GRDC Crop Update attracted crowd to Mingenew

Home 🞂 Newsroom 🞂 GRDC Crop Update attracted crowd to Mingenew

With the recent summer rains, it’s not very often you get farmers away from their farms as they will be involved in spraying  weeds or moving and preparing their machinery ready for an early seeding in April. But the recent GRDC event has proved otherwise.

Last Friday the first series of GRDC Updates, held in Mingenew, kick off with a fantastic turnout of participants and excellent line-up of speakers who covered a wide range of interesting and timely topics.

These included: topics on strategies to deal with soil compaction and deep ripping, putting controlled traffic farming into action, managing common crop diseases – especially powdery mildew in wheat and sclerotinia in canola, using the best crop varieties and sowing times and dealing with frost.

Of key interests to our region’s grain growers is an excellent presentation by an international keynote speaker – Emeritus Professor David Hughes of Imperial College of London who spoke about global consumers’ trends – what are consumers and retailers looking for in grains.

Professor Hughes said, “The world food trade is undergoing significant change and there is increasing demand from Affluent Asian and Middle Eastern countries looking for safe, healthy, convenient and premium food products.”

Professor Hughes highlighted that consumers like to express a strong preference for food and drinks products that are intrinsically healthy i.e. healthy by nature.

“WA grain growers are well placed and will have significant opportunity for growth in this area,” Prof Hughes said.

Another highlight was a presentation by Lise Jorgensen a leading Danish researcher from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University who spoke about fungicides resistance in cereals and outlined the strategies used by European farmers to manage fungicides experience.

NACC was represented at this event by Stanley Yokwe and Sarah Gilleland who both agreed that the event was remarkable and inspirational.

Mr Yokwe said, “it was one of the excellent events he had attended this year, and it was a valuable opportunities for our growers to quiz and network with each other and experts on wide-ranging topics of importance to their farming enterprises.”

Upcoming crop updates:

 If you live in the NAR, and did not manage to attend the events in Mingenew and Dalwallinu, please don’t feel like you have missed out. There are plenty of events lined up in March. These include:

  • West Midland crop update on 14 March in Badgingarra. For more information about this event, please contact Shae Butler of WMG on admin@wmgroup.org.au
  • Northern Agri group crop update on 15 March in Binnu. For more information about this event, please contact Raylene Burns on northernagrigroup@bigpond.com
  • Soil Restoration Farming Forum on 7-8th March in Dandaragan. For more information about this event, please contact Rachelle Armstrong on soilrestortionfarming@gmail.com
  • Mingenew Irwin Group’s Cattle Stress Free workshop on 13-14 March in Mingenew. For more information about this event, please contact Brooke Forsyth on Brooke@mig.org.au
  • Evergreen Farming Tagasaste workshop on 31 March in Jurien Bay. For more information about this event, please contact Bob Wilson on bobwilson5@bigpond.com

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In 2020-21 I talked about ‘raising the bar’. In 2021-22 we worked on setting the bar on fire. Over the last 12 months, the team at NACC NRM has not stopped.

The Sustainable Agriculture team has extended the program’s reach through collaborations with grower groups in the regions. Specifically, the Beyond Reasonable Drought project and Grower Group Alliance – South West WA Drought Innovation Hub – Geraldton Node project. The Beyond Reasonable Drought partnership with grower groups supported farmers across the region to improve the environmental sustainability of their agricultural production and drought resilience. The outcomes of this project have been consolidated through our successful Expression of Interest to the South West WA Drought Innovation Hub, with support from grower groups across the region, to host the Geraldton Node of the Hub. The program continues to focus on working with agricultural networks to share technical expertise and provide opportunities that will improve land management practices in agriculture across the region.

The conservation outcomes of ranger teams have expanded through work on several land tenures. Maintaining Heritage sites such as Willi Gulli, Racecourse Paddock and Buller River has long been a priority. During 2021-22, the teams have increasingly focused on threatened species and ecosystems.

To this end, Western Mulga rangers have improved management across 19,000 ha for the conservation of Malleefowl through firebreak and access management. They completed the maintenance of water holes and supported the monitoring of over 90 Malleefowl mounds.

Similarly, the Kwelena Mambakort Aboriginal Corporate ranger team have contributed positively to Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo populations by installing artificial hollows and habitat restoration.

All ranger teams have collected native seed, propagated native plants for restoration, and planted native vegetation in key locations across the NAR. Seed collection provides valuable industry experience and has facilitated the planting of over 100,000 seedlings during the year.   

In September 2021, the NACC NRM team delivered the WA Threatened Species Forum, held in tandem with the National Malleefowl Forum. Given the impact of COVID and the timing of this event, having more than 100 delegates from all over Australia was a significant achievement. The two Forums brought together 12 events over five days and featured 14 local artists, 25 businesses and 36 youth participants.

Following the successful relaunch of our updated NARvis, NACC NRM was invited to help lead a significant piece of strategic planning work for the region with Mid West Development Commission and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. With funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the consortia delivered a Regional Drought Resilience Plan covering the shires of Northampton and Chapman Valley and the City of Greater Geraldton, along with significant technical analysis of drought vulnerability for the South West land division. The development of this plan also included extensive community consultation to ensure that local knowledge and technical advice guided the development of priorities for action.

This planning work links to existing NACC NRM on-ground projects, including Beyond Reasonable Drought and the Chapman Catchment Collaborative regeneration project.

It was a busy year for events with face-to-face events becoming commonplace again. During 2021-22 we hosted events in Gingin, Moora, Dalwallinu, Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Walkaway, Nabawa, Perenjori, Kalannie and Morawa. We supported events in Karakin, Thundellara, Perenjori, Paynes Find, Wubin, Cataby, Warradarge, Northampton, Yuna, Dalwallinu and Dandaragan.

We also supported on-ground works throughout the region, including at the following locations Yuna, Dalwallinu, Dandaragan, Merkanooka, Goodlands, Kalannie, Bunjil, Yardarino, Canna, Kondut, Latham, Kadathinni, Nabawa, Red Gully, Sandy Gully, Waddy Forrest, Devils Creek, Perenjori, Bowgada, Ellendale, Wandana, Namban, Hill River, Warradarge, Gillingarra, Regans Ford and Moonyanooka.

Our region is vast – slightly larger than Tasmania, which for comparison, is serviced by three separate NRM organisations. Covering the NAR region and its many environmental threats is challenging. We continue to focus on partnerships and collaboration to address this challenge. We know that by working with our community through passionate delivery of collaborative on-ground projects and education, the community will value and actively protect our region’s natural capital.

This year we have launched a new Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). The RAP Working Group consulted widely and developed an Innovate RAP which Reconciliation Australia approved in March 2022. The activities to fulfil these commitments are now in full swing.

Sadly, at the end of 2021, we farewelled former NACC NRM CEO Shelley Spriggs, who lost a long battle with cancer. Shelley was an inaugural inductee to the NRM Leadership Honour Roll. I will always be grateful for her guidance and no-nonsense approach, not to mention her passion for life.

While we have said farewell to some, we have welcomed many new faces across all programs, including our Administration team. We have also hosted a school-based trainee from Nagle Catholic College who has been working towards a Certificate II in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. This trial position has been very successful, and we look forward to making this opportunity available again in 2023.

During 2022 we have taken on new projects that align with our organisational and program objectives, and we have successfully completed some great initiatives that support continued conservation and sustainability outcomes. I want to thank the whole team who continue to go above and beyond for the organisation and each other proving their ongoing commitment to our purpose and our values.