Focus on Climate Change

One of the most important issues facing our community, and especially our farm businesses, is the impact of climate change. Climate change is likely to result in increasing levels of variability in rainfall and temperature.

Coordinated by the Birchip Cropping Group, a dedicated Climate Change site at this years field days will feature a wealth of information and there will be experts on hand to answer your questions.

BCG has identified and developed a number of projects to increase knowledge, awareness and adoption of practices to address climate change issues. Come to the Climate Change Site in the Business Support & Climate Change Marquee to learn how farmers can adopt new and innovative tools and methods to survive and prosper.

BCG’s Fiona Best will be available to talk about, and demonstrate Yield Prophet®, a web interface for the crop production model APSIM.  It simulates crop growth based on paddock-specific inputs of soil type, pre-sowing soil water and nitrogen, rainfall, irrigation and nitrogen fertiliser applications, and climate data. Yield Prophet was developed by BCG (Birchip Cropping Group) in collaboration with CSIRO as a risk management tool for dryland farming systems in the Victorian Wimmera and Mallee, with an emphasis on decision support for nitrogen fertiliser inputs.

Coordinators of another BCG project “Frogs on Farms”, Jodie Odgers and Jonathan Starks will also be available to talk about this two-year project which aims to determine the best approach to conserve frog populations in the Wimmera and Mallee once the channel system is de-commissioned and develop strategies for maintaining biodiversity values on farms that are efficient in terms of farming resources, cost and water usage.

“The Break” Newsletter editor De-anne Price from the Department of Primary Industries will also be there. The Break is a free electronic newsletter that is delivered monthly during the growing season. The newsletter highlights various seasonal climate risk management tools and the implications for farmers throughout Victoria and updates the monthly rainfall and is part of a larger project that is making seasonal climate risk management tools more valuable and accessible to farmers.

In addition, there will be Ellen White, Community Engagement Officer (Women, Drought & Climate Change) from the Department for Planning and Community Development, DPI’s Caroline Welsh who is working on “Resilient Agribusiness for the future of irrigated horticulture in Sunraysia and the Riverland”, Swan Hill Rural City Council Environmental Manager Sue Mahon, and Louise Armstrong from the Murray Catchment Management Authority.

This special feature is proudly sponsored by the Victorian Government’s Small Business Event Sponsorship Program.