QUEENSLAND Primary Industries and Fisheries display site at next week’s 2009 Emerald Ag-Grow field days (July 9-10-11) will focus on Best Management Practices (BMP) that will help grain growers, irrigators and cattle producers to boost enterprise profitability.
Leading the Central Queensland Grains BMP project is QPIF development extension officer Rod Collins who is working in cooperation with Fitzroy Basin Association and AgForce to assist grain growers to self-assess their farming practices to identify and prioritise improved practices.
Mr Collins will be on hand to provide field day visitors with an insight into how Grains BMP is currently working with grower groups to develop action plans and undertake training activities to boost their knowledge.
Incentive funding is being made available for approved projects that improve broadacre grain growing profitability and enable the grains industry to demonstrate good environmental management to the wider community.
The CQ BEEF (Better Economic and Environmental Futures) project team will bring their informative Beef Australia 2009 display to Ag-Grow to outline the progress made by the regions eight district groups.
The CQ BEEF initiative, launched in mid-2007, was founded on a partnership between the Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA), Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies and QPIF.
Emerald-based development extension officer Byrony Daniels is working closely with the Billaboo CQ BEEF Group west of Emerald and the new Middlemount CQ BEEF Group. These two groups link to the established CQ BEEF groups at Biloela, Moura, Bajool, Mackenzie River, Broadsound and Rolleston representing in excess of 110 cattle businesses.
VegMachine satellite imagery, a user-friendly land management tool devised by QPIF senior scientist Dr Terry Beutel to benchmark land cover change during the past 20 years at selected paddock locations will be featured. FBA grazing lands management officer Gina Mace, who also works with the Billaboo CQ BEEF Group, will be demonstrating this remote sensing technology that helps monitor land condition and assists landholders to maintain sustainable stocking rates.
Improved pastures and the astute use of leucaena in a grazing management system will be displayed by pasture agronomist Stuart Buck who leads the Leucaena Adoption project.
Central Queensland Sustainable Farming Systems will display a range of soil profiles highlighting crop water use efficiency and the regional weeds agronomy research team led by Vikki Osten will target the control of difficult to manage weeds such as feathertop Rhodes grass in broadacre and irrigation cropping situations.
Biosecurity Queensland will have a renewed push to identify and locate Mexican feather grass plants, a Class 1 weed threat accidently released through regional nursery outlets. Officers will be available to provide information for the control of other declared animal and weed pests.
The QPIF mobile office, a purpose equipped bus staffed by Biosecurity Queensland inspectors, will be located near the Ag-Grow bull sale complex. There will be an on-site internet hook-up to update APS (Agricultural Property System) details and brand returns. Inspectors Bridget Cannon and Jenni Nation will be on-site providing permits for stock movements across the tick line and promoting the “Bucks for Brains” TSE program.
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