Putting the pieces of the 'mixed farming puzzle' together

December 07, 2007

Around 250 people attended the Grain & Graze Field Day at the University of New England’s Douglas McMaster Research Station at Warialda recently to get a close-up look at research into the viability of integrating livestock and cropping enterprises.

The field day, the theme of which was "The Mixed Farming Puzzle – putting the pieces together", showed the work of UNE and NSW Department of Primary Industries researchers that is part of a wider collaboration between the Border Rivers-Gwydir Catchment Management Authority and the Murray-Darling Basin Commission under the umbrella of the national Grain & Graze research program (with a range of funding bodies).

Encouraging visitors to tour the various trials, UNE’s Professor Jim Scott said the objective of the various research projects was to form a holistic view of the benefits of mixed farming, including the all-important economic inputs and outputs.

"We are trying to measure farming systems at a credible scale; that is, big enough to be relevant to farmers, but small enough to be measured," Professor Scott said.

Border Rivers Grain & Graze chairman and Goondiwindi farmer Robert Webb echoed these sentiments, saying that all the researchers and funding bodies behind the project were aiming at one thing: "helping the farmer to make a quid".

The 1100-hectare Warialda research station is well suited to the project. Comprising a range of soil types, it is divided into three farmlets (46 hectares each), each with a distinct management style: a "typical system" that divides cropping and grazing, an "integrated system" where cattle can graze on all areas of the farmlet, and an "integrated pasture system" that, while similar to the integrated system, has fertilised perennial pastures sown on all soil types throughout the farmlet. All of these systems were developed in conjunction with the local McMaster farmer group.

The field day also presented some of the latest technical innovations to an interested audience. These included a range of tools to measure crop vigour (including ground-level, unmanned aerial, and satellite equipment) as well as low-cost Global Positioning System tracking collars measuring cattle grazing patterns. (THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows UNE's Associate Professor David Lamb presenting an introduction to some of this technology at the field day.)

A range of agribusiness companies keen to support the mixed farming research and adoption effort mounted displays at the field day.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, said he was impressed by the support the program had received from government, industry and the community, and that the science behind it was "rigorous and realistic".

"We have to talk to real people, find out the real problems, and solve them," Professor Pettigrew said.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at December 7, 2007 03:21 PM