Award For UMAG

At the recent Australian Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum Annual Agribusiness Leadership awards the Upper Murray Agribusiness Group won the prestigious Agribusiness of the Year 2008 Award.

This award acknowledged the works of the UMAG in sustainable farming, technology and industry development.

UMAG has been very successful in attracting funding for projects and this is reflected in the many successful partnerships particularly the Towong Shire Council, a long-standing partner, and more recently Melbourne University and the Upper Murray Pastures Group which has now amalgamated with UMAG.

Seed Potato Industry Development tour to Gippsland

UMAG group viewing seed potatoes at Thorpdale.

UMAG members attended a fascinating tour of the Gippsland seed potato industry in September which has further raised the group's interest in this crop for the Upper Murray.

Eight farmers and SAS project staff visited growers, agents and equipment suppliers in the districts surrounding Warrigal, Thorpdale and Kooweerup.

Seed potatoes are grown as part of a certified program to supply fresh potato growers with clean planting stock. Extensive markets exist across Australia and even overseas.

The Upper Murray region appears to be well suited to this crop and has a disease-free status — a considerable advantage in an industry which is actively seeking new production areas. As an added advantage, the number of seed potato growers has contracted over recent times and many existing suppliers are interested in setting up deals with growers in our region.

Upper Murray Irrigation Expo and Telemetry Launch

Centre pivot irrigators are common fixtures in the Upper Murray and are likely to increase in number in the future. Subsurface irrigation is new to the Upper Murray but is a very intensive method of irrigation producing very high yields whilest maximising water efficiency.

Irrigating efficiently with these units can be a complicated process where flow rates, pressures and water distribution needs to be matched against crop and soil types.

To facilitate this a field day has been scheduled for Thursday 27th November at Corryong targeting this very topic. Presenters include Sue Hinton (water use efficiency specialist), Andrew Pollard (water dynamics) and Dennis Watson (DPI-Irrigation Officer).

The major focus of the day will be pivot set ups and ways in which water delivery can be improved for greater efficiency and productivity.

Sustainable Crop Nutrition in the Upper Murray

The Upper Murray Agribusiness Group as part of the SAS project has been working with the grass seed industry with the aim of improving the efficiency of fertilizer in various crops.

Demonstration sites across the Towong Shire have been running since 2006 looking at soil and foliar testing and using the services a highly qualified agronomist to achieve more targeted use of fertilizers.

As part of this work the UMAG is running a farm walk from 1-4pm on Thursday 16th October at Tintaldra Station looking at one of the SAS demo sites and followed by a workshop at the Towong Shire Office, Corryong. Guest speakers will include Tom Graesser (grass seed agronomist) and Nigel Phillips (NSW DPI) and Property owner Alec McKinnon.

Speakers will discuss the demo work in the Upper Murray as well as efficiencies in crop nutrition and the potential use of alternative fertilizers available in the our area.

Farmer in Focus:
Brooke McKimmie

Brooke McKimmie

Brooke is well known to UMAG members through his work as project co-ordinator on the SAS project. As part of the McKimmie clan his family has a long history in the Towong area and more recently Brooke has taken control of a 174ha property.

Brooke was born in Corryong and has a Degree in Arts (Social Science), Honours in Anthropology and more recently completed a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management. Whilst his main interest is in beef production Brooke also has passion for some intensive horticultural crops such as berries and various seed crops. This year he has established a commercial planting of onions for seed with the Jarit Vegetable Seed Company and he has also established trial plantings of blueberry and raspberry as part of the SAS project.

Brooke has had a busy couple of years with the arrival of Bella in 2006 and just this year and beautiful baby girl Zoe with his wife Leanne. The family lives in Corryong.

Vegetable Seed Day

Jarrit Vegetable Seed Company has been interested in contract growing of seed crops in the Upper Murray for the last 2 years.

This year Jarrit has contracted the growing of a 2ha onion seed crop at Towong and is looking to expand its contract in 2009.

Jarrit is running a Vegetable Seed Industry Development Day in the Swan Hill area and has invited anyone interested to come along on Friday, November 14, at 12pm.