Agricultural Education Commons^™

Horticulture Research Report 1994 - 1998, Frank Wise Institute, Kununurra, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia, D. Robinson, M. Howes, R. Randell

Horticulture research reports

This report summarises horticultural research, development and extension activities undertaken by staff from the Kununurra District Office during the period 1993 to 1998 and reported annually at the Frank Wise Institute Horticultural Research Review. The range and extent of activities presented and supported by Agriculture Western Australia with industry collaboration indicates the importance of horticulture in the economies of the Kimberley Region and Western Australia. Further support by funding bodies and agribusiness, and collaboration with other research organizations is also acknowledged. Since the early 1980's, horticultural output and value of production from the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) have risen …

Bulletin 4387 - Women In Agriculture In Western Australia 1999, Agriculture Western Australia

Bulletins 4000 -

WESTERN Australian women in agriculture contribute huge economic, social and community benefits to industry, to the rural sector, and to the State overall. That this contribution is not fully acknowledged, is perhaps due to the lack of clear data; many economic or social measures do not disaggregate data by gender, despite women's and men's roles being very different. Other measures are based on outdated assumptions about how work is done, and by whom.

Rural Industry Scholarship In Agriculture : Final Report Of The Grains Research & Development Corporation For The Grain Research Committee Of Wa, John Allan

Research Reports

In 1986 the Western Australian Government established an undergraduate scholarship in agricultural science. The scholarship was introduced to attract high calibre students into agricultural science as an alternative to highly rewarded professions such as medicine, law and commerce. The State Wheat Industry Research Committee and Barley Industry Research Committee subsequently provided funding to support the scholarship. In 1992 the Grains Research and Development Corporation agreed to ongoing funding on behalf of the Grains Industry.

Focus On The Future Agriculture Western Australia's Strategic Directions 1998 - 2008, Agriculture Western Australia

Reports

Strong growth in global demand combined with productivity gains, product innovation and sustainability improvements throughout the 1990s enable Western Australia agriculture to look to the 21st century with confidence.

This optimistic outlook is largely the result of innovation across the agricultural industries based on research, development and extension - activities in which Agriculture Western Australia continues to be the State's leading provider.

Focus on the Future is ambitious, and sends a unequivocal message about our strategic directions and the rationale guiding the agency in allocating resources to those areas which offer the biggest benefits to the Western Australian agriculture, food …

Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy. Weeds Target List, B. M. Waterhouse, A A. Mitchell

Biosecurity published reports

Second edition.

The Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) was established in 1989 as an outcome of a major evaluation of quarantine in Australia (AGPS 1987, 1988). NAQS activities include surveying for weeds,insect pests and diseases of plants; and pests and diseases of animals in northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. The primary goal is to provide early detection and warning of new quarantine threats or incursions.

A targetted approach was adopted for all pests, diseases and weeds. For each category of pest, experts in the discipline compiled lists of organisms not known from Australia but known to occur in …

Communications Embracing New Technologies, Peter Watt, Tony Kubicki

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

The global trend in information delivery has been to electronic publications on disc, CD-Rom and the internet. Peter Watt and Tony Kubicki report on a survey of farmer preferences for receiving informationn, and describe Agriculture Western Australia's new electronic communication packages.

Farming For The Future : The Agwest Library Network, Jane Serventy

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

Jane Serventy reports on the changes in information delivery at the library of Agriculture Western Australia

Buntine-West Wubin And West Maya Catchment Management Report, William Oldfield, Natalie Hunt

Natural resources published reports

Buntine West/Wubin land Conservation District was formed when a number of landholders wanted to extend and join on to some existing deep drains. At first the group concentrated on the deep drains with some farmers joining on anda project to connect the drains up througha naturally occurring saline area and to run the main drain into a salt lake system. Funding was attained for 50% of the project and farmers with drains paid for the rest. It was considered unfair for landowners whose land this drain went through to pay all the cost as it was not draining arable land. …

Kimberley Landcare Teachers Resource Kit. Cross Curriculum Resources For Upper Primary And Lower Secondary Students, Carolyn Davey, Philip Belfrage

Natural resources published reports

The project has been funded by the National Landcare Program and administered by the Department of Agriculture.

