SEPWA Events

Every year SEPWA organises various trials and events throughout the Esperance Port Zone to assist grain growers to produce quality grain and to become more profitable and sustainable.

Please note that you do not necessarily have to be a SEPWA member to attend these events, however there are discounted rates available for members. Field Days are Free for anyone to attend.

For events that are coming up in the region, check out our Calendar of Events.

Here are some events that we have hosted in 2008.

Jill Hutchison - Survive or Thrive

November 6 2008

'Making the most of times like these - do you want to survive or thrive?'

'Survive or Thrive' presented by Jill Hutchison was well attend by SEPWA members on the 6th of November. Jill spoke about how there are so many things around us we can not control, for instance the weather, the economy or political situation but we can control our attitudes, actions, feelings and responses to these. She also spoke about that much of our behaviour and thinking patterns are a result of our conditioning from our parents, our family and friends. Which posed a very important question: "So who is doing your thinking". This session was an introduction to the Goal Achieving Seminar which Jill hosted later on in the month.

International Rural Women's Day

October 2008

The Rural, Remote and Regional Women's Network and South East Premium Wheat Grower's Association got together to help celebrate International Rural Women's Day in Esperance! It was the tales of European agriculture in Esperance. Sometimes it takes a relaxed lunch to find out more about someone you thought you knew. And this was the case in Esperance for World Rural Women's Day, when a small group got together to hear more about the life of Marie Fowler. Marie spoke about growing up in Northern Ireland, working in agriculture in Europe and her transition to being a mother-of-four at Condingup, 100km east of Esperance.

Local Field Days

October 2007

More than 400 farmers attended the local field days held throughout the Esperance Port Zone recently. Speakers and subjects were many and varied and each of the field days were hosted by the various local farmer groups, including SEPWA, and they also included checking out the various SEPWA wheat and barley variety trials and presentations on some of the SEPWA projects.

 

Jerdacuttup Field Day

One of the highlights of the Jerdacuttup field day was the opportunity to quiz Ian Sproule from CBH, with questions about the new SOFIA grain tester. SOFIA is a fantastic on farm infratech which will include canola testing in the future. Ian Sproule and Samantha Openshaw were also at the Esperance Downs Research Station field day. The site visits included: the Oilseeds WA Canola variety trial at Atherton's; Tanjil lupins at Williams'; four trials at Redman's including a timing and rate of Nitrogen trial to look at canopy management; and Fould's faba beans. Following the site visits, Clive Kirkby (CSIRO) discussed carbon sources and cycles and Derk Bakker (DAFWA Albany) finished off a fantastic day by showing some results from Walker's property where he is doing some production constraints work.

RAIN Field Day

RAIN field day

This year's Ravensthorpe Agricultural Initiative Network field day was held in the Dunn Rock and Fitzgerald areas. The jam packed day included the following speakers: Clive Kirkby (CSIRO) who talked about soil organic matter; Nigel Metz introduced the new GRDC funded SEPWA Precision Ag project; Collette Menegola talked about WestPetro's soon to be built ethanol plant; Aaron Bridger described the highlights of the SEPWA Young Farmer's Tour; and Engineering works in West River were covered by three host farmers Chris Biddulph, Dick Kuiper and Rod Ebert. The field day also included a pasture variety trial and fertiliser comparison trial, some serradella and biserrulla pastures, some deep placement of P trial, a Summit fertiliser trial as well as a NVT canola trial.

Beaumont Field Day

Beaumont field day

It was a little wet out at the Beaumont field day but that only raised everyone's spirits. Twenty farmers ventured around their backyard visiting Phil Longmire's SEPWA wheat trial, Craig Inkster's SEPWA barley trial and Andrew Fowler's SEPWA wheat trial. Crop yields are not nearly as positive as this time last year for the Beaumont area however crop potential improved as the participants headed south. An improved ryegrass pasture was visited where it was highlighted the importance of conserving feed through silage and the new 'Pasture phase booklet' was handed out. Farmers also visited a hybrid canola paddock where Quality Agronomics Agronomist, Andrew Heinrich discussed the importance of seed production systems of hybrid canola and how farmers in the long term need to look at moving to TM canola. The day concluded with the traditional field day diet, meat and beer, while Nigel Metz present the CSIRO lead Precision Agriculture project, highlighting how farmers might use simpler information to manage parts of their farm. Nuffield scholar, Simon Tiller, also shared his experiences from his trip. One of the significant findings of the trip is that globally, Australia is a niche producer of grain but is recognised for its excellent quality. The scholarship has also provided him with a large network of contacts from all over the globe and highlighted that Esperance farmers are farming in a great part of the world.

