VISITING QUEENSLAND RALFS AND FARMERS LEARN ABOUT TASMANIAN AGRICULTURE

Across the expansive brown land that is Australia, farmers face a wide variety of challenges as they quietly go about growing our food. Despite many differences across the NRM regions that make up Australia such as climate, production techniques and crop variety, there are many common threads to draw upon. During February, a group of Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitators and farmers from North Queensland visited north-west Tasmania for an immersive agricultural learning experience

Included in the itinerary was a visit to Redbank Farm at Sisters Hills, where a diverse range of enterprises, adoption of cutting-edge agricultural technology and a balance of farm production with conservation, demonstrates what is possible in innovative land management

A visit to Van Diemen Quality Bulbs at Table Cape showcased how temperate climate cover crops are being used to protect, feed and repair the soil to sustain intensive cropping and annual horticulture

With an interest in dung beetles across the visiting group of graziers, sugar cane farmers and croppers, an evening dung beetle trapping session was put on by Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator, Tom O’Malley. The most significant dung beetle activity in the region occurs from mid-summer through to late autumn, so the timing of the visit was ideal

The species in abundance at this time, the ‘Blue Bomber’ (Geotrupes spiniger) is a large (20-25 mm) tunnelling dung beetle which forages predominantly in the evening

“All the action happens in a 20–30-minute window starting when the light begins to fade at dusk Clear, windless evenings see the highest numbers flying, as spiniger forages by scent, so if the beetles are feeding you will see what is out and about in this brief part of the evening While the species of dung beetle in grazing systems in Queensland are different to Tasmania, all aspects of their life cycle, biology, agricultural and environmental benefits in addition to ecosystem services they provide are identical. It was a pleasure to host this enthusiastic group and share with them what we are doing in the Cradle Coast region, while also learning from them” Tom said.