• Foot-and-mouth information
• Undertaking a risk assessment and action plan
• Don't feed swill to pigs
• Keeping your hives healthy
• Be alert for elevated disease risk coming into spring
• Improving accessibility with AgVic eBooks
• The Fast Break newsletter
• Soil moisture monitoring - cropping
• Agricultural chemical use survey
• AgVic Talk - Building a new life with Bhupinder Kaur
• Fox and wild dog bounty – collection details
• ICYMI
• What's on?

By Richard Smith, Dairy Industry Development Officer.

Biosecurity is about managing risks. Each property is different and faces different challenges, so it is critical to assess the biosecurity risks that are most likely to impact your property. 

Biosecurity risks can be broken down into the following broad categories: livestock, vehicles, equipment, people, and supplies. The risk impact will change for livestock when they move onto, around, or off your property.

As part of developing a biosecurity management plan, an important step is to conduct a risk assessment and develop an action plan. 

A risk assessment is simply the process of identifying a hazard, the consequences of this hazard, and the probability this hazard will happen. 

When undertaking the risk assessment, try to determine: 

• How severe the risk is
• Whether any existing control measures are effective
• What action you can take to control the risk
• How urgently action needs to be taken.

This allows you to target and apply your resources to areas that are likely to achieve the best result. 

The next step is an action plan. This converts the risks identified in the risk assessment and outlines the actions you intend to implement on farm to prevent or reduce impacts to your property. 

The actions you enact on your property need to be specific and set out how you are going to manage the risk. They need to be practical and achievable with your resources and budget. They also need to be relevant to what you produce and how you manage your property. 

For example, during your risk assessment, you might determine that visitors could introduce a new disease, pest or weed via their footwear. To manage this risk the action plan may include setting up a boot washing station and purchasing plastic tubs, scrubbing brushes, and some recommended disinfectant.

Alternatively, your action might be to purchase boots or gumboots in common sizes for visitors to use around the farm. Both are effective measures to reduce the risk of pests or disease being transferred via mud or dung on footwear from property to property. 

Stay tuned for the next article discussing biosecurity management planning as part of our series on biosecurity practices to come out over the following weeks. 

More information about Victoria’s biosecurity can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Information on risk assessments and property biosecurity management planning can be found on the farm biosecurity website. Visit farmbiosecurity.com.au to download a risk assessment factsheet. 

For information about upcoming farm biosecurity planning workshops as well as resources about foot-and-mouth disease, visit Agriculture Victoria's website.

Did you know that food waste – swill – containing meat or other animal by-products must not be fed to pigs as it may contain viruses that cause diseases in animals?

Australia is free of foot-and-mouth disease. Feeding pigs waste food containing meat and meat products, irrespective of whether they are locally produced or imported, or imported dairy products puts this at risk.

Banning the feeding of prohibited food waste to pigs provides an important defence against the introduction of FMD or African Swine Fever to Australia.

Learn more about what you can and can't feed to pigs here.

Keep your bees happy, healthy and productive as the weather warms up - bee aware of the biosecurity basics: 

🐝Be aware of biosecurity threats, such as Varroa mite

🐝Practice good hygiene and sanitation 

🐝Check your apiary and monitor hives and the health of the honeybee brood frequently 

🐝Respect and be aware of laws and regulations established to protect the honeybee industry, Australian agriculture and the local region 

🐝Report anything unusual to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881. 

For the latest info visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/varroa

For beeaware biosecurity basics go to beeaware.org.au/biosecurity/biosecurity-basics/

Farmers are being encouraged to look out for signs of disease in field crops coming into spring and take action to minimise the impacts on their crops.

Agriculture Victoria Senior Cereal Pathologist, Dr Mark McLean said diseases in cereal and pulse crops in Victoria were observed earlier than usual this season due to the wet conditions.

“We’ve so far had reports of powdery mildew and stripe rust in wheat, Ascochyta blight in lentils and bean, and Botrytis grey mould/chocolate spot in bean, lentil and vetch.

“Given the wet conditions, and the outlook for a wetter than average couple of months ahead, growers and advisors are encouraged to inspect and monitor crops closely for diseases. Proactive disease management with fungicide is warranted under these conditions to avoid crop losses.”

Stripe rust has been found in many wheat crops in the Mallee and Wimmera, a good month to two months before it would normally be detected. It can be controlled with a well-timed fungicide application soon after detection, with a follow up application four to five weeks later, if needed.