Cascade Field Day

Cascade field day

Tony Smith from Plumgrove was the highlight of the Cascade field day. Tony provided a current market outlook and made suggestions about marketing options for grain pre and post harvest. Participants at the Cascade field day visited SEPWA variety trials at May's, Curnow's, King's and Pickering's. They also ventured to Robert's property to look at Roundup ready vetch and listened to Luke Marquis talk about variable rate P, Nigel Metz again spoke about Precision Agriculture, Gemma Walker gave an insight into another SEPWA project - More Than Trees and Fences and also the recent Young Farmers' Tour and Kelly Guest spoke about her book which has just been released, "More than a Passing Phase", about ryegrass pastures.

 

 

Neridup Field Day

Organised by the Neridup Soil Conservation Group, the day attracted about 25 farmers. Crops in the northern part of the Neridup area look pretty good considering the rainfall for the year. Particularly impressive was the canola trial hosted by Ashley Stewart, which had only just received over 160 mm at that time. Particpants also looked at the storage of fertiliser in silo bags at the Elliots, who have been doing this for a couple of years. Farmers got to compare some grazed and ungrazed barley crops at David Cox's place; it will be interesting to see the yield between the two paddocks come harvest. After this it was back to the Neridup Fire shed for a look at some Precision Agriculture basics and David Cox and Matt Elliot shared their learning's from the recent Grower Group Alliance tour to NSW. The day finished in true Neridup style with a BBQ and beer.

Salmon Gums Field Day

Salmon Gums field day

The North Mallee Farm Improvement Group organised the day which saw some 55 farmers participate in the day between some intermittent rainfall events. The field day took in a SEPWA wheat variety trial at Ron Longbottom's and also checked out his Yarra field peas, which are resistant to Pea seed mosaic virus, and allowed farmers to compare them to Kasper. Leon and Vernon Guest's canola crop looked pretty reasonable considering the season, and farmers also got to check out the SEPWA barley variety trial at Fletchers. Back at the Salmon Gums Gold Club, Ian Foster spoke about the different models used for climate outlook and Dale Guest and Matt Brennand from the Forest Products Commission spoke about carbon credit plantings options for growers in the mallee region and Nigel Metz once again spoke about his precision agriculture project and simple ways that growers can look at their yield maps.

EDRS Spring Field Day

September 2008

A chef, a soil health myth buster and numerous crop and sheep researchers - what more could you want in a field day? More than 130 farmers and 30 industry representatives were attracted by the great line up of speakers at the biggest field day in the Esperance Port Zone. Participants' interests were piqued by the Clive Kirby, the key note speaker of the field day. Mr Kirkby, who is from the CSIRO, has been working on crop residue management, soil carbon, soil health interactions and the role of microbes for the past 20 years. At the field day he busted myths about soil health and soil organic carbons levels and he also raised the possibility of including the Esperance region in his research.

EDRS field day

Another highlight of the day was the demonstration, of how to bone a lamb carcase with a small vegetable knife, by Mondo Di Carne owner and operator Vince Gareffa. The gregarious Vince Gareffa shared his passion for good meat and Italian cooking and some of the attendees were lucky enough to take home sumptuous boned roasts.

Many of the Esperance Downs trial sites were visited throughout the day: including agronomy, variable rate herbicide application and National Variety Trials; wheat, barley, canola and oats agronomy; variable rate phosphate and nitrogen fertiliser trials. On the livestock side, people made the most of activities such as: condition scoring of cattle and sheep and lice identification and treatment by local vet Enoch Bergman and Department of Agriculture and Food WA staff.

The day was organised by the Department of Agriculture and Food WA in conjunction with the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association.

Ladies attend EDRS Spring Field day

Ladies were further encouraged to attend the EDRS Spring Field day by the SEPWA Ladies Committee. They saw an assortment of trials and displays that were available including the latest wheat, barley and oat variety trials to sheep condition scoring and lice identification and treatment. Women in attendance were engaged in a lively discussion about wheat trials with Ben Curtis, Acting District Manager for Department of Agriculture and Food WA and SEPWA life member.

Industry & Sponsors BBQ

September 2008

SEPWA sponsors and industry representatives were recently given more of an insight into the SEPWA's many projects and vast network. More than 35 people attended the event which included representatives from Rabobank, Farm and General, AWB, COGGO, South East Petroleum, Nufarm, the Department of Agriculture and Food, South Coast Natural Resource Management, South East Coastal Business Centre and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). The inaugural "Industry and Sponsors' Barbecue" event was initiated to provide a formal opportunity for current and potential sponsors to mingle with the SEPWA Executive and staff, and to increase their knowledge of the group's activities.

SEPWA Ladies Day / Dinner

August 2008

SEPWA ladies day

More than 130 women from throughout the Esperance Port Zone flocked to the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association event for a day of inspiration, motivation, education and networking with other like minded people. The highlight of the SEPWA Ladies' Day was a presentation from Telstra Business Woman of the Year, Leanne Preston who founded her own international company, Wildchild, which develops safe, natural, healthcare products for the whole family. Other speakers included WA finalist and National Runnerup for the RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year award, Maggie Edmonds who grow and market passionfruit and olives on the farm at Gingin.

