JUNE 2022
Magazine
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carrot yield
PAGES 4-5
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A taste of the tropics Eighteen months of experimentation has finally borne fruit for avid gardener John Russell ... literally.
M
r Russell made the decision to try growing pineapples at his north Deniliquin home.
He made a space for the tropical fruit in his hot house,
and he and wife Elaine recently sampled the sweet flesh
October Edition: September 23, 2022
of the first pineapple to emerge from his efforts.
November Edition: October 28, 2022
on the bush. Even in the tropics they take about 12 to 16
“It was just something to do,” Mr Russell said. “It took about 18 months to grow just one pineapple months to mature.
“I let the first one ripen on the bush, and then moved it in to the house to ripen a little more. The aroma just filled the room. “We got about three meals each out of the little pineapple, with icecream of course.” Mr Russell said the pineapples were grown from the scraps of a pineapple he and Mrs Russell had used for a dish at home. “I dried the scraps out, put it in pots and it grew,” he said.
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Information contained in this magazine is presented only after being carefully researched. However, there are differences in state and regional regulations and conditions. Farmers are asked to check with their own advisors. FARMtalk can assume no responsibility for the contents.
JUNE 2022
FARMtalk • 3
“I used 44 gallon drums filled with my own secret potting mix, and I just waited to see what would happen. “And once you have harvested the fruit, you leave the vine and the suckers are replanted.” A second pineapple planted about the same time as the first is almost ready to harvest. And given the experiment’s success, pineapples are sure to become a regular in Mr Russell’s garden from now on ... along with the giant pumpkins he grows for the Deniliquin Show’s annual competition.
“I dried the scraps out, put it in pots and it grew.”
Eighteen months of experimentation has finally borne fruit for avid gardener John Russell ... literally.
JOHN RUSSELL
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JUNE 2022
4 • FARMtalk
“None of our carrots are sold to supermarkets. We export them overseas for juices.” CHRIS TAYLOR
Record carrot yield More than 221 million carrots are expected to be produced by Kagome this year.
DENILIQUIN, NSW
JUNE 2022
FARMtalk • 5
Alongside carrots, Kagome also grows garlic at its Thule and Deniliquin properties.
The weather has not been optimal for farmers in the past few months, with an increase in rain during the traditionally dry months impacting yield.
F
or Kagome, Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable processor, this increase in rain threatened to derail some of its crops, particularly carrot yield. Thankfully, due to an advancement in farming technology used by the group, Kagome has managed to avoid any setbacks and is on track to increase their yield compared to last year. Currently, Kagome produces carrots at two farms – ‘Pinegatta’ near Deniliquin and at Thule. This year, the Deniliquin property is expected to yield 18,000 tonnes, with the Thule property yielding close to 14,000 tonnes, generating almost 221 million carrots. The process of growing the 32,000 tonnes of carrots begins in November. “We start preparing land early November, before we fumigate the soil and plant cover crops,” Kagome general manager Chris Taylor said. Kagome plants cover crops prior to planting carrots, to prevent soil erosion, increase nutrients and provide organic matter. The cover crop is allowed to grow and establish for 14 days before planting in early December. The process from fumigating soil to harvesting carrots takes Kagome more than seven months, before they sell their crop to their partners. “It’s a long process, but it requires daily checks by our farmers, and daily work, to ensure that our crop is thriving,” Mr Taylor said. “When we get to the two-leaf stage with our carrots, we spray our cover crop out and from then it’s just a matter of fertilising, spraying, providing nutrition and monitoring moisture to the crop.” Kagome currently runs a variable rate irrigation (VIR) on the crops, which uses GPS to control each sprinkler on the farm. The adoption of new farming technologies has changed the way Kagome operates, providing the group with greater understanding about how well the crops are
growing, and allowing it to target certain areas of the property that may be struggling. According to Mr Taylor, this allows them to turn off a section of sprinklers if an area is too wet or turn them on if it is too dry. “Adopting new technology has added 30 per cent yield per annum to our harvest,” he said. “The new technologies that we are using provides us with greater data about our crops. “We are always looking for ways to improve our technology if it can help improve our yield.” Mr Taylor says when this year’s yield is harvested, most of it will be sold to a partner in Japan. “None of our carrots are sold to supermarkets. We export them overseas for juices. “We have a parent company overseas that we ship most of our crop too, and then they use it for their carrot and blended juices.” “We have some small customers domestically, but it is taking a while to get that growth in Australia.”
