For any urgent animal welfare needs, please contact 136 186.
Farmers are encouraged to contact the Agriculture Recovery team on 0427 694 185 (Mon-Fri between 8.30 am and 5 pm) or email recovery@agriculture.vic.gov.au
Technical Information and decision-making support
Agriculture Victoria is working with Victorian farmers and industry to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters (including floods and storms) through delivery of technical information and decision-making support services to help farm business recovery, including:
grazing, cropping and pasture management
irrigation and horticulture system rehabilitation
soil erosion management
land management
animal health and nutrition
farm mapping and planning
water quality
weed management.
Ag recovery newsletter
Farmers and service providers are encouraged to subscribe to the ag recovery digital newsletter to access latest events and information.
Ag recovery events
For information on events and field days across the state please visit the Events page on the Agriculture Victoria website.
Victorian Primary Producer Flood Recovery package
Flood and storm-affected farmers and growers are eligible to apply for financial support via the current flood recovery grants.
Applications for primary producer and rural landholder financial supports related to the October 2022 to 13 January 2023 flood and storm event have been extended to 13 July 2023.
Applications close at 4 pm on Thursday 13 July 2023.
The extension applies to:
Primary Producer Recovery Grants: Up to $75,000 grants to support the cost of recovery and get businesses up and running again. Note: This replaces the $10,000 Primary Producer Flood Clean–Up, Relief Grants announced on 19 October. Producers that have received a Primary Producer Flood Clean–Up Relief Grant of $10,000 can now apply for up to a further $65,000 under the Primary Producer Recovery Grant, bringing the total to $75,000.
Rural Landholder Grants: Up to $25,000 grants to support the costs of disaster impacts for small-scale producers.
Primary Producer Concessional Loans: Up to $250,000 to restore or replace damaged equipment and infrastructure, or to cover short-term business expenses. This loan has been amended to allow primary producers who suffered a significant loss of income as a direct result of the 2022 Victorian floods and storms but who did not suffer direct damage to assets to apply for a concessional loan of up to $100,000.
Primary Producer Transport Subsidies: Up to $15,000 to support the transport of emergency fodder or stock drinking water, and the movement of livestock.
The Rural Financial Counselling Service offers free and independent financial information, options, decision-making support and referral services to farmers and small, related rural businesses who are in, or at risk of, financial hardship.
They can also assist farmers to apply for financial assistance.
The National Centre for Farmer Health is committed to supporting primary producers whose properties, livestock or crops were damaged or lost in the floods and storms through the delivery of initiatives to boost farmer mental health and wellbeing, including:
A supportive online community through the #BuildingFarmSpirit social media campaign
Free access to online psychology support delivered by farmer health trained psychologists
Support for community events providing social connection and mental health promotion opportunities for farmers, farming families and farming communities
Distribution of mental health resources and support information.
Agriculture Victoria has been working with members of the Central Highlands, Barwon and Great South Coast communities to co-design a draft Drought Resilience Plan for each region.
The Drought Resilience Plans propose themes, outcomes, and actions to better prepare the region for future droughts.
From 13 April – 12 May, we invite all members of these three communities to have their say on the draft plan by visiting EngageVic website here.
While visiting EngageVic, we encourage all interested parties to ‘follow’ the Regional Drought Resilience page for updates.
The Drought Resilience Plan is one of nine being developed for Victoria as part of the Commonwealth Government’s Future Drought Fund in partnership with the Victorian Government.
For more information on the development of Regional Drought Resilience Plans contact Ralph Cotter, Regional Leader at Ralph.Cotter@agriculture.vic.gov.au
Livestock farm monitoring project
Spots are now available in a free and trusted sheep and beef farm benchmarking project.
Find out how your farm stacks up against similar businesses across the state by participating in Agriculture Victoria’s Livestock Farm Monitor Project.
All information is treated as highly confidential.
