2019 May 2nd rural

RURAL REPORT

Congress countdown is on! #BananaCongress2019

Banana growers from across Australia will descend on the Gold Coast in less than a month for the industry’s premier biennial event.

The 2019 Australian Banana Industry Congress will take place at Royal Pines Resort, from May 22-24.

The line-up includes world-class scientists, trade experts, business gurus and – of course – innovative growers.

“We’re putting banana growers front and centre at this year’s Congress,” said Congress Committee Chair and Far North Queensland grower Paul Inderbitzin.

“Not only have we developed a focussed, dynamic program of exciting speakers and networking opportunities – but we’ll also have some of our peers take the stage to share their valuable on-farm experience.”

The Grower Innovation panel and Farming with TR4 discussion will be highlights of Day Two, but there’s plenty to look forward to across the event, including:  Bernard Salt, well-known demographer and social commentator  Shane Webcke, footy legend and farm safety ambassador  Marc Jackson, Special Projects Manager at global banana business Fyffes  Dr Bruce Campbell, instrumental in saving New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry “I’d encourage anyone involved in the banana industry to jump onto the Congress website to get a true sense of just how diverse and dynamic this year’s line-up is,” Mr Inderbitzin said.

“We’re also delighted that comedian Dave Hughes will join us for the much-loved Banana Ball – the perfect way to conclude the event and celebrate those recognised with an Award of Honour.”

Program and registration details can be found at www.bananacongress.org.au.

Cassowary farmers proving their environmental credentials through the drumMUSTER program.

SINCE June 1999 farmers and agvet chemical users in the Cassowary Coast region have utilised the drumMUSTER container recycling program to recycle over 300,000 ag and vet chemical containers. This equates to over 300 tonnes of plastic that has been recycled rather than being burnt or buried either on farms or in landfill.

Agsafe’s AgVet chemical product stewardship programs, drumMUSTER and ChemClear, divert used containers and obsolete chemicals from landfill, re-routing them into recycling and responsible disposal pathways that assist in keeping land and waterways safe.

Since drumMUSTER started operations in 1998, more than 37,000 tonnes of unwanted plastics have been diverted from landfill sites into recycling programs, which has saved Australian local councils a massive $33 million on landfill costs for waste management purposes. There are over 800 collection sites throughout Australia including over 350 local council sites and over 130 community groups participate.

Plastics make up the majority of AgVet containers and those displaying the drumMUSTER logo, have a suitable recycling pathway aimed at reducing Australia’s carbon emissions and conserving our resources.

Once the stored, empty, clean containers are collected, they are shredded and granulated, processed into pellets via heat extrusion, then re-used to make wheelie bins, fencing, pipes, bollards, road markers and public furniture.

Dominique Doyle, Agsafe General Manager, said of the program, “Farm businesses who frequent drumMUSTER sites are setting a good example of how the simple act of recycling can keep land and waterways cleaner and litter-free, and communities safer.”

Capability investment to drive research innovation for Australian sugarcane SRA, on behalf of its grower, miller and government stakeholders, is investing in sugarcane industry capability and innovation through two significant initiatives that have just been awarded to 2019 recipients.

These investments are occurring via the SRA Sugar Industry Research Awards and the SRA Postgraduate Research Scholarships, and will see the recipients undertake projects that will help deliver productivity, profitability and sustainability outcomes for growers and millers.

The projects include: • Characterising nitrogen use efficiency in sugarcane (Postgraduate scholarship: Mrs Anoma Ranagalage, University of Queensland, Brisbane) • New approaches to quantifying nitrogen fluxes in enhanced efficiency fertilisers (Postgraduate scholarship: Dr Aiden Chin, University of Queensland, Brisbane) • Innovative techniques to coat the basecutter blades of har-

vesters to reduce wear (Researcher Award: Dr Christiane Schulz, University of South Australia, Adelaide) • Developing a marker system to measure dosage of alleles for use as a selection tool in the sugarcane breeding program (Researcher Award: Dr Meredith McNeil, CSIRO, Canberra).

Dr Christiane Schulz with the University of South Australia is undertaking a Researcher Award project to look at extending the durability of basecutter blades on sugarcane harvesters.

Basecutter blades are a key component of the harvesting process and need to be replaced regularly as they wear out from being one of the first contact points with the sugarcane crop.

Dr Schulz said she would use state-of-the-art hard-facing processes to look at ways of increasing the wear-resistance and sharpness of basecutter blades.

“This will be the first time the state-of-the-art hard-facing processes, laser cladding and thermal spraying, are used for improving basecutter blades in Australia,” she said. “If successful, it has

Page 18 Cassowary Coast Independent News, Thursday, May 2, 2018

the potential to improve efficiency, as well as reduce cane loss and damage to the stalk and stool.”

A range of potential coatings will be examined and tested and the results communicated back to industry and SRA. SRA General Manager for the Research Funding Unit, Dr Harjeet Khanna, said these capability development programs were designed to encourage new talent and ideas to benefit the Australian industry.

“These programs help researchers undertake relatively small projects that can test novel ideas that could lead to further research activity or directly to productivity, profitability and sustainability outcomes for sugarcane growers and millers,” Dr Khanna said.