Because of the delays in freight across the world, Mr Taylor said Kagome is expecting to see more demand domestically. As well as growing carrots at Deniliquin and Thule, Kagome also grows garlic and smaller yields such as green manure. “Both carrots and garlic are grown on sand under centre pivot (irrigation), which allows us to grow them on these properties. “Our other major yields – tomato, wheat and corn – are grown on the clay ground under sub-surface drip irrigation.” Kagome’s use of drip irrigation allows for greater control for plant growth and is also more sustainable for the environment. Kagome is currently Australia’s largest tomato processing company, used in pastes, purees and available diced for customers around Australia and the world.
Kagome sows more than 305 hectares of carrots across two properties.
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JUNE 2022
FARMtalk • 7
Deep thinking on nitrogen I’m hearing crop establishment is good and the crops are off to a great start.
C
anola populations are excellent and one farmer said he thinks it’s due to split starter fertiliser minimising phosphorus with the seed. A Kittyhawk wheat crop sown in mid-March is coming into head, which occurred a few years ago. This should not happen as the crop has not had the winter cold vernalisation. Overall, deep nitrogen results from those involved with the Finley Discussion Groups are lower than expected. The average deep N soil test for the 11 host farmer paddocks was 88kg of nitrogen per hectare. This was lower than expected given good fallow rainfall, slightly higher than the 2020/2021 fallow rain. The average deep N for 2021 was 112kgN/ha. The deep N test has probably dropped because of the high yields and high nitrogen taken out the gate for the 2021 harvest. The soil samples were divided into 0-30cm and 3060cm depths. The results showed for nine of the 0-30cm tests, the nitrogen was much higher than the 30-60cm depth. This was the same in 2021. The average 0-30cm was 62kgN/ha, with 26kgN/ha for the 30-60cm zone. The range for 0-30cm was 19kgN/ha to 130kgN/ha, so you can see averages are misleading and you need to carry out your own paddock deep Ns.
Some of the higher deep Ns were from Shaftal clover in the past, and high urea topdressing rates last season. Most of the nitrogen is in the top 30cm, which means there is plenty of early nitrogen for wheat, except for low deep Ns. Topdressing can be delayed until two to three weeks before the first node stage. Canola yield is related to biomass at flowering. Good soil nitrogen levels are needed. Although most of the nitrogen is in the top 30cm, it’s suggested to apply the first topdressing from the three to five leaf stage to just before elongation. Two farmers recently contacted me. They had total deep Ns of 70kgN/ha. Assuming the canola yield target is three tonnes per hectare, the total nitrogen needed is 240kgN/ha. The soil deep N of 70kgN/ha reduces the nitrogen target to 170kgN/ha, equivalent to 370kg of urea per hectare. They were planning to topdress 200kg urea hectare before the rain at the end of May. John Angus – formerly of the CSIRO and now with Charles Sturt University – has often quoted rain soon after topdressing can increase urea efficiency to 70 per cent compared to the usual 50 per cent efficiency. This leaves 170kg/ha urea, which can be partly made up from soil mineralisation following the tests in late March and later topdressing before flowering.
Another factor for the early topdressing was the heavy rain predictions for June, which may prevent or delay ground urea broadcasting. Based on a $1500/tonne urea price, the cost of 100kg/ ha urea is $150/ha. Assuming a canola price of $1000/tonne, the equivalent yield for 100kg urea is 0.15t/ha or 0.3t/ha for 200kg/ha.
~ John Lacy (pictured) is an independent agricultural consultant, based in Finley.