“Stripe rust and powdery mildew are most damaging in seasons like this when they appear early. In such seasons, timely fungicide sprays are required in at risk varieties,” Dr McLean said.

Agriculture Victoria Senior Pulse Pathologist, Dr Joshua Fanning said farmers should also monitor pulse crops for Ascochyta blight.

“Ascochyta blight can result in reduced grain yield and quality if it is uncontrolled and conducive disease conditions continue," he said. 

“The early infection of Ascochyta blight in pulse crops will result in a higher chance of pod infection later in the season if rainfall continues. This can lead to seed discolouration, sometimes resulting in discounted prices or grain being rejected by some buyers.”

Botrytis grey mould (BGM), also known as chocolate spot, has been reported in bean, lentil and vetch crops. It can develop rapidly given the right weather conditions and requires early
intervention to minimise damage to crops.

“We’re encouraging growers to be alert to evidence of these diseases emerging earlier in the season than usual, to check the disease ratings of their varieties, and to take action to avoid crop losses or damage.”

Further information on these and other field crop diseases can be found in the online Identification and Management of Field Crop Diseases in Victoria manual. The 2022 cereal and pulse disease guides are also available on the Agriculture Victoria website at Pulse Disease Guide or Cereal Disease Guide or from Apple eBooks (just search ‘Victorian disease guide’).

For assistance in diagnosing field crop diseases, contact the Horsham Field Crop Diseases research group on (03) 5450 8301 or at crop.safe@agriculture.vic.gov.au

The Agriculture Victoria Crop Disease Guides are being piloted as an AgVic eBook to help improve their accessibility to growers and agronomists.

Agriculture Victoria Grains Pathology Services Project Officer Luise Fanning, said the annual guides, produced with support from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), detail how resistant or susceptible new and commonly grown cereal and pulse varieties are to a range of crop diseases.

“Launching the guides as an eBook will improve their accessibility, making it easier for growers and agronomists to keep up to date with the latest information.

“This will ensure the grains industry has access to high-quality information that is available offline.

“By using Apple Books as a platform, we can push out updates directly to users, reducing the chance that they will be using out-of-date ratings.

“This is particularly important for grain growers and their advisors who may operate in areas with limited internet connectivity,” she said.

“Disease resistance ratings can change over time, so this information needs to be consistently reviewed and updated and this new platform allows us to make those updates quicker.”

Ms Fanning said the guides will be available as an eBook to download from the Agriculture Victoria website.

“By downloading the eBook to a tablet, agronomists and farmers can carry multiple technical resources on the same device that they use for information in the paddock.

“Each year two guides are published, one for cereals and one for pulses.

“The guides are a valued resource for our Victorian growers and we are pleased to be making them more user-friendly to help growers manage disease risk, reduce yield losses and improve their profitability,” she said.

The 2022 Agriculture Victoria Disease Guides are available to download by searching for ‘Victorian cereal disease guide’ or ‘Victorian pulse disease guide’.

Android users can download a copy of the eBook from the Grain, pulses and cereal diseases section of the Agriculture Victoria website.

Tools such as the eBooks are part of Agriculture Victoria’s ongoing work on plant biosecurity, aimed at minimising the spread of pests and diseases into Victoria's major crop production areas.

Welcome to the August 'Fast Break' climate newsletter for 2022.

Click to see its soil moisture, climate driver summary and climate predictions from August run models.

VICTORIA

SOUTHERN NSW

We love your feedback.

If you have comments, questions or feedback address them to Dale Grey at the.break@agriculture.vic.gov.au

In this edition:

• Introduction
• Recent Soil Moisture Monitoring observations (from 22 August)
• Speedo assessments - change in overall soil moisture at a particular site.
• Speedo soil moisture graphs.

Read in full HERE.

The National Centre for Farmer Health and Deakin University are mapping the use of agrichemicals across Victoria in their Agricultural Chemical Use Mapping project.

Understanding which chemicals are more commonly used, and where they are used, allows us to provide you with more accurate and relevant information about how to keep yourself, and your family, safe on the farm.

This research will help to tailor education and initiatives that support farmers to continue to use agrichemicals on-farm safely.

Farmers and farm-workers are invited to participate in this project via an anonymous 10-15 min online survey.

Participation in this research project is voluntary and it will cover general agrichemical use and hygiene, PPE (personal protection equipment) practices and descriptions of any illness experienced during the use of agrichemicals.

To participate in this survey CLICK HERE.

If you love working outdoors, you'll love a career in agriculture. 

In this Careers in Horticulture episode, we chat with Bhupinder Kaur, who grew up on a farm in Northern India. 

