State government supports further drought initiatives

The Victorian Minister for Agriculture, Hon Bob Cameron, announced at the opening of the 2006 BCG Grains Research Expo that the government would continue to support BCG in its drought initiatives with a grant of $50,000. Mr Cameron congratulated chairman, Ian McClelland, and all of the BCG team and was confident the funds would be put to good use. Read a media release from the Minister for Agriculture 29 June 2006 Hon Bob Cameron, Minister for Agriculture, Ian McClelland, BCG Chairman, Alexandra Gartmann, BCG CEO at the opening of the 2006 BCG Grains Research Expo. Over the Fence

The success of the ‘Over the Fence’ program supported by the state government in 2005 and delivered by the Weekly Times and fourteen regional papers resulted in many requests from both papers and readers for a repeat series. BCG plans to run the Over the Fence series again this season.

Readers felt connected to the issues and the opinions of the participants. The topics were chosen across a range of social, agronomic and financial areas. Farmers who participated were willing to honestly express their views and sometimes opinions were varied and personal.

We believe that the worse the season gets the more farmers will want to talk about the social, family and financial issues. The role of involving community in farmers’ survival cannot be underestimated in these difficult times.

Regional Yield Prophet^® forecasts

BCG will distribute summaries of the most important forecasting models and tools that predict rainfall and crop yields across the differing soils and climates of the region to all regional papers for the 2006 season.

Included is the BCG/CSIRO’s own Yield Prophet^® which is a simulation predictive probability model of yield, protein, moisture stress and nitrogen requirements.

These summaries have been extremely popular with BCG members over the past as they have helped farmers to understand the probability of the decisions that are made on their farms. These forecasts would cover most, if not all, of the soil types and communities across the region.

Regional forums with service providers

BCG will host a number of large forums and smaller community forums across the region in 2006. Similar forums were supported by the state government during the 2002 drought. They gave everyone an opportunity to get together, share their problems, and maybe find some solutions and to know that help is always there.

As well as being a social occasion, these functions will again be attended by banks, financial councillors, DPI staff, agribusiness representatives, social welfare providers, BCG staff and community groups. In 2006, a guest speaker will also be in attendance.

Risk management training workshops

BCG will also undertake training programs across the region. The one opportunity that a drought provides is time to explore something other than farming. Gaining a new skill is an opportunity that can result from a drought.

During droughts every farmer at some time thinks about how to make some income from some other enterprise other than farming that relies on rainfall. In the past, this has included such unsuccessful adventures such as emus, ostriches, goats, venison and even pigs.

Exploring the many possibilities for alternative incomes for farmers and their families should always be encouraged. Understanding the power of the internet, the opportunities of investing in off farm investments, gaining the knowledge of how to run a lamb feed lot, a fine wool sheep shed, or how to collect seeds from native plants are examples of potential training programs.