www.umag.org.au

Issue No. 3 July 2007

1. Scholarship announcements

One of the exciting initiatives this year was the establishment of the Upper Murray Agribusiness Youth Scholarship which is made available to one student from each of the secondary schools in the Shire. We are pleased to announce that the winners of this scholarship for 2007 are Kirby Nankervis from Corryong College and Elizabeth Paton from Tallangatta Secondary College.

Both girls have demonstrated great enthusiasm and aptitude for agribusiness and farming generally and are looking forward to getting involved in the Sustainability at the Source project later in 2007. The scholarships are to the value of $2000 and will provide each student with a laptop computer and training/work experience in their chosen area of interest.

Well done to Kirby and Elizabeth and we look forward to the presentation and reports on their progress through the year.

2. New crops update

One of the new crops selected by the UMAG for trialling is blueberries. Although new to this area, the Australian blueberry industry began in the early 1980s with promises of very high returns and significant plantings now exist in many eastern regions. The Blueberry is a deciduous, perennial shrub growing to 5m if not pruned. They belong to the genus Vaccinum which is native to North America where they have been in commercial cultivation for many years.

Blueberry production is considered capital intensive with high set-up costs but with a relatively short interval between establishment and first returns. Recent publications (2006) indicate potential gross margins in full production of $56,000/ha.

UMAG trials at the Towong site are in their infancy but are providing very useful information for local farmers into the general agronomy of this crop in the Upper Murray. A field day will be held later this year where the new crop trials will be showcased and further information relating to Blueberries, Green Tea and Raspberries will be presented.

3. Recent events

The UMAG recently held a meeting/forum with the Jarit Vegetable Seed Company, regarding opportunities in vegetable seed production in the Upper Murray. Jarit is based in Gosford and specialises in the breeding and production of a range of vegetables including melons, pumpkins and onions.

Rob Lamrock, Operations Manager with Jarit visited the area in April and presented information to interested growers at a meeting held at Peter and Barbara Nankervis's property at Colac Colac.

Discussions included the moving of traditional growing areas for vegetable seed, particularly onions, to areas of higher rainfall and water availability. The discussion also included the general agronomy and potential returns for onion seed production. Rob was very open regarding the commitment of Jarit to working with growers in the long term in the Towong Shire.

Trials with product supplied by Jarit have commenced with several UMAG members.

4. Farmers in Focus

This month's farmer in focus is Austin Nicholas. Based in Corryong and at Biggara. Austin has been involved with the Upper Murray Agribusiness Group since its inception and is very involved in the Sustainability at the Source project. He is currently participating in soil moisture monitoring trials looking at improved irrigation scheduling in his onion seed crop at Biggara.

Austin has been a contracted grower of onion seed for South Pacific Seeds for the last four years and in 2007 growing hybrid varieties. While hybrid production is not as high yielding as open pollinated and they are generally more difficult to grow, the price/kg however is significantly higher. Austin has been involved in many new crops over the years from herbs such as thyme and borage to Iris pallida and is constantly trying to grow quality crops and obtain higher returns, two of the underlying objectives of the UMAG generally.

5. Project Update

This year has seen the expansion in Sustainability at the Source trial work across the Shire. With first year trials in soil moisture monitoring, subsurface drip irrigation and fertilizer management well established in the Corryong region, the second phase of the project aims to expand this work into other parts of the Shire.

Several growers in the Mitta Valley and Tallangatta areas have got involved with trial work focusing on soil moisture monitoring, fresh and seed onions and are benefiting from the agronomic support provided through the project.

6. 2007 UMAG Training Schedule

A packed training schedule for 2007 has just been placed on our website featuring short courses, workshops, field days and even a tour to the Griffith region to look at vegetable seed production.

One of the exciting features is a short course called "Smart Irrigating" where participants get the free installation of some soil moisture monitoring equipment and use over the season with a buy out option at the end of the program.

This is the cheapest way to access this technology and training in the installation, operation and interpretation of data is included.

7. New Telemetry Project to Commence

UMAG was successful in obtaining funding from Landcare for a project entitled "Know your Environment — Telemetry Communications in the Upper Murray".

This project will commence in July and involves establishing a community based telemetry infrastructure to measure and monitor environmental variable such as weather, soil moisture levels and water quality. Members can access their data via the UMAG website.

By sharing the costs of the infrastructure across the community farmers can access a wide range of environmental monitoring tools which will help in the management of their farms.

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