www.umag.org.au

Issue No. 5 December 2007

1. Farmer in Focus

This month's farmer in focus is Tom Paton from the Mitta Valley. Tom graduated with a Diploma of Business Management from Glenormiston in 1995 and returned to the family farm at Mitta which is primarily involved in dairying.

Tom has recently become involved in the UMAG's "Sustainability at the Source" project after pursuing an interest in growing onion seed.

UMAG has been involved in the development of a local seed industry with close affiliations with Upper Murray Seeds, South Pacific Seeds, Magnus Kahl seed and now Jarrit Vegetable Seed Company.

Tom is currently contracted with Magnus Kahl seeds to grow Spanish Red Onions and he has planted 0.5ha irrigated with T-Tape and monitored using an Aquaflex soil moisture monitor.

Tom is also keen to get into the production of onions for the fresh market and hopes to expand his operation in 2008.

2. Telemetry Project Under Way

The Telemetry project Know Your Environment - Telemetry Communications in the Upper Murray is well under way with the design phase largely completed and installations commencing in December.

The group has spent considerable time consulting with network suppliers to design a system which meets the demands of farmers, provides accurate data and is flexible enough to meet any future needs. It is anticipated that once the design and costs have been established the network can be installed fairly quickly.

The aim is to establish a network of automated weather stations and soil moisture monitoring sites and have data automatically placed on the UMAG website using radio telemetry.

Precedents for this have been established in SA where networks of weather stations have been installed, mostly in grape regions, to assist in irrigation management.

These have been terrifically successful initiatives and for those interested you can consult the following website relating to the Murray River network of 26 weather stations (www.rivermurray.sa.gov.au).

This project is also looking at novel applications of this technology and is working with the dog fence group to develop a capacity to monitor the fence for faults from a distant location. This would be a major benefit in the maintenance of this important resource. Other potential applications are monitoring of remote pumps, flooded fronts in irrigation bays and water metering.

3. Tax Concessions for Water Facilities

by Edmond Barry

The conservation and efficient use of water has never been more important to Australian farmers.

Major tax incentives exist to encourage Australian primary producers to develop their water facilities. A primary producer can claim over three years capital expenditure incurred on water facilities.

Deductible expenditure on water facilities include capital expenditure on dams, earth tanks, underground tanks, concrete or metal tanks, tank stands, bores, wells, irrigation channels or similar improvements, pipes, pumps, water towers, windmills and extensions or improvements to any of these.

A deduction is only available if the expenditure on the water facility is incurred primarily and principally for the purpose of conserving or conveying water for use in a primary production business.

Edmond Barry Pty Ltd

Specialising in Taxation, Business and Financial Planning advice to rural businesses

4. Export Award for Upper Murray Agribusiness Group Farmer

UMAG founding member Peter Nankervis has been awarded the Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Leadership Award - Exporter 2007.

This award is presented by the Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum (AVAF) and recognises the success of Corryong Essential Oils in developing and maintaining export markets for premium quality peppermint oil produced from his Colac Colac property. The AVAF provides annual awards for leadership in agribusiness in north east Victoria.

Corryong Essential Oils was established 20 years ago as Peter diversified his largely beef enterprise into the specialist realm of essential oils. Today, over 40ha of peppermint is grown under a centre pivot where the herbage is harvested in summer and distilled to extract the oil.

Peppermint is a worldwide commodity used in confectionary, toothpaste and many consumer and industrial products. Most of the product from Peter's farm is exported to the United States.

5. Irrigation Field Day

More than 90 people attended a field day in November which focused on UMAG's trials with sub surface drip irrigation.

These trials were established over a year ago in a lucerne crop on the McKimmie's farm at Towong and in a peppermint crop at Colac Colac.

There is great interest in this style of irrigation, especially for fodder production where productivity gains can be quite substantial. Irrigation consultants Sue Hinton and Lauren Thompson described the merits of SSDI while industry irrigation officers Dennis Watson from DPI and Andrew Pollard from Netafim discussed issues relating to installation and management.

The day was a great success for UMAG and showcased some of the terrific trial work done by the group.

6. Tasmanian Industry Tour

UMAG members recently participated in a three-day tour of Tasmania looking at specific crops and industries with potential for the Upper Murray.

The first stop was a visit to Toolangi Research Station in Victoria to examine seed potatoes which is a crop the group is targeting for use in possible seed crop rotations.

The tour then moved to Tasmania and particularly around Launceston looking predominantly at the vegetable and grass seed industries and essential oils.

The group was hosted by representatives of Serve Ag and Essential Oils of Tasmania as well as industry consultant Sue Hinton who has been working with UMAG on various projects.

This was a great tour where members were able to let their hair down and mix freely with a very professional farming community. Similar tours are hopefully on the agenda for next year.

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