Jill Hutchison from Life Success Consultants

The afternoon provided women with a huge array of topics to choose from including scrapbooking, the perfect cup of coffee, rural employment, how to keep men moving on tractors, the SEPWA international study tour report and what our volunteers are doing at Lake Warden. Local Condingup ladies, Gill Inkster and Mandy Chapman also inspired the ladies with their story of following their passion and setting up their own business "Biccies" in their farm kitchens, cooking delectable biscuits and muffins for a local business. Their business was inspired by the 2007 Ladies Day.

(left) Jill Hutchison from Life Success Consultants

Farm Office Workshops

July 2008

Jeanette Buegge from Office Extraordinaire hosted four "Office Workshops" throughout the Esperance Port Zone where she provided more than 50 people with a day full of useful tips and information on every aspect of running an efficient farm office. She emphasised the importance of goal setting, getting the office set up with the basic requirements and developing an efficient filing system which includes the bin. Keeping order in the office is essential to maintain a productive and sustainable farming entity.

Young Growers Tour

July 2008

On the 20th of July, 16 young growers from SEPWA and 8 from the Liebe Group, met in Perth for a four day tour of various facilities in Perth, to gain a greater insight into what happens to their grain once it leaves the farm. It also young farmers the opportunity to interact with other growers from different regions of the state, opening up networking between members of both grower organisations.

The CBH group gave tours through the Kwinana Grain Terminal, Metro Grains Centre and the Australian Grains Centre. Following this they looked through the Joe White malting facility. A visit to Mash Brewing in the Swan Valley completed the malt barley process chain, where after a tour of their micro brewery, growers were able to sample some of the end products.

On the wheat side, visits to the Byford flour Mill and Bowvilles Bakery, where once again tour participants sampled some bread that they produced. The tour also went through the breeding facilities of the Department of Agriculture and Food, which gave growers the chance to interact and speak first hand of their wishes for future varieties with the breeders. For further information please visit the SEPWA Tours page.

SEPWA International Study Tour

March-April 2008

SEPWA Ladies International Study Tour

Fourteen ladies from various areas of the Esperance Port Zone toured Singapore, Malaysia and China. From learning the finer points of making and cooking noodles, consuming huge amounts of 'Munchies', a time warp of bread history, flour mills, breweries and markets - we got to see firsthand where our grain goes and what these end users expect from buying grain. It was encouraging to see that the future of our markets in developing Asian countries will only increase due to consumers having more disposable income and changing diets from rice to flour based foods. For further information please visit the SEPWA Tours page.

On Farm Grain Storage Workshop

March 2008

Andrew Kotzur from Modern Engineering in NSW visited Esperance to hold an information session in regard to on farm grain storage. A key theme of the day was that on farm storage can currently offer harvest management advantages, opportunities to improve grain quality as well as access to off peak freight rates. On the flip side of this, there is presently no apparent marketing advantage of holding grain on farm in the Esperance port zone and is probably the key limiting factor to investment, however as market deregulation unfolds growers will continually examine this situation.

SEPWA Harvest Debrief

March 2008

SEPWA Harvest Debrief

The South East Premium Wheatgrowers Association's premiere event of 2008 attracted an impressive line up of high profile speakers and almost 120 growers and industry representatives. There was a diverse range of topics presented some of the highlights included: Nick Poole from New Zealand presenting the results of his fungicide work at Munglinup; SEPWA trial results; and SEPWA's myth busting 24 Hour Challenge presented by Nigel Metz.

(Left) Ashley Stewart, Mark Wandel and Simon Tiller

SEPWA Annual Graingrowers Dinner

March 2008

SEPWA Annual Dinner SEPWA Annual Dinner

(Left) Professor Tim Reeves

The main feature of the SEPWA calendar of events is the Annual Graingrowers Dinner. Over dinner Professor Tim Reeves was the key note speaker for the Annual Graingrowers' dinner. He addressed the impact of climate change, adoption of new technology, plant breeding and the growing bio fuels industry on the agricultural industry. It was positive to hear that it's a great time to be involved in agriculture thanks to surging demand from the BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

SEPWA Pastures Workshop

February 2008

SEPWA Pastures Workshop

SEPWA's inaugural improved pastures workshop was well attended by farmers from across the Esperance sandplain and local consultants. The aim of the workshop was to provide local farmers with an overview of ryegrass establishment, management and removal. We had speakers from all over that state to meet this aim including; Dr Craig Russell, from the Department of Agriculture and Food in Albany, Andrew Fowler from Orleans Farms, Paul Omodei from Agrom Management in Manjimup, Todd Quinlivan from Quintarra Farms and David Ferris from the Department of Agriculture and Food in Northam. Further information about the pastures project.

The presenters: (Top left) Kelly Guest, Paul Omodei, Craig Russell, Todd Quinlivan
(Bottom Left) Andrew Fowler and David Ferris