The Deparment of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment (DPIPWE) will be attending Tasmania’s AGFEST agricultural field day, to give the government a chance to talk to Tasmania’s primary producers.

“The Department’s experts will be on hand at AGFEST to provide useful information and timely advice on a range of issues currently facing those Tasmanians who make a living from the land,” said Primary Industries and Water Minister Bryan Green.

“Our primary producers deal on a daily basis with so many issues that have an impact on their livelihood, ranging from protecting their pastures from browsing wildlife, through to soil types, irrigation and the impact that foxes might have on their livestock.”

Information and expert advice available at the DPIPWE exhibit will include:

• The roll-out of the new national standards for water metering expected in July this year. As part of the Australian Government’s strategy to improve water management nationally, the National Water Initiative seeks to improve and extend water metering and the reporting of water use on farms. With the new water meter requirements now imminent, the DPIPWE water metering officers at AGFEST will provide advice on meter selection, installation and operation.
• The Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research (TIAR) and collaborating organisations will showcase current research in water management in Tasmanian farming systems. Growers can find out the latest research findings on optimising end-of season irrigation of cereals to maximise water-use efficiency; how water available to plants differs with soil type and texture; and the fate of rainfall and irrigation in a cereal production system now and in a future with climate change.
• DPIPWE’s Resource Management and Conservation division will be on site to discuss findings from an extensive program which has examined alternatives to the use of 1080 for browsing wildlife management. Officers will demonstrate a thermal imaging scope – a browser monitoring tool – and discuss other options to manage the impacts of wildlife on crops and pasture. Feedback will be welcomed from farmers regarding problems they have encountered as well as any effective measures they may have adopted.
• Information about stage two of the fox eradication program. With a focus now on a proactive rather than a reactive approach, a large map will highlight the timeline for a rolling front of baiting to take place across the State in areas considered to be ‘core fox habitat’.

AGFEST begins today and runs until Saturday May 8th.

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