In this edition

• Can emergency services access your property during a fire?
• Growth in Food Safety Standards for berries, leafy greens and melons
• Local Upskill and Invest scholarship recipient
• Rural Financial Counselling Service
• Watch for heating hay!
• Join the Design Reference Group and help shape the future of Agriculture Victoria Connect! 
• Weed data sharing survey - closing tomorrow
• Farm Business Resilience Program - successful farm people
• What's on

Will emergency services know where to come in the event of a fire? 

As part of your fire season planning, make sure roadside numbers are visible, vegetation around gates, culverts and bridges have been cleared, and gates are wide enough and easy to open. 

Check out the tips and templates for developing your farm fire preparedness plan in the Farm Fire Preparedness Toolkit. 

Download a copy here.

New Food Safety Standards for growers of berries, leafy green vegetables and melons will come into effect from 12 February, 2025, maintaining the state’s reputation as a responsible producer.

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand introduced the new food safety and compliance standards in 2022 to the National Food Standards Code.

Agriculture Victoria Horticulture Standards Engagement Officer, Emily Scott said the standards will assist in lifting food safety standards across the industry.

‘We are working closely with industry bodies and growers to support businesses implementing the new standards with a timely awareness and engagement campaign. Current food safety arrangements are recognised where possible, and our online system assists in documenting and verifying requirements’, said Miss Scott.

‘The Standards apply to businesses of any size that grow or complete primary or ‘early-stage’ processing such as washing, trimming, sorting, sanitising or storing of berries, leafy vegetables or melons.

‘It is worth noting that many businesses are already meeting the requirements in the standards, through their participation in industry food safety schemes.

‘However, there will be new registration requirements which are managed through Agriculture Victoria Connect.

‘If you grow leafy greens, melons or berries in Victoria, I encourage you to visit the Agriculture Victoria website to learn more about the implementation of the Standards across Victoria, and to sign up for the Food Safety Standards e-news and keep up to date with upcoming events.’

Agriculture Victoria is holding a webinar on Tuesday 10 December for berry, leafy vegetable and melon producers to learn more about the new Primary Production and Processing Standards. Register for the webinar.

The webinar will cover key microbial food safety risks, what is required to comply with the Standards for each industry, how Global Food Safety Initiative schemes will be recognised, indicative costs and where to access useful information and resources. Growers of all sizes are encouraged to attend.

All producers are still obliged to ensure food for sale is safe and suitable for human consumption prior to this new Standard commencing on 12 February 2025.

Find out more about the standards here.

👏 Congratulations to Ava Kennett, one of this year’s Upskill and Invest Young Farmers Scholarship recipients!

Ava has recently returned to her family’s friesian stud farm in Hume and is ready to take on new challenges.

With her scholarship, Ava will upskill by completing a Certificate of Livestock Management and invest in artificial insemination (AI) equipment. 

She’s setting her sights on taking on higher roles and managing her own property one day.

Check out the full list of recipients and learn more about the program here: agriculture.vic.gov.au/youngfarmersscholarships.

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 click here or call 1300 771 741.

By Michele Jolliffe, Agriculture Victoria Dairy Extension Officer - Hamilton

Every hay season several hay stacks spontaneously combust across Victoria, in single moist bales or in a stack of any size.

Once the hay has been stacked it’s important to regularly monitor it for heating and act quickly.

Unfortunately, even with technological advances in machinery for harvesting conserved fodder, there is still nothing cost effective to help monitor the internal temperatures of haystacks.

So, it’s back to some very simple techniques to keep an eye on your hay stacks.

Watch for signs of heating

Keep an eye out for signs that haystack is heating. Steam condensation on the shed roof, mould growth, acrid fumes and hot, humid air at the top of the stack are all good indicators.

When building stacks with suspect wet hay, stack the bales loosely to allow air movement and spread the stack over a wider area, for example, over several bays, thereby reducing heat build-up.

Most heating will occur over the first 1 or 2 weeks but has been known to reach ‘flash point’ up to 8 weeks after baling. Monitor the stack temperature regularly.

Determine the stack temperature?

Stack temperature can be measured using a crowbar inserted as deep as possible into the stack and left for 2 hours. After 2 hours, the crowbar can be removed and felt by hand to give you a rough guide of the internal stack temperatures.

The temperature of the bale is up to about 50°C if you can hold the crowbar without discomfort. It is up to 60°C if the bar can be held for a short time only and up to 70°C if the bar can only be touched briefly. If you can't hold the bar, temperature is above 70°C and fire is a real possibility. Treat the stack with caution.

In the past it has been suggested to push a small pipe into the stack and lower a small thermometer to the end of the pipe to measure the temperature of warming hay.

However, this technique should not be used for severely heating hay as It may oxygenate the inner section of the stack and cause a fire to start.

