Soil constraints to productivity in high rainfall pastures (South West WA)
Sustainable Agriculture
The Grazing Matcher Program 2018
Two groups of producers, both consisting of six livestock entities, met eight times over a twelve-month period to undertake the Grazing Matcher Program. The program is based on best practice management and was facilitated on participating farms by three local experts in agronomy and livestock production. The key objective...
Lebeckia: Developing a perennial legume for deep sandy soils
Deep sandy soils typically have very poor fertility, low organic matter and are severely water repellent. They can be environmentally hazardous posing a severe erosion risk and creating difficulty in controlling weeds. Further, there are very few viable options for these soils except Tagasaste and Pine trees. The project...
Trial Report: Improving soil health to reduce fruit tree mortality
Balingup orchardist David Giumelli is concerned with tree deaths in his apricot orchard. Believing the root cause of these deaths is poor soil health, he is looking for a long-term solution that promotes soil biology and reduces his dependence on chemicals. He has made several changes to his management...
Better soils and potatoes: Whole-system approach to potato quality
The Busselton-Marybrook Grower Group formed in 2014 with a shared vision to improve the quality of their potatoes. Group members believe potato quality is linked to soil health, which is linked to plant stress and exposure to disease. Over the past four years the group has partnered with Murdoch...
Maximising benefits from crop residue: Practicle stubble retention practices in mixed farming sytems of WA
This project assessed the potential of innovative stubble retention practices to both enhance crop productivity through improved soil physical, chemical and biological processes and simultaneously address stabilisation of soil carbon content to improve soil health. Stubble retention with fish hydrolysate application compared to a burned control showed positive impacts...
Trial Report: Better rotations for sustainable potato production in the Busselton-Marybrook zone
Keyline farming: Practical implications for using deep ripping and plant life to control hillslope erosion
Keyline Farming is a holistic approach partly aimed at capturing water on-farm and improving soil. Developed by PA Yeomans, the approach includes deep ripping at increasing depth to improve water infiltration and root penetration. In 2015, Boyup Brook farmers Veronica Nix and Darren King began a demonstration of Keyline...
Agroforestry with native trees: Establishing local species for timber using swales and mulch in two constrasting seasons
Small landholders David Singe and Natalee Kuser love native landscapes. So when they purchased 45 hectares of mostly cleared land on the Blackwood River, traditional farming was not on their minds. “We’re not farmers. This is a lifestyle block,” David said. “We could have simply leased it all out...
Messina pasture – salt and waterlogging tolerant annual legume
Messina is a salt and waterlogging tolerant annual pasture legume released in 2017 that has the potential to change the management of salt-land areas. In 2014, the South West Catchments Council partnered with Evergreen Farming to demonstrate the establishment and growth of messina and compare it to balansa clover...