The Victorian Farmers Federation’s Making our Farms Safer Project (VFF MOFS) is calling for farmer feedback to gauge the impact of the ‘Making our Farm Families Safer’ campaign, which aims to improve the safety of children on farms.
VFF President Emma Germano is urging farmers to complete a short anonymous survey that will be used to inform future campaigns and help reduce tragedy from striking Victorian farming families.
“We’re asking farmers themselves to do a short survey and let us know what worked as part of the campaign and what they’d like to see in future to assist us in our commitment to improve safety outcomes for children on farms.”
“This campaign couldn’t be more important. Recent figures from Agrifutures Australia reported 55 deaths on farms nationwide in 2022, demonstrating that we must continue to work towards keeping every family member and employee safe on our farms,” Ms Germano said.
The ‘Making our Farm Families Safer’ campaign, including the Child Safe on Farms handbook, was initiated in response to a Coronial recommendation in 2021 following the death of seven children on farms between 2016 and 2021.
It launched during Farm Safety Week in July 2021 and is primarily aimed at providing information, tools and resources to those caring for children aged 10-15, who are performing farm work tasks.
Since launching, one campaign video featuring the Head of Trauma and Burns Unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Dr Warwick Teague was viewed over 55,000 times on YouTube and the guidebook has been downloaded more than 1,000 times per month from the MOFS website.
“We know thousands of people viewed the campaign videos, read case studies and the guidebook. Now we’re asking farmers what they’d like to see in the future,” Ms Germano said.
This initiative was developed by the Victorian Farmers Federation Making Our Farms Safer Project with support from KidSafe Vic, the TAC and FarmSafe Australia.
Invasive species video series
Rabbits, foxes and feral pigs pose a major threat to our environment and agricultural production.
Monitoring pest animals before, during and after control efforts using activity plots, remote cameras, spotlighting and other methods can save you time, money and improve pest animal control on your place.
Click on the 'Monitoring pest animals in Victoria' video here to learn more.
Questions to ask before selling carbon
Have you noticed a lot of commentary about carbon markets in the press recently?
An emerging carbon offset market offering payments for new carbon sequestered on-farm sounds like an interesting option for farmers hoping to reduce their emissions profile and diversify their business income stream.
The first thing to consider is the reason why you might like to sell sequestered carbon from trees or soils on your property.
Questions include, but are not limited to:
Does selling carbon fit your long-term property/business goal?
Might you want to retain your carbon for use in offsetting/insetting against your own farm emissions at some future point?
Are you prepared to undertake benchmarking, ongoing sampling, and measurement activities to verify carbon stocks?
Participation as a seller of carbon is voluntary, so farmers get to choose if they would like to participate as a seller of carbon in the offsets market. Some questions to ask include, but are not limited to:
Will any longer-term covenants be placed on my land?
What happens if the carbon offset company goes broke?
Will the carbon offset company require access to my property and if so, how often?
In addition to selling carbon, there are also many other practical ways that farmers can reduce emissions or increase carbon on their farm and the 'Making cent$ of carbon and emissions on-farm' booklet provides practical actions that farm businesses can take now to improve their emissions performance.
If you’re interested in selling carbon, seek independent legal and financial advice to ensure that you are aware of all the considerations and obligations that apply in this developing market.
Do you prefer to learn by seeing, doing and getting involved?
Do you want to see new management practices and technologies in action?
The Meat & Livestock (MLA) Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) program gives producers an opportunity to discover and implement new management practices that could improve business profitability, productivity and sustainability.
To learn more and find a PDS near you go to mla.com.au/pds
The Fox and Wild Dog Bounty collections continue in the north-east region.
Submit entire fox scalps for a $10 reward and/or entire wild dog body parts for a $120 reward.
Participants need to register for the new digital payment system and should refresh their knowledge of the terms and conditions to ensure their submissions are acceptable.
The Victorian Serrated Tussock Working Party (VSTWP) is providing community groups and organisations with the opportunity to apply for grants to manage serrated tussock.
