Farm Demonstration sites are supporting the promotion and uptake of sustainable and innovative farm practices and management in the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR).
NACC is working with the community to establish innovative demonstrations that promote the long term management and efficient use of our existing finite natural resources and support sustainable production. Through the project, NACC aims to increase the number of landholders establishing demonstration sites and facilitate peer to peer learning in order to increase uptake of practices that will help growers adapt to the challenges facing agriculture and natural resources in the NAR.
Farm demonstrations are being delivered through funding devolved to groups and individuals in the NAR, with the types of activities being driven by local needs and interests and aligning with NACC and Australian Government National Landcare Program objectives.
Farm demonstrations are being established through this project on agricultural land in the cropping, grazing, and horticultural sectors.
Round 1
- Perennial pasture innovations in the Midwest (J. Wedge). View the Report>
- Demonstrating NyPa Forage to stabilise saline land (The Moore Catchment Council Inc.)
- Developing and testing innovative, practical and reliable methods for incorporating lime into acidic sandplain subsoils (West Midlands Group Inc.) view the report>
- Long term soil fertility lessons for West Midlands sands (West Midlands Group Inc.)
- Improving productivity on non-wetting soils in the NAR through pasture cropping (Mingenew Irwin Group) view the report>
- Low cost improvement of perennial pastures (Ever Green Farming Inc.) View the report>
- Determining the nutrient requirements of perennial pastures when grown with an annual legume companion (Ever Green Farming) View the report>
- Long term soil fertility lessons for West Midlands sands View the report>
- Response and availability of potassium in wheat crops to applications of biochar (Energy Farmers Australia Pty Ltd) View the report>
Round 2
- Identifying cost effective ways to incorporate lime in the Moora-Miling farming district (The Moore Catchment Council Inc.) view the report>
- Mango growers adapting to climate change in the Gingin/Dandaragan area (Southern Mango Growers Association)
- Improving and quantifying soil quality in citrus production systems on sands in the West Gingin/Moora area (Western Australian Citrus Improvement Group Inc.) There are two reports for this project, view report 1> view report 2>
- Is sub-soil soil acidity an issue in permanent pastures? (Ever Green Farming Inc.) Read the report>
- Investigating different approaches to manage soil acidification in the WA Wheatbelt (The Liebe Group Inc). view the report>
- Establishing various salt tolerant species on salt land areas inaccessible by machinery (North East Farming Futures Group Inc.)- View the report>
- A demonstration of perennial shrub systems enabling adaption to erosion and climate variability (Mingenew Irwin Group) View the report>
Round 3
- Poultry Litter Biochar Fertiliser for Horticulture (Energy Farmers Australia Pty Ltd). View the report>
- The Benefits of Cell Grazing in the Northern Agricultural Region (Mingenew Irwin Group) View the report
- Dung Beetles and Sheep Dung in the Northern Agricultural Region (Mingenew Irwin Group)
- Tedera and Lebeckia: Perennial Legume Pastures to Transform the Sandplain Farming System (WA Landskills Inc.) View the report
- To Unlock the Soils Existing Bank of Phosphorus and Other Micro-Nutrients already found in the Soil (North East Farming Futures Group Inc.) View the report>
Round 4
- Progressing pasture biodiversity through innovative grazing-cropping practices (RJ and KJ Butler) View the report and View the case study
- Application of low rates of poultry litter biochar with traditional fertiliser to assess fertiliser efficiency and yield response (Energy Farmers Australia Pty Ltd)
- Utilising Precision Agriculture Technologies to manage climate variability and improve nutrient use efficiency (The Liebe Group Inc) View the report>
- Mango growers adapting to a changing climate (Southern Mango Growers Association) View the report>
- Improving water use efficiency for citrus growers in the Gingin area (Western Australian Citrus Improvement Group Inc – WA Citrus) View the report>
Round 5
- Lebeckia plot trial (PH & AE Cripps)
- Implementing change and innovation through a farmer –based mentoring program (The Liebe Group Inc.)View the case study View the guidelines
- Putting technology and science to the test to increase nitrogen use efficiency and environmental care (Pluske Family Trust) View the report and view report 2.
- Best land use for long term sustainability on vulnerable northern wheatbelt yellow sands (Batten Farms) View the report – grasses View the report – grazing
Round 6
- Increasing the productivity and stability of poor sands in the West Midlands by better managing perennial grasses (West Midlands Group) View the report
- Native perennial grasses (Greening Australia) View the report
- Increasing yield to deliver international competiveness through sustainable resource management (Western Citrus Alliance) View the report
- Native fodder systems (Inlander Pty Ltd) View the report
- Improving the outcomes of sowing serradella by using clay (West Midlands Group) View the report
- Subsoiling for farm productivity (Energy Farmers Australia Pty Ltd) View the report
- Trash or Treasure? Re-purposing unmarketable fruit produced by Midwest Horticulture Growers (Midwest Horticulture Grower Group) View the report
More information about each of these projects will be put onto Agtrialsites, a cross regional NRM WA initiative that aims to provide information on sustainable agriculture projects across Western Australia.
This project is supported by NACC, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.