Conference Sponsors 

The Australian Society of Agronomy acknowledges the support of the following organisations:

www.nre.vic.gov.au

www.lwa.gov.au

www.aciar.gov.au

www.grdc.com.au

 

Conference Tours

Tour 1 – Raised beds and controlled traffic

Visit the rapidly growing grain producing area in the Barwon region. We will see raised bed and controlled traffic farming systems operated by Southern Farming Systems. We will also visit the Rowan Peel ‘Concept farm,’ which has trees and raised bed cropping, and research on water and environmental impacts from raised beds.

A second farm visit will look at free range pigs and integration with cropping, precision guidance equipment on raised beds. The final visit will look at how water from raised beds can be harvested and used for summer vegetable production.

Hosts – Bruce Wightman and Col Hacking

Tour 2 – High value agriculture

The Ballarat region is developing a diversity of cropping and grazing enterprises and this tour will investigate developments towards environmentally acceptable high value production. Disposal systems for piggery waste and waste water integrated into raised beds just west of Ballarat will be highlighted. Water is a key issue for the area and part of the tour will look at water harvesting, irrigation, water use efficiency, with particular reference to the potato industry. We will also see commercial and experimental buckwheat and pyrethrum sites in the region.

Host – Chris Bluett

Tour 3 – High performance pastures

We will visit properties in the Birregurra and Colac areas focusing on innovative and sustainable livestock and pasture management approaches. We will stop at a lamb producers, a large bull-beef operation near Colac and a 800 cow dairy farm at Larpent featuring intensive production methods on a pasture base. All three enterprises are excellent examples of leading edge pasture and feeding technologies and management systems allied to innovative approaches to marketing and should provide plenty of stimulation for Conference delegates, irrespective of their interests in agriculture.

Host – David Chapman and Cam Nicholson

Tour 4 – Geelong value chain

Geelong is a major port for Victoria and has several large companies involved in the agricultural supply chain. This tour will focus on the supply chain in the grains industry. We will visit the input side at Incitec Fertilizers’ new blending plant at Lara just north of Geelong. The second part moves down to the port of Geelong where we will view the GrainCorp export terminal to see their receival system and how grain is marshalled for export. A visit to Barrett Burston Malting is also on the agenda to see the latest in malthouse technology. To complete the supply chain, the end product from the barley industry will be available for testing at a local boutique brewery.

Host – Charlie Walker

Tour 5 – Werribee food and agriculture precinct

This tour visits the food and agriculture precinct at Werribee with the first stop at the effluent treatment works operated by Melbourne Water. The works cover about 11,000 hectares, that uses three proven methods of treatment: lagoon filtration, land filtration and grass filtration. We will inspect this facility and discuss how it manages pastures that deal with large nutrient loads. At the Werribee science precinct we will visit Agrifood Technology, which conducts analysis on wheat and other grains, plus a diverse range of food products, stockfeed ingredients, hay, silage, finished feeds and water and soil, followed by discussions on grains processing and product development at the Food Science Australia laboratories.

Host – Rob Norton

Tour 6 – Great Ocean Road

This tour will introduce delegates to the Great Ocean Road, visiting the towns of Torquay, Angelsea and Lorne. The tour will visit some of the areas greatest sites including the Erskine Falls and Teddy’s Lookout before travelling through the Angahook Lorne State Park. We will travel back to Geelong via Winchelsea and the Barrabool Hills.