forecasting is equally important as seasonal forecasting in terms of being prepared as best a producer can be to manage changing markets, seasonal conditions or the impact of floods or fires,” Mr Ferrier said.

“Having good cash flow management will also allow farmers to take advantage of the opportunities, good seasons and good markets provide when they arrive.”

Now all farmers can improve their cash flow management skills with Agriculture Victoria and AgBiz Assist’s Farm Cash Flow 101.

It's a free two-session course designed in conjunction with farm business specialists to help farmers understand cash flow budgets and develop confidence using spreadsheets for cash flow management.

Using case study figures from a farming operation, farm business specialist Jim Moll, from AgBiz Assist, will illustrate how to develop a simple cash flow budget to manage income and expenditure over the next 12 months.

Once mastered, these simple Excel® spreadsheets can be adapted to a number of farm businesses and become an integral part of financial planning and management, revised regularly to reflect current circumstances.

“This course will provide farmers with a straightforward approach to cash flow budgeting on a spreadsheet that can be adapted to a range of farm businesses depending on the individual’s needs,” Mr Ferrier said.

“The aim is to start to build confidence to use spread sheets to manage projected and actual farm cash flows so it as an ongoing process, not just as a one-off exercise.”

The course will run on Monday 26 October and Wednesday 28 October, from 11 am to Noon.

• Monday, 26 October 11am-noon: Introduction to cash flow budgeting, spreadsheet basics, and why cash flow budgets are important and how they assist farm business
• Wednesday, 28 October 11 am - Noon: Refining the spreadsheet, and adapting cash flow budgets to different production systems

To register visit farm-cash-flow-budgets.eventbrite.com.au

For more information phone Greg Ferrier on 0438 738 634.

The Victorian Government is helping more rural women to reach their leadership aspirations with more funded places being made available through the Victorian Rural Women’s Network Leadership and Mentoring program.

To mark International Day of Rural Women, Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes encouraged Victorian rural women in agriculture to apply for the program.

Applications to take part in Leadership Victoria’s new ‘Women Leading Now’ program are now open, with four funded places on offer.

This new two-day leadership is being delivered online in November.

While a third of Victorian farmers are women and many more work on-farm as a secondary occupation, Victorian women remain underrepresented in leadership and decision-making roles.

The $500,000 Victorian Rural Women’s Leadership and Mentoring program was launched in 2018 to upskill more than 40 women over three years.

The initiative offers access to programs covering board skills, governance, financial and business management, team-building, community collaboration and networking.

Central Victorian farmer Carly Noble is one of 24 Victorian women who have so far used the Leadership and Mentoring Program as an opportunity to turn ideas into tangible outcomes for their communities.

This year Carly was one of three rural women to accept a funded place on a Regional Leadership program through the Victorian Rural Women’s Network.

During the program, Carly developed ideas to connect and advise small farm businesses and has also launched a gift hamper initiative supporting people doing it tough in rural communities.

Applications are now open for the Women Leading Now program, with funded places for Regional Leadership’s three community-based programs based in Ballarat and the Western, Goulburn Murray and Wimmera regions set to open soon.

For more information and to apply, visit the Victorian Rural Women’s Network website at extensionaus.com.au/VRWNetwork/leadership-and-mentoring-program.

Agriculture Victoria scientists have shown that using lucerne hay as a feed supplement can improve the productivity and nutritional value of sheep meat in a changing climate.

Agriculture Victoria scientist Eric Ponnampalam said this latest research further confirms more than a decade of studies that demonstrate adding lucerne to sheep diets provides a host of benefits.

“This research is the first in the world to prove a diet supplemented with lucerne hay is equal to a feedlot diet,” Dr Ponnampalam said.

“Climate change is causing the yield, persistence and nutritive value of pastures to decline in many parts of southern Australia, particularly during the summer and autumn months.”

Supplementing diets with cereal grains, legume seeds or concentrates over summer and autumn can maintain animal growth rates during periods when pastures are sparse.

However, supplements are costly and may cause digestive problems such as acidosis or bloating unless appropriate feeding strategies are maintained.