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Our farmers need water Over the next year, water will continue to be a key focus. We’re in wet times now, but the next drought won’t be far away. Our farmers will not be able to cope with another two year stretch of zero or near zero general security allocations. I’ll be fighting against the new federal government’s plans to take another 450 gigalitres of water from Southern Basin farmers to send to South Australia. It’s not achievable and won’t improve environmental outcomes. I also want to see the return of the so-called voluntary contributions to Murrumbidgee and Murray River farmers. To follow my fight over water, check out my Facebook page Helen Dalton MP. Helen Dalton MP for Murray Authorised by Helen Dalton MP, Funded using Parliamentary Entitlements.
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JUNE 2022
Making better farm management decisions
FARMtalk • 9
The difference between the top 20% of profitable farmers and the rest is their ability to make the right decision at the right time. Making good decisions is a skill that can be learnt.
What decisions are you making this year around using your irrigation water? Do you plan to buy or sell? What will you use your water on? How can you best use water to grow your business? If you want some practical insights to help make these decisions – come along to a free workshop in Finley on the 21st June. Further information and details on how to register are at the end of this article!
M
aking decisions is something each one of us does nearly every waking minute of the day. Some we don’t (need to) put too much thought or time in to (“What am I going to eat for lunch today?”), whilst others require a lot more conscious thinking (“Should I buy or sell my irrigation water?”). Making informed, rationale and practical decisions is integral to running a successful farm business. But just because we make decisions all the time, it doesn’t necessarily follow that we are good at making them!
Is there a way that we can improve the choices we make? Firstly, decision making is a skill – although we weren’t taught it like reading and writing, it is nonetheless an ability that can be improved. Secondly, you can improve your decision making through practice, learning and adapting over time. It is important to recognise there are two types of decisions – a ‘good’ decision and the ‘right’ decision. The terms aren’t interchangeable! Good decisions are based on information – obtaining facts, figures, projections and the like. They include an appreciation of the risk or odds of something happening. The right decision can only be gauged ‘after the event’ – the old saying ‘everything is easy in hindsight’! A good decision will not always lead to the right decision – particularly in agriculture, where there are so many ‘externalities’ such as weather, markets, politics and policies which producers have little control over, but can influence an outcome. However, making a good decision will undoubtedly go a long way to help make the right decision! In agriculture – particularly irrigated agriculture –– the decisions we make are often very complex, with multiple factors interacting to produce a range of possible outcomes. However, not all the factors have equal importance. We must identify which are the critical factors and evaluate their relative importance. This will lead to an overall ‘balanced’ decision.
How can we pull this together to help us in our day to day decision making on our own farms? The answer is by developing a ‘decision matrix’… which can be used to help make relatively simple decisions such as “Do I topdress my wheat crop?”, to much more complex decisions such as “Do I buy the more permanent irrigation water?”. When developing a decision matrix, there are five important steps you need to take: 1. Be clear on what the choice or decision is (define the decision). 2. List the major factors which influence the decision. 3. What considerations might make me change my decision – the range of scenarios. 4. Assign each critical factor a score or weighting. 5. Make a call based on all of the above – does the decision make sense? Importantly, the decision matrix takes into account your own personal circumstances, preferences and propensity to manage risk – it considers the ‘head, heart and gut’ components of the decision making process. The value in adopting this ‘formal’ approach to making decisions is that it is repeatable (should circumstances change), it is documented and transparent (which allows informed discussion around the kitchen table), and importantly provides you with time to make a good decision. Making good decisions is a skill – it can be learnt and improved through practice, by adopting some relatively straight forward decision matrices, and through reviewing the outcomes of the decisions you made.
to a significant and diversified irrigation focussed farm business, •
Troy Mauger from Rice Extension talking on benchmarking and performance of rice-based farm businesses,
•
Rob Rendell from RMCG – will provide attendees with his innate knowledge and experiences to help identify key aspects of the water market and water usage strategies,
•
Cam Nicholson from NICON Rural – will use his insights to enable producers to make informed decisions around using irrigation water in their farm business.
