Agriculture Commons^™

2024 Western Australian Crop Sowing Guide, Brenda J. Shackley, Stacey Power, Blakely Paynter, Georgina Troup, Mark Seymour, Harmohinder S. Dhammu

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The 2024 Western Australian Crop Sowing Guide has been compiled by officers in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. It provides information to support variety decisions for each of the major crops for the upcoming season.

Geology, Soils And Climate Of Western Australia's Wine Regions, Peter J. Tille, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter S. Gardiner

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This bulletin details what is special and unique about the geology, soil and climate of the south-west of Western Australia (WA), an area that encompasses the state’s 9 wine regions.

We have arranged the information into 2 parts:

• In Part 1, we broadly describe the special geological, soil and climate features of the south-west of WA to provide context for the wine regions.

• In Part 2, we describe the geology, soil and climate of the regions and subregions of the Geographical Indications (GI) scheme (administered by Wine Australia) for WA.

Through this work we have found that the wine regions …

Environmental Weed Risk Assessment Protocol For Growing Non-Indigenous Plants In The Western Australian Rangelands, Geoff A. Moore Mr, Christine Munday Ms, Papori Barua Dr

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This bulletin is a post-border environmental weed risk assessment (WRA) protocol which is based on the Environmental WRA Protocol developed for the Future Farm Industries Co-operative Research Centre (FFI CRC), but with some changes to reflect the different environment and objectives.

The WRA protocol was developed specifically as a post-border assessment of non-indigenous species that may have agricultural value in the WA rangelands and the risk that they may become environmental weeds. Weeds can occur in many land-use systems including agriculture, horticulture and forestry; however, the focus of this protocol is on the risk that non-indigenous agricultural plants may become …

Oestrogenic Subterranean Clover Guide. Identification And Remediation, Kevin J. Foster, Megan H. Ryan, Daniel R. Kidd

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Subterranean clover (subclover, Trifolium subterraneum L.) is an annual pasture legume that provides high quality feed for livestock. It is estimated to be sown over 30 million hectares across southern Australia, with cultivars developed for the low, medium and high rainfall zones. Unfortunately, some older cultivars contain high levels of phytoestrogen which can affect the reproductive system of sheep and cause other health issues. This became a significant issue for sheep producers from the 1940s as new land was cleared and sheep grazed subclover-dominant pastures. There was a collection of livestock issues observed and these were grouped together under the …

Mosaic Agriculture: A Guide To Irrigated Crop And Forage Production In Northern Wa, Geoff A. Moore Mr, Clinton K. Revell Dr, Christopher Schelfhout Dr, Christopher Ham Mr, Samuel Crouch Mr

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The Bulletin is a comprehensive guide for pastoralists, agronomists, agribusiness and the broader community on the growing of irrigated crops and pastures within a rangeland pastoral setting.

Dispersed irrigation developments on stations throughout the northern rangelands (sometimes referred to as mosaic agriculture) has created opportunities for the introduction of more productive forage species and pastoralists can now grow high quality forage for 12 months of the year. This can help to overcome the key constraint of traditional pastoral systems, the low quality of the feed over the dry season that typically results in stock losing condition.

2021 Western Australian Crop Sowing Guide, Brenda Shackley, Blakely Paynter, Jackie Bucat, Georgina Troup, Mark Seymour, Andrew Blake

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This edition of the 2021 Crop Sowing Guide includes the major crops grown in WA - wheat, barley, canola, oat, lupins and pulses. The publication aims to provide information to support growers with decisions on the best choice of variety for each of the major crops for the upcoming season. The lupin and pulse sections also include an agronomy guide summary to support management decisions required for these high-valued crops. Market feedback for barley has been provided by GIWA to help with the decision on what to grow.

