• Foot-and-mouth disease information
• Don't feed swill to pigs
• Tips for healthy hives
• The Fast Break - August edition out now!
• AgVic Talk - Bhupinder Kaur
• Soil moisture monitoring - cropping
• Be alert for elevated disease risk coming into spring
• Fox and wild dog bounty collection details for the west
• Agricultural chemical use mapping survey
• In case you missed it
• 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 Agriculture Victoria website: agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity.

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.vic.gov.au/fmd

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/

Welcome to the August 'Fast Break' climate newsletter. Click below to see its soil moisture, climate driver summary and climate predictions from August run models.

VICTORIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

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

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 🎧 

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

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. "

“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,” he said.

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

Victorian fox and wild dog collections continue. 

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the preferred method of payment, so please bring your EFT details to the collection centre.

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. Collections will only be accepted at the designated times.

Visit the Agriculture Victoria website for more information.

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

Improving accessibility with AgVic eBooks

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

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL HERE

Kickstarting biosecurity practices

Following recent detections of foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease overseas, biosecurity has hit the headlines, with national and state biosecurity measures front and centre.

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.

It’s time again for our Seasonal Risk Agronomist, Dale Grey, to present the spring seasonal update webinar series. 

Don’t miss out on the latest information for Victoria, South Australia, Southern NSW and Tasmania. 

All webinars will be recorded, so if you miss the live presentation you can access it online later.

Victorian outlook

Date: Thursday, 8 September
Time: 12 pm AEST
Event number: 813 6885 3603
Event password: Vicoutlook

South Australia outlook

Date: Friday, 9 September
Time: 12 pm ACST
Event number: 879 3448 8882
Event password: SAoutlook

To register CLICK HERE

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. 

Date: Wednesday, 7 September 

Time: 9.30 - 11 am

Location: Doug Lindsay Reserve, Lindsay Park Drive, Creswick

To register CLICK HERE

Agriculture Victoria is delivering free hands-on workshops for producers to understand their livestock traceability requirements and how to use the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database to complete property-to-property transfers.

Topics:

• Victorian livestock traceability requirement
• updating your Property Identification Code (PIC)
• completing National Vendor Declarations (NVDs)
• setting up, navigating and using the NLIS database
• completing property-to-property (P2P) transfers on the NLIS database.

When: Wednesday, 7 September

Time: 10 am - 3 pm

Where: Agriculture Victoria, 915 Mount Napier Road, Hamilton

Register here

For more information:

Contact Morgan Cassell, Agriculture Victoria on 0427681714 or email morgan.cassell@agriculture.vic.gov.au

These events are delivered by the Risk and Records project funded by the 2021 Livestock Biosecurity Fund Grant Program.

Agriculture Victoria is delivering free workshops for livestock producers to understand the disease, pest and plant biosecurity risks in their area, the impact they may have on their business and develop an on-farm biosecurity plan.

Topics:

• why is biosecurity important and what programs and systems support the livestock industries
• what are the disease, pest and plant biosecurity risks in your local area
• how to use a matrix to rank the likelihood and impact of risks on your business
• setting up a biosecurity kit and facilities on-farm
• create your on-farm biosecurity plan and put it into action.

When: Thursday, 8 September

Time: 10 am - 3 pm

Where: Agriculture Victoria, 915 Mount Napier Road, Hamilton

For more information:

Contact Morgan Cassell, Agriculture Victoria on 0427681714 or email morgan.cassell@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Register here.

These events are delivered by the Risk and Records project funded by the 2021 Livestock Biosecurity Fund Grant Program

Growers are invited to participate in the GRDC hands-on slug management workshop on 14 September.

Delivered by Michael Nash, spring monitoring methods will be demonstrated.

These free workshops will enable growers to learn about the ecology and management of slug species present and found under refuges (placed out the night before) in an 'at risk' paddock.

Participants will return to a local venue for morning tea and discussion on proactive management of slugs in preparation for next seasons crop.

A revised GRDC fact sheet will be provided, along with information on products.

When: 4 October 

Time: 7.30 - 10.30 am

Where: Horsham Football Club (upstairs), Firebrace Street

For more information CLICK HERE

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