The grants aim to support community groups and organisations to build their capacity to achieve long-term voluntary management of serrated tussock.
Grants of up to $5,000 (GST excluded) are available to deliver a project which meets the priorities and criteria outlined in these guidelines.
The grants promote collaboration between community groups, local municipalities and the VSTWP in the best practice management of serrated tussock.
A key objective of the grants is to support community groups and organisations that have been actively controlling serrated tussock over a number of years.
Please see the guidelines and application form below, which include how to submit the grant application, contact details and the criteria for assessment.
We’re making it easier than ever for women across Victoria to learn new skills for their chosen career or retrain to get the job of their dreams.
Even with a previous qualification, Victorians may now be eligible for Free TAFE and other government-subsidised courses, giving an additional two million Victorians access to more than 500 courses.
With Free TAFE, you could undertake courses in community services, nursing, agriculture, early childhood, construction and more without the cost of tuition.
Ground-breaking research set to establish better ryegrass management
Researchers have made a scientific breakthrough which could significantly advance understanding herbicide resistance in ryegrass, with the new information set to help combat the weed for Australian grain growers.
Scientists from the University of Melbourne and CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, have completed the sequencing of the ryegrass genome, which will provide an understanding of how certain genes construct and deconstruct protein to build herbicide resistance.
The work is part of a Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) co-investment into the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Advancing Pest Animal and Weed Control Solutions program. It is a global milestone for weed management that is expected to improve the fight against herbicide resistance by influencing optimal management strategies.
Sequencing a genome determines the entirety of a DNA sequence of an organism and its DNA patterns.
University of Melbourne Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science, Dr Alex Fournier-Level, said understanding ryegrass’ DNA patterns is the start of being able to identify the presence of resistant genes and how they form.
“In the future, we’re wanting to be able to test the DNA of a weed in the paddock, sequence it and diagnose its level of resistant genes,” he said.
“In theory, we’ll be able to test a grower’s ryegrass and tell them in a timely manner which kind of resistance they may have and how best to treat it – as we’ll be able to easily identify whether their population has resistant genes present.”
Dr Fourier-Level said this information will allow ryegrass to be analysed at the molecular level and would inform which herbicide could best control the weed.
“DNA technology could allow an in-season diagnosis of herbicide resistance, to help growers manage resistant ryegrass varieties early, giving them more opportunity to control the weed,” he said.
“These advancements will also mean we’ll be able to look at resistance on a landscape scale, which is appropriate because herbicide resistance spreads. Being a conscious neighbour and minimising weed spread has benefits for the whole industry.”
When conducting the ryegrass sequencing, Research Associate Dr Jefferson Paril, from the University of Melbourne, sourced many populations of the weed from across south-eastern Australia.
GRDC Senior Manager Crop Protection, Dr Emma Colson, said the sequencing of the ryegrass genome is extremely exciting for herbicide resistance, which costs Australian agriculture between $2.4-4.5 billion annually.
“Weed management is crucial for improving growers’ bottom lines and this work will help develop more timely, accurate options to address ryegrass on farm,” she said.
“It’s so important GRDC invests in this world-class work that’s leading the way in weed management and fighting herbicide resistance.
“This is a huge deal for the grains industry and should be celebrated as a milestone that is helping Australian grain growers handle a significant issue that impacts our industry dramatically.”
CSIRO Senior Research Consultant, Dr Rahul Rane, said the broader Australian Pest Genome Partnership, which this project forms part of, is sequencing genomes of Australia’s top pest and invasive species.
“Having access to genetic blueprints of pests and weeds will underpin next generation species-specific solutions,” he said.
More information on this work can be found via CSIRO’s Australian Pest Genome Partnership (APGP) project page HERE.
Get expert advice on cattle health
Agriculture Victoria is teaming up with RSPCA Victoria to present a webinar about cattle health and biosecurity management.