This is a ‘must attend’ event for any producer looking to use irrigation water to expand their farm business. To register for this event, please follow the following link – https:// events.humanitix.com/identifyingwater- opt ion s-for-your-far mbusiness or scan the QR code. If you would like further information, please contact Adrian Smith from Murray Local Land Services on 0447 778 515. (The basis of this article was a presentation by Cam Nicholson, Nicon Rural Services, and his contribution is duly and gratefully acknowledged).
Want to know more? If this has whet your appetite, and you are looking for some insights into using water to grow your irrigation based farm business, then you need to come along to a workshop being held at the Finley Footy Club rooms on the morning of 21st June. You will hear from: •
Daniel Liphuyzen – the patriarch of a local farming family who have used a variety of water usage strategies to go from relative humble beginnings
Adrian Smith (pictured) is senior lands services officer — mixed farming with Murray Local Land Services.
JUNE 2022
10 • FARMtalk
A decade in cotton
COLEAMBALLY, NSW
JUNE 2022
FARMtalk • 11
It’s been a decade since Abbie Pumpa and her fiancé Chris Gardiner changed their farming focus.
P
redominantly ricegrowers, the couple decided to give cotton a go in 2012. And they’ve never looked back. Cotton had only been introduced to their region a year earlier, and the results were enough to encourage them to dedicate some space to cotton on their property 15km south west of Coleambally. The establishment of Southern Cotton and its development of the cotton gin at Whitton also helped with the decision. “We wanted to diversify,” said Abbie. “We saw cotton as a viable option for our farming program.” Since then it has become their most predominant crop and main occupation. “We have grown it every year since, using a mixture of ground and surface water.” Despite the challenges that come with growing cotton – such as water availability, input cost, access to labour and disease management – Abbie and Chris say it has been well worth it. “We planted 550 hectares of cotton this year and so far the ginning results have been promising,” Abbie said in early June. “We are yet to get our full harvest and ginning results, as harvest in the Coleambally area has been slow due to weather events. “On average temperatures have been lower this year, so we have had to make adjustments to how we grow the cotton for cooler temperatures and wetter periods. “At this stage we are tracking for a better result this year compared to last.” With the summer crop almost completed, attention at the couple’s farm turns to winter cropping. Their winter program is diverse, and includes barley, wheat, durum and canola, which Chris says helps to enrich the soil for the summer crop.
“We have grown cotton every year since, using a mixture of ground and surface water.” ABBIE PUMPA
Whatever the season, water availability is always the biggest challenge. Chris said they place a particular focus on water management, and implement a range of new irrigation techniques to ensure sustainability. They are 100 percent recyclable on their farms, which means no water is wasted. Like most growers, Abbie and Chris operate from a point of view that profitability and productivity go hand in hand – and gains in both rely on adopting sustainable measures and maximising efficiencies across all processes in farming production. There are up to 1500 cotton farms in Australia, with the main production areas being central and southern Queensland, northern, central and southern NSW, northern Victoria and small areas of northern Queensland, northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Cotton Australia says about 66 per cent of Australia’s cotton is grown in NSW, and 33 per cent in Queensland, and that at least 90 per cent of the cotton farms are family owned. The growing season started for Abbie and Chris in October last year, when the cotton was sown and watered up through the hottest months of the year.
It is then cut out in late January to stop the growth of the plant up, and encourage the plant to put energy into its bolls. It is then defoliated in April and harvested in May/June. “This is highly seasonal and can be dependent on temperatures and sunlight throughout the growing season,” Abbie said. “For our farming program and our farm, hot and dry summers seem to produce better results.” According to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s Australian crop report for June, about 406,000 hectares was dedicated to cottonseed in Australia in the 2021-2022 growing season. The estimated output is 2.46 tonne per hectare. The report estimates the area sown to cottonseed across the country increased by 111 per cent from the previous year, which should result in a production change of 117 per cent. Comparatively, the DAWE report said 61,000 hectares was sown to rice, which is an increase of 35 per cent. Estimated yield is 10.25t/ha.