Dr Ponnampalam said this project compared feeding a low-energy diet supplemented with lucerne hay to a high-energy diet supplemented with a barley-oat grain mix, to both crossbred and Merino sheep.

The results demonstrated that using lucerne hay rather than grains as a supplement had a range of advantages and didn’t negatively affect liveweight or carcass weight at slaughter of both breeds.

“Lucerne hay is a win-win. It maintained the animal’s body weight equal to the grain diet and was better at both providing essential nutrients and preserving the meat’s red colour,” Dr Ponnampalam said.

“Colour is very important, as consumers don’t buy meat that has turned brown – the cuts are immediately removed from retail display and turned into mince or go on sale.

“Our findings offer farmers a cheaper, home-grown solution to maintaining year-round productivity on-farm, particularly when faced with the impacts of climate change on their feedbase.”

Dr Ponnampalam said farmers can harvest lucerne in spring, store it as a hay or silage, and subsequently feed to livestock in summer and autumn when required.

Therefore, farmers can sell larger carcasses at a lesser expense.

“Lucerne is also easier for farmers to store than grain, and it can improve soil fertility via nitrogen fixation when used as a rotational crop.

“Our research is identifying lucerne as having the potential to be a ruminant diet, not only for
sheep, but for cattle and dairy as well.”

Growers are being encouraged to consolidate deep ripped paddocks with a roller before sowing as researchers investigate solutions to yield penalties from soil throw and excessive seed depth.

Soft soil after deep ripping can cause the seeder to sink too deep, as well as excessive soil throw during the seeding operation. These result in deep seed placement, reduced seedling emergence, over exposure of the seedling to pre-emergent herbicides and poor crop vigour.

Management options for paddock trafficability post ripping, especially when winds cause slumped furrows or topsoil erosion, are also the subject of further investigation.

While research to validate and remedy these issues is still in its early stages, Frontier Farming Systems consultant Michael Moodie says there are great yield benefits to be gained from deep ripping, provided growers can sow the ripped areas effectively and get good crop establishment.

The sandy soils of the low rainfall Mallee regions of South Australia and Victoria are commonly affected by a consolidated sub-surface soil layer, as well as non-wetting, poor fertility or acidity constraints.

“These soils have quite high resistance problems typically at 30 to 50 centimetres depths, but if we can overcome that with deep ripping then we’re finding big benefits, with average yield increases of 0.6 tonnes per hectare,” Mr Moodie said.

“The yield benefits are driven by an increase in water use efficiency and the ability of crops to reach below the previously consolidated layer to tap into deep soil moisture at the end of the season.”

Mr Moodie said growers should examine the position of tynes on their seeding bar as work within the GRDC investment ‘Increasing production on sandy soils in the low-medium rainfall areas of the southern region’ has shown front tynes may need to be raised for ripped paddocks. This is because as the seeder moves, the ripped soil is easily thrown by the rear tynes into the furrows sown by the front tyne rows.

Results from a new trial at Pinnaroo (SA) this year showed a 16 per cent decrease in wheat establishment and reduced early vigour in deep ripped paddocks. This is primarily caused by the seeder sinking into the soft soil and the rear tynes throwing soil into the furrows created by the front tynes, resulting in a seeding depth up to 30 millimetres.

Mr Moodie said results so far indicated rolling the surface of the ripped paddock before sowing was the most promising solution. He said this reduced the sinking of the seeder, the risk of furrow slumping and susceptibility to wind erosion after sowing.

As a part of the research, which is also funded by South Australian Grain Industry Trust (SAGIT), growers and researchers are also investigating press wheel design to roll the ripped surface, ripping at an angle to seeding direction to prevent soil throw and implementing a controlled or semi-controlled traffic system which leaves certain wheel tracks un-ripped, thereby preventing sinking.

Read more about management options employed by growers who experienced challenges after deep ripping.

What should you do to help limit the spread of avian flu?

