• Stories of recovery and resilience told in new podcast series
• Recording: Managing fire risk on farms - tools, tips, resources and a seasonal update
• Summertime, the right time to eradicate footrot
• A taste you can trace – Episode 8
• Harvester and crop fires
• New grants set to tackle weeds and pests
• Sign up to the Weed Spotter newsletter
• Commodity vendor declarations
• Free financial counselling with RFCS
• Irrigation incentives available in Central Gippsland (MIA)
• In case you missed it 
• What's on

Victorian farmers have faced many challenges in the past 3 years, from dry seasons to COVID-19, bushfires to floods and storms. 

Spring 2022 saw record rainfall across Victoria, particularly in the state’s north. Farms were affected by flooding, waterlogging, disease, and disruption to supply chains. 

Agriculture Victoria’s new podcast ‘After the flood: stories of farmer recovery and resilience’ explores the recovery required after a natural disaster, the support provided and the resilience of Victorian farmers, including how different industries are recovering. 

Victoria’s Rural Assistance Commissioner, Peter Tuohey, said listeners will hear from farmers who’ve weathered these storms, their recovery, and what they’ve learned. 

‘This podcast series shares real stories of farmers recovering from natural disasters. It's about learning and moving forward together. 

‘The episodes highlight the stages of recovery, through disaster to rebuilding, directly from individuals sharing their journeys’, he said. 

In Episode 1, we hear from farm business manager Chris Steele as he reflects on flooding impacts to his emerging irrigated horticulture crops on the Murray River and how a realistic cash-flow budget helped navigate the crisis. 

In future episodes we hear from apiarists, grape growers, farmers recovering with assistance from rural financial counsellors, individuals affected by family tragedy and those on the road to recovery in a changing climate. 

The series has been produced by Agriculture Victoria in partnership with the National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) #BuildingFarmSpirit program. 

Agriculture Victoria works with Victorian farmers to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters. 

The NCFH are supporting farmer mental health and wellbeing though a variety of initiatives, with further information on their website. 

You can subscribe and listen to ‘After the flood: stories of farmer recovery and resilience’ wherever you get your podcasts: 
- Subscribe to AgVic Talk on Spotify 
- Subscribe to Apple Podcasts 

You can find out more and listen to other AgVic Talk episodes at agriculture.vic.gov.au/agvictalk

To find out more about Agriculture Victoria’s support for those flood-affected, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/floods

Presented by:

• Dale Grey, Agriculture Victoria
• Kylie Macreadie, Agriculture Victoria.

Watch the recording here.

Every farm and farming business is unique, and being well prepared for bushfires can assist farm businesses to recover faster.

Planning and preparing for the bushfire season includes identifying risks and undertaking tasks to prepare your farm ahead of the season.

In this webinar recording, Kylie highlights farm preparedness activities, along with tools and templates available in the new Fire Preparedness Toolkit.

Dale discusses what the current drier climate drivers of El Nino and the positive Indian Ocean Dipole are up to as well as current soil moisture, remote sensed plant growth and grass curing.

Dr Jeff Cave, Agriculture Victoria Senior Veterinary Officer

Does your flock have virulent footrot? Do you have the time, energy, resources and will to try to eradicate it from your flock? 

If you answered yes to these questions, then a footrot summer eradication program is your ideal time to act.

Unfortunately, the past few wetter-than-average summers haven’t been conducive to a footrot eradication program. However, the coming summer forecast for hot and dry conditions may provide the right settings.

The likelihood of success of a summer footrot eradication program will increase if the spread and severity of footrot in your flock was restricted during spring. 

From there, once the pasture has dried off and reduced in volume in summer, all sheep must be tipped up and individually examined, foot by foot, paring sufficiently to ensure an accurate diagnosis. This part is essential for a successful footrot summer eradication program.

During this examination, sort sheep into clean and infected (infected or suspect) mobs. It is important to note that an infected mob kept for treatment is a high risk for later breaking down and infecting your clean mobs.

If infected sheep are retained, they require paring, sufficient to expose all pockets of infection and treatment.  The clean flock can then be released into a clean paddock, which is one that hasn’t had sheep in it for the previous 7 days. 

Every sheep in the clean flock must be examined again 3 to 6 weeks later, and again until 2 consecutive clean inspections are achieved.

If the infected mob was retained inspect all feet after 4 weeks. Any sheep not cured should be culled immediately. Repeat treatment and examinations until 2 clean inspections are achieved. The infected flock now becomes the cured flock.

From there, keep the clean and cured flocks separated and isolated until after the next spring. 

