Agriculture Commons^™

Saving The Catchments Of Albany's Harbours, Ashley Prout

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

Fertiliser, particularly phosphorus, running off farm land is a major source of nutrient entering Albany's harbours. Oyster Harbour, which has a large rural catchment, is especially at risk.

The build-up in nutrients in the harbours has caused nuisance algal growth since the early 1970s and subseuent death of more than half the seagrass beds, which are vital to the areas marine life.

The Department of Agriculture, at the request of the Environmental protection Authority, has developed and promoted catchment management plans that enable rural land holders to reduce the amount of run-off into the harbours without necessarily sacrificing farm productivity. …

A Review Of Four On-Farm Water Supply Demonstration Farms, M H M Casey, I A F Laing

Resource management technical reports

In March 1982, the Western Australian Government allocated $100,000 to the Department of Agriculture to demonstrate appropriate, reliable, on-farm conservation technology on four farms in the north-eastern wheatbelt. The Government grant was matched dollar for dollar with the farmers funds with a maximum of $25,000 grant to any one farm. The demonstrations used existing techniques, such as dams and roaded catchments, to establish permanent drought-proof water supplies.

Esperance Land Resource Survey, Tim D. Overheu, P G. Muller, S T. Gee, Geoff Allan Moore

Land resources series

The climate, geology, landforms, soils, native vegetation and land uses of the Esperance agricultural district of Western Australia are described, while the soil landscapes of the survey area of about 336,000 ha, covered by the Esperance and Merivale 1:100,000 topographic map sheets, are described in detail. The survey area represents most of the features and problems of the district, especially those of the Esperance sandplain for more resource information. An appropriate mapping scale was chosen from a preliminary survey of five farms on the Esperance sandplain. The study identifies five major land systems which are divided into map units on …

Albany Harbours Sampling Program - Experiences, Myths And The Need For Standards, David Weaver

Conference papers and presentations

Making accurate and precise estimations of pollutant loadings is becoming more important as our waterways suffer from increased inputs of pollutants and as statutory requirements to meet target loads are established. The most studied pollutant in waterways in WA is phosphorus (P) since it is reported to be the stimulus for algal growth. Many reports publish nutrient load data without any discussion of potential errors in sampling, chemical analysis or load calculations, or any discussion of the assumptions made and conclusions drawn from those calculations. The result can be the adoption of incorrect sampling, analytical and calculation procedures, leading ultimately …

Soils Of The Northam Advisory District. Volume 3. The Darling Range And West Kokeby Zones, Ian Fulton, Neil Clifton Lantzke

Bulletins 4000 -

This manual describes the soils of the Department of Agriculture's Northam advisory district. Information is provided on the characteristics of each soil, its capability is discussed and yield estimates for the major land uses are given.

Designed for use by farmers and Department of Agriculture staff, the manual’s primary aims are to:

- Assist with the identification of the advisory district’s soils types

- Match land use with soil quality

- Improve farm productivity and efficiency

- Reduce the incidence of land degradation