AgLife – June 28, 2023 edition

31. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

Shared knowledge brings reward

BY ABBY WALTER

Agriculture Victoria’s Horsham

SmartFarm is hosting three international researchers as part of a longrunning higher education agri-science exchange program.

Arun Kumar Attkan, Ganesh Upadhyay and Rajesh Kumar Arya of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University in Hisar, north-western India, are collaborating on a range of projects at the SmartFarm.

Agriculture Victoria plant phenomics research leader Surya Kant is supervising the researchers, as they visit for three months, with stays varying between March and July.

Dr Kant said the researchers would learn new techniques, ways to conduct experiments and technologies during their time in Horsham.

“Our facility is complementary to their institute in India, Haryana University, and there is quite a similar environment, climate and crop production,” he said.

“One key difference here is farmers have big land holdings, whereas in India they have smaller farms.

“When they finish the exchange program, they can adopt some of the technology for precision agriculture as well as cropping research they learned here.”

Dr Attkan is an assistant professor for the Department of Renewable and BioEnergy Engineering and specialises in precision agriculture.

Dr Upadhyay is an assistant scientist for the Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering whose research focuses on dryland agriculture tillage efficiencies.

Dr Kumar Arya is an assistant scientist for the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding and is an experienced wheat and faba bean breeder with a special interest in the medicinal herb Withania somnifera.

Dr Kant said researchers at Horsham also benefited from the program.

“They bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise from plant breeding to agriculture engineering backgrounds,” he said.

“Their knowledge and having new, fresh ideas provides a new way for us to look at our research.

“It is also a timely exchange to be strengthening ties and collaboration between Australia and India at government levels as well as grassroots levels.”

Dr Kant said it was a wonderful opportunity for Agriculture Victoria to collaborate with the largest agricultural university in India and foster ongoing research ties.

“Haryana has a similar climate to the Wimmera, so the knowledge that our organisations are sharing on crop research and development is completely transposable,” he said.

“It’s great to welcome three of their talented academic scientists to work with our research teams on exciting projects in speed breeding, digital phenotyping, image sensing and crop production automation.”

Dr Kant said the visiting scientists were delighted to experience a different work culture and new technologies at the Horsham SmartFarm, such as advanced high-throughput phenotyping facilities, automated glasshouses, the latest grain quality testing laboratories and the Australian Grains Genebank.

Multiple export prices dropping

Leading into the end of the financial year, export prices across multiple agriculture commodities are dropping.

Lamb numbers at Horsham Regional Livestock Exchange were down from 7300 yarded in the week prior, to 6000 last week.

Yarded numbers of sheep and lambs reached 10,000 on June 14 and dropped to a total of 6600 with 600 sheep.

Graham Pymer’s market report showed quality ranged from average to very good with an excellent selection of heavy-weight lambs.

The medium and heavy-trade-weight lambs sold from $126 to $158 a head and light-trade-weight lambs sold from $112 to $123 a head.

Lightweight lambs sold from $40 to $102 a head, while heavy lambs sold from $178 to $208 a head.

Export-weight lambs sold from $150 to $179 a head and extra heavy-weight lambs sold from $178 to $208 a head.

Restocking lambs sold from $41 to a top of $167 a head and merino lambs sold from $72 to $102 a head.

Merino ewes sold for up to $90 and crossbred ewes sold for up to $110 a head Hogetts sold for up to $75 a head.

Lightweight sheep sold for up to $50 a head and medium-weight sheep sold from $40 to $65 a head.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry reported Australian ex-

port prices, as of Thursday last week, for mutton, lamb and live sheep were either the same or up to 18 percent lower than in June last year.

Mutton was exporting at 347 cents a kilogram; lamb was exporting at 574 cents a kilogram; and live sheep remained at $93 a head.

Beef export prices had risen by three percent on the year prior and are sitting at 571 cents a kilogram.

Grain prices were between 30 and 37 percent lower than in June last year.

Milling wheat exported at $430 a tonne, feed wheat sold for $401 a tonne and feed barley exported at $442 a tonne. Canola was exported at $814 a tonne.

VISIT: Exchange researchers, from left, Ganesh Upadhyay, Rajesh Arya and Arun Kumar Attkan join Agriculture Victoria plant phenomics research leader Dr Surya Kant at Horsham Smartfarm.

DEMONSTRATION:

Greg Carbis, Corrie Eisnor and Bhautaran Singh inspect a drone at a Trialsafe seminar in Horsham.

The seminar was arranged to expand agricultural researchers’ knowledge about how technology can influence safety practices in the industry.

Pictures: PAUL CARRACHER

Safety front of mind

BY ABBY WALTER

Aseminarfor Wimmera agriculture researchers and industry representatives has outlined technology’s role in keeping a workplace safe.

Not-for-profit organisation Trialsafe hosted a session at Horsham Golf Club yesterday to further educate people about how precision ag, drones or advancements with systems and procedures could increase safety outcomes in the industry.