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JUNE 2022
FARMtalk • 13
No flies on local program Goulburn Murray Valley Fruit Fly Area Wide Management Program governance group chairman Tony Siciliano (left) was presented the Hort Connections Visy Industry Impact Award by Visy sales manager Kym Ziersch.
District efforts to manage the impact of fruit fly has received national recognition.
T
he Goulburn Murray Valley Fruit Fly Area Wide Management Program has taken out a top accolade for its achievements in reducing the impact of fruit fly on the Australian horticultural industry. The program featured at the Hort Connections national awards for excellence in Brisbane on June 8, receiving the Visy Industry Impact Award from a field of 16 industry candidates from across Australia. Program governance group chairman Tony Siciliano said the award was an outstanding achievement and recognised the important work that has been achieved in protecting Australia’s $12 billion horticultural industry from the devastating impacts of fruit fly. “The program’s coordinated and highly effective area wide management approach has resulted in positive outcomes for the region and has become a model of best practice which is being replicated in other areas,” Mr Siciliano said. Program coordinator Ross Abberfield said the award independently assessed and recognised the program for implementing a system of technology and business practice outside of the industry norm, as part of the program’s area wide management of fruit fly. “The judges determined the program achieved a significant contribution to best practice and cost savings through the value chain. “They believe that we have delivered technology and practice that is not in common usage by industry, providing a commercial and competitive advantage, which is something we are extremely proud of.”
“The judges believe that we have delivered technology and practice that is not in common usage by industry, providing a commercial and competitive advantage, which is something we are extremely proud of.” ROSS ABBERFIELD
More than 3000 people attended the event, which is recognised as the premier event for the Australian horticultural industry, and co-hosted by AUSVEG and the International Fresh Produce Association AustraliaNew Zealand (IFPA A-NZ). The theme for Hort Connections 2022 – Growing Together – highlighted the importance for every sector
of the horticulture industry coming together to build a stronger more resilient food system to feed local and international consumers. The Goulburn Murray Valley Regional Fruit Fly Program is supported by the Victorian Government along with Cobram and District Fruit Growers Association, Fruit Growers Victoria, Summerfruit Australia, Lions International and includes the council areas of Moira, Greater Shepparton, Strathbogie, Campaspe and Berrigan. The program has a strong and well established track record in its ability to make a difference to fruit fly control and horticultural outputs, also recently winning the Victorian Agriculture Innovation Award, Victorian Achievers Award and Australian Biosecurity Award. Area wide management is central to the program’s success in protecting the region from the impacts of fruit fly. Fruit fly control needs to be carried out by the whole community to be effective and relies on the program’s capacity to increase community awareness, education and engagement about fruit fly management. Area wide management brings together community, industry and government to apply control and awareness measures across the whole region rather than focusing on isolated pockets. The project was established in 2017 and has significantly strengthened the region’s protection against fruit fly through area wide management. For more information about the program and fruit fly control in the region, visit www.fruitflycontrol.com.au.
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JUNE 2022
Got milk?
FARMtalk • 15
Milk prices have begun their steady climb upwards as processors fight to secure supply before the milk season begins on July 1.
O
n Friday, June 10, Fonterra lifted from an opening weighted average farm gate milk price of $8.25/ kg of milk solids to $8.80/kg MS. Later on Friday, Bulla updated to a record $9.30 to $9.50/kg MS offering and on Saturday, Saputo revised its price to $8.80/kg MS for non-exclusive supply. The other main processors operating in the Southern Riverina region include Lactalis and ACM, who were offering $8.73/kg MS and $8.70/kg MS respectively in mid-June. The other major processor in the region in Riverina Fresh, but Blighty dairy farmer and NSW Farmers dairy committee vice chair Malcolm Holm said Tatura Milk is also canvassing in the region for the first time. He said it simply highlights the competition for milk ahead of the season’s start on July 1. “Prices have definitely firmed up, and a lot of people are sitting back and waiting to see where the prices will land,” Mr Holm said. “The shortage of milk is because of a few things in place, particularly because there is less milk being produced on the New South Wales coast because of floods and higher rainfall. “But there is a general shortage all over Australia, and so processors are scrambling for milk. “The world demand is still there as well.”
