Labour Relations workshop, Esperance – October, 2011

Managing farm labour can be a very convoluted and complex issue for any business and many of the complexities were cleared up for the 25 farmers who attended to find out their rights and responsibilities as an employer.

The workshop was presented by Carole Baetge , Manager Education and Advisory Services, along with Ruth Crow , Senior Education Officer with the Department of Commerce, Labour Relations.

Local speaker, Tara Vermeersch from “Practical Employee Relations” also shared her expertise in legislative compliance, employee disciplinary matters and the drafting of workplace policies and employee contracts.

The workshop was a joint initiative between SEPWA and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and it was sponsored by the Department of Commerce who was contracted by the Fair Work Ombudsman to deliver information on the national industrial relations system.

For more information you can go to: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pages/default.aspx.

Esperance Downs Research Station (EDRS) Field Day, Gibson – September 2011

Around 150 people attended the annual EDRS Field Day which was jointly hosted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, WA and South East Premium Wheat Growers’ Association.

The main focus was “Managing Weed Resistance” and guest speakers loaded the audience with information on how best to manage costly issues associated with increased weed resistance to herbicide applications in crops.

Farmers visited various trials which included cattle grazing a wide range of canola, wheat and barley varieties; wheat and barley variety trials; powdery mildew in barley and there were also some displays.

Local field days, September 2011

Jerdacuttup Spring Field Day

Despite looming coastal rain, a crowd of more than 40 turned out for the Jerdacuttup Spring Field Day organised by the Jerdacuttup Top Crop and Pasture group.

Trials viewed included SEPWA canola, wheat and barley variety trials; nitrogen trials; herbicide trials and farmers were also briefed on the GRDC funded Agronomy Jigsaw project and learnt about soil water holding capacity.

GRDC’s Western Panel representatives Ralph Burnett, Mike Ewing and Bill Ryan also attended and gave a presentation on how GRDC was planning on funding research and extension in coming years.

Salmon Gums

Despite the tough seasonal conditions north of Grass Patch a great crowd from the Northern Mallee attended the day.  They visited various DAFWA and SEPWA trial sites, field peas and NPK rich strips.  They day concluded with presentations from various speakers.

Condingup

An enthusiastic 40 or so growers and industry people followed the Condy field day along which commenced with a SEPWA barley trial and a lot of discussion on “which variety to grow” following the disease pressue of mildew in Baudin.Other trials included a wheat trial where there were the differences in maturity of the varieties was starting to show differences in the tighter seasonal conditions and also a canola variety trial that had also been grazed.

There was also a brief discussion on the use of Gypsum as part of the Agronomy Jigsaw project which SEPWA in involved in.

Cascade

More than 60 farmers ventured along to attend the Cascade/ Coomelbidgup field day which started off with a Quality Optimisation workshop run by the CBH Group.

Following that, the farm tour took in SEPWA wheat trials, barley trials that provoked good discussion about the future of Baudin barley and also SEPWA canola variety trials.

Farmers also viewed a grazing canola trial and listened to a couple of presentations.
                                  
Neridup 

Around 60 farmers and industry representatives attended the Neridup field day to check out various trials.  These included a SEPWA wheat trial, a SEPWA canola variety trial that demonstrated Roundup Ready versus conventional and triazine tolerant varieties; and a SEPWA barley variety trials that had also been grazed with cattle and proved to have a positive effect on controlling disease in Baudin barley.

Farmers viewed and heard about the pros and cons of discs, tynes and chemical treatments on ryegrass populations and checked out a homemade clay delver.  They also viewed a mouldboard-ploughed paddock that showed it can be an effective tool in managing non-wetting soils and weed control.

A radish control trial was also included in the program and this demonstrated that some of the more commonly used chemicals are no longer effective at controlling this increasing weed problem.

SEPWA Ladies Day, Esperance August 2011

More than 125 ladies snapped up tickets to the annual SEPWA Ladies’ day like dresses at a post Christmas sale.

 The event focused on “Enterprising Women – an inspiring day out” and showcased various inspirational women who had developed innovative ideas.

 The keynote speaker was professional speaker, Robyn Moore who had ladies sitting on the edge of their seats in awe and amazement as she sold people back to themselves.

Other speakers included Peta Astbury who invented a specimen container; Emma Welsh who set up an Aussie Juice Company; Cambinata Yabbies queen Mary Nenke and marketing professional Esther Price.

 Local naturopath Pamella Zaksotelsky spoke about how ladies can better look after themselves with preventative and natural medicines and Research nurse, Jacki Ward provided an update on the SEPWA cross contamination of chemicals project.

Finally Wongan Hills farmer, Sue Middleton who was 2010 National RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year inspired the ladies with her story of her successful farming enterprises and the opportunities presented by being the national face of women in agribusiness. 

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) were the major sponsor of the 2011 SEPWA Ladies’ Day.
The Department of Commerce, Skywest, AWB, Telstra, South Coast Natural Resource Management, Ostara Australia and the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA) are proud to be partners of the event.