Emmetts precision ag manager Matthew Burns, Elders AgTech development officer Andrew Phelan and WSB Distributors precision ag and sales Corrie Eichner were guest speakers.

Trialsafe executive officer Paige Cross said the independent group was taking a guiding role for better safety outcomes in the industry.

“There’s well-documented evidence of safety incidents that happen within agriculture across Australia,” she said.

“The field research industry requires people in the field doing actual trials.

“The equipment and machinery they operate is quite niche, with minimal standardised safety regulations.

“Sometimes we take for granted when and how we learn things and then we have people coming out to use equipment and machinery they are not familiar with, in different weather conditions, dealing with fatigue and often working by themselves.

“These experiences and challenges are common throughout the industry, but it is often only through sharing of information

in forums such as our seminars that allows people to learn from others.

“Our mission at Trialsafe is to enable the sharing of information, build networks and collaboration so that irrespective of who you work for or what you do, you are safer at work.”

In 2021, there were 169 workplace fatalities across Australia, with 20 percent occurring in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.

In the same year, the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries recorded the highest fatality rate of any industry with 10.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

Chair Steph Lunn said Trialsafe’s long-

term focus was to collaborate and improve the industry as a whole.

“The field research sector is at the forefront of new products and technologies being trialled for the broader agricultural and horticultural industries,” she said.

“We want to lead by example by taking a lead role in building safety culture and promoting best practice across the field research industry.

“Long-term, we are looking at advocating for standardisation of training or induction, manual handling and plant and equipment operation so there is a level of consistency of safety throughout the sector.”

AWARDED: Victorian Agricultural Shows junior show ambassador runner-up Bart Turgoose and winner Annabelle Hudson.

State success

Bart Turgoose, of Horsham, is the Victorian Agricultural Shows junior show ambassador state final runner-up for 2023.

Mr Turgoose won the Wimmera Agricultural Societies Association group finals for the Junior Show Ambassador award in February, which placed him in contention for the state award.

Criteria for the state award included local show involvement; community involvement; general and rural knowledge of community issues and current affairs relating to rural life and industry; personality and confidence; ambitions and goals; written, oral and interpersonal communication skills; and presentation.

The runner-up prize money was $250. Annabelle Hudson, of Beaufort Agricultural Society and representing the Midlands group, won the state final, taking home $500.

Mr Turgoose was first involved with the Horsham Show in 2017 by volunteering in a Lego section as a steward.

Since then he has been involved in many projects including the virtual Horsham Show and 150km Feast. He undertook a school-based apprenticeship with the Horsham Agricultural Society while completing year-11.

Mr Turgoose has declared he will stand for the 2024 Local Government Elections as a candidate for Horsham Rural City Council.

Louise Hobbs, of Kaniva, won the Wimmera Agricultural Societies Association group finals for the Victorian Agricultural Society Rural Ambassador award. The state final winner will be announced at the Royal Melbourne Show in September.

LEARNING: Agriculture Victoria staff, from left, Kristina Ellis, Imogen Grayson, Lucy Brand and Tamika Mentha attend a Trialsafe seminar at Horsham Golf Club.

Studies assist energy plan

Case studies about energy-saving on farms are now available online to help guide more people in the agricultural industry to make sustainable changes.

Seven Victorian farmers have detailed on-farm energy decisions they made and the benefits they found by investing in new, efficient technology. Agriculture Victoria farm business economist Julie Harman said the case studies were now available online as part of the Agriculture Energy Investment Plan.

Farmers vow to push on

BY ABBY WALTER

Acontingentof Wimmerabased farmers have taken a plea for a senate inquiry into the Victoria to NSW Interconnector, VNI, West project to Federal Parliament in Canberra.

The preferred option for the new high-capacity transmission line charts a broad corridor that connects western Victoria’s renewable energy at a terminal station at Bulgana, near Stawell, and crosses the Murray River north of Kerang, which connects with EnergyConnect in New South Wales at Dinawan substation.

Marcia McIntyre, a crop and sheep farmer east of Marnoo, visited Canberra with her one-year-old twins, along with more than 60 farmers from the region to push for a senate inquiry into the VNI West transmission project.

“Our Federal Member for Mallee Anne Webster has been very supportive and assisted us once in Canberra to meet with senators and MPs,” she said.

“Much effort was made by all farmers to persuade the senators of the need for the inquiry.

“We were in the gallery when Dr Webster put questions to Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. The response was disappointingly disrespectful and did not acknowledge the legitimate concerns that farmers travelled nine hours overnight to have answered.

“We spoke to crossbenchers and different senators and ministers. There

was also a press conference with Dr Webster, Nationals leader David Littleproud, other National MPs and senators and local farmers.

“The senate debated if it would go to an inquiry with some fiery speeches from the Coalition and crossbenchers. But it was later disappointingly voted down. Next time we will get it through, it was close.”