Plant Diseases Impacting Oaten Hay Production In Australia - A Review, Kylie Chambers, Geoff J. Thomas

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In Australia, there are a range of fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens that infect oats, impacting on yield and quality of grain and hay crops. The overall impact of these diseases on oaten hay production is not well researched or understood, especially compared to that of other cereal crops. Export hay is evaluated on physical qualities such as stem thickness and greenness and nutritional qualities including water-soluble carbohydrates, neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre and dry matter digestibility. The colour/ greenness of oaten hay can be reduced by disease lesions, chlorosis and saphrophytic fungi growing on dead tissue all of …

Improving Subtropical Grass Pastures On The South Coast Of Western Australia, Paul Sanford, Ron Master, Eric Dobbe

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This bulletin reports on the findings of a research project funded by DPIRD and MLA that investigated methods to improve legume content and increase production of both kikuyuand panic-based pastures on the south coast of WA.

Bioenergy And Carbon Farming Opportunities In The Pilbara, Robert Sudmeyer, Kim Brooksbank, David Rogers

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The Pilbara region covers 270 000 square kilometres of north-west Western Australia. Its main agricultural land use is pastoralism, with beef cattle grazing native pastures. Currently, only 24km² is under irrigation, with irrigated fodder the principal crop, but this could expand to 100km². This expansion has the potential to significantly broaden the economic base of the Pilbara.

Irrigation and the opportunities for changing land use and management may facilitate greater participation in the carbon economy by Pilbara land managers. Bioenergy feedstocks could be sourced from purpose-grown crops or agricultural wastes. Carbon farming activities may be facilitated by …

Climate-Ready Agriculture: A Situation Statement For Western Australia, Robert Anthony Sudmeyer, Anne Bennett, Melanie Strawbridge

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Projected future changes in the state’s climate will present new challenges for our producers. The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) continues to work with agricultural industries to lay solid foundations for an agricultural sector that has a range of response options.

This situation statement provides an assessment of how climate-ready the state’s agricultural sectors are and provides guidance for investment priorities for DAFWA for the period 2015–2020.

Climate Change: Impacts And Adaptation For Agriculture In Western Australia, Robert Anthony Sudmeyer, Alexandra Edward, Vic Fazakerley, Leigh Simpkin, Ian Foster

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This bulletin reviews the latest scientific information relating to climate change and agriculture (broadacre, livestock, horticulture, pastoral industries) in Western Australia.

Comparative Assessment Of Crops To Use Potential Additional Water Resources In The Warren–Donnelly Catchments, James Dee, Ananda Ghose

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Through the Royalties for Regions funded Southern Forests Water Futures Project, the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia undertook a study to understand the economic benefits of developing new water resources in the Warren–Donnelly catchments in the south-west of Western Australia.

The Warren–Donnelly catchments have long been associated with intensive horticultural activities. The major perennial crops are pome fruit (apples and pears), avocados, stone fruit and wine grapes. The major annual crops are ware potatoes, seed potatoes, processing potatoes and brassica crops for the Perth Market over summer. There are emerging new industries including truffles, summer strawberry production, processing …

Making Better Fertiliser Decisions For Cropping Systems In Western Australia. Soil Test – Crop Response Relationships And Critical Soil Test Values And Ranges, Geoff Anderson, Ross Brennan, Richard Bell, Wen Chen

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The better fertiliser decisions for cropping project (BFDC) (2009-2012) was completed to provide comprehensive information to improve fertiliser decisions for the cropping industry in Australia (Speirs et al. 2013a). The WA component provides interpretation of results from crop nutrient application experiments for the WA cropping system, and developed a tool for estimating nutrient losses from cropping systems soils.

The BFDC-WA project aims to use the 4R principles by producing a series of bulletins on nutrient management for the cropping system of WA.

Biomass Scoping Study: Opportunities For Agriculture In Western Australia, Kim Brooksbank, Mitchell Lever, Harriet Paterson, Melissa Weybury

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This report aims to provide a summary of national and international activity in the use of agricultural by-products for the production of bioenergy and biofuels. The summary is primarily an internal report for the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), but will hopefully be of some value to industry proponents that are interested in pursuing the opportunities provided by what are currently low value agricultural waste products. We outline three processes for obtaining energy from these by-products that may be appropriate for the farming sector in Western Australia (WA).