Here are eight key things you can do:

• Report sick or dead birds, including wild birds to the 24/7 Emergency animal Disease Watch Hotline – 1800 675 888 or contact your vet
• Always wash your hands before and after handling birds or eggs
• Restrict contact between your birds and wild birds, including bird-proofing housing and feed storage areas
• Keep poultry sheds, yards, aviaries and equipment clean
• Limit visitors to your birds and use clean footwear
• Ensure that any visitors to your birds wear protective clothing and walk through a viricidal footbath before going into your bird areas
• Quarantine new birds before integrating them with your existing birds
• Prevent your birds from accessing water sources that may have been contaminated by wild waterfowl (eg ponds, lakes, creeks, channels, dams, puddles and water troughs) or only use an appropriately chlorinated water source.

Have questions? Call the avian influenza hotline (03) 4334 2715 or go to agriculture.vic.gov.au/avianflu

Compiled by Seasonal Risk Agronomist Dale Boyd and Knowledge Broker Meat and Wool Jane Court

We’re continuing to encourage you to use soil moisture information to help with decision making - this time with your pastures.

The latest Soil Moisture Monitoring report for Victorian pastures is now available and provides detailed analysis of data taken from our state wide soil probe network.

Soil moisture profiles for Central (Baynton), North East (Greta), Gippsland (Bairnsdale), West ) are listed and analysed in the report.

Jump online to subscribe and read your copy today agriculture.vic.gov.au/smmpastures
or get in touch with dale.boyd@agriculture.vic.gov.au

The Victorian and Commonwealth Governments are continuing to support the agriculture business recovery from the 2019–20 bushfires, with additional support for both inside and outside the fire-affected areas.

The Smoke Taint Grant provides up to $10,000 for business recovery and growth, improvements to make the business more resilient to future disasters, and marketing activities.

It is available to farmers outside the local government areas that are currently eligible for the Emergency Bushfire Response in Primary Industries Grant and the Small Business Bushfire Support Grant.

For details of the grant and a list of the eligible local government areas, visit ruralfinance.com.au

Victorian Fox and Wild Dog Bounty collections resumed for regional Victoria from Monday 5 October.

Agriculture Victoria has a COVIDSafe Plan in place for each bounty collection centre.

If you are attending a collection centre, you must comply with coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions including physical distancing, good hygiene practices and wearing a face mask (unless you have a lawful reason not to).

Hunters are encouraged to continue to collect fox scalps and wild dog body parts, while following coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions relevant to their area. Pieces can be frozen or air dried and submitted for reward at an alternative collection centre or when the suspended collection centres reopen, in line with bounty terms and conditions.

All hunters are reminded to use common sense when hunting and when it comes to attending bounty collections. Stay safe by following the coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions that apply to your area and, if you feel unwell, get tested and stay home.

Reward payments can only be made by Electric Funds Transfer.

We are partnering with Regional Leadership to offer a fully funded place in each of their ten regional leadership programs for 2021.

Are you keen to:

• connect with other people within your community who are interested in improving their leadership skills?
• deepen your understanding of where your agriculture business sits within your region?
• identify and develop your leadership style and identify your strengths?
• gain support in improving your management and resilience skills?
• participate in study tours in multiple different businesses across the region?

This is a fantastic opportunity for any young agriculture professionals or farmers looking to get more involved in community leadership.

Read further about the opportunities and benefits of the 2021 program and find out which region-specific program you are eligible for on the Regional Leadership website.

Applications for the Alpine Valleys Community Leadership program and the Great South Coast Leadership program are now open.

All other programs will open soon so keep an eye out on the Young Business Network Facebook group or on the Regional Leadership website.

Applicants are required to be 18 to 40 years of age, residing in regional or rural Victoria, and involved in agriculture or the agriculture supply chain.

You may be eligible to claim some out of pocket expenses, so please contact your program for more information.

For more information please contact Sarah Wallis, Young Farmer Project Coordinator at sarah.wallis@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Have you listened to the new AgVic Talk podcast yet?

We have several episodes out now, including:

• Now is the time to assess your pastures if you were affected by fire last season. In this episode of ‘AgVic Talk’, our Extension Officer Fiona Baker talks about the key things to look for, consider this spring on fire affected pastures.
• Merrigum dairy farmer Kevin Fitzsimmons says since the millennium drought, running profitably has never been more difficult. In one of our first episodes of ‘AgVic Talk’, Kevin discusses how he manages climate variability on his farm.
• Sarah McLean tells us how the Upskill and Invest Young Farmer Scholarship helped her turn her dream to farm a reality.