Concerns unanswered

Ms McIntyre said after poor consultation the vast majority of the 500 submissions were negative.

“We support renewable energy, but this project will hold up Victoria in reaching its renewable energy targets. It does not make sense” she said.

“These transmission projects are occurring across the country and we, and all Australians, deserve to have answers regarding their legitimate necessity considering the extremely high cost, both financially and to the sensitive ecosystems, forests and food-producing farmland in their path.

“When even the experts have so many concerns, I think Victorians deserve to be given the chance to explore the other options that provide quicker and cheaper ways forward for the renewable energy transition.”

Ms McIntyre said a lack of consultation and steamrolling of the project had caused concerns about the poor standard of planning and execution.

“We live in a beautiful area, beside State Forest, with prime agricultural land – and we care for our land,” she said.

“There will be economical, envi-

ronmental and emotional effects from this. There will be considerable disruption during construction, with new roads built, removal of topsoil, gravel pads for cranes, extensive excavation, tonnes of concrete and steel with its enormous carbon footprint, removal of trees and vegetation – permanently damaging the native and farming landscape forever.

“It will drastically impact how people farm during construction and then, once they finish, with effects on the use of drones and aerial applications.

“There will be long-term loss of productivity costing the economy and impacting food security.

“We won’t give up because it is so important that this is done right.”

Progress

Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO, is planning the project under existing national framework and a Ministerial Order has been implemented to progress the preferred option.

Landholders will be entitled to payments of $8000 a year per kilometre of transmission hosted for 25 years. These payments are in addition to existing arrangements for compensation, which covers any loss of land value.

The Victorian Transmission Infrastructure Framework released earlier this month reports VicGrid would take over the planning and development of transmission going forward.

A Victorian government spokesperson said as ageing coal-fired generators retired, progressing critical transmission projects such as VNI West

was necessary to deliver cheaper, more reliable renewable energy to homes and businesses across the state.

“VNI West and WRL are in the early stages of development and still require relevant planning and environmental approvals, which will provide multiple opportunities for community members, stakeholders and Traditional Owners to share their views on the project,” the spokesperson said.

“Transmission is just one element in the transformation of Victoria’s electricity grid, which will see the state reach 95 percent renewables by 2035 and create 59,000 jobs.”

Glengower farmer Glenden Watts spoke in Canberra and said farmers like him in central Victoria were not opposed to renewables.

“Farmers are leading the uptake of new technologies to better protect the environment and improve the productivity of our farming land – the food bowl of our nation,” he said.

“It’s the deceit, lies and plain disregard of their concerns that has the locals outraged.”

Dr Webster said she was concerned the project would have an enormous cost blow-out and detrimental consequences for communities across thousands of kilometres of prime farmland and irrigation districts.

“That’s why I invited these farmers from my Mallee electorate to come to Canberra so they could be seen and heard,” she said.

“I urge Labor to reconsider. These transmission lines will be devastating for regional Victoria, farmers and their communities.”

“The economic case studies consider benefits such as energy savings and co-benefits such as labour productivity on farms across a range of agriculture industries,” she said.

The seven case studies explore solar panels and battery storage, improving greenhouse insulation, energy efficiency for croppers with chaser bins and belt shifter improvements, gains for grape growers to improve yield and quality, rapid chiller in a dairy farm lowering costs, and rooftop solar panels and solar water pumps.

Ms Harman said if people preferred to listen rather than read, they could tune into a podcast with Tony McCarthy, one of the farmers from the case studies.

“Tony arrived in Australia with just a backpack and has since been focusing on building up his business from scratch of which energy management has, and is, an important part,” she said.

“An energy audit undertaken through the Agriculture Energy Investment Plan was a big leg up for Tony in identifying energy savings.”

Ms Harman said the case studies, podcasts and other materials were part of the Energy Smart Farming community bringing together farm energy experts including farmers, service providers, advisors, researchers and community advocates to share energy knowledge, research and solutions to help make Australian farming more profitable.

The podcast is available via extensionaus.com.au/energy smartfarming/economics-ofimplementing-energy-tech

The case studies are available at extensionaus.com.au/energysmartfarming/on-farm-energy-efficiencyand-cost-savings

CONCERNS: More than 60 farmers from western Victoria, including Marnoo district farmer Marcia McIntyre, travelled to Canberra to push for a senate inquiry into the Victoria to NSW Interconnector West project.

Growing a wheat with benefits

From left field

with David Matthews

Iamwriting this month’s column from Tokyo.

The day prior to submitting the column, I had an interesting time visiting Japan’s largest flour milling company.

They buy more than two million tonnes of wheat annually, but most of it comes from Canada.

They were surprisingly candid about their dislike for the current wheat trading environment in Australia.

For them, the relationship was much stronger under the Australian Wheat Board structure. But that’s a conversation for another day.

This trip was not about commodity wheat; it was about High Amylose Wheat, or HAW.

