Soil Biology: from knowledge to decision making

Soil biology: from knowledge to decision making

When Thursday 11 October from 9.30am – 3.00pm
Where The Premier Function Centre, 29 Grey Street, Traralgon
Numbers are limited, please register early to avoid disappointment.
Contact Tony Gardner on 1300 094 262 or email tonyg@wgcma.vic.gov.au before 5pm on October 3.

Featuring key note speaker Dr Damian Bougoure

Research Scientist, BioSciences Research Division, Soil Biology Group, DPI Victoria

Damian is a molecular microbial ecologist and is involved in a range of projects across several primary industry sectors with funding from GRDC, Dairy Australia and GWRDC.

The projects Damian works on all seek to answer questions about soil microbial communities in terms of structure and function and how microbes respond to variations such as soil type and land management. These projects use cutting edge technologies to answer complex problems.

Biology from a farmer’s perspective

Graeme Nicoll – Dairy Farmer and Nuffield Scholar, Fish creek
Shawn Hollingworth – Dairy Farmer, Koonwarra

Graeme and Shawn are both passionate about their role of producing food and caring for the environment. They both have a good understanding of soil biology and will discuss their approaches to managing soil within that context.

Compost in the modern farming system

Mark Samblebe – Gippsland Water Soils and Organic Recycling Facility

While some farmers are incorporating home-made compost, the increasing volume of large scale recycling of organic waste streams is presenting opportunities for agriculture. Mark will talk about the latest developments at the SORF, the trials and logistics involved.

Grazing management is King!

Greg Forster – Forster Rural Consulting

The West Gippsland CMA is supporting a number of discussion groups and farm trials where extended and crash grazing are the focus. Greg will discuss how these techniques may improve root depth, biological activity, nutrient accessibility and soil carbon.

Soil Carbon Research

Doug Crawford – DPI

The DPI recently surveyed soil carbon stocks in West Gippsland under its Victorian Soil Carbon Program, in collaboration with the national Soil Carbon Research Program led by CSIRO. Doug will present the latest results from 80 farms and discuss what they tell us about soil carbon under different land uses in the main soil types of West Gippsland.