United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Paul Mumford said he had never seen opening milk prices this high, but the increases were “not over yet”. “We’re seeing a tit-for-tat among processors who are jostling for milk supply,” Mr Mumford said. “It really is showing that there is high competition in Australia’s depleting milk pool and, really, farmers need these high prices because of the increasing cost pressures.” These cost pressures include a lack of labour, rising inflation and expensive electricity, fertiliser and fuel costs. There is also the fact dairy farmers are leaving the industry. “Right now other commodities are looking very favourable to farmers, such as livestock, and there is the appeal of retirement,” Mr Mumford said. “Processors are up against an ageing industry and farmers are exhausted.” Mr Holm said helping drive competition in the Riverina region is that dairy farmers have access to at least 10 processors, all fighting to secure supply. But as Mr Mumford pointed out, Mr Holm said higher prices don’t necessarily mean greater profit.
“Those higher milk prices are simply replacing the increase in input costs, so there is unlikely to be any real net gain. Mr Mumford said the biggest “bug-bear” going forward would be the retailers. “The Australia dairy industry has never recovered from the dollar-a-litre milk. They used us as a price-loss lead to get consumers through the door and undersold our product,” he said. “They have a responsibility to teach the consumers why the price is going up, and to raise it.”
“Prices have definitely firmed up, and a lot of people are sitting back and waiting to see where the prices will land.” MALCOLM HOLM
JUNE 2022
16 • FARMtalk
Sustainable
vineyard
Planted to red soils of an ancient riverbed along the Murray River near Rutherglen, Lake Moodemere Estate vineyard has a long history of focusing on sustainability.
T
he estate, owned and operated by sixth generation winemakers Michael and Belinda Chambers and their sons Harry and Joel, encompasses a single vineyard as well as a heritage listed cellar door and restaurant, waterfront accommodation overlooking Lake Moodemere, and a 1,000-acre farm producing prime lambs and broad acre crop. The Chambers family have always understood the importance of sustainable production. “The fact that we are a farm and vineyard is pretty unique,” seventh generation winemaker and farmer Joel Chambers said. “The integration we are doing with our sheep operation and cell grazing is probably not something you would see at other vineyards.” Recently, Lake Moodemere Estate became the first North East Victorian vineyard to receive a Sustainable Winegrowing Australia Certification for commitment to environmentally friendly winemaking. “The idea to become certified for sustainability popped up during the first lockdown in 2020,” Joel said. “We went down the sustainability path because we found we were already compliant with that. It’s been a lot of trial and error. “I started the cell grazing back in 2018 during a drought and I noticed how beneficial it was to graze through the vineyard. It was also really beneficial to our weed management and suppression. “That lead onto carbon capture which I read about in AWRI (The Australian Wine Research Institute). If we can prove we are capturing carbon back into the soil; it will really help us on our road to net zero carbon emission wine. It’s something that we hope to achieve in the next 10-15 years.” Belinda Chambers said sustainable winegrowing practices is the way of the future. “The generations before us embraced sustainability as the single most important factor in the care of the land for the future,” Belinda said. “Meticulous record keeping, and analysis has opened the path to continued development and improvement. “Commitment to that process has significantly contributed to this exciting milestone for our business and our community. “The overarching long term benefit is business and viticultural continuity. If we are able to continually succeed despite weather conditions and market fluctuations that is a big advantage.
“Many businesses are utilising sustainable practices already, as it is in their best interest to survive. By fine tuning and documenting, certification becomes more achievable.” Sustainable Winegrowing Australia is a national program for grape growers and winemakers to demonstrate and continuously improve their sustainability in the vineyard and winery through the environmental, social and economic aspects of their businesses. It is administered by the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) with governance, endorsement and active support from Australian Grape and Wine and Wine Australia. Joel worked closely with the AWRI to prepare for certification. With effective water management crucial given the dry, warm climate of Rutherglen, water use at Lake Moodemere Estate for the 2020/21 period was in the lowest 33 per cent of member vineyards in Australia. The team achieved this through the replacement of 30-year-old dripper lines with a new, efficient, pressure compensated system, and through the application of straw under the vines to assist with water retention in the soil. Soil temperature has also been reduced by 18°C, earthworm activity increased, a greater diversity of soilborne insects observed, and overall growing conditions improved.