The first commercial shipment was sent from the Wimmera to Japan in March – and during our trip we were able to see and taste consumer products made from this wheat.

The fundamental difference with HAW is its fibre content – about 10 times more fibre than normal wheat.

So everyday goods, such as bread, buns, croissants and noodles, made from this wheat can be promoted as good for gut health.

In the three months since product release, more than 40 food companies in Japan have already signed a supply agreement with the flour mill. It seems there’s a bit of interest.

The bigger story here is the increasing discussion about ‘food as medicine’.

NSW-based The George Institute For Global Health is one of a number of research organisations promoting the view a prescribed diet is often a better way of addressing many illnesses than prescribed medicine. It makes a lot of sense; try to prevent rather than try to cure.

Research published in the Lancet journal in 2017 showed one-in-five deaths globally were related to suboptimal diets. That is more than deaths attributed to tobacco.

Proponents of the ‘food as medicine’ approach believe incidence of many chronic diseases, such as type-two

diabetes and bowel cancer, can be reduced by tailored dietary advice.

They talk about targeted ‘nutrition managed care plans’.

Rather than issuing medical prescriptions, they see doctors issuing ‘produce prescriptions’ and patients going to ‘food pharmacies’ to fill these prescriptions.

From a farmers’ perspective, I think this is pretty exciting.

We have always understood our role in supporting basic human needs; the provision of food and fibre. But to participate in production of food that can drive significantly better health outcomes for consumers takes this to another level.

Apart from being a pretty cool thing to do, it moves our businesses up the value curve.

It takes us from the low-priced commodity end of the spectrum to the value end of the spectrum.

The HAW project is a great test case for the benefits of building effective farmer collaboration.

We can learn how to organise ourselves to not just be a passive participant in projects like this.

Well-organised farmer groups can play a key role as the ‘food as medicine’ philosophy gains momentum.

In the meantime, we’ll enjoy the fact we are growing a wheat with benefits.

TRIED AND TESTED: Dr Tristan Coram, director of science at Australian Grain Technologies, samples instant noodles made from Wimmera High Amylose Wheat, HAW.

National crime study

University of New England’s Centre for Rural Criminology launched a national study into farm crime this month, to understand rural crime at an Australian scale.

The 2023 Australian Farm Crime Survey, the first national study in 20 years, will ask landholders to detail experiences of rural crime and opinions about the effectiveness of crime prevention.

University of New England senior lecturer in criminology Alistair Harkness said there was an upward trend in reporting of farm crime, which was good to see, but a lot of crime went unreported.

He said the increase was occurring because police across the country, particularly in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, were making concerted efforts to engage with farmers.

“The trouble is there is a lot of farm crime that goes unreported, so the purpose of the survey is to get first-hand knowledge and information from farmers,” he said.

“The last survey undertaken nationally was 20 years ago. The survey will obtain information about the prevalence of farm crime, reasons for not reporting, the types of things that might be stolen and attitudes to crime prevention practises and policing and other law enforcement practises.”

Dr Harkness said anecdotally, from previous work with farmers, there were a range of reasons why theft and crime was not reported.

He said livestock theft was a prime example – if sheep are only mustered four or five times a year for drenching, shearing or counting and if a crime happens shortly after that, it could be several months before the loss of a certain number of sheep is detected.

“Farmers don’t always know if they have miscounted at the last count, or if the stock has died and not been discovered,” he said.

“Then there’s the, ‘I don’t want to waste the police’s time’ because what evidence can be garnered –there could have been lots of wind and rain and any chances of tyre tracks, footprints, evidence is well and truly gone, so a farmer asks what good it is reporting it.

“One of the reasons is neighbours and fear of reprise or revenge.

“A farmer might know who the offender was, but has to live next door to this person, so does not want to create waves in the local community.

“Sometimes it is a case of, ‘I didn’t lock up the stuff, so I guess I had it coming’ or, ‘you just have to roll with the punches’.”

Dr Harkness said an example in a time of drought was when a farmer saw they had water taken from their

dam and they attributed it to somebody ‘needing it more’ and did not report it.

“The last example is sometimes the legal process. They might not want police coming onto the property or might not want to waste a day in court,” he said.

Dr Harkness said farm costs were ever-increasing – products such as fertiliser and chemicals are expensive.

“Somebody might think they can save a few dollars, but it is going to be at the expense of the person who has had something stolen,” he said.

“To lose fertiliser or have a targeted gang of organised criminals steal a piece of equipment, even simple things such as a quad bike or chainsaw, will be disruptive to the operation of a farm.

“It can have an economic impact, social impacts, too, and in a worstcase scenario, be detrimental to someone’s mental health.”

Dr Harkness said that was why gathering as much data as possible was important.

“The data is going to help us inform decision-makers, whether they are parliamentarians or senior police based in rural areas,” he said.

“It informs them of the lay of the land, what the circumstances of farm crime are in 2023 and importantly what can we do about it.”