What can be done if the stack heats to danger levels?

If a stack starts to get ‘dangerously hot’ pull it apart as quickly as possible.

Be aware that as the bales are pulled out of the stack, especially in a tightly built stack, oxygen will now get access to the hot spot and potentially cause ignition.

Make sure that water is readily available and suitably qualified people able to assist in fire suppression if required.

Safety Warning!

Avoid walking on the stack as the extremely high temperatures may have charred the centre of the stack. Any extra weight on the stack may cause the stack to collapse into the dangerously hot centre and cause serious injury.

If there is the slightest risk of a fire starting due to wet hay, never keep machinery in the hayshed and don’t allow children to play in or near heating stacks.

The Country Fire Authority website has good information about hay fire risk. Search ‘hay fires’ at www.cfa.vic.gov.au

For more information about dry seasonal conditions and drought support visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/dryseasons or call 136 186.

We are excited to announce Agriculture Victoria's new online system designed to streamline your regulatory compliance such as chemical use authorities or food standards. 

As we build Agriculture Victoria Connect, we want your input!

Whether you use this system for regulatory services or simply have an interest in the process, your feedback is invaluable. 

We invite you to be a part of the Design Reference Group, where you can play a vital role in representing the community that uses Agriculture Victoria Connect. 

Meeting every 6 weeks, members will share feedback and ideas to guide the development of services, ensuring the system is effective and user-friendly for both agriculture businesses and community members. 

Your voice matters – help us shape a better system! 

For more information and to join email us.

The Victorian Serrated Tussock Working Party, the Victorian Gorse Taskforce, and the Victorian Blackberry Taskforce are exploring opportunities and challenges for recording and sharing data on invasive plant species across different land tenures. 

Their aim is to reduce the threat invasive species pose to our environment, agriculture, and communities.

They would appreciate hearing about your experiences with recording and mapping weeds and other invasive species.

The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete, and your response will be instrumental in helping enhance data collection and sharing processes. 

CLICK HERE to access the survey. It closes on 29 November at 5 pm.

‘A good team that works together in good times and in bad is just invaluable.’

Agriculture Victoria’s Helen Chenoweth and Hannah Manning, and farmer Georgia Buckholz talk about the importance of developing people skills and successfully handling succession, to improve farming businesses for the long term.

Watch the video here.

Find out more about our Farm Business Resilience Program here. 

Check out the new Drainage for Orchards and Vineyards video by Fruit Growers Victoria (FGV). 

Funded by the Australian and Victorian governments, it is a great resource and addition to the existing training videos on the FGV website.

FGV training videos - Fruit Growers Victoria

Business Victoria – Business Group Flood Recovery Grant – provided through Australian Government funding.

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.

Hosted by North East Catchment Management Authority, this Wine Australia workshop has been developed in collaboration with Winemakers of Rutherglen to support growers and wine businesses in north-east Victoria to take the first critical steps down the carbon emissions reduction path.

This event is free – more than one delegate per business is invited.

Presentations and resources will also align with Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) membership and credentialling (for those of you interested in this option), by demystifying carbon farming and explaining the opportunities and risks it can present in a typical grape-growing and winemaking business.

This one-day pilot interactive workshop will draw on subject matter experts, local case studies, examples within the wine-growing sector and the experience of participants.

WHEN: Thursday, 5 December

WHERE: Oxley Shire Hall, 3678/1157 Snow Road, Oxley.

The workshop is designed for anyone in a decision-making or management role working in a wine grape-growing or winemaking business, who knows that joining the ‘carbon conversation’ is important to the future success of their business but is feeling confused or overwhelmed by the whole topic and how it applies to them.

Speakers:

• Julian Marchant – ESG program manager, Wine Australia
• Alex Sas, viticulturist and senior R&D program manager, Wine Australia.

For more information and to register please click here

The Victorian Carbon Farming Outreach Program is delivered with funding support from the Commonwealth of Australia through the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water under the National Carbon Farming Outreach Program.

DATE: Tuesday, December 10

TIME: 12 - 1 pm

REGISTER ONLINE HERE

Join Agriculture Victoria for an introduction to the Primary Production and Processing Standards for Berries, Leafy Vegetables and Melons.

The standards set the minimum requirements for food safety and will come into effect for these industries on 12 February, 2025.

• Learn about the key microbial food safety risks in primary production and processing in horticulture
• Gain an understanding of what is required to comply with the standards, including specific requirements for each industry, how Global Food Safety Initiative schemes will be recognised, and indicative costs
• Find out where to access useful information and resources for fresh produce food safety best practice.

Enjoying the Northern Ag News? Then why not forward to a friend or subscribe yourself.

It's easy – simply click this link.