RURAL REPORT

$4M investment to get kids eating 19,000 tonnes more veg a year

A new national research initiative designed to educate and encourage children to eat more vegetables aims to increase their daily intake of fresh produce by more than half a serving per day.

Supported by Hort Innovation through $4 million in R&D funding, the 5-year VegKit project will deliver a free toolkit for educators, health professionals and research agencies that includes information on dietary guidelines, and evidence-based knowledge of flavour exposure and food preference.

Delivered through a collaboration between CSIRO, Flinders University and Nutrition Australia, the project will investigate the influencers behind kids’ exposure to, and acceptance of vegetables through behavioural and produce innovations.

Hort Innovation General Manager for Research, Marketing and Investment, David Moore, said the project would help to establish a national framework promoting the importance of vegetable consumption for improved health outcomes in children.

“The VegKit project will bring together a number of research and educational resources with the ultimate aim of increasing a child’s vegetable intake by more than half a serving per day,” Mr

Moore said.

“In that view, there is potential to increase demand for fresh produce by 19,000 tonnes per year if every child (aged 2-6 years) increases consumption by greater than half a serving - demonstrating a great return on research investment.

“This project will also disseminate knowledge and increase advocacy and leadership using a whole of system approach, with the target users of the outcomes being vegetable levy payers, health professionals, government agencies, early learning educators, researchers and representative bodies.”

CSIRO Project Lead Dr David Cox said that vegetables were important for long term good eating habits and overall health, but surveys suggest 95 per cent of Australian children weren’t eating enough.

“Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as putting more vegetables on the plate,” he said.

“This project is about getting children to enjoy vegetables, using knowledge about the development of taste preferences, and then using this information to find practical ways of addressing the

problem.

“Part of this work will include revising dietary advice to mothers, working with childcare providers to improve children’s experiences of vegetables and working with industry to make vegetable products more appetising for children.”

The five-year project will deliver six key activities: Best practice guidelines to increase vegetable intake A national online register of initiatives to increase vegetable intake Further development and coordination of the Vegetable Intake Strategic Alliance (VISA) Updated dietary advice for maternal, infant and early years, using evidence-based knowledge of flavour exposure and food preference development, to facilitate children’s vegetable intake.

Initiatives in the community (for long day-care settings) to increase children’s vegetable intake Supply chain initiatives (industry innovations and early primary school settings) to increase children’s vegetable intake.

Graziers flock to workshop on natural grazing and soil building practices FAR Northern graziers are moving to smaller paddocks and denser stocking for shorter periods as ways to improve their pastures and livelihoods.

More than 60 graziers from Ingham to Cape York, and including Innisfail, heard from cattleman Dick Richardson and soil health specialist David Hardwick at a Terrain NRM ‘Grazing Naturally and Building Soil Health’ workshop recently, to build on changes to their pasture management.

East Palmerston beef cattle and banana producer Craig Buchanan said learning about different practices always helped. “We are doing a few things already from smaller paddocks to wet season spelling,’’ he said. “We’re also looking at planting more legumes in our pastures to improve nitrogen levels in the grass.”

Guest speaker Dick Richardson said there were practices all graziers could benefit from regardless of whether they found themselves in drought or flood conditions.

"Grazing should be more intense for a shorter duration - after that it's a matter of keeping some of the country in a shorter, more productive state with repetitive grazes during the growing season

while other parts get the opportunity for a long-term spell.”

He said managing grasslands with grazing animals, using paddock-specific patterns, could capture water and build soil carbon and whole ecosystem health.

Eacham beef cattle producer Michael Hoare said a combination of smaller paddocks, changed rotation cycles, plant diversity and soil aeration was slowly but steadily improving his pastures, while Tarzali dairy and beef producers Robert and Veronica Hamilton said additional fencing would be their next step in stock management changes.

“We have a lot more fencing to do and re-grassing of our country – then we can make changes to our stock rotation methods and possibly speed up the process with weaned calves,’’ Robert said.

“We’re focused more now on what’s happening under the soil surface.”

The workshop was part of Terrain NRM’s Upper Johnstone Integrated Project, funded through the Queensland Government’s National Resource Investment Program, and its Digging Deeper Plus program funded through the Australian Government’s Nation-

al Landcare Program.

Terrain’s Jen Mackenzie said there was a strong demand across the Wet Tropics.

“We began with one all-day workshop on grazing naturally and building soil health but we extended to a second workshop when graziers kept contacting us wanting to be part of it,’’ she said.

“There is a huge appetite for a combination of soil, ecology and grazing information in the Wet Tropics – people are saying it’s good to have a better understanding of the science behind pasture management. It helps them to see why they are having good and bad results and what changes are needed.”

The Upper Johnstone Integrated Project is working with graziers to reduce sediment loads entering the Great Barrier Reef by targeting erosion hotspots and grazing land management practices, while Digging Deeper Plus is a soil management program including soil health sessions and individual soil action plans. For more information phone Terrain NRM on 4043 800.

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Dick Richardson talks graziers through holistic pasture management practices from paddock grazing patterns to ways plants and animals can build soil depth.

Cassowary Coast Independent News, Thursday, May 2, 2019 Page 19