WINNERS: Goroke P-12 College’s Cows Create Careers program senior division team, ‘GoudaGang’, Maisy Batson, Lucinda Smith, Kye Sampson and Will Hausler celebrate their win for the southwest region.

Ag students win national entry

Students from Goroke P-12 College have taken home the top prize in both the junior and senior divisions of this year’s Cows Create Careers competition for the southwest region. The competition involves students caring for two calves for three weeks. The students learn general animal husbandry skills and best welfare practices.

They are required to submit a threeminute video about the dairy industry and a letter or scientific report to present their growth data and comment on the overall nutrition of the calves.

Students can select agricultural science as a subject from year-seven.

Teacher Louise Hobbs said since participating in the competition last year, selection rates had doubled.

She said when the calves arrived last

year, students from other classes started to take an interest in agriculture.

Goroke P-12 College entered a team last year and won a special award and entry into a national competition for their combined junior and senior team.

This year they entered two divisions and won outright in juniors and were joint winners with Loreto College, Ballarat, at senior level.

“It’s been fantastic to win both categories,” Miss Hobbs said.

“I think competitions like this show just how awesome our country schools are and how great ag is.”

The school won a combined $500 with this year’s win and has slated the money for upgrades to the school farm.

The two Goroke teams are now entered into a national competition.

Data protection key

BY ABBY WALTER

TheNational Farmers’ Federation has released a new certification scheme, aimed at helping farmers choose tools and services to protect their farm data.

The scheme will certify products marketed to farmers to ensure they comply with the Australian Farm Data Code.

NFF vice-president David Jochinke, chair of the new certification panel, said the scheme would inform farmers and lift industry standards.

“We’re in the digital farming era, and the volume and value of our data is growing every day,” he said.

“There’s a gold mine of industry data held with service providers. Everything about our production systems, our soils, our yields and our finances is in a cloud somewhere.”

Mr Jochinke said the scheme was about protecting data farmers generated – making sure it was used to benefit farmers, and ensuring farmers had control of the data.

He said control included where and how data would be stored and understanding what it could be used for.

“In modern agriculture, every time farmers do something in a paddock or stockyard, and machinery, they

generate data, which can be used to understand how to get more efficiency out of the machine, how products work and what products are used and when to then create trends for buying patterns,” he said.

“As farmers, we probably do not recognise the amount of data we generate passively through our machinery and actively through our record keeping.

“All this data is worth something and we want farmers to have the ability to understand where that data is used, making sure it is used by people who are signing up to a code.

“Farmers then know there are protocols for storage, the data is going to be used in a certain way, de-identified if it does get clustered and then also, they have the right to delete it if they want to.”

The certification was developed over 18 months with support from the Federal Government.

Mr Jochinke said farmers generally could not disagree with terms and conditions when signing up for software or hardware if they wanted to continue to use it.

“We want, when people click that ‘I agree’ button, for them to be clicking with an authorised organisation so they know that any of the data that comes out of that process will be treated with respect,” he said.

“A data code is not something

new – the US has one in place, New Zealand has one in place.

“We have engaged with multiple farmers and organisations to test the theory on how we ensure that we get the best outcome for agriculture.

“When somebody signs up, it is not an opt-in, opt-out code – you have to meet 100 percent of requirements to achieve certification.”

Mr Jochinke encouraged farmers to ask service providers if they were certified.

“We have gone through a couple of iterations to get it right, but as farmers we want people to say, you can have my data but understand it is valuable, it is worth something and organisations who are handling data, vast quantities of it, are doing it for the betterment of the farmers and industry and handling it with respect,” he said.

Certification was made available to providers last week.

“If you’re a business that holds farmers’ data, now is the time to get in touch. It is a straightforward, low-cost step to give your customers confidence in how you are handling their data,” Mr Jochinke said.

“Farmers should start looking for the certification tick and asking their providers whether they are certified against the code. As a voluntary scheme, it is that market pressure that will ultimately lift standards and keep everyone accountable.”

OPTIONS: St Brigid’s College

Horsham students

Reece Hammond and Kristina Schwarz investigate Forest Fire Management careers with officer Mollie Block, left.

Interest high for ag careers

A wide array of careers in agriculture were showcased at the Western Victorian Careers Expo.

Emmetts technical trainer Tony Welch said apprenticeships were the most popular topic of discussion, with diesel mechanic, service technician and parts technician roles on offer.

He said Emmetts was involved in a number of seminars, with adults making up almost half of the audience, demonstrating a change in the ages of people inquiring about job opportunities.

Mr Welch said people who had recently moved to the area were also interested in the evolving agriculture sector.

“We run 11 branches at the Emmetts group and opportunities range from service technicians to management. There are a multitude of roles which are expanding all the time,” he said.

“The move to new technologies is

huge, such as autonomous equipment and others guided by tablet or phone. That is a demand area in the future.”

