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90 local grain farmers heard from renowned New Zealand researcher, Dr Nick Poole, at the Riverine Plains Inc Spring Field Day held at Coreen on Tuesday 6 September.

“This was the third time that Nick has attended our spring field day and each visit has allowed local farmers to gain invaluable insights about how to best manage the cropping season at hand” said event organizer and Riverine Plains Inc Extension sub-committee chair, Ingrid Inchbold.

Dr Poole showed farmers through the Riverine Plains Inc project site, which is investigating how different drill openers and row spacings can affect the establishment, development and ultimate performance of wheat and canola.

“This research is important to local farmers because the decisions made at sowing can have a large bearing on final yield, particularly in a difficult season and seeing the trials will allow farmers to see first hand any differences between treatments” said Ingrid.

Dr Poole is well known for his work in disease management and nutrition and he updated farmers with the latest thinking in this area as well as the the role of ‘strobe’ fungicides under Australian conditions.

IK Caldwell agronomist Andrew Bell expanded on the seeding, establishment and crop growth discussions by presenting on seed bed utilization and the implications for modern seeding systems.

“Wider row spacings tend to increase plant densities within seeding rows, and this has been linked to yield decline in some crops so Andrews perspective was especially valuable” said Ingrid.

Farmers will also be able to look at a new trial investigating the differences in disease burden and nitrogen uptake between wheat grown on a retained stubble compared to burned stubble.

An extended question and answer conducted by Nick Poole, John Seidel, John Sykes and Andrew Bell took place.

“The opportunity to ask questions of experts is part of what makes this annual field day valuable and provided farmers with an opportunity to tap into this extensive local and international experience” concluded Ingrid.

Farmers from across the Riverine Plains cropping belt were challenged by the practicalities of building soil carbon at a workshop and farm visits sponsored by the Murray Catchment Management Authority and GRDC, which was held in Mulwala on 31 August 2011.

Thirty farmers from the Riverine Plains group heard Dr Clive Kirkby from CSIRO explain the concept of growing soil humus as a “crop” to increase their economic productivity under cereals and in a mixed cropping/pasture rotation.

Dr Kirkby has conducted trials investigating ways to accelerate the breakdown of stubble for many years and advised that his research has shown that some incorporation of the stubble to give greater contact with the soil and soil organisms, builds up the level of organic matter in the soil, which sequesters carbon.

He also pointed out that nutrients and microbes drive carbon sequestration, so the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and sulphur in the soil are critical and sulphur levels in cropping paddocks may well be a limiting factor.

The group then visited two farms to see first hand the issues of putting the theory into practice. At Lake Rowan they looked at a trial conducted in conjunction with Broken Landcare Network, using pasture cropping to build groundcover and root penetration in a heavy soil with clay subsoil.

At Youanmite, the group saw the effect of converting to biological farming and incorporation of stubbles in crops of wheat and field peas, using a Lemken multi-disc, and discussed the need to take a more long term view of building productivity under this system.

Some members of the Riverine Plains group are hoping to begin field trials using nutrients and tillage methods to increase organic matter by increasing the effectiveness of stubble breakdown. 

26 enthusiastic rural women from north east Victoria and southern New South Wales, recently graduated from the Inspiring Farming Women Course organized by Riverine Plains Inc.

The five-workshop course was developed to further the business, development, networking and leadership skills of the participating farming women.

The sessions were facilitated by Cathy McGowan from Catherine McGowan Consulting, Cheryl Graham from Farminganswers and Dr Kristy Howard from Inspiring Excellence.  
The project was supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry under its Australia’s Farming Future initiative.

Course facilitator Ms Cathy McGowan AO said that the program had a strong focus on networking to increase the confidence of rural women as well as providing practical business support.  She said the course specifically looked at aspects of strategic planning, benchmarking, goal setting, time management, marketing and communication, as well as self development.

Participants at the Yarrawonga based workshops came from as far as Holbrook in the north to Tooborac in the south and represented a diverse range of industries including cropping/grain, cattle, sheep, dairy, pigs and horticulture.

“The women who attended came away with a better understanding of just how important we are to our own farming businesses and that the role we play is vital” said Cath Godde, a participant from Culcairn.  “As a group, I can say we came away with more confidence and optimism in both ourselves and the future of farming in our region.  Overall I found the course very rewarding and I would like to recommend it to all farming women – it is truly inspiring,” added Cath.

An important part of the course was the completion of individual projects which enabled the participants to put into practice some of the skills they had learnt.  In presenting the certificates to the graduates, Riverine Plains Inc Chairman, Andrew Russell, said that he was personally inspired by their stories and the projects they had already undertaken.  He congratulated the group on their significant contribution to rural businesses and for their involvement in the program.

The course participants have formed three smaller peer support groups and will continue to meet regularly in the future.