The project was established to improve community awareness and education of landcare and management issues in the Kimberley.

The Kimberley has a diverse and often fragile environment that requires careful management. To care for this land we need to understand the dynamics of its environment, appreciate how important the land is to us and recognise how our interactions effect all components.

The resources in the kit will provide the understandings needed for the development of lifestyles that integrate knowledge and appreciation of the …

A Guide To Floodplain Cattle Fencing, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia, Main Roads, Western Australia

Animal production and livestock published reports

A seminar and workshop was held at Fitzroy Crossing in October 1993 to address the consequences of flooding to landholders and communities.

Damage to flood plain fencing was identified as one of the major concerns to landholders.

An outcome from the workshop was the decision to draw on local knowledge and collate information on options for fence and floodgate designs.

This information was to be made available to land holders and other interested parties - hence this publication.

Msda A Machinery Selection Decision Aid For Stubble Management Practices, Linda Leonard, Andrew Green

Grain and other field crops published reports

MSDA is a user friendly program developed to help farmers predict stubble outcomes before acting on their management practice. This manual is an accompaniment to a computer program designed on Micorsoft Excel-macros. Its aim is to help farmers assess their current machinery and stubble handling ability and view options that may be adopted as best practice for their properties.

The program is designed with the complete season in mind. Information is gathered on the full complement of machinery used from harvest through to seeding, to allow farmers to see all choices available and enable them to choose the best system …

Understanding Fertilisers - Course Notes, Margaret Graham, John Burt, Neil Lantzke

Horticulture research reports

The aim of the course is to provide you with more detailed information that will allow you to refine and improve your fertiliser program. Applying the correct amount of nutrient increases yield and quality. Over-fertilising is a waste of money and may lead to pollution of groundwater.

Gascoyne Research Station Field Day, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Horticulture research reports

Gascoyne Research Station Centenary Open Day Thursday 13 October 1994

100 years (1894-1994) Advancing Agriculture

Welcome to the 1994 Field Day at Gascoyne Research Station. At this day you'll have the opportunity to view and hear discussions of some of the latest Research and Development initiatives in horticulture in the region. We will commence activities at the Packing Shed at 3:00 p.m. with introductions and short discussions of new work which is currently in progress. This will be followed by field talks at the trial sites, as listed in this brochure. We are also pleased to include presentations by leaders …

Miscellaneous Publication No 33/93 - Virulent Footrot A Farmer's Guide To Eradication, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Animal production and livestock published reports

The first thing to understand about virulent footrot is that it can occur on any farm in the medium to high rainfall zone. Persons who regularly buy and sell sheep have a greater risk, but even closed breeding flock properties are at risk from stray sheep.

People often associate footrot with properties managed by inefficient farmers. This is a false belief. Many good farmers have found the disease in their sheep, including high profile studs.

Footrot can strike anywhere and often without warning.

The important thing to remember is that once it is found, getting to know and understand the …

100 Years Of Advancing Agriculture, Peter Watt

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

As the Department of Agriculture's centenary year draws to a close, we look back at the pioneering agriculture of 100 years ago and those things that shaped our forerunner, the fledgling Bureau of Agriculture.

Miscellaneous Publication 42/93 - Development And Dissemination Of Design Methods For Rangeland Paddocks Which Maximise Animal Production And Minimise Land Degradation, Shane Cridland, Mark Stafford Smith

Animal production and livestock published reports

Surveys of rangeland resources in Western Australia to date have shown that 23% of the area surveyed is in poor range condition. Poor condition is characterised by the loss of perennial vegetation allowing wind and water erosion. Approximately another 37% is in only fair range condition (Curry and Hacker 1990).