Keep sheep under close surveillance for signs of lameness; any lameness must be checked to determine the cause. If footrot is detected, the program needs to be repeated.

Sheep handlers, pneumatic shears or contractors can help make this difficult job a little bit easier.

Expert advice on diagnosis, treatment, and program design to eradicate footrot is available from your veterinarian or Agriculture Victoria’s animal health or veterinary officers, or in New South Wales contact your Local Land Services.

Having a good traceability system in place means that if a food safety issue were to occur, your business can respond quickly and more efficiently. 

In this episode, Dr. Adele Yates from Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) explores food safety standards and the difference between recalls and incidents, using examples of recent food safety events.  

Listen online via the AgVic website.

We know farmers want to protect their communities as well as their own equipment and harvest, so we urge them to consider these tips before undertaking work this weekend:

• Postponing paddock work during the highest fire-risk periods
• Run regular maintenance checks on farm machinery
• Monitor weather conditions throughout the day and stop operations if it changes.

You are required by law to have a 9-litre water-pressured extinguisher on hand.

Visit the CFA website for more information on preventing harvester fires www.cfa.vic.gov.au/farming

Sign up to MyCFA to get local information on how to plan and prepare for fires and other emergencies in your area.

Please note: For emergency warnings always go straight to VicEmergency.

The Victorian Government is delivering a new round of grants that will help Victorian farmers manage established weeds and pest animals.

Minister for Agriculture Ros Spence recently launched the second round of the Partnerships Against Pests Grants Program at the annual Victorian Biosecurity Roundtable.

The new round of funding worth $500,000 will help community groups deliver workshops and resources including fact sheets and videos showcasing best practice management tips. It will also help to promote collaboration between neighbours and wider communities.

Grants worth between $10,000 and $50,000 are available to a wide range of agricultural and environmental volunteering organisations, including Landcare groups and networks.

A further $250,000 has also been allocated to Victoria’s 4 Community Pest Management Groups – allowing them to expand their reach statewide and strengthen partnerships with local communities.

In Victoria, established weeds and pest animals are estimated to cost agricultural landowners $869 million per year in management and lost production costs – as they cause significant damage to landscapes and waterways.

The new funding will support the Victorian Government’s new Biosecurity Strategy, which states the need to reduce the impact of established weeds and animal pests through local action.

For more information on the available grants and to apply, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/support-and-resources/funds-grants-programs

To learn more about Victoria’s Biosecurity Strategy, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/2023-biosecurity-strategy

The Weed Spotter newsletter provides updates on the latest in weed news in Victoria, recent infestations found and removed, and where to go to report suspected weeds in your area.

Subscribe to the Weed Spotter newsletter here.

Tanya Dobrijevic, Agriculture Recovery Officer

Traceability and assurance are key to underpinning the integrity of the agriculture sector.

As National Vendor Declarations (NVD) are used by livestock producers for food safety assurance, a Commodity Vendor Declaration (CVD) has the same purpose in fodder sales.

A CVD is a single page document containing information pertaining to the commodity origins, chemical applications, presence of Restricted Animal Material (RAM) and genetically modified organism (GMO) status.

One benefit of CVDs is that it provides the buyer with chemical application records which allows the buyer to determine if the feed is safe for animal consumption.

Having accurate records of chemical application dates and rates enables the buyer to determine whether it falls within withholding periods (WHP), in addition to Export Slaughter Intervals (ESI), or Export Animal Feed Intervals (EAFI).

A CVD will also indicate the presence of RAM in feed, which refers to any vertebrate animal materials excluding tallow, oils, gelatine or milk products.

This will inform the buyer if the feed is appropriate to be fed to animals. It is important to note that feeding RAM to ruminants is illegal in Australia.

These measures can contribute to strengthening your on-farm biosecurity and product integrity. Keeping up-to-date and accurate records for a product across the supply chain minimises risks.     

Biosecurity planning is a requirement for Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) accreditation and integrating CVDs as supporting documentation is a valuable addition to this plan and is strongly encouraged.

Requesting or providing a CVD is another important step to strengthening farm biosecurity and product safety assurance.

To download a CVD form, visit integritysystems.com.au

Have you been impacted by recent floods, fires or dry seasonal conditions?

The Rural Financial Counselling Service provides a free and confidential financial counselling service to eligible farmers and small related enterprises who are experiencing, or at risk of, financial hardship.

They can help you to access available support, analyse your business situation, negotiate with lenders and develop strategies to improve your financial position. 

To find your closest service visit the Rural Financial Counselling Service website or call 1300 771 741.