Listen here.

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.

There’s a lot to think about at harvest and managing your stubble load will help you with your cropping program next year.

Stefan Schmitt, Yorke Peninsula agronomist and researcher from Ag Consulting and Research, will cover the key agronomy considerations of stubble retention farming.

This will include the decisions that need to be made now to aid the establishment of crops into retained stubbles next year. 

Stefan was involved in the GRDC’s ‘Stubble Initiative’, which developed regional guidelines for managing stubble retained systems. 

This webinar will prepare landholders to:

• Understand the cost benefits of retaining stubble
• Understand the benefits to soil health
• Learn how to calculate stubble loads
• How to set up stubbles for 2020

This webinar is for people who are considering the options of managing stubble. 

Join us online Wednesday 21 October at 7.30 pm.

Please register using the details below.

You will receive a link to the webinar by email, you need this link to join. We suggest joining early at 7.20 pm.

To register or for more information, contact Martin Hamilton on 0429 946 149.

Agriculture Victoria is delivering a two-part webinar for goat producers using the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database.

Part 1: Wednesday 21 October
Part 2:  Wednesday 28 October

7.30 – 9 pm

Participants will learn about the Victorian goat traceability system, how to complete a Property to Property (P2P) transfer and use the NLIS database features.

Participants are required to set up their NLIS account prior to attending the webinar, further information on how to do this and how to join the webinar will be provided at registration.

TOPICS

• Traceability system overview
• Purchasing electronic NLIS tags for goats
• Setting up, navigating and using the NLIS database
• Completing Property to Property (P2P) transfers on the NLIS database.

REGISTRATION AND MORE INFORMATION

Book your free tickets online at Eventbrite then select ‘NLIS Database Webinar for Goat Producers’

For more information, or if you have trouble registering, please call (03) 5761 1647.

Numbers are limited to allow for an interactive session, so be quick to secure a spot!

Agriculture Victoria is delivering a webinar for livestock producers with a focus on applying nutrients based on soil test results.

​Topics covered:

How much nutrient to apply
When to apply
Prioritising nutrient resources
Balancing the removal of nutrient ​
Date: 22/10/2020 12:30–1:30pm

Join the applying soil test results webinar via Zoom

Contact: Contact: Tess McDougall
0409841492
tess.mcdougall@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Managing and forecasting cash flow is essential for any business. For farmers it’s particularly important given the highly variable income that comes with seasonal conditions, market fluctuations and unforeseen circumstances such as fire or floods.

Being prepared, both on the farm and on the books, will assist in preparing for and managing challenging situations.

Farm Cash Flow 101 is a two-session course designed to help farmers understand cash flow budgets, and develop confidence using spreadsheets for cash flow management.

Using case study figures from a farming operation, Farm Cash Flow 101 presenter farm business specialist Jim Moll, from AgBiz Assist, will show you how to develop a simple cashflow budget for your farm business, to get a better handle on managing income and expenditure over the next 12 months.

Once mastered, these simple Excel® spreadsheets can become an integral part of farm financial planning and management, revised regularly to reflect current circumstances.

The course will run over two days from 11 am to noon:

Monday 26 October

• Why cash flow budgets are important and how they assist farm businesses
• Introduction to cash flow budgeting and spreadsheet basics

Wednesday 28 October

• Adapting cash flow budgets to different production systems
• Refining the spreadsheet

REGISTRATION AND MORE INFORMATION

Register on Eventbrite: https://farm-cash-flow-budgets.eventbrite.com.au

Join-in information and an Excel® spreadsheet template will be provided prior to the sessions.

For more information: contact Greg Ferrier at greg.ferrier@agriculture.vic.gov.au or call 0438 738 634.

DATE: Tuesday 27 October

TIME: 12 - 1 pm

Join Agriculture Victoria's Specialist Farm Business Economist Claire Waterman, Dairy Australia's Industry Insights and Analysis Manager John Droppert in a discussion about the northern dairy industry on Tuesday, 27 October from Midday to 1 pm.

