Bulletins 4000 -

Works in this collection were published by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia.

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Climate in the Pilbara

Robert Sudmeyer
The Pilbara is characterised by very hot summers, mild winters and low and variable rainfall. It is classified as hot desert in northern and inland areas and hot grasslands in the north-west. The Pilbara claims a number of climate records:
- seven of Western Australia’s ... Read more
Climate-ready agriculture: a situation statement for Western Australia

Robert Anthony Sudmeyer, Anne Bennett, and Melanie Strawbridge

Projected future changes in the state’s climate will present new challenges for our producers. The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) continues to work with agricultural industries to lay solid foundations for an agricultural sector that has a range of response options.

This ... Read more
Comparative assessment of crops to use potential additional water resources in the Warren–Donnelly catchments

James Dee and Ananda Ghose

Through the Royalties for Regions funded Southern Forests Water Futures Project, the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia undertook a study to understand the economic benefits of developing new water resources in the Warren–Donnelly catchments in the south-west of Western Australia.

The Warren–Donnelly catchments ... Read more
Markets for Western Australian seed potatoes

Manju Radhakrishnan and Peter Dawson

Western Australia has a major share (70%) in seed potato exports from Australia. However, exports from WA have declined by 56% from 3703 tonnes in 2010 to 1302 tonnes in 2015. In addition, Australia experienced a fall in the consumption of potatoes during recent years ... Read more
Renewable chemicals and bioproducts: a potential for agricultural diversification and economic development

Henry Brockman

Renewable chemicals are a new category of novel products: building blocks and ingredients for the production of chemicals produced from renewable feedstock and sustainable advanced manufacturing processes, leaving a smaller environmental footprint than traditional petrochemicals. Biologically based products are mainly non-food products derived from biomass.
... Read more
Making better fertiliser decisions for cropping systems in Western Australia. Soil test – crop response relationships and critical soil test values and ranges

Geoff Anderson, Ross Brennan, Richard Bell, and Wen Chen

The better fertiliser decisions for cropping project (BFDC) (2009-2012) was completed to provide comprehensive information to improve fertiliser decisions for the cropping industry in Australia (Speirs et al. 2013a). The WA component provides interpretation of results from crop nutrient application experiments for the WA cropping ... Read more
Biomass scoping study: opportunities for agriculture in Western Australia

Kim Brooksbank, Mitchell Lever, Harriet Paterson, and Melissa Weybury

This 2014 report aims to provide a summary of national and international activity in the use of agricultural by-products for the production of bioenergy and biofuels. The summary is primarily an internal report for the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), but will ... Read more
Carbon farming in relation to Western Australian agriculture

Robert Sudmeyer, Jackson Parker, Tanmoy Nath, and Ananda Ghose

Carbon farming activities need to return multiple economic and environmental co-benefits to be attractive to land managers. This bulletin summarises concepts underlying carbon farming, how Australia accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for Western Australian land managers to participate in, and benefit from, ... Read more
Market opportunities for Western Australian mandarins and oranges

Manju Radhakrishnan

Citrus growing in Western Australian (WA) is concentrated north and south of Perth and in the north around Kununurra and Carnarvon. WA currently produces about 18 000 tonnes (t) of citrus each year. Most production is sold on the local Perth market, with negligible exports. ... Read more
Soil acidity : a guide for WA farmers and consultants.

Chris Gazey, Stephen Davies, and Ron Master

Our first edition of Soil acidity: a guide for WA farmers and consultants in 2009 was a significant publication which brought together current knowledge on the management of soil acidity in WA in a user-friendly book. Three thousand printed copies were distributed and an interactive ... Read more
The agronomy jigsaw: Finding the pieces that maximise water use efficiency

David Hall; Paul Galloway; Jeremy Lemon; Ben Curtis; Andrew van Burgel; Kelly Kong; and Nigel Metz,

The Agronomy Jigsaw project is an initiative of the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) in collaboration with the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA) and Precision Agronomics Australia (PAA). The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded the project under the ... Read more
Audit of WA agricultural lime quality 2013

Chris Gazey

Applying agricultural lime is the most economical way of ameliorating low soil pH in broadscale agriculture in Western Australia (WA). In WA, agricultural lime is usually limesand from coastal sand dunes, crushed limestone from coastal deposits or crushed dolomitic lime (usually marketed as dolomite) from ... Read more
Effect of smoke in grape and wine production

Kristen Brodison

Smoke exposure of grapevines and the development of smoke-related characteristics in the resulting wines is an increasing issue for the wine industry. As Australia faces a warming climate with more bushfires, smoke exposure in vineyards is becoming more regular.