Carbon Farming In Relation To Western Australian Agriculture, Robert Sudmeyer, Jackson Parker, Tanmoy Nath, Ananda Ghose

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Carbon farming activities need to return multiple economic and environmental co-benefits to be attractive to land managers. This bulletin summarises concepts underlying carbon farming, how Australia accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for Western Australian land managers to participate in, and benefit from, carbon farming.

Pasture Condition Guide For The Kimberley, Kathryn Ryan, Elizabeth Tierney, Paul Novelly, Robert Mccartney

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This interactive guide has been produced as a tool for assessing pasture condition over a range of pasture types in the Kimberley. A pasture type is a distinctive mix of plant species, soil type and landscape position. For example, the Mitchell Grass Alluvial Plain Pasture type is a mixture of Mitchell grasses and other species occurring on black soil alluvial plains. Pasture condition is an important factor affecting the potential of the rangelands for animal production and is a useful indicator for the sustainability of production.

Establishment Guide For Sub-Tropical Grasses : Key Steps To Success, Geoff Allan Moore, Ron Yates, Phil Barrett-Lennard, Phil Nichols, Brad Wintle, John Titterington, Chris Loo

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Sub-tropical perennial grasses are now widely sown in the Northern Agricultural region (NAR) and on the south coast of Western Australia (WA). Since 2000, more than 50 000 ha have been sown to perennial grasses in the NAR and about 150 000 ha on the south coast, mainly kikuyu.

Effect Of Smoke In Grape And Wine Production, Kristen Brodison

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Smoke exposure of grapevines and the development of smoke-related characteristics in the resulting wines is an increasing issue for the wine industry. As Australia faces a warming climate with more bushfires, smoke exposure in vineyards is becoming more regular.

Wines made from grapes exposed to smoke during sensitive growth stages can exhibit aromas and flavours resembling smoked meat, disinfectant, leather, salami and ashtrays. Where unfavourable smoke characteristics are detected by consumers at high concentrations the wine may be unpalatable. Unsalable wines result in financial losses for producers with costs flowing on to wine brands, market presence and future sales.

Few …

Audit Of Wa Agricultural Lime Quality 2013, Chris Gazey

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Applying agricultural lime is the most economical way of ameliorating low soil pH in broadscale agriculture in Western Australia (WA). In WA, agricultural lime is usually limesand from coastal sand dunes, crushed limestone from coastal deposits or crushed dolomitic lime (usually marketed as dolomite) from old lake and inland drainage systems. Other sources are Cretaceous chalk and lake bed marls.

WA agriculture is well serviced by lime suppliers, although the quality of lime varies markedly around the State, and cost does not always reflect quality as measured by neutralising value and fineness. Neutralising value and particle size distribution (fineness) are …

Selections Of The Houghton Clones Of Cabernet Sauvignon, Glynn Ward, Ian Cameron, Richard Fennessy

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Cabernet Sauvignon is the premium red wine grape variety grown in Western Australia. The high quality wines produced have won prestigious awards and accolades nationally and internationally. The first clonal selection of Cabernet Sauvignon in Western Australia was conducted by the Department of Agriculture at the Houghton Vineyard in the Swan Valley from 1968 to 1970. The objective was yield improvement, vine health and fruit flavour. Twenty-one high performing vines were identified from vines planted in Houghton Vineyard in the 1950s as cuttings sourced from vines planted in the 1930s. These high performing vines became known as the ‘Houghton clones’. …

Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Meredith Fairbanks, David Bowran, Geraldine Pasqual

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Agriculture contributes 15.5 per cent of Australia’s emissions (Figure 1), largely due to methane, from ruminant livestock digestion, nitrous oxide from soils and carbon dioxide from fossil fuel use (Australian National Greenhouse Accounts 2011; ABARES 2011).

This bulletin identifies current ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Australian agriculture.

Changing Climate, Changing Business Practices : Lessons From Innovative Growers, David Gray, Nicole Baxter, Meredith Fairbanks, Geraldine Pasqual

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Climate change and increasing seasonal variability are challenging the production efforts of growers in lower rainfall environments of the Western Australian grain belt. Significantly less rainfall than the long-term average has fallen across southwest Western Australia during the past 30 years.

