Building farming systems resilience and future proofing the impacts of drought through accelerating the adoption of proven cost-effective and yield responsive soil and fertiliser management practices by farmers across southern Australia

Project Location

Upper Eyre Peninsula

Project Manager

Naomi Scholz, Elders

Start Date

November 2023

Finish Date

May 2025

Funding Source

FDF Extension & Adoption Program via MSF

Funding

$90,000

The project focuses on accelerating adoption of proven soil resource management practices offering significant opportunity to build farming systems drought resilience, reduce yield variability, increase sustainability and profitability.

On Eyre Peninsula, the project is focussed on: Improving productivity of low rainfall problem sands with a reliable break crop (lentil) with soil amelioration on EP

Farmers are keen to:

– grow a higher value break crop than current medic pastures

– improve cover and production on sandhills

– provide a good disease/nutrition benefit to the following crop

– currently lentils at 0.3-0.4t/ha still return more than wheat

– field peas are risky on these soil types too, vetch provides a good break but has a low return

– some are growing lentils in the rest of the paddock, but leaving out the problem sandy soils, creating issues with management

– improve overall paddock profitability and make the system work as a whole

Project activities:

Series of 3 workshops/crop walks per group.

3 groups on EP, target 10-15 participants per group.

Elders staff to coordinate the groups, facilitate the sessions, organise catering and venues.

Facilitation training offered as part of the project, delivered by Beck Burgess, Burgess Consulting.

Target group areas linked with focus paddocks at:

1. Lock (a paddock that was ripped in 2023 and sown to barley. Lentils and lupins sown 2024)

2. Wirrulla (a dry saline ‘magnesia patch’ with different mulches applied in strips in early 2024 – sand , sheep yard trash and straw, lentils sown 2024)

3. Wudinna (1 ha Ripped early/mid March 2024, 50-60 cm deep with 45 cm row spacing, lentils sown 2024)

Pre-season sampling: Soil testing

To be done on targeted soils by people interested in participating in the workshops, facilitated by Elders staff.

3 tests funded by the project x 10 people per group.

Resources: (90 soil tests overall to be funded by the project).

Workshop Session 1: Identifying soil constraints to growing break crops and options for amelioration (2-3 hours)

Speaker: Dr Mel Fraser. w/c 11 March.

Timing: w/c 11 March

Workshop Session 2: Interpreting soil test results and deciding appropriate actions, paddock walk to focus sites (2-3 hours)

Speaker: Dr Sean Mason

Timing: 9-10 July

Workshop Session 3: Review of the season and outcomes, review of gross margins, ground cover (1-2 hours)