Dancing in the Dirt - Pre-Harvest Gala Ball - 12 October

Well that was pretty epic.....

Thank you so much!! We were THRILLED with the way Dancing in the Dirt was supported and we hope you all had an incredible time!!! Thank you all for coming and we hope this is just the beginning of a wonderful event our community can continue to look forward to!

From the moment the buses dropped guests at the marquee at Needilup, with guests walking up the “green carpet” to the magically put together site, we knew we were in for a treat. Specially brewed beer, Bay to Bush (Biosphere Brew) was on tap at the bar, along with a delicious spread of locally sourced produce catered by the Wellstead Museum Cafe, Bremer Bay set the scene. We were then spoiled by the hilarious Peter Rowsthorn who had the crowd in stitches before the dancefloor filled up with tunes played by live band, Big Horn Trio.

We thank our generous sponsors and those who made donations to the event! It wouldn't have been possible without them - please remember to support them in return!!

Hope to see you in 2020!!!

2019 Spring Field - 17 September

On a warm spring day, we held our annual Spring Field, this year based around Needilup and attended by around 50 farmers and industry reps. See our Event Wrap Up for more info.

Managing Difficult Soils Forum - 25 July

On 25 July, FBG hosted a forum looking at different solutions to manage difficult soils. This was part of a series of workshops held throughout the Albany and Esperance port zones.

The GRDC’s RCSN process had identified a need for growers to have access to information and tools to identify soils that will respond predictably to various soil amelioration techniques and then be able to match the inputs on these areas to optimise profits.

The forum spent some time out in the paddock at soil pits as well as providing plenty of time for discussion in the shed and over lunch.

The forums were aimed at ensuring that farmers have the information and tools to identify soils that will respond predictably to various soil amelioration techniques and then be able to match the inputs on these areas to optimise profits.  The forum will allow plenty of time for sharing grower experiences and peer discussion between growers as well as specialist soil scientists.

The well-attended workshop held by FBG in the Jacup area where many farmers have been conducting their own on-farm trials to investigate various soil constraints.

We thank our hosts for the day, Mark & Mick Lester, as well as Lawson Grains, Gunnadoo. Your support is invaluable.

We also thank GIWA for facilitating the day, the speakers and consultants who travelled out to see us, as well as GRDC and DPIRD.

Bremer Bay Clean Up Day 26 May

Congratulations Bremer Bay residents on a top clean-up effort yesterday and for some, two days in a row! Very impressive contribution by businesses with their support and a special thanks to Mike our Ranger with the Shire of Jerramungup.

Special thanks to the following businesses/organisations for their support:

• Shire of Jerramungup

• Bremer Bay Resort

• Bremer Bay Rural & Hardware

• Bremer Bay Caravan Park

• Bremer Bay Beaches Resort & Tourist Park

• Bremer Bay General Store

• Bremer Bay Roadhouse

• Goin’ Hard Concrete

• Cougar Fitness

Expressions of Interest: Bremer Bay Volunteer Weed Action Group

What is your New Years Resolution in 2019 ? Well its May, there is still time.

We know there are some passionate people out there including some new residents and landowners that aren’t always in Bremer Bay all year round. 

So with the support from some WA Planning Commission's Coast West funding we are going to initiate a volunteer group and provide some guidance to get action on weeds around Bremer Bay. 

If this ticks the box for a good healthy resolution for the mind and body or you are keen to practice project management, or you have specialty knowledge you would like to share, or you are just looking for some like minded people to mix with please contact me, Therese Bell via email at bremerprojects@fbg.org.au 
Fitzgerald Biosphere Group (FBG) plan to create a volunteer weed action group for Bremer Bay in 2019.

So watch this space and make contact with us so we can keep you updated on our progress.

Spray water quality imperative for performance

Given continuing dry conditions, many farmers in the area are running into often significant shortages in on-farm water storages. Not only are water supplies low, but often water quality is an issue too. DPIRD has released some information reiterating the importance of water quality when it comes to use in spraying programs.

Visit this website for more information:

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/news/media-releases/spray-water-quality-imperative-performance

In terms of local standpipes, there is also currently assessments being carried out on suitable locations for new bores. The Department of Water will advise us once these have been commissioned.

Rebuilding soils and optimising animal nutrition in dry seasonal conditions

On 18 and 19 March, FBG had the pleasure of hosting two excellent speakers – Col Bowey and Mark Emonson at two workshops, the first focussing on cattle (thank you to Craig & Nat Davis for hosting), and the second on sheep production (thanks to Paul & Melissa Barrett).

In response to last year’s challenging season, FBG was able to extend funding courtesy of the State NRM Program and extend this to our area’s livestock farmers.

The workshops were topical and thought provoking, with some different ideas broached to challenge the participants and provoke discussion. There were a couple of (very) brief take-home messages which certainly don’t convey what an interesting couple of days we were lucky enough to partake in.

·        Farmers need to maximise food production and chase dollars per hectare by boosting livestock numbers (in response to more food grown);

·        There are valuable lessons to be learnt from the cropping sector in maximising water use efficiency and making the most of every mm rainfall.

·        In a dry year such as 2018:

o   The importance of being proactive is highlighted;

o   Value your groundcover;

o   Know when to pull animals off a paddock;

o   Traditional ‘cropping’ (knife points and draper fronts) are generally not well suited to livestock production in dry years.

