Grain & Graze
Grain & Graze helps producers in the sheep-wheat zone identify what combination of livestock, pastures and crops will increase profitability and improve the natural resource base on which they farm.
The profitability of mixed farming systems varies across the sheep wheat belt, and the resource base is threatened by a number of degradation processes. Yet nearly 40,000 producers rely upon maintaining and improving both the profitability and resource condition of these enterprises.
Grain and Graze is a research and extension program working in collaboration with farmers and catchment groups to increase whole farm profitability and productivity while enhancing natural resource condition across the sheep wheat zone.
The project will help producers identify what combination and rotation of livestock, pastures and crops will maximise profitability and sustainability at the farm and catchment scale. It will provide mixed farming enterprises with new, ‘whole farm’ knowledge, tools and capacity to make changes that will increase production of crops, pastures and animals while maintaining or enhancing biodiversity and the catchment resources which sustain them.
Grain and Graze is operating in 9 regions across Australia and projects have been developed through consultation with regional producer groups, catchment management authorities and state agencies.
Regional projects are working in the following areas:
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| Avon (south-west WA) |
Use of lucerne as a valued perennial pasture; extended pasture phases and strategic farm management |
| Border Rivers (southern QLD & northern NSW) |
Value of short and/or long term pasture phases in a cropping system in profitable, environmental and social terms. |
| Central West/Lachlan (central NSW) |
Pasture cropping/alley farming with saltbush/feed profiles and production options to address feed gaps. |
| Corangamite/Glenelg–Hopkins (south-west Vic) |
Stubble management using livestock to reduce residual dry matter; lucerne as a break crop and cereals into lucerne on raised beds to address a winter feed gap. Use of native grasses in rotation with improved pastures and to address catchment targets.
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| Eyre Penninsula (south-central SA) |
Social study and farmer consultation to determine what are the barriers to optimising a mixed farming system. Assessment of how a range of farming systems impact on the environmental, profit and social aspects of mixed farms. Research to determine how livestock can fit into cropping systems to increase whole farm profitability. |
| Mallee (south-west NSW, south-east SA, north-west Vic) |
Assessing and extending the role of annual and perennial pastures to increase pasture and livestock productivity, and subsequent crop yields. |
| Murrumbidgee (southern NSW) |
Addressing whole farm feed supply using grazing cereals with particularly consideration to enterprise mix, protection of the resource base and species diversity. |
| Northern Agricultural Region (south-central WA) |
Perennial pastures suitable for integration into predominately cropping systems and how this may occur. Identification of best-bet grazing management strategies for perennial pastures with particular reference to natural resource impacts. |
| Maranoa Balonne (southern Qld) |
Matching land use to land capability, improved management of pasture and fodder crop phases and better spatial and temporal integration of crop and livestock enterprises. |
The 9 regional projects are supported by National projects looking across the regions at the following areas;
- social dimensions of mixed farming (i.e. understanding the trade-offs which influence decisions) (social)
- what is the relationship between resilience of farming businesses and enterprise mix (economics)
- whole farm feed distribution and utilisation to reduce risk and maximise the sustainability of mixed farming systems (feedbase)
Grain and Graze is a collaborative project between Australian Wool innovation, Meat and Livestock Australia, Land and Water Australia and Grains Research and Development Corporation.
More information: www.grainandgraze.com.au
Resources
Contact
Ms Renelle Jeffrey
Project Officer - Sustainable Production Systems
Tel: +61 2 8295 3100
Contact via email