National

An Australian Wool innovation: "Healthy Soils" Training Module

Past research identified a significant gap in profitability between the ‘top 20%’ and the average sheep producer of between $20 and $37 per sry sheep equivalent. Evidence showed this gap was due to the adoption of best practices by the top 20% of sheep producers. A long history of investment in research and development by the wool and sheepmeat industries means that much of the information, technologies and tools to allow sheep producers to significantly increase sustainability (more)...

Ute Guide & Soil Health Courses for Vegetable Growers

The Australian vegetable industry comprises 5,500 levy-paying growers with a production base of 104,500ha, producing foodstuffs worth an estimated $2bn/year. The diversity of produce grown, growing locations and language barriers make it difficult to p

The Healthy Soils Symposium - Conference Proceedings

Welcome

Investors in the Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms programme are proud to convene a Symposium on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The event poses a challenging question and invites farmers, scientists, agronomists and economists t

Healthy Soils - Corporate Brochure

Soil is a national asset. It is the source of our wealth and our well-being and the base material of our prosperity. Healthy soils are the engine room of sustainable, productive farms in Australia. They serve us as an economic asset, through farming and mineral production, and as a natural asset. They: assist with environmental health can help to improve the quality of Australia’s water resources offer life (more)...

The Madden- Julian Oscillation (MJO) and its relevance to the southern hemisphere tropics and extratropics

This talk will provide a review of recent work on the impact of the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) on the Tropics and extratropics of the southern hemisphere, but with particular emphasis on the Australian region. There, an influence can be detected in rainfall or circulation in most locations during all of the traditionally-defined seasons. As expected, the greatest rainfall impact of the MJO is in northern Australia in (austral) summer, where it is (more)...

Climate services to help manage the risks associated with climate extremes over Australia

Government, industry and community interest in extremes associated with climate variability and change has increased dramatically in Australia in recent years. Expectations of the Bureau of Meteorology have increased accordingly and climate services are evolving to meet these new demands. More data are being made available and user-focused services being developed to help Australians manage the risks associated with climate extremes.

Insuring for resilience in extreme conditions using climate modes and reanalysis products

In many sectors (e.g. urban air quality, agriculture, energy markets), high-impact extreme events often result from the confluence of several contributing causes and can herald major and sustained changes in behaviour of the physical and socio-economic environments. They are often preceded by a short window of “increased predictability” in an otherwise essentially non-stationary environment. This review of the characteristics of extremes in weather-sensitive, agricultural (more)...

Salinity management practice guidelines

A better understanding of plant requirements and the highly efficient management of water has led irrigators to apply water to accurately meet crop needs. This has meant a considerable reduction in the amount of water flushing through the root-zone. As a result, soil salinity levels have risen. Current drought conditions and low water allocations are likely to result in even less water being used to flush salts from the root-zone. The declining quality of water resources means that actively (more)...

The implications of climate change for insurable climate risks

Australia’s agricultural sector is likely to become more exposed to the risks of climate change. Insurance can help producers face the challenge of adapting to those risks. Key facts Some weather extremes pose risks to agricultural production. One management option is to take out insurance cover against certain weather events such as fire, frost and flood. Overall losses from weather catastrophes have increased since 1980. Insurance has covered only 24 (more)...

Farm viability in a changing climate

One difficult and complex question that concerns many farmers is: will my farm be viable as the climate changes? Climate change will cause confusion and stress for farmers and advisors. By understanding that the future involves many changes to the farm business, and that every farm is different, the outlook may become clearer. For example, if grain prices are high because of food shortages, farms can be viable despite lower grain yields and higher costs. Here we look at a case (more)...