Publication Date

2015

Publisher

Department of Agriculture and Food and the State of Western Australia

City

Perth WA

Abstract

This report was co-funded by GRDC through project no. DAW00213 - Putting the Focus on Profitable Crop and Pasture Sequences in WA.

Crop and pasture sequences in south-western Australia have changed in the past decade. These survey results from the Focus Paddock project provide data to help growers employ profitable and sustainable crop and pasture sequences. The project compiled information on the nature, suitability and productivity of crop and pasture sequences from 184 paddocks over five years. The results of the analyses of chemical and physical attributes of the soil, weed counts and disease management are presented here.

The survey was conducted within the cropping zone of south-western Australia with the same 184 paddocks surveyed each year from 2010 to 2014. Frequency distribution of data is reported for all 184 paddocks spread across three subregions of the South-Western Agricultural Region — the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR), the Central Agricultural Region (CAR) and the Southern Agricultural Region (SAR).

Two major outcomes of this survey are better understanding of the soil resource in the cropping zone of south-western Australia, and better understanding of the influence of common crop and pastures sequences on paddock biology. Using this knowledge, growers will be better able to implement reliable crop and pasture sequences to improve whole-farm profitability.

The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) managed the project in partnership with 10 grower groups — Yuna, Mingenew–Irwin, Liebe, WA No-tillage Farmers Association, Facey, Southern DiRT, Holt Rock, West Midlands, North Stirlings Pallinup and Fitzgerald Biosphere — with funding provided by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and DAFWA.

Number of Pages

135

Keywords

grdc, crops, paddock trial, pasture, grains, research, dpird, dafwa, waa

Disciplines

Agricultural Science | Agriculture | Agronomy and Crop Sciences

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