O’Connors apprenticeship co-ordinator Tim Nagorcka said diesel mechanic roles and parts interpreter traineeships featured in many discussions with visitors to the expo, at Longerenong last week.

“We had a puzzle putting a gear-box back together at our booth. That was a really good chance to display what we do and give people an insight,” he said.

Mr Nagorcka said the interactive display sparked a lot of interest.

He said the agriculture jobs market was strong, with welding apprenticeships another field attracting interest.

“It is one of those trades that is a little bit harder to get people into. I did speak to a few people about, so there is interest at the moment,” he said.

Industry calls for awareness

Agriculture Victoria is appealing to travellers during the winter school holidays to help keep Victoria’s $17.5-billion agriculture industry safe from biosecurity threats including pests and diseases.

Biosecurity Victoria executive director Katherine Clift said there were many ways the community could be biosecurity aware, including complying with state regulations while travelling.

“Victorians travelling interstate should be aware of border quarantine restrictions around moving plants, fruit and vegetables or risk hefty fines,” she said.

“Biosecurity measures such as not bringing fruit and vegetables into the state will help protect Victoria’s valuable horticulture industry from exotic pests including Mediterranean fruit flies.

“If you are planning to visit our excellent wineries, do not wander into the vineyards in case you get phylloxera on your footwear and spread it elsewhere –this tiny insect can destroy grapevines and significantly impact our $170-million wine industry.”

Advice for beach-goers is to ‘Check, Clean and Dry’.

water, sand and seaweed,” Dr Clift said.

“Clean boats at home or a commercial carwash. Wash wetsuits, fishing and diving equipment with fresh, soapy water.

“Dry all boating, fishing and diving equipment completely before heading out into the water again.”

Dr Clift said compliance with biosecurity management plans and following biosecurity signage requirements was essential when visiting farms to help prevent spreading pests and disease.

“When you’re planning to visit a farming property, call ahead to see if there are any specific biosecurity requirements or potential issues,” she said.

“When you arrive, sign the visitor record book, wash and disinfect your footwear and arrange to meet your hosts at their house or on a sealed or gravel area away from livestock.

“If you are spending a lot of time on farms – or travelling to multiple properties – our ‘Come Clean, Stay Clean, Go Clean’ learning module has great tips to help build your biosecurity awareness.

“The short course will only take about 15 minutes of your time, but could save

QUESTIONS:

Tandarra farmer James Taylor is hoping to expand his business in the next five years. He is keen to hear from industry leaders at a Birchip Cropping Group workshop to learn more about the best way forward.

Farm expansion at centre of workshop

Birchip Cropping Group is responding to calls from farmers to provide information on farm expansion, with a workshop scheduled in July.

Event organiser Grace Hosking said rising interest rates, inflation, variation in seasonal outlooks, market volatility, family members returning to the farm and parents looking to retire were just some reasons why farmers looked to expand or increase profits.

A farm expansion day, at Birchip Leisure Centre on July 25, will discuss land investment principles – buy versus lease versus share

Other topics include farming beyond family – human resources and recruitment with Denise McLennan; machinery investment decisions and benchmarking with Kondinin Group’s Ben White; and managing growth within the business with Carmen Quade.

“The event will conclude with a panel of farmers and advisors sharing their farm expansion experiences including how advisory boards can aid such decisions,” Ms Hosking said.

“While there is no prescriptive approach to expansion, the work

Tandarra farmer James Taylor said farm expansion was on the cards for his business in the next five years.

“But we don’t know what that looks like yet,” he said.

“Do we buy, lease, share farm, become more intensive? What are the pros and cons of each?

“Which will be more profitable for our farm and how do we find the sweet spot between labour, machinery and expansion?”

The event will run from 9.30am to 3pm and registration is available at

Toban or not to ban, that is the live sheep export question.

I had a dentist who bought the hobby farm he had always dreamed of.

Chooks, a few sheep and cattle, a veggie patch. Sustainable living.

He was retiring and told me he was selling the farm.

“I didn’t realise there would be so much death,” he said.

He was an intelligent man but had not really thought through what it was like to raise animals. He found the inevitability of it too much to handle.

It is something most farmers have become used to. If you have livestock, a small percentage will die on-farm, and of course all will die ultimately, as indeed we all will.

But for most of the population, the reality of how animals die is difficult to comprehend.

The live sheep export trade is fighting for its life.

The Albanese government is following through on its commitment to ban the export trade.

But it won’t be sudden like it was for the temporary and catastrophic halt to the live cattle trade more than a decade ago. I’m sure you will remember it.

It is a very emotive issue that quickly divides opinion.

No one could argue that the footage of cattle being slaughtered in Indonesia was inhumane and shocking.

It was the abrupt halt to the trade

export live sheep. That is Western Australia.

Having lived there, I know how remote and ignored people in that state feel and how easy it is for ‘Canberra’ to ride rough shod over WA.

