Works in this collection were published by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia.
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Climate change response strategy
Anne Bennett
Climate change and policies introduced to reduce emissions will affect the agricultural sector and will lead to social and economic outcomes.
In addressing the Western Australian Government's priority plan for the agriculture and food sector, the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia has a ... Read more
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Ecologically significant invasive species, a monitoring framework for natural resource management groups in Western Australia
Jan-Willem de Miliano, Andrew Woolnough, Andrew Reeves, and Damian Shepherd
This publication is the result of the project titled 'Resource Condition Monitoring for Ecologically Significant Species. The project identified and addressed key weaknesses in the State's capacity to monitor threat posed by ecologically significant species. The invasive species monitoring framework for Western Australia developed through ... Read more
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Growing biserrula to improve grain and livestock production
Angelo Loi, Natalie Hogg, Clinton Revell, and Diana Fedorenko
Biserrula pelecinus is a new genus of pasture legume which was developed for commercial agriculture by a team of Perth-based legume pasture scientists in the early 1990s. Biserrula is an annual pasture legume that is found in natural grasslands of the Mediterranean Basin, frequently on ... Read more
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Landscapes and soils of the Narrogin district
D N. Sawkins
The publication aims to provide readers with the principles underlying the formation of local landscapes and soils, and the ability to identify landscapes and their associated soils.
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Landscapes and soils of the Northam district
D N. Sawkins and Department of Agriculture and Food
The publication aims to provide readers with the principles underlying the formation of local landscapes and soils, and the ability to identify landscapes and their associated soils.
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Phosphorus for high rainfall pastures
Mike Bolland, Bill Russell, and David Weaver
Soil testing for phosphorus provides a reliable indication of when the level of phosphorus in a soil is likely to be adequate for pasture production in the next growing season. It is a waste of money to apply phosphorus fertiliser when soil testing indicates none ... Read more
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Potassium for high rainfall pastures
Mike Bolland and Bill Russell
Potassium plays a major role in plant growth. It maintains the solutions in plant cells at ionic strengths suitable for maintaining strong plant walls and for the proper functioning of leaf pores (stomata) and plant processes such as photosynthesis, transport of sugars and enzyme activation.
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Production of premium waxflowers
Kevin Seaton and Nikki Poulish
The cut flower trade is a highly competitive global market. Waxflowers are grown around the world—often in countries with lower cost structures or closer proximity to our main markets. Western Australian producers can only compete if their product stands out from the crowd in terms ... Read more
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Report on phosphorus and potassium experiments conducted on partner farms of the Greener Pastures project
Mike Bolland, Ian Guthridge, Graham Blincow, and Peter Needs
Dairy production in south-western Australia occurs predominantly on sandy soils in the greater than 800 mm annual average rainfall areas of the region. The climate is Mediterranean-type, typically with cool, wet May-October growing seasons and hot, dry November-April. Most dairy pastures are rain-fed and comprise ... Read more
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Wheat variety guide 2010 Western Australia
Christine Zaicou, Steve Penny, Brenda Shackley, Sarah Ellis, Shahajahan Miyan, Harmohinder Dhammu, Manisha Shankar, and Darshan Sharma
This guide summarises performance characteristics of commercially available wheats which have undergone testing in the National Variety Testing Project (NVT), breeding organisations crop variety testing and Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) variety specific agronomy projects. This information includes variety summaries, agronomic, disease and herbicide ... Read more
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Common regional pests of Western Australia
Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia
Western Australia is free from many exotic animal and plant pests, diseases and weeds that are present elsewhere in Australia. However, the state does have some unwanted intruders. Of these, many are declared plants or declared animals which, for the sake of convenience, we collectively ... Read more
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Diagnosing crop and pasture problems with Detective Doug
Doug Sawkins
There are numerous publications for diagnosing crop and pasture growth problems. Although they are excellent for experienced people, they can be time consuming and possibly misleading for the less experienced.
Many guidebooks assume that the user has already decided that their problem falls into the ... Read more
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Exporting vegetables in bulk : reducing supply chain costs without compromising quality
Helen Ramsey and Dennis Phillips
Increased competition, a strong Australian dollar and increased production costs have seen Australian grown vegetables steadily lose their share in traditional export markets.