Seasonal rainfall has also become more variable with later starts to the growing season and a general shift to more summer and less winter rainfall. Day and night-time temperatures, particularly in winter and autumn, have gradually increased, while in some areas, the risk of frost in spring has increased.

Soil Test And Phosphorus Rate For High Rainfall Clover Pastures, Robert Summers, David Weaver

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When new land was first developed, phosphatic fertilisers had to be applied at high rates to overcome Phosphorus (P) deficiency, and to increase P fertility. Once good P fertility has been established after a number of years of applying P, the requirement for applying high rates of P falls. After that you only need to apply enough fertiliser P to replace that removed in products, fixed by the soil, eroded and leached, that is a maintenance rate of P.

In relation to P fertiliser decisions for pastures you need to ask:

• Do I need P?

• How do I …

Evaluation Of Alternative Wine Grape Varieties In Manjimup, Western Australia, Kristen Kennison, Richard Fennessy

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Since 1998 the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) in conjunction with the Western Australian Vine Improvement Association (WAVIA) have imported over 60 new varieties and clones of wine grape material into Western Australia. These new varieties and clones were identified by the wine industry as having both domestic and international wine market potential to enhance the production and development of premium WA wine.

The grapevine material is currently located in the Foundation Collection at the Manjimup Horticultural Research Institute (MHRI). In 2003 a trial of 18 of these varieties was established in order to gain an understanding …

Landscapes And Soils Of The Lake Grace District, D N. Sawkins

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The publication aims to provide readers with the principles underlying the formation of local landscapes and soils, and the ability to identify landscapes and their associated soils.

Carbon Capture Project, Final Report. An Evaluation Of The Opportunity And Risks Of Carbon Offset Based Enterprises In The Kimberley-Pilbara Region Of Western Australia, Mark Alchin, Elizabeth Tierney, Chris Chilcott

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Commercialisation of carbon in the Australian Rangelands could lead to the development of a multi-billion dollar industry, and Western Australia has the potential to capture a significant share of this revenue. A significant proportion of the WA Rangelands is degraded which is the legacy of the exploitative practices of historical pastoral development and the mining industry. Full environmental restoration of these areas is well beyond the fiscal capacity of land managers and the WA State Government. Carbon based enterprises have the potential to restore large tracts of degraded land in a cost-effective manner and can deliver a number of other …

Ecologically Significant Invasive Species, A Monitoring Framework For Natural Resource Management Groups In Western Australia, Jan-Willem De Miliano, Andrew Woolnough, Andrew Reeves, Damian Shepherd

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This publication is the result of the project titled 'Resource Condition Monitoring for Ecologically Significant Species. The project identified and addressed key weaknesses in the State's capacity to monitor threat posed by ecologically significant species. The invasive species monitoring framework for Western Australia developed through this project, along with the rationales underpinning the deign, are presented in this report.

Landscapes And Soils Of The Narrogin District, D N. Sawkins

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The publication aims to provide readers with the principles underlying the formation of local landscapes and soils, and the ability to identify landscapes and their associated soils.

Potassium For High Rainfall Pastures, Mike Bolland, Bill Russell

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Potassium plays a major role in plant growth. It maintains the solutions in plant cells at ionic strengths suitable for maintaining strong plant walls and for the proper functioning of leaf pores (stomata) and plant processes such as photosynthesis, transport of sugars and enzyme activation.

Potassium does not become a direct part of the plant structure but acts to regulate water balances, nutrient and sugar movement in plant tissue. Plants deficient in potassium cannot use other nutrients and water efficiently. They are less tolerant of stresses such as drought and waterlogging and are more susceptible to pests and diseases.

Landscapes And Soils Of The Northam District, D N. Sawkins, Department Of Agriculture And Food

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The publication aims to provide readers with the principles underlying the formation of local landscapes and soils, and the ability to identify landscapes and their associated soils.