‘Fighting for its life’ Country Today

with Libby Price

ordered by then Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig that was so destructive to the Northern Territory cattle industry, which was nearly totally reliant on the live trade to Indonesia.

It was estimated to have cost the industry more than $1 billion.

Fast-forward 12 years and the class action taken out by the cattle industry has only just been won and cattle producers are yet to see a cent.

They say the offer from the current government of just $215 million is ‘a joke’ — not to mention how much money has been spent on legal fees from all parties.

The current Labor government says its phasing out of live sheep does not mean that live cattle exports will be next.

The Australian Livestock Exporters Council has made a submission to the parliamentary inquiry on the issue and claims the Federal Government will be exposing itself to another class action claim and even a World Trade Organisation dispute.

So let’s think this through.

Firstly, only one state continues to

Secondly, unlike the live cattle ban, this is a proposal to phase out the trade throughout several years.

It was an election promise that the government would loathe to break.

The industry has had plenty of warning and cannot make the legal argument that it was done without notice.

As for a World Trade Organisation challenge, it would have to come from a WTO member country, so that would be from one of the Middle Eastern nations that buy the sheep.

I doubt any of those countries would to go to the WTO when they can buy sheep from other countries, and when any challenge would take years to resolve.

Also, it would be a mighty task to persuade other member nations to vote in the trade’s favour when animal welfare is such a high priority in European member states.

While the industry says its vast improvements to conditions and stocking rates on board have seen the death rate fall to below what it would be if the sheep were on-farm, just one more ‘incident’ of mass deaths on board would surely be the death knell of the industry.

SUCCESS: Wimmera Poultry Club’s June show attracted 398 birds, 29 exhibitors and more than 60 people to Horsham Showground. Trevor and Denise Demt of South Australia won champion bird with their black orpington pullet. Freya Kellas of Stawell won the tightly contested champion junior bird category, which saw 78 birds and 12 exhibitors enter, with her black pekin pullet. Above, Amber Randle shows off her winning Malay bantam, and below, judge Michael Paterson at work. Pictures: PAUL CARRACHER

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VFF leadership under spotlight

Agroup of Victorian Farmers Federation members has called for an extraordinary general meeting to dissolve the board and spill all elected positions.

Two past grain group presidents, Brett Hosking and Andrew Weidemann, moved the motion, which was lodged on Monday.

Mr Hosking said there was a meeting in St Arnaud of members who were feeling disengaged and could not interact with VFF leadership.

“We have seen VFF leaders move away from supporting peak body representation,” he said.

“With dairy farmers, we have seen them effectively create a real fracture into organisations that work collaboratively together.

“Members invite leadership to meetings, they don’t attend and are left to fight those battles on their own.”

VFF liquidated its grains group’s $9-million deed poll share portfolio to pay debts in May.

Mr Hosking said selling the grains group’s accumulated investments was another consideration in the decision for the resolution.

He said members felt the only option was to pass a resolution to try to call an extraordinary general meeting to dissolve the board and spill all elected positions.

“VFF is there for the good of the

growers and they want to make sure that they spend every cent they earn in fighting for grower’s rights and making sure farmers are looked after,” he said.

“What we have seen during the past four years is an increase in costs that do not necessarily aid farmers – we have seen an increase in legal and consultancy fees charged to the organisation and we have seen less of that grower-led recovery.”

VFF president Emma Germano said she knew some grains group members were disappointed with some decisions the VFF had made.

“I certainly was not invited to the meetings they were hosting, which is disappointing because they are talking about transparency and wanting answers,” she said.

“I could have presented to the meeting at the very least and answered some of their questions.”

Ms Germano said she contacted Mr Hosking last week to ask what the group wanted to see and if it wanted to meet.

“I didn’t realise immediately the negotiating party was to be negotiating with our board. He put it to me that it was our prerogative as a board to invite those people to come and have a conversation,” she said.

“Irrespective of who it is, if people want to have an audience with the VFF and want transparency we, of

“Once the resolution is lodged with the VFF they have 61 days for the meeting to be held, and within that period they have 21 days in which to call the meeting”

– Brett Hosking, left

when I inherited the organisation, and the board has done the very financially responsible thing to do – to pay down some of that debt in an environment of interest rates escalating and volatility in the share market.

“We shouldn’t be hedging and betting farmers’ money and we shouldn’t be spending farmers’ membership money on paying high-interest bills.”

significant debt and something happened that ASIC – Australian Securities and Investments Commission – would go after the directors’ assets before they would go after the assets of the organisation.”

Mr Hosking said 100 signatures were needed to pass the resolution and the signatories gave VFF leadership a ‘grace period’ to engage with them before the resolution was lodged.

“Once the resolution is lodged with the VFF they have 61 days for the meeting to be held, and within that period they have 21 days in which to call the meeting,” he said.

“I’d like to see it happen quickly, within 30 days if we could, but I also understand that’s just my opinion.”

course, would provide that to anyone.”

