Thursday 3 July 2025

Drought support for south west farmers

Agriculture Victoria continues to support drought-affected farmers in south west Victoria with an ongoing program of events. Check out the events being delivered as part of the Drought Support Package.

Stay up to date with what’s on at the calendar of events. 

Drought support

Farmers anywhere in Victoria can register now for a one-on-one farm advisory consultation to take stock and discuss the best way forward for their business.

The consultation includes a session of up to 3 hours (face to face or online) and follow-up call, to develop and implement a drought management action plan.

When registering for the program, participants can indicate their preferred consultant from an extensive list of experienced service providers.

To view the full range of financial, technical and wellbeing support available visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/drought or call 136 186.

Soil needed to dig deeper into microbiome research

On World Microbiome Day, Agriculture Victoria launched an expression of interest campaign to encourage farmers to donate soil samples to a National Soil Action Plan-funded research project.

Funded by the Australian and Victorian governments, the ‘Soil biodiversity across landscapes’ project will seek to implement priority actions from the plan under the National Soil Strategy

Agriculture Victoria Research (AVR) principal scientist Tim Sawbridge said he hoped to attract interest from at least 50 farmers statewide.

‘We are looking at what microbiomes exist in soil and how they function across natural and farmed environments,’ Dr Sawbridge said.

‘A soil microbiome is a community of microbes, bacteria, invertebrates and other life forms that live within soil.

‘To gain a deep understanding of their role in soil health, we’re wanting a broad range of samples from various production zones and agricultural industries in Victoria.’

AVR is working alongside the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) on the project to collect and analyse samples of soil from across the state.

ARI has provided over 200 samples from public land, such as state forests and parks and reserves, to AVR for analysis.

Samples are being taken at Agriculture Victoria’s SmartFarms, including over time at the existing DairySoils study* at Ellinbank SmartFarm.

‘We anticipate that farmers who express interest in submitting samples to the project will have a natural curiosity about what is living within their soil,’ Dr Sawbridge said.

‘Everyone is set to gain from this project.

‘Researchers, farmers and land conservationists will learn more about the benefits of this microscopic subterranean world.

‘We may discover ways to influence the microbiome’s effect on soil productivity, nutrient uptake, soil carbon and soil capacity to recover and maintain resilience in a changing climate.’

To express interest in participating in the project, farmers should email soil.microbiome@agriculture.vic.gov.au by 5 pm, Tuesday 30 September.

Soil samples will be taken from a single geo-location to a depth of 10 cm and 30 cm from a small area on the farm. The soil structure, chemistry, botanical information and DNA will be analysed and barcoded for comparison with other samples in the dataset.

This project has been funded by the Australian and Victorian governments through the National Soil Action Plan 2023 to 2028. You can read more about this project at www.premier.vic.gov.au/research-investment-digs-future-soil-health

* DairySoils is a project under the DairyFeedbase 23–28 research initiative, aimed at improving soil health in dairy farming, funded by Agriculture Victoria, Gardiner Foundation and Dairy Australia.

Every record matters

Millions of livestock are travelling into, out of, and across Victoria each year and when an emergency happens, Agriculture Victoria needs to know where they are.

Quick traceability means we can contain and eradicate emergency animal diseases and contact livestock owners to assess animal welfare needs when there is a fire or flood.  This helps to reduce the impacts on individual farmers and the wider industry.

The database isn’t just used in emergencies.  Last year there were 33 million livestock movements recorded in Victoria and the database is used by Agriculture Victoria every day to assist stock agents with tracking consignments and undertaking tracebacks on livestock for national residue survey audits.

There are three parts to Victoria’s world-class traceability system:

1. All locations where livestock are kept have a Property Identification Code (PIC). This includes farms and saleyards.
2. All livestock are identified by a National Livestock Identification System ear tag or device.
3. All livestock movements to a different PIC are recorded in the NLIS database.

Up-to-date records are vital and protecting our livestock industry relies on us all doing our part.

When cattle arrive at your property it’s your legal responsibility to ensure the National Livestock Identification System database is updated within two days.  This includes cattle on agistment.

