Farmers attack the season head on at BCG’s Main Field Day

Last Friday BCG held its Main Field Day for 2007 on the property of Bryan and Chris Hogan. After shifting the event to Rupanyup in 2006, this year the Main Field Day returned to Birchip and was strongly supported by over 300 farmers and industry representatives from across the region.

The theme for the field day was “Decisions into Dollars”. BCG set a goal at the start of the year to help farmers in the region increase their profitability by $10 per hectare. Friday’s field day was developed around this theme with speakers and topics selected to help ensure every decision farmers make for the remainder of the year contributes to increasing farm profitability.

In the morning the crowd split into four tours to view some of BCG’s research and demonstration trials located across the field day site. Highlights of these tours include presentations by international guest speaker Gordon Spoor, a soil and water consultant from England with over 45 years of experience in working on soil and water management problems in the UK and David Moody’s presentation on barley agronomy which focused on agronomic management of ten barley varieties under no-till farming systems and the future of malt barley as a crop choice for the Mallee.

Simon Craig speaking to a trial tour about the liquid phosphorus trial.

The morning concluded with everyone returning to the marquee for a discussion on the Dairy Industry’s demand for Mallee hay and grain. Chris Hunter, a dairy farmer from Kyabram, provided an honest and animated presentation summarising the season from the dairy industry’s perspective. Chris’s presentation was complimented by Daryl Poole, a dairy industry farm business management consultant from RMCG, Bendigo.

The hay discussion continued after lunch with the focus shifting to production and marketing. This session attracted a huge crowd and provided timely and relevant information for those farmers already cutting or planning to cut hay this season.

At the same time a session on sheep breeds for our region was held which featured the Genelink and Uardry sheep studs. Breeders from each of the studs highlighted the suitability of Dorper and Dohne sheep breeds for our region.

An example of a wildlife pond in the food court area.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in the discussion marquee with presentations made by:

• - Ed Hunt, a consultant from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia who highlighted the benefits of sheep as a risk management tool in the farm business;
• - Bill Malcolm, an agricultural economics lecturer from The University of Melbourne who entertained the crowd with his anecdotal messages about running a profitable business in the Mallee; and
• - A bank panel session, at which six of the regions leading banks answered a range of questions on the future of agriculture in the world marketplace.

All in all the day was a huge success and offered a fantastic opportunity for attending farmers to get up to date with the latest season specific issues and information for our region.

Click here for more information on the 2007 Main Field Day, including copies of presentation slides and papers.