Keeping Your Cattle Healthy, to be held on Wednesday 10 May from 6 to 7 pm, will provide smaller-scale farmers with important information and practical tips to help ensure their cattle are healthy, productive, and profitable.
The session will cover a range of topics, including how to manage on-farm biosecurity, assessing and monitoring cattle health and feed requirements.
Brett Davidson from Agriculture Victoria and Rachael Laukart from RSPCA will be presenting at the webinar.
Both presenters have extensive experience in animal management and are passionate about helping Victorian farmers to care for their animals.
“Livestock health and productivity go hand-in-hand, and both are crucial for the success of any farming operation,” Mr Davidson said.
“By implementing good biosecurity measures, all landholders can better protect their cattle and farms from diseases and pests.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with RSPCA Victoria to deliver this webinar and provide practical advice to small scale farmers on how to improve the health and wellbeing of their cattle.”
Ms Laukart said RSPCA Victoria is excited to be working with Agriculture Victoria and sharing their expertise with the community.
“Management of livestock’s ongoing health and welfare requirements are vital to producing high quality agriculture produce.
“It may sound obvious, but productive farms need productive animals, which is why a healthy herd and having the skills to assess and manage your livestock’s health are essential.”
Victorian gardeners are urged to keep watch for the highly invasive weed water hyacinth following a recent discovery in a residential garden pond.
Agriculture Victoria Biosecurity Officer Kaitlin Wright said over 90 of the aquatic plants had been removed from a Williamstown premises following an anonymous report from an astute gardener.
An animal welfare case against a Girgarre farmer has been resolved following a plea in the Shepparton Magistrates Court recently.
Due to a lack of prior criminal history, an early plea of guilty, plus the accused Grant Haydn Smith, being no longer involved in farming pigs and in the process of selling the property and stock, the Magistrate imposed a $3,000 fine without conviction, with costs awarded in the sum of $278.38.
Volunteers needed for Plains-wanderer song meter program
Less than 1000 birds are thought to remain in the Northern Plains grasslands in Victoria, between Bendigo, Echuca, and Swan Hill. Help protect Victoria’s critically endangered Plains-wanderer by recognising its elusive call.
This work will help locate Plains-wanderers in the wild, letting us know where they are so we can protect and enhance their threatened native grassland habitat.
Further information on the Plains-wanderer Song Meter program is available HERE.
Regional Partnerships board position vacancies applications closing this Sunday
The Minister for Regional Development Harriet Shing is seeking applications from community and business leaders to join one of Victoria’s Regional Partnerships.
There are four vacancies in the Wimmera Southern Mallee region, including a Chair and Deputy Chair.
Expressions of interest close 7 May 2023 at 11.59 pm.
Landcare and Junior Biodiversity grants round closing soon
Applications for the 2023 Victorian Landcare grants and Victorian Junior Landcare and Biodiversity grants, funded by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, are now open!
Applications can be made through your local Catchment Management Authority.
For Landcare grant information, click HERE. Applications close on 16 May.
For Victorian Junior Landcare and Biodiversity grants information click HERE.
Applications close on 12 May.
BCG announces main research site at Kinnabulla
BCG’s main research site this year will be at Kinnabulla, 25 km north west of Birchip on Kinnabulla West Road.
Dr Angela Van de Wouw awarded ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellowship for fungicide resistance research
Dr Angela Van de Wouw from the Faculty of Science has been awarded a 2023 Mid-Career Industry Fellowship from the Australian Research Council.
The Mid-Career Industry Fellowships scheme will help solve industry-defined challenges using the expertise and skills of researchers from both universities and industry.
Agriculture Victoria and RSPCA Victoria invite you to attend a webinar on Wednesday 10 May to help the cattle you care for be healthy, productive, and profitable.
Learn how to manage biosecurity on-farm, better assess and monitor your cattle’s health and feed requirements.