Forty-four farmers and agribusiness professionals attended two interactive Disease Management in Cereals Workshops organised by Riverine Plains Inc.

The workshops were held in Mulwala on 5 August and featured Nick Poole, who is the Research Coordinator for the Foundation for Arable Research in New Zealand.

‘‘Riverine Plains Inc is very fortunate to be working with Nick Poole and our farmer members have benefitted greatly from his shared knowledge and expertise during his Australian visits” said Adam Inchbold, immediate past chair of the group and current committee member.

“Nick is highly sought after because he travels the world working on crop agronomy, in particular canopy management, and is a wealth of knowledge” said Adam. ‘This made the recent disease workshops a success because farmers were able to access the very latest thinking on disease and canopy management issues’ he said.

The successful workshops included sessions on cereal growth stages, how long it takes for the key leaves to emerge and how they are linked to nodal growth stages and the contribution of the key leaves to yield.

‘Understanding these growth stages is critical if you want to get the most out of your fertiliser or fungicide applications’ said Adam. ‘Missing an ideal application window is expensive, not only in terms of the dollars spent on an inefficient application, but also in terms of a potential yield penalty’ he said.

‘One of the most valuable parts of the day was learning how to devise foliar disease management strategies around crop development, taking into account crop type, variety and yield potential, and available fungicide products’ said Adam. ‘Nick also covered the best products, rates, timings and how cultivar resistance (in particular Adult Plant Resistance) influences strategy’ Adam said.

‘There was also detailed discussion around the foliar diseases including stripe and stem rust in wheat and leaf rust in barley’ he said.

Nick Poole has been working with Riverine Plains Inc over the past two years on the ‘Improved Water Use Efficiency in No-till Cropping and Stubble Retention Systems’ research project which is funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation. Nick will return to Australia later in the season and will lead a Riverine Plains Paddock Walk at Coreen on 6 September.

Riverine Plains Inc recently ran a series of discussion days and field walks which focused attention of one of this year’s most prevalent sowing issues - the difficulty of managing high cereal stubble loads in direct drill systems.

The on-farm days were run at Oaklands, Dookie, Boomanoomana, Rutherglen and Culcairn and attracted over 200 local farmers. The Dookie meeting was attended by over 70 people, demonstrating just how topical the issue was!

Out of the farmer discussions came the following observations:

• Stubble height is the most important factor. Stubble should be no longer than the distance between rows.
• Coulters are good but don’t seem to solve all issues in all cases. The wave coulter was generally preferred.
• Straw cutters, stubble crunchers, straw choppers, windrowers and headers were all used to manage straw after harvest. The consensus was that it needs to be soon after harvest and dry if possible. It was noted that if headlands and around trees in paddocks were cut shorter this helped trash flow immensely due to lack of inter-row sowing. A locally operated stubble mulcher was considered to do an excellent job. Windrowers with the mats pulled out, stubble crunchers and a K-line straw cutter were also considered to do a good job in dry conditions. It was noted that in most cases growers had to wait for contractors or machines to become available, thus with the wet summer some of these machines didn’t work as well.
• People generally had fewer problems during the day but most people struggled after 5pm as the stubble increased in moisture and started to bend and catch.
• 2cm GPS accuracy with auto steer is a vital component to the success of inter-row sowing (but need to “nudge” the GPS before you start sowing!).
• Steering wheel driven autosteer wasn’t good enough for reliable inter row sowing.
• The headers ability to spread trash full width of comb is vital for sowing for the following year.
• The direction of travel of the seeder needs to be followed year in, year out, to overcome any unevenness between tine or disc spacings on the seeder. It is better if the seeder follows the direction of the header too.
• Keep as much traffic (eg. Chaser bins & trucks etc) on tram tracks as possible to reduce the amount of stubble pushed over.
• Some growers are sowing pulses and canola on 24” row spacings to help with trash flow. Growers don’t seem to think that they will have any yield penalty doing this.
• It was noted that disc machines handled heavier stubbles better than most tined machines, but if tine machines were fitted with a coulter that proved very effective. NB. Important that there is enough room between coulters and tines to prevent a build up point.
• Some growers fitted coulters or discs units on wheel track area of seeders to overcome knock down straw.
• Summer weed control is important to achieve effective trash flow.
• Circular pipe on tine shanks decreases catch points (ie poly and cable ties, gal pipe, exhaust tube). If installed over the top of the point assembly, it also allows caught material to drop off when machine is lifted.
• Tine layout on some seeders required improvement due to some press wheels being too close to a tine (thus becoming an area which easily blocks with straw).
• A second cutter bar fitted to the rear of header front to cut stubble 6” shorter, was put forward as an idea and apparently trialed in WA and QLD.
• Livestock were considered to result in greater trash flow issues if allowed to graze paddocks.
• Tyre pressure of seeders is important to reduce crabbing of seeder.
• Surprisingly, some people experienced less problems with sprayed off autumn weeds amongst stubble. It seemed to retard and catch the loose rotted straw and keep it on the ground.
• Broad leaf crops don’t have the same level of vigour when shaded by E-W row orientation stubble.
• Growth regulators were talked about but generally regarded as a hit and miss option.
• Micro organism liquid enhancers were considered hit and miss options.

