The national Grain & Graze Program will hold its fourth National Forum in Wagga Wagga next week.
The program aims to boost the profitability of livestock on mixed farms by 10 per cent and the cropping enterprise by five per cent, while improving natural resource management at the same time.
Grain & Graze is a collaborative partnership between Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and Land & Water Australia (LWA).
It supports 57 projects involving over 200 trial sites on mixed farms in nine regions across the country, as well as four national projects.
National Coordinator, Dr Richard Price, said the forum in Wagga Wagga on August 13-16 will be timely, given that the five year Grain & Graze program will only have 10 months to run after the event.
"There will be much to discuss, taking stock of the program's achievements and how its participants can use the time left to enhance motivation and adoption of Grain & Graze practices and principles," Dr Price said.
"The forum will also devote time to planning the legacy of Grain & Graze, particularly in relation to the sustainability of mixed farming systems in Australia's cropping/livestock zone.
"While the program's four national projects - feedbase management, whole-farm economics, social dimensions and biodiversity - will be discussed in a roundup on August 15, much time has been allocated to what's been achieved in the nine Grain & Graze regions across Australia."
Dr Price said Grain & Graze's Murrumbidgee Regional Coordinator, Katrina Sait, has organised a program with a strong regional focus, with a trade show on the opening evening to showcase the success of the Murrumbidgee region.
On Tuesday 14 August, four top farmers from the region are scheduled to share with forum participants "What works for me" and scientists from CSIRO, Charles Sturt University and NSW DPI are scheduled to speak on Grain & Graze linked research.
One major focus of Grain & Graze in the Murrumbidgee has been solving the widely recognised "feed gaps" in the region, with winter wheat grazing systems promising valuable answers. It is estimated that possibly up to 40 percent of producers in the region have taken up or are trialling the use of these systems.
Two full forum sessions will be devoted to the Murrumbidgee Grain & Graze team's trials of grazing wheats, with input from growers Ben Cruickshank and Malcolm Kohlhagen, NSW DPI farming systems research agronomist Peter Martin, Greg Condon from Grassroots Agronomy in Junee, Charles Sturt University agronomy lecturer Jim Virgona and CSIRO Plant Industry's Hugh Dove.
Dr Dove's CSIRO fellow scientist, John Kirkegaard, will certainly generate interest with a presentation on grazing canola, including details of species selection, time of grazing and dry matter production.
"The National Project roundup, taking a hard look at where we are now and the next 12 months forward, will look at Grain & Graze's work on biodiversity, feedbase management, economics and monitoring and evaluation," Dr Price said.
"We've asked speakers on these subjects to discuss the benefit of national research to regional projects, integration of outputs between the two research streams and how they expect producers to use the outputs of national projects.
"And on the final morning of the forum we'll look at the likely legacy of Grain & Graze and at the triggers, events and influences that have marked the Grain & Graze journey."
Dr Price said the organising committee will make sure forum delegates obtain a good appreciation of the Wagga Wagga environment with functions at the Coolamon train station platform, breakfast with the birds at the Rock Reserve, and a "tasting the Riverina" dinner at Magpie's Nest.
For information on the National Grain & Graze Program contact Richard Price, National Coordinator, on 02 6295 6300 or mobile 0409 624 297; Gillian Stewart on 02 6263 6042; Merryn West on 02 6263 6013.
