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Issue No. 1 December 2006

1. What is Sustainability at the Source?

Welcome to our first newsletter of the "Sustainability at the Source" project from Towong Shire in the Upper Murray region of Victoria. We plan to publish this newsletter every couple of months to bring readers up to date with progress in this exciting new project.

The Upper Murray Agribusiness Group (UMAG) and the Towong Shire Council have always supported the research of new crops or improved farming practices. Now with the support of the National Landcare Programme this very valuable work can continue with an added emphasis on improved natural resource management. The project recognises the unique position this region occupies at the headwaters of the magnificent Murray River.

2. Project Update

We are now well into the third quarter of the project and progress is full steam ahead. Some of the actions undertaken to date include:

1. Installation of a range of soil moisture monitoring equipment in six locations
2. Commenced routine collection of soil moisture data at trial sites
3. Installation of subsurface drip irrigation in two locations for lucerne and peppermint oil.
4. Planted demonstration crops with green tea, raspberries and blueberries
5. Developed UMAG website to provide a one stop shop for all information relating to the Sustainability at the Source project and Agribusiness activities in the Towong Shire.
6. Enlisted the support of several specialist agronomists to assist growers in improved natural resource management and productivity objectives
7. Commenced program of community and industry development via workshops, field days and networking events.

Soil Moisture Monitoring

Soil Moisture Monitoring is used to help irrigators decide when to water and how much to apply and can deliver improved productivity and water savings. We currently have a range of monitoring devices in six locations measuring both volumetric and water tension in soils in a range of crops. Some really useful data is being collected and growers are becoming familiar with using the information collected. This was facilitated via a field day and workshop looking at installation of equipment and interpretation of data. The persistence of the drought in this region is providing great motivation for primary producers to monitor very closely their water inputs for their crops.

3. Recent Events — Onion seed field day

Our most recent was a field day held at John and Jenny Star's Cudegwa property looking at their onion seed crop which is in full flower. Following the field day a workshop was held at the Corryong Shire Office looking at the profitability and marketing opportunities for onion seed. The day was well attended with John Star and Peter Reynolds of Reynolds Horticulture providing useful insights into the production of onions for seed and its potential as a viable new crop for the region.

4. Welcome from UMAG

As president of UMAG and the 'Sustainability at the Source' Steering Committee I would like to welcome you to our first newsletter. We hope to keep you up to date on the progress of the project as well as provide useful information in all matters relating to natural resource management and primary production. We held our final meeting for 2006 following the field day with members celebrating what was a very busy but highly productive year.

As this is our last communication for the year I would like to congratulate and thank all those involved in the Upper Murray Agribusiness Group from Shire representatives to the 'Sustainability at the Source' project staff and all members for their hard work this year. I wish you all the joys of the festive season and I look forward to working with everyone in 2007.

Cheers
Bruce Saxton
President Steering Committee
(Sustainability at the Source Project)

5. New Crops

The new crops demonstration site at Max and Pam McKimmie's Towong farm is now planted with green tea, raspberries and blueberries. Under very trying conditions including 40oC temperatures, windy weather and some very hungry grass hoppers, planting was undertaken in October and November. The 200 green tea plants provided by Ito En PTY. LTD. were supplied in deep 81 cell trays and appear to be surviving the extreme conditions quite well.

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