The loss of range condition is partly due to uneven use of paddocks by sheep and cattle. The areas close to water and the preferred pasture types are often over-utilised, while areas well away from water and less preferred pasture types are under-utilised. The result is that rangeland in good, …

Bulletin 4274 - Tree Planting On The High Rainfall Coastal Plain, Don Bennett, Richard George

Bulletins 4000 -

Careful planning can mean the difference between the success or failure of a tree planting program . Healthy , well-e stablished trees stand a better chance of survival, grow faster and are more resistant to insect attack. The need for time-consuming watering in summer is also eliminated.

The high rainfall coastal plain extends from Perth to Busselton and inland to the Darling Scarp. It receives about 800 to 1000 mm annual rainfall.

Site preparation is ideally started in summer. For a winter planting, decide before March where to plant, which varieties and how many trees to plant. Early planning allows …

Landman Development And Evaluation In The Wallatin Creek Catchment - Final Report, Alan Hawkins

Natural resources published reports

The aim of the project was to evaluate and further develop the Landman farm planning procedure. The Wallatin creek catchment in the Kellerberrin shire of Western Australia was selected. This catchment is typical of a large area of the wheatbelt of Western Australia.

The landman farm planning procedure has a goal of sustainable farming. The outcome of the procedure is farm layout and farm management plans. The procedure however has components of personal development, technology transfer and development of problem solving skills at both individual and group levels. The process steps are; definition of objectives, collection of information, problem or …

Farmer Groups - A Fad Or The Future, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

All other publications

The question I have asked is 'Are farmer groups a fad or the future?' I believe there is no question about it. Farmer groups ARE an important part of future agricultural extension. With shrinking government resources devoted to extension, a farmer group approach has many advantages. These advantages have been shown in Western Australia with landcare catchment groups and lice cell groups and these have been recognised by both extension workers and farmers. What makes these groups different to groups of the past? Farmer groups have come and gone in an almost cyclical fashion. An exception is the Kondinin Group, …

Miscellaneous Publication 28/91 - Midas (Model Of An Integrated Dryland Agricultural System), David J. Pannell, Andrew Bathgate

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

MIDAS is a bioeconomic model of mixed crop/livestock farms in Western Australia. It selects farm management strategies which maximise profit subject to resource, technical and environmental constraints using the linear programming technique. This document provides a thorough documentation of the version of MIDAS developed for the "eastern wheatbelt" region. If you are learning to use MIDAS with the MARG menu driven system, you need to read the MARG manual as well as this documentation.

From early in the life of MIDAS, we gave a high priority to making the data and assumptions readily accessible in documentation and in microcomputer spreadsheet …

Miscellaneous Publication 17/91 - Mudas - Model Of An Uncertain Dryland Agricultural System: A Description, R. S. Kingwell, A. D. Bathgate

Farm Systems and Economics research reports

In the early 1980s, the Department of Agriculture developed a mixed integer whole-farm mathematical programming model of the dryland farming system in the eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia (Morrison et al. 1986). The model named MIDAS (Model of an Integrated Dryland Agricultural System) was constructed, tested and scrutinised by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, advisers, farm management consultants and farmers (Kingwell 1987a). The model described in some detail the biology and finances of the dryland farming system in an average season and calculated profit-maximising farm plans.

MIDAS remains an often used tool in research and extension, being applied to many …

An Investigation Into The Government Extension Services Operating In South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, North And South Island, New Zealand : June 1 To July 7, 1991, Philip Hawker

All other publications

Brian Carlin Memorial Award Study Tour Report

Land Management Manual. Merredin Advisory District, F. Frost, M Howell

Natural resources published reports

Farming by soil type recognizes that each major soil unit has specific land use capabilities. 'When developing a farm management programme, understanding and appreciating the productive potential and degradation hazard of each soil unit ensures that production systems can be developed which are 'sustainable. The aim of this land management manual is to describe the climatic and geological features of the district and provide definitions of each of the major soil units and 'current management recommendations. The material is designed to be used as an information base for farm planners.