Funding is now available for initiatives that help you achieve water, labour and cost savings along with wider environmental benefits.

The proposed irrigation upgrade must be on an approved farm plan to be eligible.

Eligible projects:

Re-use systems: 

• Maximum size 1 ML for every 10 ha of catchment
• Incentive of $400/ha (ex. GST) up to a maximum 50% of project costs.

Best practice surface irrigation: 

• Incentive of $200/ha (ex. GST) up to a maximum 50% of project costs.

Flood to pressurised (spray) irrigation conversion: 

• $600/ha incentive (ex. GST) up to a maximum 50% of project costs.

Check out this chat with Rob Hornby, who recently converted his farm from flood irrigation to a system using pipe and riser technology.

For more information please contact one of our irrigation extension officers:

Alexis Killoran: 0428 387 869 or alexis.c.killoran@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Caelan McIntosh: 0476 885 716 or caelan.mcintosh@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Counting the future benefits for orchards

Orchard researchers are continuing to find new applications for an Agtech device called a ‘Cartographer’ at Agriculture Victoria’s Tatura SmartFarm.

Read the full media release here.

2023/2024 State and Territory Landcare Awards

Nominations for the 2023/2024 State and Territory Landcare Awards are now open!

In each state and territory, the Landcare Awards will be granted to recognise the achievements that encompass climate action, environmental leadership, sustainable agriculture, First Nations, Women in Landcare, youth, Coastcare and children.

Nominating is free. You can nominate yourself, or you can nominate someone you know who should be recognised.

Nominate here.

Details about Agriculture Victoria events can be found in one spot on our website. Log on to the Events page to keep in touch with upcoming events.

Love your pigs?

Please join us for our pig health webinar on Tuesday 5 December at 6 pm to ensure your pigs have a happy, healthy summer.

We’ll look at common illnesses, their signs and prevention.

We’ll also share an update on major diseases, including Japanese encephalitis and tell you about our free worm testing and biosecurity planning program.

Register your place here.

When: Monday 4 December, 2:30 to 7 pm 

Where: Karoonda Park, Gelantipy 

Register here.

When: Tuesday 5 December, 5:30 to 8:30 pm

Where: Lindenow Pub, Lindenow 

Register here.

Join Dairy Australia's By-products feeding webinar on Friday 8 December from 12:30 - 1:30 pm.

Hear from Ruminant Nutritionists Ian Sawyer and Pip Gale from Feedworks, who will guide you through:

• The value propositions of by-products (almond hulls, grape marc, palm kernel meal, copra meal, oat hulls)
• Optimising non-forage fibre sources such as hay, silage, and grazing substitutes
• Ration balancing with by-products.

Register here.

Join national experts and specialists on the latest key technologies seen first-hand on-farm. 

When: Wednesday 13 December, 9 am – 2:30 pm

Where: Jelbart Dairy, Leongatha South (exact location provided on registration). 

Register your place here.

This free event will include interactive elements involving our special guests – short talks, a visit to 3 locations on the property and a panel session.

Topics covered will include:

• Reducing the environmental footprint
• Technologies and programs in reducing methane emissions
• Australian guidelines for loose housing, cattle shelters and feed pads
• Related climatic past and future trends.

Our guest speakers:

• Tim Jelbart – Jelbart Farm
• Jennie Pryce – Agriculture Victoria
• Karen Romano – Dairy Australia
• Peter Best – Innovative Farm Services. 

When: Wednesday 13 December, 6:30 - 9 pm

Register here.

Farmers are invited to join MOFS Senior Farm Safety Advisor John Darcy, for a webinar version of his sought after Farm Safety Visit Dining Table Talk.

This is a free online event for all Victorian farmers. VFF members and non-members are all welcome.

John will deliver his full dining table presentation, covering the following topics and many more:

• How to use OH&S policies and procedures in your business
• How to involve your employees in establishing a good safety culture
• Understanding your legal duties, and how you can tackle them in a practical and methodical way.      

For more information email mofs@vff.org.au

Australia’s premier dairy event will return to the Victorian capital of Melbourne in February 2024 from 12-14 February.

Program details and more information to be released throughout 2023.

Find out more here.

Presented by Dairy Australia and Agriculture Victoria, Raising the Roof is the only Australian dairy industry event dedicated to intensive farm systems.

When: 27 – 29 February, 2024

Where: Hunter Valley, New South Wales

Tickets available here.

For more information email karen.romano@dairyaustralia.com.au

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

Don't forget to check out Agriculture Victoria's social media sites for up-to-date information and news.