“The integration we are doing with our sheep operation and cell grazing is probably not something you would see at other vineyards.” JOEL CHAMBERS
RUTHERGLEN, VICTORIA
Joel Chambers manages the Lake Moodemere vineyard and worked closely with the AWRI to prepare for certification.
In addition, the straw mulch program, utilising straw produced on the Estate, enables a reduction in herbicides that is continuing to decline. Fuel use at Lake Moodemere Estate was in the lowest 15 per cent of members across Australia. This result is largely credited to the incorporation of the Estate’s lamb production in the management of the vineyard. Sheep are contained in cells to ensure adequate weed management and minimal soil compaction. The prime lambs are then used in Lake Moodemere Estate’s Lakeside Restaurant, encompassing a sustainable ‘paddock to plate’ concept. Sheep grazing also contributes to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and chemical use, due to the removal of the need for mechanical slashing and spraying. While the certification recognises the Chamber’s team commitment to sustainability, Joel said there are still more objectives to achieve with plans to share his knowledge with others. “Although we were already operating with a sustainable philosophy, fine-tuning and formalising the process can, at times, be arduous,” he said. “I’m now involved in the journey of our industry colleagues. By sharing our experience, I’m able to provide a mentoring role with the goal of achieving certification for as many of our members as possible. “Ultimately, it’s not about a logo or a certificate, it’s about improving and preserving our environment for a healthy and productive future.”
RIGHT: Belinda Chambers believes committing to environmentally friendly winemaking practices will ensure business and viticultural continuity.
JUNE 2022
FARMtalk • 17
Lake Moodemere Estate in Rutherglen is one of only ten vineyards in Victoria with a Sustainable Winegrowing Australia Certification. Pictured is sixth generation winemakers Michael and Belinda Chambers who own and operate the mixed farming estate their sons Harry and Joel Chambers.
“The overarching long term benefit is business and viticultural continuity. If we are able to continually succeed despite weather conditions and market fluctuations that is a big advantage.” BELINDA CHAMBERS
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JUNE 2022
FARMtalk • 19
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rants of up to $10,000 are available to farmers and land managers to plant pollinator-friendly trees that are indigenous to their farms. Bee Friendly Farming will provide farmers and land managers with $1 for every tree planted, thanks to grant partners One Tree Planted and Flow Hive. The program is administered by Wheen Bee Foundation, and CEO Fiona Chambers said the tree grants support pollinators while also benefiting farmers. “Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to bees and other pollinators,” Ms Chambers said. “Planting pollinator-friendly trees increases food for bees, provides essential habitat for them to breed and creates habitat corridors, reducing the distance they need to travel to forage. “This, in turn, helps farmers with healthier, more prolific pollinators and enhanced crop pollination outcomes.” The Bee Friendly Farming program works with farmers to help protect, preserve and promote the health of all pollinators. Bee Friendly Farming has just turned one, and in that 12 months has seen more than 30,000 hectares of farmland across Australia certified as bee friendly. To receive a tree grant, farms must be certified with Bee Friendly Farming. The tree grants, which start at $1,000, more than cover certification costs, making it both good for the environment and a sound business investment. Successful applicants will receive a contribution of $1 per tree planted, with grants between $1,000 and $10,000 available. Larger grant requests will be considered. Applications must be received on or before 5pm on Sunday, July 31, 2022. To be eligible to apply for the tree grants, farms must either be a BFF certified farm or have a BFF certified application submitted and pending approval by the tree grant closing date. Go to www.beefriendlyfarming.org.au/tree-grants-application to apply for funding, or go to www.beefriendlyfarming. org.au/categories/bff-certified to make a submission to become BFF certified. More information is also available by emailing info@beefriendlyfarming.org.au.
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