AgLife – April 27, 2022 edition

April 27, 2022

Farmers fly flag high A national initiative is calling on Wimmera farmers to support their Ukranian counterparts through donations from the proceeds of winter crops. Adding their voice to the campaign are Hugh, Adele and Connor Weidemann and Neeve Kelly, pictured flying the Ukranian flag on the Weidemann’s Rupanyup property.

– Story, page 23. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

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Wimmera farming leader has encouraged grain growers to appreciate their innate connection with global farming and back an initiative supporting Ukraine.

Andrew Weidemann of Grain Producers Australia referred to the national representative organisation’s fundraiser, Grain4Ukraine.

The initiative asks grain farmers to donate proceeds from their winter harvest to Ukrainian farmers managing with business and humanitarian impacts of the Russian invasion.

Mr Weidemann, GPA southern director and research and development spokesman, said Australian and Ukranian farmers had shared interests.

“Farmers, from anywhere in the world, are farmers. Our interests are all the same and that is what struck me most having been involved with global farming networks,” he said.

“The initiative came to GPA through our membership base. A lot of calls were made to the director and chief executive about what might be possible to support Ukraine.

“Of course, globally, Ukraine’s farmers are our competitors; but noone wants anything like what we are seeing over there to happen to anyone.”

The Grain4Ukraine fundraiser will donate contributions through a Grow-

SUPPORT: Rupanyup’s Andrew, top, and Rod Weidemann fly a Ukrainian flag in support of farmers under attack. Wimmera farmers can donate to a national Grain Producers Australia-led initiative supporting affected farmers in conflict.

Picture: PAUL CARRACHER er Delivery Card within the National Grower Register system.

GPA chief executive Colin Bettles said donations would go to external programs, as determined by a Grain4Ukraine sub-committee, with a focus on long-term and future recovery of Ukrainian farmers and communities.

“We are encouraging Australian grain farmers to fly the flag for Ukraine to show our support for Ukraine farmers, and to provide ideas and suggestions – from anyone in the grains industry and across Australian agriculture – on where and how to target the best possible support,” he said.

Mr Weidemann, of Rupanyup, said while news reports were disseminating conflict-impact media from Ukraine, it remained difficult for people to fully understand the depths of the war’s destruction on Ukrainian farming communities.

“No-one can comprehend what is fully going on there – even if we get

news snippets that might tell a small tale,” he said.

Mr Weidemann, also one of eight Australians involved with global farmers round-table organisation, Global Farmers Network, said through its alumni of international farmers he remained in contact with Ukrainian farmers dealing with the conflict.

He said a grower-delivery card was a way farmers could show support.

“We established the fundraiser so every cent raised could be given to Ukrainian farmers in some way or another,” he said.

“Our Western Australian sub-committee members, in particular and with a substantial amount of Ukrainianlinked people in their communities, know readily how hard the war has hit Ukrainian farmers.”

The GPA initiative has encouraged farmers to fly a Ukrainian flag from farm machinery during sowing and to share pictures of the flags and machinery on social media with the hashtag #AussieGrain4Ukraine The appeal’s National Grower Register card number is 1500 4442 and registered to Grain Producers Australia Limited.

After program submissions were made and money allocated, a project report would be available for member transparency.

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BY DEAN LAWSON

roadacre farmers across the Wimmera and Mallee are describing last week’s heavy and widespread rain as one of the best starts to a cropping season since the 1980s.

They tipped between 20 and 60 millimetres from gauges in an area spanning from south of the Grampians to deep into the Mallee, with the heaviest falls in the north.

History suggests the best timing for the autumn break to set-up conditions for a bumper harvest later in the year occurs shortly before Anzac Day. The rain came as if almost on queue.

Victorian Farmers Federation Wimmera branch immediate past-president Graeme Maher said the amount, spread and extent of the rain had opened a door of opportunity in cropping security and diversity.

He said farmers now had a choice of sowing a variety of crops based on a market demand for grain – and could do it with sense of confidence.