Thes oil units described are for the Merredin advisory district …

Miscellaneous Production 23/87 - Animal Production In The Spinifex And Shrubland Regions Of Western Australia, D. Burnside

Animal production and livestock published reports

The role of the Rangeland Management Branch is to promote the sustained economic use of the rangeland resource. It provides research and extension services to the pastoral industry, provides advice on the condition of the range resource to Government and provides technical information on rangelands to other rangeland managers. A principal objective to be met in fulfilling that role is the development and promotion of economically efficient place systems that conserve the rangeland resource. At the inaugural Pastoral Soil Conservation Districts Conference in Meekatharra in May 1987, pastoralist delegates emphasized the importance of achieving that objective within the various soil …

Farming Systems Consultancy Australian Co-Operation With The National Agricultural Research Project Thailand, D A. Morrison

All other publications

The purpose of this consultancy is to strengthen farming systems research methodology in the Thai Department of Agriculture (DOA) and in particular, the Department's Farming Systems Research Institute (FSRI). It follows from:

(i) the consultancy of Martin (1984) who found that DOA staff were having difficulty working out how to analyse farming systems; and

(ii) the three month stay in Australia of Pairat Duangpiboon to introduce him to the modelling techniques used in the Western Australian Department of Agriculture to analyse farming systems.

A Guide To The Identification And Control Of Insect Pests In Ord Peanuts, S.E. Learmonth

Biosecurity research reports

Since peanuts were first grown commercially on the Ord Cockatoo sands in 1979/80, insects have generally been of minor concern but changes in the importance of some insects have occurred to the point where insecticides are required. Therefore, it is important that growers be able to recognize insects in their crops. Such is the objective of this guide which also includes some general information on the biology, feeding habits, methods of detection, and control of the more common insects.

Bulletin No 4101 - Flystrike - A Manual For Its Prevention And Control, N Monzu Dr

Bulletins 4000 -

The sheep blowfly is still regarded as the Australian sheep industry's most­damaging pest. Estimates of the cost to the industry, through production losses and prevention and control measures, exceed $ I 00 million in a year. This bulletin comprises the most relevant information available on:

• Blowfly types and life cycles

• Conditions predisposing sheep to flystrike

• The mechanism of flystrike

• Methods of preventing and controlling strike.

• Current research - including the development of a forecasting system for body strike.

Mathematical Programming Model Of Western Australian Dairy Farms, G R. Olney, D A. Falconer

Animal production and livestock research reports

A profit maximising mathematical programming dairy farm model has been developed which determines the most profitable management strategies for the full year. This model was initially an extension of the one used in the Western Australian Dairy Feed Management Service (DFMS) which determines the most profitable ration to feed for a specific period, the milk yield per cow and the number of cows to milk. The DFMS is useful for formulating a ration for a specific period, particularly during summer on non-irrigated farms in Western Australia when complete hand feeding is required, but it cannot be used to determine optimum …

Introducing The Western Australian Department Of Agriculture, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

District offices and Research stations

Any big organisation, Government or private, needs an effective Directorate and 'back-up' staff to make full use of its potential. In the Department of Agriculture, the organisational structure has been up-dated to cope with the changing and increasing demands of the State's growing agricultural industries.

Farmers' Use Of Agricultural Information 1983, P W. Fry, K F. Goss

All other publications

The Western Australian Department of Agriculture produces information for farmers which is disseminated through various mass media, The Australian Broadcasting Commission and commercial media outlets provide further agricultural information, In 1983 a telephone survey of cereal-sheep farmers was undertaken to determine what information sources were used by farmers, and how farmers used that information.

A number of information processing factors were taken from communication research literature, These were accessibility and availability; surveillance and exposure; selection; storage and retrieval. From within this theoretical framework, information sources such as farming magazines, radio and television programmes were examined.

Special attention was given to …