For more information, contact Maddy Wylie on 0421 645 410

2018 FBG Annual General Meeting

The 2018 AGM was held at the Jerry CRC on 10 October. With a few changes, the incoming Board for 2019 is:

Chair: Damon Parker

Vice Chair: Jolene Daniel

Secretary: Mick Lester

Treasurer: David Turner

Jolene steps down from Chair after 3 years at the helm, and we see Nathan Brown move off the Board after a long stint in a number of roles, including Chair and Vice Chair. We welcome Mick Lester onto the Board as Secretary.

Dry Season Workshop at Gairdner

Our dry season workshop at the Keding family farm in Gairdner on Tuesday 7th August drew a crowd of about 60. In addition to providing some technical information from experts in their respective fields, the day was an opportunity to trade experiences about the season, particularly strategies that people are finding successful in helping them to manage the difficult circumstances. Jenna Lester, Rural Manager for Rabobank, kicked off the day by encouraging people to keep in contact with their banks and invite their managers out for a look. She reminded us that banks are in the business of managing risk and the more they know about your circumstances the better they can advise you. Farmanco’s Mae Connelly provided the following advice about contract washouts:  Start to act, make decisions, as soon as contracts are causing you stress  Contact each buyer you have contracts with to explain your crop conditions and ask about your options.  Each buyer will handle things differently so talk to them all first  Make sure to ask/negotiate on payment terms (they can be extended out)  Chip away at washing out tonnes just like you chip away at grain sales. Mae also recommended investigating swaps as an alternative to cash contracts for future seasons.

2018 Spring Field Day

On a cool and windy 18th of September, a group of committed farmers and industry representatives gathered at the Jerry CRC for FBG’s annual Spring Field Day. After an opening address from our Chair, Jolene Daniel, we started the day with a market update from Sam Chambers, part of Rabobank’s respected Agribusiness Risk and Treasury team based out of Sydney. We heard the impact that the East Coast drought is having on basis, and that we can expect overseas competition from the Black Sea will continue to be a rising concern for Australia grain exports. From there, we hopped on the bus and headed out to Brad Bailey’s air seeder demonstration (part of our One Paddock Challenge, supported by State NRM) where we were joined by a few more Jacup locals. We looked at the differences between the Flexicoil, DBS, Bourgault and Seed Hawk airseeder bars that were taking part in this year’s trial, as well as discussing the outcomes from last year’s activities, which were surprisingly uniform. Our next stop was hosted by Louis Poiron and the Hassad “Amarinya” team where we looked at some Longsword wheat they had in, before focusing on break crops further into the farm, and were given further insight by Mark Seymour, DPIRD Esperance. It was interesting to note that there a number of legumes that would be potentially well suited to the Jerramungup district, but uptake has not been widespread to date. Some of these include PBR Bolt lentils and different types of vetches. Our focus for the day was on deep ripping so after being updated on the GRDC Tactical Break Crop project, we moved onto Stu Bee’s farm where we looked at a soil pit dug on a site that had been originally deep ripped in a very wet 2016. It was too wet for the soil structure to support the deep ripping trial and it was abandoned for that year. This year, it has been revisited by Glenn McDonald, DPIRD Albany, as part of his soil research activities in the port zone. It was then interesting to compare this site to Mick and Mark Lester’s deep ripping activities. They had experimented with a couple of sites in different paddocks, focussing on areas that tended to perform poorly for a number of reasons. However, the implement they had

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An overview of 2018 Current Projects We are currently running four externally funded projects;  One Paddock Challenge (State NRM)  Subsoil Constraints (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development [DPIRD])  Weed Action Plan for Bremer Bay (State NRM)  Bremer Bay Community Foreshore and Estuary Protection Project (Coastwest). We are in the process of finalising the contract for a fifth project, the Regional Land Partnership Program, which is the continuation of our NLP project. The funding is from South Coast NRM and jointly administered by the Federal Department of Environment and Energy and Federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. Projects completed During the year three projects were completed:  National Landcare Program (NLP) Phase 1 (South Coast NRM from funding jointly administered by Department of Environment and Energy and Department of Agriculture and Water Resources)  Grass-fed Lamb Marketing Feasibility Study (Agricultural Sciences Research and Development Fund, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development [DPIRD], Regional Development Australia).  Linking Bremer Bay to Point Henry walk trail (Lotterywest, Great Southern Development Commission, with administrative assistance from Shire of Jerramungup and Greenskills Albany). Events and workshops The group coordinated nine events throughout the year, from Bremer Bay to Jacup, Needilup, Jerramungup and Gairdner. In addition to our Farmer Updates, Spring Field Day and Fitzy Fox Shoots, we held a dry season workshop, an economically driven revegetation field walk, a low stress stock handling course and an airseeder demonstration field walk. We’ve had stalls at market days and the skate park opening in Bremer Bay. We celebrated the opening of the Native Snail Trail in Bremer Bay and participated in the Biosphere launch in Hopetoun in March. We took advantage of social media training offered by South Coast NRM to better extend our reach into the digital world. By the time this year is over we will have launched our new website. Governance training through South Coast NRM also assisted us with another necessary action we had to complete this year: the update of our constitution to meet new Incorporations Act legislation.