“I’ve been in the game long enough to know we obviously have a long way to go in the season. But we’re seeing $1000 a tonne for canola and $400 for wheat and strong demand generally for grain,” he said.

“The prices are historically as good as we’ve seen and yes it’s a long, long way to go.

PINK SKY AT NIGHT: Low moisture-laden clouds across the Wimmera last week turned a dramatic pink overnight in Horsham’s west. The strange phenomenon was caused by illuminating lamps in new hothouses at Grains Innovation Park.

Picture: PAUL CARRACHER “But this rain means these options are all now available to us.”

Mr Maher, who farms at Lubeck, Dadswells Bridge and Mt Dryden, said farmers always sowed with a degree of nervousness.

“But this rain has taken a major issue out of the equation,” he said.

“We know we can get the crops up and running and they will most prob-

ably be right until late winter. Who knows what spring brings? But at this stage, being able to get the crops up going is all we want. It’s a massive part of it all.”

Mr Maher said cropping farmers now had the benefit of adopting a ‘hurry-up-and-wait’ approach for their sowing schedules.

“Just about everyone I’ve talked to

is in the same boat. Because we had relatively high temperatures during Easter and then 20mm to 60mm of rain, the weeds will be up in about seven days,” he said.

“We therefore wait 10 to 12 days, apply herbicide to kill the weeds and sow the crops. When that happens it’s perfect timing and we can’t ask for it to be better than that.

“The rain comes as a real ‘diamond in the rough’ considering issues with seed and fertiliser availability and supply issues.”

Mr Maher said the autumn rain would also have a significant positive impact on grazing.

“It means the pasture will be up and growing before winter and, in some cases, before issues arise with insects – and that’s ideal,” he said.

“People managing lambing can be confident their sheep are going to have good pasture and that means healthier stock.

“It’s put a real spring in the step. It’s certainly put smiles on faces. The benefits are many and varied – from simply generating a general fresh sense of confidence in the industry to tackling mental-health issues. And these benefits flow onto the broader community.

“It renews confidence that might have been on the wane in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and everything associated with it. Because it is so general it will benefit the community at large.”

Analysis of rain figures across the region showed more than 50mm at Warracknabeal, up to and around 30mm in Horsham and Nhill and in the mid 20mm at Stawell. Figures varied, sometimes markedly, between parts of the region and farms but most of the falls were significant.

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immera agricultural judges attending prestigious national livestock competitions at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show have demonstrated the region’s agricultural talent remains pride-of-place.

Poultry judge Michael Lloyd, 21, of Quantong placed second at Agricultural Shows Australia: National Young Judges and Paraders Competition at the show, having competed against Australia’s best young poultry-judging state representatives.

Mr Lloyd said the Sydney judges and paraders event was a ‘great’ experience and a chance to judge in front of a city-based crowd, largely unfamiliar with agriculture.

“Usually at poultry shows and the state shows I go to, there won’t be a crowd – just exhibitors about the place. But that is a benefit of a royal show with such an agricultural feel – you get so many people who wouldn’t see that sort of stuff normally, so they are very enthusiastic,” he said.

“They had on display the little white chooks that lay commercial eggs.

They were on display near where we were judging and it does a good job of getting the commercial side of the industry in front of city people.”

He said while he did not win overall, he was happy with how he performed.

“You don’t get the points form back to see how you did afterwards – you

CHANCE: Quantong’s Michael Lloyd, 21, left, represented Victoria at a national young poultry-judges competition at Sydney Royal Easter Show.

He placed second behind Georgia Kirby of NSW, also pictured. just have to go with the decision – but it was a good show for me,” he said.

He said a professional judge offered him a judging contract for one of Australia’s biggest duck shows – a New South Wales Waterfowl Breeders Association show in Goulburn on May 7.

Meanwhile, Aurora Park and Burrandool Studs owner Matt Hill, of St Helen’s Plains, was invited to professionally judge dual-purpose sheep for Royal Agricultural Society of NSW for the first time.