For further information on the days, please contact Fiona Hart at Riverine Plains Inc on 03 5744 1713.

Farming and other rural business women in the region have until 4 June to sign up for an innovative business development program which will be held in Yarrawonga from June to August.

Joint organiser of the Inspiring Farming Women program, Dr Kristy Howard said there are 40 places available on the program which is aimed at developing women’s business skills, building farming business opportunities and developing networks.

“We are particularly looking for farming women in the north east of Victoria and southern New South Wales to take part,” Dr Howard said.

The program is based on a pilot, run in Beechworth at the end of last year, which operated with a mix of farming and other rural business women.

“What we found were the women had a range of business skills, were keen to learn and share what they knew and they developed strong and supportive networks through the program,” she said.

The program team includes Cathy McGowan from Catherine McGowan Consulting, Cheryl Graham from Farminganswers, Dr Kristy Howard from Inspiring Excellence, Fiona Hart from Riverine Plains Inc and Karen Nankervis from My Beechworth Secretary.

“Cathy, Cheryl and I will facilitate the workshops. We have a broad range of skills and experience with a real commitment to women in rural Australia. We’ll be looking at business planning, goal setting, balancing farm, business and family, and marketing and communication,” Dr Howard said.

Local farming system group Riverine Plains Inc is also pleased at its involvement. Riverine Plains Inc spokeswoman Fiona Hart said ‘women have always contributed significantly to rural businesses, whether it be working in paid or unpaid roles on the farm or working elsewhere in the community’. ‘It is terrific that this contribution has been recognised and Riverine Plains Inc sees value in this program because it focuses specifically on improving the business skills of rural women’ she said.

“This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry under Australia’s Farming Future. The cost to take part in the five workshop program has been reduced from over $2,000 to just $175 per participant.”

Anyone interested in the program can contact Dr Kristy Howard on 0400 28 2222 or Karen Nankervis on (03) 5728 1924 to have an Expression of Interest form sent to them.

Over 170 farmers and their families converged on the Mulwala foreshore on Sunday to attend the 4th annual Farm Families Fun Day. The event was organised by local farming group Riverine Plains Inc along with other community groups, and provided an opportunity for farming families to ‘take a break’ from the pressures of farming and the drought.

Riverine Plains Inc Chairman, Andrew Russell said. “Recent seasons have been difficult for farmers both financially and emotionally so the Riverine Plains Inc committee wanted to organize the day to get people off the farm and talking to each other”. “I think we achieved that and more” he said.

“People came from as far as Burrumbuttock in NSW and Congupna in Victoria and it was fantastic to see so many local farmers here”. “There were lots of smiling faces and plenty of mingling and talk about the season ahead, so the day was a huge success” said Andrew.

“The waterslide and tube rides on the lake were popular as ever and there were also plenty of parents also out there having fun on the waterslide with their kids” he said. Face painting and a jumping castle also kept the youngsters entertained, while parents had the opportunity to have their aches and pains rubbed away with a free massage.

Riverine Plains Inc event coordinator Fiona Hart, said “It was great to see smiles on the faces of the children and adults as they enjoyed a change of scenery (from the farm) and spent some relaxing family time together”. “We had perfect weather and Lake Mulwala was a beautiful backdrop to the days’ activities” she said.

Riverine Plains Inc organisers were extremely pleased with the day, especially with the support and generosity extended by many community groups and businesses.

“We were humbled by offers of help and support from local community groups, individuals and businesses” said Fiona. “The success of the day can be attributed to a number of individuals and community groups all working together” she said.

The Rotary Club of Yarrawonga-Mulwala generously provided and cooked the BBQ lunch for the crowd and the Lions Club of Yarrawonga served the drinks. Support was also provided by Boroondara Cares (a Rotary led community partnership between Moira Shire and the City of Boroondara).

Special treats were provided by: Philip Pullar in Cobram who donated a crate of peaches for people to share, Moira Foodshare who donated hampers for people to take home and enjoy, Lyndon Hart from Body Tech Physiotherapy who provided the massages and Jacqui Wakley and Mercedes Goss from Albury who did the wonderful facepainting.

Riverine Plains Inc would also like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their generous support and sponsorship of the event: Yarrawonga & Border Golf Club, ClubMulwala, NSW Industry & Investment, Bakers Delight, Pete’s Fruit Supply, Sully’s Foodworks, Ultimate Party Hire, Vodusek Meats, Kevin Bourke, The Rotary Club of Belvoir-Wodonga and the Yarrawonga-Mulwala Swimming Club.