North-East Node update, December 2024

The impacts of summer rain on top of a dry spring are some of the topics discussed at community events held across the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption & Innovation Hub’s North-East Node, led by Riverine Plains.

 

Rain and lower-than-expected yields

 

Since our last update, harvest in the Riverine Plains has gotten underway, however significant rainfall and weather during late November and early December has had a big impact across the region. While many farmers had finished (or nearly finished) canola harvest before the rain, rainfall totals of 60-150mm at many locations caused trafficability issues and delayed cereal harvest by 1-2 weeks.

As the lead for the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption & Innovation Hub’s North East Node, Riverine Plains has been addressing the rain-related harvest issues; Lynn Macaulay has put together this article focusing on trafficability, risks to grain and seed quality, as well as potential fire hazards afterwards.

The effects of the rain, combined with lower-than-expected yields caused by frost and dry conditions during spring, are likely to impact harvest outcomes and the cash-flow position of many farmers. We are currently incorporating these topics, and strategies on how to best manage them in 2025, into our planning for the upcoming Sykesy’s Buraja Meeting and the Riverine Plains Harvest Wrap Up series, being held across the region in February.

Planning is also complete for the Riverine Plains Ladies Lunch in February, which provides an opportunity to connect and celebrate the role of rural women in the community. This year’s event, backed by FRRR (which, like the Vic Hub, is also supported through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund), features local entrepreneurs and farmers Ros Vodusek from Rich Glen and Alexandra MacAlpine from The Social Herd.

 

Alpine Shire’s Agricultural Expo at Dederang

 

The Alpine Shire held an Agricultural Expo, “A Little Bit of Relief”, at the Dederang Recreation Reserve for farmers and community members to network and engage with agricultural services and business and health support in late November.

Attendees were able to visit a wide range stalls, including agricultural, health and government service providers. There were also workshops and demonstrations, including working dog training and agricultural drone technology.

Sophie Hanna from Riverine Plains attended the event and said it was a great opportunity for farmers in the region to learn about and engage with the wide range of information and services available. Riverine Plains provides an agricultural service to the Towong Shire Council.

 

Farming Smarter in the North East

 

Over the past four months, 12 farming businesses in north-east Victoria and southern NSW have participated in the Farming Smarter program which challenged farmers to “farm smarter, not harder”.

The program included in-depth farm business analysis, workshops focused on reviewing performance, identifying ways to farm smarter and how to implement an action plan.

During early December, program participants shared their action plan outcomes and learnings at a final presentation day in Wodonga. Topic areas included improving staff management, structured team communication, automated technology, strengthening financial literacy, livestock feed use efficiency, acid soil amelioration, refining breeding objectives, business expansion, irrigation systems, relationships with buyers, and improving calving ease.

Riverine Plains’ Sophie Hanna was one of several guests invited to hear the presentations and share the agricultural services and information available to farmers.

“Hearing the participants’ focus areas for improving efficiencies in and on their farming business was very insightful and highlighted the many avenues farmers can take to enhance their businesses.

“It is always incredibly valuable learning from farming peers.”

The program, delivered by Kristy Howard, was supported by Vic Hub partner Agriculture Victoria and the Future Drought Fund through the Farm Business Resilience Program.

 

Riverine Plains is proud to be delivering projects and information for farmers as the North-East Node lead of the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption & Innovation Hub.