He said he became involved in sheep judging after a Horsham College agricultural program introduced him to junior competitions.

“It was always daunting as a young person to judge an animal, write it all down, talk to a judge and then with a microphone tell the crowd about your judging decision. They are all judging you while you are judging the sheep,” he said.

Mr Hill was invited to his first royalshow judging position after being accepted by a NSW show committee and a royal show committee.

“There are a few processes to be involved, and it is all invitational. It is great to get my name up there,” he said.

“It is also an advantage for me as a breeder to meet other sheep breeders,

EXPERIENCE: St Helen’s Plains stud breeder Matt Hill with Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales’ winning sheep. become more well-known myself and to constantly talk about what other people constitutes a perfect sheep.

“Even though there is a standard that tells you what that is, everyone still interprets it differently.”

NSW-raised Longerenong College graduate and wool handler Helena Fischer represented the college in the show’s National Graduate Wool Classer competition.

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In an otherwise no-till farming system, using a skim plough, harrow, rake or disc chain implement to disturb the top few centimetres of soil can stimulate an even germination of weeds that can then be controlled prior to planting the crop.

This tactic is best suited to weeds such as annual ryegrass, paradoxa grass, wild radish and fumitory, which are easily released from dormancy.

Soil type is also important, with surface disturbance tactics being considered not suitable for sandy soils, non-wetting soils and those that develop surface crusts.

The effect of soil type is two-fold. One concern is the potential increased risk for wind erosion; and the second is that the autumn tickle relies on even wetting of the topsoil.

The ideal scenario is following 20-millimetres of breaking rain on suitable soils with moderate to heavy stubble. The resulting germination of seedlings must be treated before seeding, preferably using a double-knock of glyphosate followed by paraquat, or seedbed tillage.

Shane Kelly’s family has farmed at Booleroo Central, in South Australia’s low rain zone, for about 100 years.

For the past 50 years, its focus has been on restoring the stony red-brown earth soils that had suffered from severe erosion

Shane Kelly during the previous 50 years of farming.

Shane now leases the 1000-hectare farm so he can concentrate on his engineering business, Kelly Tillage.

“Our journey with shallow-tillage implements started in the 1980s when we adopted minimum-till farming and full stubble retention to rebuild our soils and reduce water erosion risk,” he said.

“In the early days we used prickle chains to knock down the stubble, and by the early 2000s we had developed blunt disc chains for stubble mulching.

“Using the chains with clients in New South Wales, we saw they were very effective for managing summer weeds that had escaped herbicide treatment.”

The Kellys were also responding to herbicide resistance in annual ryegrass on their own farm.

Their initial strategy was to use the blunt disc chain to stimulate weed germination immediately after breaking rain in autumn, followed by a double-knock treatment ahead of seeding.

Having a large, uniform flush of weed germination results in maximum herbicide efficacy as compared with staggered germination that usually occurs after a rainfall event.

“In 2012, we developed sharp discs that can interchange with the blunt discs and be used to kill the weed seedlings, including crop volunteers, that germinate after using the blunt discs,” he said.

“We still had big swathes of ryegrass germinating because there was no suitable harvest weed seed control tool at the time.

The weeds would all come up at once, and we could then reduce our reliance on knockdown herbicides by following up with the sharp discs when seeding.”

He found this strategy provided at least five or six weeks where the crop could establish in a weed-free environment.

The farm grows crops on 18-centimetre row spacing and sows at high-seeding rates to ensure crops are as competitive as possible.

“In the first few years of stubble mulching, we saw evidence of nutrient tie-up in the crop,” he said.“Now the system is working well, the soil organic matter has increased and the nutrients cycle quickly.”

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Fitting agriculture into debate 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

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uch media attention was given to the first election debate between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.

You’re probably not aware, there was another debate: The Rural Press Club debate between Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud and Shadow Agriculture Minister Julie Collins in Canberra.