The NLIS can be updated by you, a stock agent, a farm manager or contractor.

Cattle tagging and recording of movements are a vital part of our protecting farming industry and wider community.

For more information call our NLIS helpline on 1800 678 779 between 9 am and 4.30 pm Monday to Friday or visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/p2p

If your property doesn’t have a PIC visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/pic

What's On

Details about these events and more can be found on our website.

Setting Strategies for Farm Business Success – Underbool, Ultima and St Arnaud

When: 23 and 24 July, 8:30 am to 3 pm 
Where: St Arnaud Sporting Club, 26 Dunstan Street, St Arnaud

Join Gavin Beever from Cumbre Consulting for a Setting Strategies for Farm Business Success 2-day workshop series commencing in Underbool Wednesday 23 July followed by workshops in Ultima and St Arnaud.

Learn:

• What an effective business plan is and how to define success
• Cashflow management
• Dealing with downturns
• How to undertake a business fitness check
• Identifying success drivers and benchmarking

Catch up with Ag Vic experts Dale Grey and Jim Moran to discuss seasonal risk and biosecurity concerns. Hear Brendan Williams from Autonomous Ag talk about latest in AgTech.

On-farm emissions for advisors

When: Monday 14 July, 2-4 pm
Where: Longerenong Conference Centre

This workshop will provide an overview of the external forces driving the need to track farm emissions.

Cam Nicholson will share insights into how ag industry advisors can assist farmers to best position their business for a low carbon emission future.

Drip irrigation monitoring and maintenance course

When: Monday 15 July, 2-4 pm
Where: Longerenong Conference Centre

Join Jeremy Giddings (AgVic) and Peter Henry (Netafim) for this free event.

Please bring your irrigation design to this session.

Topics:

• Understanding design and specification sheets
• Monitoring, measuring pressures and discharges
• Flushing, chlorination and acid injection

Places are limited so please book your spot in advance.

Emissions and productivity: What farmers need to know with Cam Nicholson

When: Tuesday 15 July, 10 am — 2:30 pm
Where: Apsley Golf Club. 

This workshop will provide an overview of the external forces driving the need to track farm emissions.  
It will assist farms to position their business for a low carbon emission future and highlight the relationship between emissions and productivity.  

Why should farmers attend? 

New legislation requires large business and financial institutions to report their carbon emissions. Many global and national businesses have signed up to voluntary targets and emissions reporting. This means there will be increasing supply-chain demand to provide your farm’s carbon emissions.  

Presenter
Cam Nicholson

Learn more on the GRDC events page.

Emissions and productivity: What farmers need to know with Dr Cass Schefe

When: 22 July, 10 am — 2:30 pm
Where: Kaniva LINK Neighbourhood House 

This workshop will provide an overview of the external forces driving the need to track farm emissions. It will assist farms to position their business for a low carbon emission future.

Why should farmers attend?

New legislation requires large business and financial institutions to report their carbon emissions. Many global and national businesses have signed up to voluntary targets and emissions reporting. This means there will be increasing supply-chain demand to provide your farm's carbon emissions.

Presenter
Dr Cass Schefe

Learn more on the GRDC events page.

Talk the talk workshop

When: 22 July, 3:30-5:30 pm
Where: Harrow Golf Club

A free workshop to help community leaders and farm supplier and service providers support people facing mental health challenges.

Bookings essential by 17 July.

From Feed Test to Feed Budget

When: 23 July, 12:30 pm

Inviting livestock farmers to a Zoom webinar on working out your additional supplement to get the most of the feed you have.

Presenters and topics

Presented by Agriculture Victoria, Livestock Extension Officer Nick Linden will discuss feed quality, livestock requirements and how to make the most of what you have.

Livestock Extension Officer Chris Blore will talk about the current drought support available.

GRDC events

Birchip Cropping Group events

Contacting Agriculture Victoria

Call 136 186 from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call (except for mobiles and public telephones).

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, contact us through the National Relay Service at 133 677 or visit the National Relay Service.

All contact points can be found at: agriculture.vic.gov.au/about-us/contact-us

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