Life Sciences Commons^™

Visions For Agriculture, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Agriculture reports

This workshop grew out of a conversation between Maurice Barnes, a Trayning farmer and member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Dryland Research Institute, and Steve Porritt, the officer in charge of the Dryland Research Institute at Merredin. Maurice was interested in the idea of posing the question 'What would agriculture be like if we had known as much about this landscape in 1829 as we know now?', to a group of farmers and others interested in the central wheatbelt and its future. Maurice saw this question as a first step toward achieving some shared vision for the future …

Navail Spreadsheet, S J. Burgess

Agriculture reports

A computer program called NPDECIDE has been developed by the Western Australian Department of Agriculture to assist with decisions relating to the use of phosphorus fertiliser on cereal crops. NPDECIDE functions by estimating the response of the crop to combinations of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers, and by indicating the likely profit from the use of these materials. In order to carry out this task, NPDECIDE must be able to calculate the availability to the growing plants of nitrogen from the fertilisers and from organic material in the soil.

'Living Soil' Seminar, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Agriculture reports

Provides an opportunity for farmers and those involved in the agricultural service industry, to focus on what happens in the soil. Seminar reflects the interest detected amongst farmers in knowing more about the things that influence plant growth and a genuine concern about the environment.

Three New Late-Midseason Subterranean Clovers Released For High Rainfall Pastures, Phil Nichols, Donald Nicholas

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Three new subterranean clovers - Denmark, Gou/bum and Leura - have been released in 1992 by the National Subterranean Clover Improvement Program. These subterranean clovers are black-seeded, have low oestrogen levels and improved disease resistance. Their release offers the potential for substantial improvements in pasture productivity in areas of southern Australia that have long growing seasons.

This article outlines some of the testing procedures and subsequent selection of these varieties and describes their characteristics and potential role in Western Australia.