You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Ms Collins. She’s held the shadow agriculture portfolio for less than a year and is from Tasmania, so not likely to yet have ventured into your patch.

She also appeared at the National Farmers Federation Conference the week before and gave a prima facie adequate performance.

It’s a tough gig against the, ‘I’ve been everywhere, man’, David Littleproud who could talk under wet cement and is the leader-in-waiting for The Nationals if, or when, Barnaby Joyce exits stage right.

Agriculture is not a natural fit for many Labor MPs and it’s not front-ofmind for the Federal party.

Sure, there are key regional seats – but in mining areas or seats that Labor can’t win.

Julie Collins has not yet been able to come up with a new policy specific to agriculture, other than the $500-million reconstruction fund announced before the election was called.

She has said some significant announcements for agriculture would be made later in the campaign, but in the meantime, she’s left with criticizing the Coalition for ‘inaction on climate

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change, crippling worker shortages, and a severe timber shortage’.

Anthony Albanese has hinted at allowing working visa-holders to stay in Australia, but it is still a ‘watch this space’ in the closing weeks of the campaign.

So, what did Mr Littleproud offer during the debate? He said he was ‘proud to announce a $75-million Future Farmers Guarantee’ for loans of up to 40 percent equity for new properties capped at $1-million’.

Yet when I spoke to him on ‘Country Today’, he admitted that it wasn’t new funding, rather a, ‘reallocation out of the funding from the Regional Investment Corporation’.

Mr Littleproud’s other claim was: ‘The biggest infrastructure spend in our nation’s history: $21 billion. Never before has a Federal Government invested so much in regional Australia.’

It might be, though I doubt that in real terms. The big catch here is it’s targeted to marginal seats in the Hunter Valley, Queensland, and Western Australia. No mention of Victoria. So how did he respond?

“What Victoria needs to understand is the existing program will continue,” he said. “These are going into regional areas that have issues with their industries changing, traditional industries

having to transition – read mining, particularly coal – but it’s also about where a significant portion of that is around water infrastructure.

“And unfortunately we need the states to play with us on this and Victoria has said there are no dams to be built in Victoria.”

I made mention earlier of Barnaby Joyce, Nationals Leader. The closest he’s got to Victoria is a quick stop at Yarrawonga last week. It will be interesting if he makes it any further south.

It’s no secret he’s not much liked by the state Nationals, and there’s no love lost with Federal Nationals MP Darren Chester in Gippsland.

I’m betting he’ll spend much of his time pressing the flesh in those regional areas north of the border that his party needs to win if it’s to stay relevant to the Coalition.

Longerenong College applauds another student crop Longerenong College has celebrated its latest group of graduates and announced course duxes for 2021.

People travelled extensively to attend a graduation ceremony at the college.

Former student Bridie Ayton of Casterton was guest presenter and spoke about her career journey since graduating.

All students who graduated from the

college are now working in the agricultural industry.

Megan Clothier was dux of both Advanced Diploma of Agribusiness Management and Diploma of Agronomy 2021 courses.

A Horsham Rural City Council 2021 Longerenong College Citizen of the Year accolade went to Airley Mulraney.

Other duxes: Certificate IV in Agri-

culture – Agricultural Apprenticeship, Oliver Surridge; Advanced Diploma of Agribusiness Management First Year, Emma Lubcke; Certificate IV in Agriculture First Year, Melea McKay. O’Connors, Horsham sponsored all dux awards.

Other awards: Farm Management – Agricultural Apprenticeship – Jake Mills and Charlie Cox; Apprenticeship Achievement – Jackson Medlyn.

Most Outstanding Effort in Show Steer Preparation – Thomas Fogden and Bethany Vogelzang; Plant Collection, in Advanced Diploma of Agribusiness Management, Elyssa Hausler; Prize Collection, Certificate IV in Agriculture, Tom Baird; Plant Collection, Apprentices, Bethany Cochrane; – Insect Collection for both courses, Kayla-Mae Hyslop.

Megan Clothier

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