Presenters:
Rachael Laukart, RSPCA Victoria
Brett Davidson, Agriculture Victoria
Both presenters have many years of experience in animal management.
What will be covered:
Assessing health in cattle – body condition scoring, manure scoring
Feeding cattle – grazing management, feed testing, quality of forage, transitioning a diet
Mark your calendars now for Mildura Field Days and come and say g'day to Agriculture Victoria.
We will have staff available from grains, irrigation, horticulture and research divisions to respond to your queries and Rural Financial Counselling Service in attendance.
The H2Cuts Trailer at the Mildura Field Days will be providing free hydrogen powered haircuts at the Ag Vic tent. Drop in for a free cut and improve your understanding of hydrogen and other new technologies.
A short presentation will be given at 11 am and 2 pm explaining the hydrogen fuel cell as well as a range of energy topics.
For further information contact Maxine Schache on 0428 507 855 or email.
Precision Agriculture One Day Corporate Training Course
23 May
9 am – 4.40 pm
or 24 May
9 am – 4.40 pm
or 24 May
9 am – 4.40 pm
Longerenong College
229 Longerenong Rd, Longerenong
Intensive industry participant training suitable for agronomists, rural merchandise employees as well as sales staff and management.
Learn how to utilise the data sets being accessed/generated by your clients to their full potential such as yield maps, satellite imagery etc.
Gain a greater understanding around the importance of machinery calibration via a live demo in the yard
Get hands-on experience with using SMS software to manage and analyse spatial data sets by using Longerenong College farm data in the computer lab
Explore the application of ag tech devices such as soil moisture probes, weather stations, gate sensors, leaf wetness sensors, inversion towers etc. through a tour of the Longy DATA Farm
Please RSVP by 26 May and bring a copy of your irrigation design to this course.
Young Farmer Business Bootcamp: Build better business skills
1 June and 8 June 2023
9.30 am to 3 pm
Netherby Hall
5 William Street
Netherby
Agriculture Victoria is offering young farmers and those new to farming the opportunity to take part in a Young Farmer Business Bootcamp, the next one to be held in Netherby in March.
These bootcamps are targeting young farmers impacted by flood and storm events, as part of Agriculture Victoria’s technical and decision-making support program. The workshops will help to grow the resilience of young farm businesses and prepare them for future events.
TOPICS
Over the two-day business bootcamp participants will develop:
• cash flow budgeting skills
• strong understanding of risk management and planning
• capacity to fine tune their business goals.
Save the Date BestWool/BestLamb Bendigo Conference
Attention sheep industry - plans are finalising for the Agriculture Victoria 2023 BestWool/BestLamb Conference and dinner to be held in Bendigo on 19-20 June. The dinner will be celebrating 25 years of BestWool/BestLamb network, with the conference on the following day.
Further details to come but mark your calendars now.
Future Drought Fund's 2023 Science to Practice Forum
The annual forum is a showcase of the innovative tools and practices helping Australian farmers and communities respond to a changing climate and prepare for future drought.
Award-winning television journalist and presenter of ABC TV’s Landline, Pip Courtney, will host this year’s online forum and facilitate engaging discussions, with each day focussed on a particular theme:
Tuesday 6 June – Research and Development: Data-driven projects, stories around research trials and outcomes, future-driven content and content relevant to opportunities under the Future Drought Fund for Natural Resource Management, farming systems groups and research bodies.
Wednesday 7 June – Farmers, Producers and Agricultural Advisors: Stories of drought and preparing for it, ‘call-to-action’ presentations, content relevant to opportunities under the FDF for producers and their communities, farmer and farm-advisor delivered stories.
Thursday 8 June – Community and Policy: Community and social projects, including presentations on farmer wellbeing and community resilience in the context of drought, policy discussions and input from FDF network partners.
The forum connects participants to research and activities building the sustainability of Australian agriculture and is an opportunity to collaborate and network with like-minded people.
