Vic Soil Co-ordinator talks soils at Mallee Machinery Field Days & Merbein South

Ray Harris (left), GM of Analytical Laboratories & Technical Services Australia, with Vic Hub Regional Soil Co-ordinator, Dr Peter Fisher, outside ALTSA’s Merbein South lab complex.

Our Victoria Soil Co-ordinator, Dr Peter Fisher, is on the road this week talking to people in north-western Victoria about what the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption & Innovation Hub does.

On his way to the Mallee Machinery Field Days, Peter’s first meeting was with Ray Harris, GM of Analytical Laboratories & Technical Services Australia ­(ALTSA) in Merbein South.

The NATA-accredited laboratory complex opened in 2018 at Sunraysia’s former CSIRO site, with the goal of becoming a world-class laboratory and centre of excellence. Science education is another goal, and post COVID, the enterprise has frequently hosted students.

In Ray’s words, “science is so critical to farming”, and becoming more so.

Peter said, “I was really pleased to catch up with Ray; ALTSA is one of only a few regional labs, and it’s perfectly located to support north-western Victoria’s agricultural industries with soil, plant and food testing.”

Today, our soil expert is meeting with farmers at the Mallee Machinery Field Days, which are on today and tomorrow (Wednesday 2 August and Thursday 3 August).

“I’m talking about soils, and also encouraging people to take part in the new survey we have on soil issues, gaps and opportunities in each region. The survey is Australia wide, and I’m particularly wanting Victorians to be in it, so we can better understand soil-management issues and then improve soil management across Victoria’s varied soil types and farming systems.”

If you’re at this year’s Mallee Machinery Field Days, you can also find details about the survey at the Mallee Sustainable Farming stand.

Looking for more information? You can read about the survey and access the survey directly here. You can also access it via the QR code to the left.