Claire will take you through the 2019-20 Dairy Farm Monitor Project results.

Focusing on the Murray Dairy region and contrasting last year against 13 years of historic performance data.

John will discuss how Dairy Australia’s Analysis Team is seeing the dairy industry on farm, regionally, nationally and internationally.

What are the current influences and what affect they might have on the dairy industry in the coming months?

Click here to register.

This webinar with seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey, will focus on the current seasonal climate outlook.

The information presented will be of particular relevance to the grains industry in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and NSW.

The outlook will be based on model projections for rainfall utilising current oceanic, atmospheric and soil moisture conditions.

This webinar is simply an online presentations which allows you to ask questions.

It will be recorded, so if you miss the live presentation you can watch it later at a time that suits you.

Date and time: Friday, 16 October at 12 pm
Event number: 165 827 5852
Event password: DaleGrey

Register here for the combined state webinar.

Note: If you need to dial into the webinar, ring (03) 9070 6482 (note charges will apply) and, if prompted, enter the event number.

To join a webinar you’ll need access to a computer that has a good internet connection, and a headset or built in computer speakers and microphone.

You can also watch via computer and phone in (if you can’t access audio on your computer), or you can watch and interact in the webinar via your smartphone or tablet.

For more information about this webinar, email the.break@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Agriculture Victoria will host a number of climate and agriculture science talks in its latest lunchtime webinar series.

Having proved popular the first time around, the lunchtime webinars are designed for busy people chasing fast facts about climate and agriculture research.

Participants will hear from a broad range of expert speakers from Agriculture Victoria, North East Catchment Management Authority (NECMA), University of Tasmania and other agencies.

Scheduled to speak this series, are:

• Dr Rebecca Harris from University of Tasmania: will share Australia’s Wine Future: A Wine Climate Atlas which shows how wine-region climates have changed, with more to come
• Agriculture Victoria, Climate Specialist, Graeme Anderson: will talk about using seasonal forecasts and share new tools developed with a GRDC project for south eastern Australia.

Land managers, service providers, researchers and educators are encouraged to subscribe to our climate updates and newsletters.

Any queries can be directed to Climate Development Officer Heather Field at heather.field@agriculture.vic.gov.au

For more information and to subscribe to stay up to date with these upcoming climate webinars visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/climate

The Grains Research and Development Corporation's {GRDC) ‘Using seasonal forecast information and tools to manage risk and increase profitability’ investment is looking at a number of ways to support growers and their advisers.

One of those activities is a pilot program to up-skill a small group of advisers to identify, test and develop a framework to use seasonal forecast information to better manage risk and increase growers’ enduring profitability.

As part of the program, a second series of online workshops involving 20 agronomists from South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and southern New South Wales will be held in late November.

The first series of workshops was well received by the participating advisers, many of whom commented that more effective use of seasonal forecasts was important in underpinning grower decision making.

The workshops will be led by Peter Hayman from the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), which is the research division of the SA Department of Primary Industries and Regions, along with SA consultant and grower Barry Mudge and Mark Stanley from Regional Connections.

The workshops will investigate where seasonal climate forecasts can be best incorporated into a grower’s farming system.

During the workshops, a Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) representative will present on skill and confidence levels in BoM forecasts.

Agriculture Victoria involvement

An update on climate drivers will be provided by Agriculture Victoria’s Dale Grey, while Graeme Anderson, also from Agriculture Victoria, will give an overview of resources produced to date from the ‘Using seasonal forecast information and tools to manage risk and increase profitability’ investment, which he leads in conjunction with Mr Grey.

The program is open to any agronomist with a minimum client base of 10 grain growers.

Expressions of interest in being involved close on Friday, October 27.

The online workshops will be held over the last two weeks of November this year.

More information is available from Mark Stanley via 0427 831 151 or mark@regionalconnections.com.au.

Resources generated out of the ‘Using seasonal forecast information and tools to manage risk and increase profitability’ investment can be found at www.forecasts4profit.com.au, while guidance on interpreting weather forecasts is contained in a GRDC Paddock Practices

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