Wines made from grapes exposed to ... Read more
Establishment guide for sub-tropical grasses : key steps to success

Geoff Allan Moore, Ron Yates, Phil Barrett-Lennard, Phil Nichols, Brad Wintle, John Titterington, and Chris Loo

Sub-tropical perennial grasses are now widely sown in the Northern Agricultural region (NAR) and on the south coast of Western Australia (WA). Since 2000, more than 50 000 ha have been sown to perennial grasses in the NAR and about 150 000 ha on the ... Read more
Pasture condition guide for the Kimberley

Kathryn Ryan, Elizabeth Tierney, Paul Novelly, and Robert McCartney

This interactive guide has been produced as a tool for assessing pasture condition over a range of pasture types in the Kimberley. A pasture type is a distinctive mix of plant species, soil type and landscape position. For example, the Mitchell Grass Alluvial Plain Pasture ... Read more
Selections of the Houghton clones of Cabernet Sauvignon

Glynn Ward, Ian Cameron, and Richard Fennessy

Cabernet Sauvignon is the premium red wine grape variety grown in Western Australia. The high quality wines produced have won prestigious awards and accolades nationally and internationally. The first clonal selection of Cabernet Sauvignon in Western Australia was conducted by the Department of Agriculture at ... Read more
Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions

Meredith Fairbanks, David Bowran, and Geraldine Pasqual

Agriculture contributes 15.5 per cent of Australia’s emissions (Figure 1), largely due to methane, from ruminant livestock digestion, nitrous oxide from soils and carbon dioxide from fossil fuel use (Australian National Greenhouse Accounts 2011; ABARES 2011).

This bulletin identifies current ways to reduce greenhouse gas ... Read more
Barley variety guide for WA 2013

Blakely Paynter, Andrea Hills, Harmohinder Dhammu, and Sanjiv Gupta

This publication presents general information on market demand by industry sector, variety and Port Zone for each of the malting barley varieties that will potentially be segregated in Western Australia at the 2013/14 harvest (Tables 1, 2 and 3).

This information is presented on behalf ... Read more
Wheat variety guide for WA 2012

Brenda Shackley, Sarah Ellis, Christine Zaicou, Harmohinder Dhammu, Manisha Shankar, and Mohammad Amjad

The wheat variety guide summarises performance characteristics of commercially available wheats which have undergone testing in the National Variety Testing Project (NVT), and Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) wheat agronomy project.

This information includes variety summaries, agronomic, disease and herbicide tolerance characteristics and medium ... Read more
Barley variety guide for WA 2012

Blakely Paynter, Andrea Hills, and Harmohinder Dhammu

This variety guide is designed as a quick reference to help growers determine which barley variety to grow in their region. It provides domestic and international market feedback, relative grain yield comparisons, disease ratings, agronomic information and herbicide tolerance ratings for all malting barley varieties, ... Read more
Changing climate, changing business practices : lessons from innovative growers

David Gray, Nicole Baxter, Meredith Fairbanks, and Geraldine Pasqual

Climate change and increasing seasonal variability are challenging the production efforts of growers in lower rainfall environments of the Western Australian grain belt. Significantly less rainfall than the long-term average has fallen across southwest Western Australia during the past 30 years.

Seasonal rainfall has also ... Read more
Evaluation of alternative wine grape varieties in Manjimup, Western Australia

Kristen Kennison and Richard Fennessy

Since 1998 the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) in conjunction with the Western Australian Vine Improvement Association (WAVIA) have imported over 60 new varieties and clones of wine grape material into Western Australia. These new varieties and clones were identified by the ... Read more
Greener pastures 1 - The greener pasture project: managing nutrients in dairy pastures

John Lucey, Mike Bolland, Don Bennett, Richard Morris, Bill Russell, and Martin Staines

As dairy farmers have strived to maintain profitability, many have farmed more intensively. More cows are milked and increasing inputs of fertiliser and purchased feed are used per hectare. However, these increased nutrient inputs have far exceeded the increase in nutrient output in milk production. ... Read more
Greener pastures 2 - Nitrogen for intensively grazed dairy pastures

Martin Staines, Richard Morris, Tess Casson, Mike Bolland, Bill Russell, Ian Guthridge, John Lucey, and Don Bennett

We undertook three main studies during the Greener Pastures project:

1. From mid 2005 to late 2008, a farming systems study was undertaken with five rates of nitrogen fertiliser as the main treatment. This study will be referred to as the ‘nitrogen response farmlets’.

2. ... Read more
Greener pastures 3 - Managing phosphorus in dairy pastures

Mike Bolland, Ian Guthridge, Bill Russell, Martin Staines, John Lucey, and Richard Morris

Between 1999 and 2009, soil testing was conducted in 48 dairy paddocks at Vasse Research Centre (VRC) in the south-west of Western Australia (WA). This study will be referred to as the VRC soil test study.

Phosphorus experiments were undertaken on partner farms of the ... Read more