Welcome to our Farmers Connect EP newsletter. This will be our last newsletter as part of the current Regenerative Agriculture Program, which we have been running for the past five years though funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Thanks to those staff who have been involved with working on the program during this time: Mary Crawford, Sarah Voumard, Brett Masters, Josh Telfer, Amy Wright, Naomi Scholz and Susan Stovell.

Since 2020, Ag Innovation and Research EP (AIR EP) has been our partner in this program, which has included grants for farmers to undertake soil carbon and mixed species demonstrations in a bid to learn what sustainable agriculture practices can work for Eyre Peninsula farmers.

The last month of the program has seen our annual Regenerative Ag Forum held, an acidic soils online workshop and finishing touches put on a range of resources that our farming community can use well into the future.

Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages for updates as we release our final farmer resources. We hope to be in touch again later in the year once our next sustainable agriculture program is finalised.

By Sustainable Agriculture Project Officer, Josh Telfer

Well, we are in winter which I am sure you have noticed. We have had some good falls, some great falls, and some with room for improvement. A lot of areas seemed to progress well through seeding, with many saying it was one of the earliest they had finished - though everyone’s circumstances and programs are different, and conditions across the whole region do vary.

Moisture in May was certainly tight in a lot of places, but many places have seen significant improvement into June. Looking at the satellite images, most areas seem to be well covered. Eyre Peninsula has been leading the state recently in terms of maintaining surface cover, and it appears that this season may be similar. Some places have seen problems with mice, slugs, and snails, and while the cold weather will help with mice, I’m not sure how much it will help with the molluscs.

The soil acidity component of the Regenerative Agriculture Program has seen some important work take place across lower and eastern Eyre, continuing the work of previous soil acidity monitoring programs. Our program enabled resampling of pH of known acid soils in 2019, as well as significant sampling of new or ‘emerging’ locations of soil acidity. A total of 56 sites on EP have been monitored during our 5-year program.

The number of sites tested was due to both interest from farmers in understanding the effects of applied lime, but also how the increasing rates of nitrogen fertilisers where affecting pH. The new locations were across lower, central, and eastern Eyre Peninsula where increased cropping, fertiliser-use intensity, and the growing of more low pH sensitive crops could be leading to increased acidity. Modelling suggested that these soils could be prone to soil acidification. The map below shows the area of concerns for acidity outside the known hotspots, and that it extends into the lighter ‘mallee’ type soils.

The current acidity areas red, with predicted future acidity areas also shown in lighter colours. The blue areas are considered unlikely to become acidic.

A key component of our Regenerative Agriculture Program has been farmer-run demonstrations to trial soil carbon improvement methods and mixed species pastures to improve soil health.

The soil carbon and plant-based streams have run simultaneously, allowing the allocation of small grants to farmers and farmer groups with the goal of investigating the role of soil modifications, and multi-species.

Our soil carbon stream encouraged farmers to use interventions to overcome subsoil constraints with long-term benefits for increased soil organic carbon and productivity across a range of soil types. Interventions included deep ripping, rock crushing, and the addition of soil amendments.

The mixed species plot demonstrations gave farmers the opportunity to reduce soil erosion, increase soil biodiversity and soil health across a range of soil types. The project had a winter mixed species demonstration component – which could be sown for grazing, hay, or grain production – as well as a summer cover crop demonstration component with data collected from the sites for up to four seasons. The pasture and cropping options aimed to have long term benefits to improve soil health.

As a result, there have been varying outcomes across the region, as landholders trialled methods in a range of environments, over different years. They also monitored and collected information on different aspects.

While the grant reports and data are still being finalised, the table below shows there is quite a range of different responses. The sites labelled with ‘SC’ are soil modification sites, while those with ‘PB’ are those with multi-species or summer species cover crops.

Table 1 Organic carbon (Walkley Black) of the different treatments compared to the control in autumn 2023. Note these are only one measurement so cannot be analysed statistically. The results are shown as a change in organic carbon as a percentage of the control measured at the end of the project.

Before and after at a Waddikee trial site (September 2020 and December 2021). The landowner was able to get lucerne established around the seep area to stop the flow and also establish Puccinellia on the scald area.

Mallee seeps have become an emerging aspect of the Eyre Peninsula landscape, in particular for the Eastern Eyre Peninsula over the past 15-20 years. It has also become more prevalent since the extreme rainfall event in January 2022.

Our program has focused on extending knowledge around Mallee seeps and in particular the research that is occurring on Eyre Peninsula and in the Mallee, by supporting a local project about overcoming seeps.

As a result, we collaborated with Mallee Sustainable Farming to develop a Mallee Seep Decision Tree that provides an interactive online guide to all aspects of Mallee seep identification and management. Farmers are encouraged to use this resource to assist in clarifying the issue and whether it is a Mallee seep forming or another form of salinity.

It is now recommended that farmers look, monitor and act early, rather than allow degraded areas to form such as saline scalds, which then expand and go out of production. In the case of Mallee seeps, prevention is better than cure, but there are ways to address the issue once a scald has developed.

An example of one of the strategies used in the management process is establishing a salt tolerant grass Puccinellia on the scalded areas of the seep. You can see in the pictures above, the success we have had getting the grass established to minimise evaporation and the movement of salts to the grounds surface.

We also have a series of videos from local trials, that aim to help with Mallee seeps management on Eyre Peninsula farms.

Earlier this month we held our last Regen Ag Forum, giving local farmers the opportunity to hear from soil experts and other farmers.

Dr Craig Liddicoat spoke about soil microbiology including how it can impact plant growth, how different microbial communities are impacted by different farming practices, and how microbes can be used to measure soil health, once you know the soil physical and chemical characteristics.

Dr Michael Nash shared information on invertebrates – who does what, how to look after the good guys, what pests might be saying about paddock soil nutrition and key tips including:

• Diversify tactics to reduce pest populations
• Diversify rotations
• Use crops tolerant to pests
• Ensure sowing at optimal times
• Shrewd use of pesticides

We also heard from farmers about their experiences with the small grants projects they undertook as part of this program. Interestingly, each farmer had different aims or issues they wanted to overcome with their small grants, but the practices used were quite similar across many of the projects – such as using mixed species pastures in both winter and summer, and/or soil amelioration activities.

They all had positive outcomes and said the small grants program provided the catalyst for many to give something a try and measure the outcomes, which has resulted in expanding some of the practices further in their farming systems.

Want more ag info delivered to your inbox? Try these:

The Fast Break and The Very Fast Break
Get the latest seasonal climate risk information, including details of oceanic and atmospheric climate driver activities for Victoria, South Australia, Southern NSW and Tasmania.

AIR EP newsletter
Agricultural events and information specific to Eyre Peninsula farmers. Subscribe for the weekly newsletter.

Soils Community of Practice newsletter (Vic)
You will receive regular newsletters containing news items, events and announcements that are of interest to our broad soils community. Even though this group is based in Victoria, we find it contains information that is relevant across the ag sector.

EP Landscape Board newsletter
Our newsletter keeps the community informed about our priorities such as pest plant and animal control, as well as grant opportunities and key work that we've been undertaking. Subscribe now.