Ms Germano said the board of directors made decisions in the best interests of the organisation and its members.

“The board cannot, as a group, act on behalf of a small group of people or a faction or a commodity – we exist for every member of the VFF,” she said. She said she suspected the resolution was appearing on the back of the decision to sell the share portfolio.

“We cannot have an organisation that operates out of debt. It is irresponsible,” she said.

“Those debt levels were in place

Ms Germano said the board discussed the decision with the grains group.

“We did go to the grains group and say; ‘what do you think about this? We were asking for a recommendation, but it was not a power of veto,” she said.

“I make decisions that I make as a director, as I know other directors on the board do, in the best interests of the organisation.

“My farm is on the line so I’m not about to go and make some terrible decisions.

“It is possible under the law that if the organisation was to be carrying

Mr Hosking said if the resolution was successful, an interim management board would be implemented.

“They would be professional directors, experienced directors who would stabilise the organisation and run the day-to-day operations.

“Their job is, effectively, to take it as quickly as possible to a full election so the members have their voice around who represents.

“The same people could reapply for positions and that’s okay. It will be up to the members to decide.”

Ms Germano said all members had access to her contact details and she believed she had never given the impression she could not be contacted.

Monitor legacy spans 28 years

Whentwo retired farmers founded the Jeparit Waterwatch Group in 1995 they wanted to track the Wimmera River’s water quality and health for the benefit of the whole community.

The impact of the Millennium Drought, 2010 floods, water for the environment releases and everything in between is part of a 28-year data set which builds a fascinating picture of Victoria’s only inland waterway that does not flow into the sea.

The monthly monitoring of up to 12 sites from Antwerp to Lake Hindmarsh, is now a unique teaching resource for the schools-based Wimmera River Detectives program. It is also on open access on Waterwatch Victoria’s website.

Wimmera CMA’s Joel Boyd presented an award to group members and supporters aged from 12 to 96 years at a special ceremony at West Wimmera Health Service’s Jeparit campus.

Mr Boyd, when presenting the Waterwatch Victoria ‘outstanding service’ award, said it was an honour to help recognise the group’s longterm commitment to the community and the local natural environment.

“Retired farmers Alan McKenzie and David Livingston enlisted the support of Jeparit Primary School and co-ordinator Jeanie Clark to help track salinity levels in the Wimmera River in 1995,” he said.

“These inspiring volunteers have raised awareness of the importance and value of the lower reaches of the river, while creating a picture of how various climatic events have impacted on river health”

– Joel Boyd

“What started as their interest in what was happening to the quality of their river water, has developed into an incredible legacy of over 28 years of monitoring and counting.”

In the volunteer group’s history, they have not missed a month of monitoring.

During COVID, group member Martin Stone navigated restrictions and performed solo tasks to continue their continuous monitoring record.

“These inspiring volunteers have raised awareness of the importance and value of the lower reaches of the river, while creating a picture of how various climatic events have impacted on river health,” Mr Boyd said.

For example, at the peak of the Millenium Drought in June 2016, the small amount of remaining water in the river peaked at salinity levels of above 200,000 EC. Sea water is around 50,000 EC.

The group has also recorded riparian and ecological changes, such as increasing phragmites and mistletoe.

Call out for biosecurity support

Nominations are open for a new state-wide advisory board assigned to protect Victoria’s $17.5-billion agriculture industry from invasive pests and weeds.

Biosecurity Victoria executive director Katherine Clift said the Victorian Invasive Pests Advisory Board would help shape the state’s strategic direction on invasive pest management activities.

“Community voices are vital to ensure we hear first-hand perspectives about invasive pests and weeds that are considered of greatest community concern,” she said.

“We’re looking for strategic thinkers at the heart of invasive pest and weed management – whether you are on-farm, in natural resource management, community engagement or have a background in agricultural policy.”

Invasive pests and weeds degrade the environ-

ment, damage agricultural land and livestock, and impact significant First Nations cultural sites.

Dr Clift said management of invasive pests and weeds was most successful when the community, industry and government worked together.

“The advisory board will be key to this collaboration,” she said.

The board will provide strategic advice on community grant programs and initiatives under the State Government’s $5-million commitment to support the expansion of community-led action to manage pests and weeds of greatest concern to rural landowners.

Nominations for the Victorian Invasive Pests Advisory Board are available via boards.vic. gov.au/search-board-vacancies/victorianinvasive-pests-advisory-board-communityboard-member-vgb/vipa2023 and close on Sunday.

HONOUR: Marie Livingston and Col Clee, aged 96, enjoy a Waterwatch Victoria outstanding service award presentation at Jeparit Waterwatch’s 28th birthday celebration. Also accepting the award are, back from left, Martin Stone, Sue Atford, Joel Boyd, Jeanie Clark, Jeparit Primary School teacher Heidi Lees and students Cianna and Bella.