As competition increases, we need to investigate production and handling techniques that improve our price and quality competitiveness.
Improving the effi ciency ... Read more
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Getting into sheep an introductory guide to sheep management
Keith Croker and Roy Butler
Sheep husbandry can be an interesting and rewarding activity but before starting to work with or buy sheep ask yourself if you are prepared to spend the time and effort to care for them.
Sheep cannot be placed in a paddock and forgotten. The sheep, ... Read more
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Identifying sub-tropical grass seedlings
Brad Wintle, Geoff Moore, and Phil Nichols
There is considerable interest in growing sub-tropical (or warm season) perennial grasses for out-of-season green feed, especially on the south coast and in the northern agricultural region (NAR). They consist of two types: creeping grasses, which spread by either above ground runners (stolons) or below ... Read more
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Landscapes and soils of the Merredin district
D N. Sawkins and Department of Agriculture and Food
The publication aims to provide readers with the principles underlying the formation of local landscapes and soils, and the ability to identify landscapes and their associated soils.
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Lucerne guidelines for Western Australia principles for integrating a perennial pasture into broadacre dryland farming systems
Diana Fedorenko, Perry Dolling, Christopher Loo, Tom Bailey, and Roy Latta
Lucerne, often regarded as the queen of forages, has been used in agriculture for centuries. In Western Australia, however, its potential has never been fully realised despite its well-documented ability to dewater soils and reduce groundwater recharge. Over the years adoption has been limited by ... Read more
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Management of Merino weaners for optimum production
Patricia Harper, Keith Croker, and Danny Roberts
Sheep mortality during the first year of life is a large problem on many farms and poses a significant animal welfare issue for Australian agriculture. Post weaning mortality is estimated to cost the Australian sheep industry more than $89 million annually through reduced income, poor ... Read more
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Managing south coast sandplain soils to yield potential
Department of Agriculture, Western Australia
This book has been written to help farmers reach their rainfall-limited yield potential. It comes from a need to understand the properties and management options for grain production on sandplain soils. It also seeks to address concerns that crop yields on sandplain soils are not ... Read more
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Pasture condition guide for the Ord River Catchment
K Ryan, E Tierney, and P Novelly
This guide has been produced as a tool for assessing pasture condition over a range of pasture types in the Ord River catchment. A pasture type is a distinctive mix of plant species, soil type and landscape position. For example, the Mitchell Grass Alluvial Plain ... Read more
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Report on polyacrylamide, a practice to reduce sediment and insoluable chemicals in tailwater
Tara Slaven
The main barrier to the adoption of PAM seems to the timing of the cost of outlay. This could add significantly to the initial crop establishment costs at a time of year when rowers receive no income. However, the partial and parametric analysis indicates that ... Read more
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Skeleton weed in Western Australia, pocket guide
State Skeleton Weed Committee; Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia; and Agriculture Protection Board
The Skeleton Weed Program is a coordinated approach to eradicating skeleton weed in Western Australia. It is run jointly by the State Skeleton Weed Committee, the Department of Agriculture and the Agriculture Protection Board. It is funded through the skeleton weed levy collected from grain ... Read more
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Soil acidity : a guide for WA farmers and consultants
Chris Gazey and Stephen Davies
Soil acidity: a guide for WA farmers and consultants provides all the necessary information for effective management and understanding of soil acidity in a user-friendly handbook including many examples, diagrams and photographs.
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Soil pH in northern and southern areas of the WA wheatbelt
Chris Gazey and Joel Andrew
More than 80% of the topsoils sampled fall below the critical surface pHCaCl2 of 5.5 in the northern and southern wheatbelt study areas, with more in the south than the north. These results confirm soil acidity is a serious concern throughout the WA wheatbelt when ... Read more
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Survey of Western Australian agricultural lime sources
Chris Gazey and Dave Gartner
As a service to WA wheatbelt farmers, to assist with cost effective management of soil acidity, a survey of agricultural lime availability and quality was conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia.
The quality of agricultural lime surveyed varied widely between pits. ... Read more