Bhupinder came to Australia to study management, but her love for farming and the great outdoors drew her back to agriculture. Bhupinder now works as an agronomist for GV Independent Packers in Shepparton. 

Listen online via the AgVic website 🎧

Acceptable entire fox scalps and entire wild dog body parts will be collected from eligible members of the public at specific dates and times, and from sites scheduled as collection centres.

Please note that no entire fox scalps or entire wild dog body parts will be accepted at any public counter or state government office.

The bounty will run until the end of October 2022, consistent with previous years.

Visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/bounty to find out more.

Collections will only be accepted at the designated times.

New grants for Victorian horticultural producers

Victoria’s horticulture industry will benefit from a new round of grants delivered through an expansion of the Horticulture Netting Program.

The grants will be open to all eligible horticultural enterprises, excluding wine grapes, for the purchase and installation of new netting over established production areas.

Agriculture Victoria Executive Director, Policy and Programs, Sarah-Jane McCormack, said the grants are ideal for producers looking to future-proof their farms.   

“The expansion of the Horticultural Netting Program provides a terrific opportunity for horticultural enterprises to receive support for installing netting infrastructure that will increase their resilience to adverse weather events and improve efficiency.”

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL HERE.

Supporting COVID recovery and free entry for children to Victorian agricultural shows

Applications are now open for Victorian Agricultural and Pastoral Societies to access funding to support free entry for children to shows and field days and boost their COVID recovery.

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL 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.

Calling all artisan food producers. Have you registered for next week's artisan industry specific food regulations forum hosted by Hepburn Shire Council?  It's part of their Artisan Agriculture project, and it's being held in Creswick.

Register online and get full details here.

When: Wednesday 7 September, 9.30 - 11.00am

Where: Doug Lindsay Reserve, Creswick

This webinar series with seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey, focuses on the current seasonal climate outlook, climate driver activity and soil moisture.

The online presentations allow participants to ask questions.

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

Picture: Senior irrigation officer Nick O'Halloran inspects a horticultural drip irrigation system.

Agriculture Victoria is running a one-day workshop for irrigators in Numurkah on Wednesday 14 September.

Presented by Agriculture Victoria’s Jeremy Giddings and Netafim Australia’s Peter Henry, the Advanced Drip Irrigation Course will provide the latest information on drip irrigation system design, operation and maintenance. Relevant for horticulture or broadacre, subsurface or surface drip irrigation.

Bring your own irrigation design with you on the day, and come prepared for time outside assessing a drip irrigation system.

When: 14 September, 9am – 4pm.

Where: Numurkah.

Register to attend and receive final details by 5pm Friday 9 September. Call Nick O’Halloran on 0438 321 528 or email nick.ohalloran@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Join us for a free on-farm workshop to learn about the multiple benefits of wildlife-friendly dams.

The field day will include:

• Sustainable Farms ecologist David Smith will share the latest research into the multiple benefits of enhancing farm dams
• Dr Martino Malerba, environmental scientist from Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab, will present his research on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farm dams
• Greg Bekker from Agriculture Victoria will inform the group how to be drought prepared, how to complete a farm water budget and things to consider before building a dam
• Plus learn how to create your own wildlife-friendly dam from experienced local people.

Registration is essential and can be done here. Location in Rushworth will be supplied after registration is complete.

Please bring a drink bottle, hat, and wear closed-in shoes and weather appropriate clothing. Morning tea provided.

For more information, contact Karen at Goulburn Broken CMA on 0409 955 396 or karenb@gbcma.vic.gov.au

Date: Thursday 15 September.

Time: 9.30 - 11.30am.

Attend a free masterclass to help grain growers and advisers tap into the higher grain production potential of sandy soils. Constrained by their limited capacity to hold moisture and nutrients, many sandy soils in the state's low- and medium-rainfall zones produce less than half of their yield potential.

With new knowledge generated from a consortium of researchers, growers can access new tools, techniques and know-how to get more out of their sandy soils through six half-day masterclasses. During the masterclasses participants will:

• Identify soil constraints in a soil pit with a soil specialist
• Inspect ripping and other responses in the paddock with agronomists
• Discuss machinery selection and set up with engineering experts
• Explore decision support tools
• Review how soil amelioration might impact farm profit and risk.

Date: Friday, 16 September

Time: 9.00am - 1.30pm

Register: By contacting Tanja Morgan

Email: tanja.morgan@msfp.org.au

Phone: 0429 395 918

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