Climate webinars

Heat stress and milk production: a literature review and an analysis of eastern Australian data

Date: 20 January 2019

Outline: In this webinar, Dr. Rachelle Meyer, discusses two projects she has been involved in on milk production and heat stress. The first is a bibliographic network analysis and a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed papers focusing on milk production and heat stress. The systematic review addresses sources of variation in the impact of heat stress on milk production including differences in methodologies and treatments investigated. Next steps for research in this area are also highlighted.

Following that, is an analysis of a database of milk tanker pickups paired with BOM weather station data from the early 1990s to 2017 and from farms in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria will be presented. The primary focus is the differences in the response to heat stress between states and seasons, as well as the THI measures that are best correlated with milk production.

Presenter: Rachelle Meyer's research interests include agricultural adaptation and mitigation. She completed her PhD in 2017. Her thesis explored the climate change adaptation and mitigation potential of soil carbon in grazing systems of western Victoria using a whole-farm system model. Currently she is working on the impacts of extreme events and associated risk management strategies for the dairy and red meat industries.

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Event password: Heatstress19

Duration: 49 minutes

Milking the Weather: seasonal climate outlook and dairy farm strategies for summer 2018–19

Date: 17 December 2018

Outline: Our latest Milking the Weather webinar outlines the summer 2018–19 seasonal climate outlook for Victorian dairy farmers and related strategies that dairy farmers are considering.

Dale Grey presents a Victorian climate outlook honing in on the relevant climate drivers to watch out for this time of year as well valuable insights into the Soil Moisture Monitoring Condition Assessment Trial sites in dairying areas by comparing current summer conditions to last summer.

Maria Rose provides an update on what strategies being considered by Victorian dairy farmers this summer.

Presenters: Dale Grey, Agronomist with Agriculture Victoria, Echuca and Maria Rose Dairy Extension Officer with Agriculture Victoria, Maffra.

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Event password: MtWsummer18

Special instruction: Once the recording appears, hit the play button.

Summer climate update for South Eastern Australia

Date: 6 December 2018

Outline: Agriculture Victoria's Seasonal Risk Agronomist, Dale Grey, will update current climatic and soil moisture conditions, as well as oceanic and atmospheric conditions affecting South Eastern Australia and the latest predictions for the coming months.

Presenter: Dale Grey, Seasonal Risk Agronomist with Agriculture Victoria, Bendigo

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Event password: Climsummer18

Event number: 572 154 208

Pasture soil moisture monitoring spring update

Date: 13 November 2018

Outline: Agriculture Victoria has commissioned 19 pasture soil monitoring sites in medium to high rainfall zones over the past 12 months. The probes have clearly demonstrated their value in reflecting the seasonal conditions in the districts where they are positioned. Currently there are a range of moisture levels across Victoria though and whilst most are indicating a potential shorter spring, some are showing more promising soil moisture levels. Agronomist, Dale Boyd, provides an update on probe locations, methodology of installing the probes and data interpretation.

Presenter: Dale Boyd, Agronomist with Agriculture Victoria, Echuca

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Event password: SMMpasture 2018

Prepare for the unexpected: a framework for understanding future climate extremes

Date: Thursday 6 September 2018

Outline: It is widely assumed that climate change will lead to increases in most types of extreme weather: from storms and floods through to droughts, heat waves and fire. Although this may hold on average across most of the globe, recent science is telling us that the story is likely to be much more nuanced for any particular location and problem set. Using extreme rainfall and runoff as a case study, this presentation will summarise a 10 year journey in building the evidence base for understanding what climate change might mean for Australian floods.

The picture that emerges is not only that the implication of climate change on floods is more complex than often has been appreciated, but also that each flood management system is different, and will require new and tailored approaches for understanding system risk. The implications of this research extend much more broadly than floods, with relevance across a broad range of domains ranging from urban water supply, irrigated agriculture, renewable energy, insurance and finance.

Presenter: Presenter Seth Westra, is Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Adelaide. He is a chartered engineer with research and consulting experience across both academia and industry. Seth has contributed to the fields of hydrology, water resource assessments and climate risk, and has published over 80 journal and conference papers on these topics.

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Event password: Extreme18

Renewables and irrigation – what works and when? On and off grid systems

Date: 31 August 2018

Outline: The webinar covered use of renewable energy in irrigation, prior research, energy policy incentives, on and off-grid feasibility and an excellent overview of current case study results.

This webinar covered how and when incorporating renewables and storage stack up. AgEcon presenters, Janine Powell and Jon Welsh commenced renewables and irrigation feasibility in 2014 during the Department of Agricultures 'Carbon Farming Futures' program and have ongoing cotton and sugar research projects in this area.

Presenters: Agricultural research economists, Janine Powell and Jon Welsh (both with AgEcon)

Recording password: Irrigren18

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Changes in Australia's frost risk – synoptics and damage detection

Date: 8 May 2018

Outline: The webinar examines the changing nature of Australian frost risk through analyses of changing trends and synoptic circulation, as well as improved approaches for mapping this risk. It examines new approaches for the rapid detection of frost damage and includes discussion around agronomic management options.

Presenters:

• Steven Crimp, Research Fellow and climate applications scientist with the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University.
• Kirsten Barlow, Senior Research Scientist and farming systems modeller with Agriculture Victoria Research.
• Mick Faulkner, Principal Consultant for Agrilink Agricultural Consultants, based in South Australia. Mick has extensive experience in frost identification and management.

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Password: Frosty2018

Duration: Approx. 70 mins

Victorian dairy farmers successfully managing climate risk; Milking the Weather (Webinar 2)

Date: 26 March 2018

Presenters: Gippsland dairy farmer, Marian Macdonald and Agriculture Victoria Climate Specialist - Graeme Anderson

Outline: The second in a series of four 'Milking the Weather' webinars focusing on dairy farmers. This webinar was presented in two parts; part one highlighting South Gippsland regional historical climatic data (presented by Graeme Anderson). Part two was presented by Marian Macdonald, who gave an update on how her risk management action plan for autumn is going.

This webinar also included a panel discussion with Maria Rose, author of the 8 Milking the Weather (MtW) case studies. Marian, Graeme and other MtW case study farmers joined the webinar discussion.

Duration: Approx. 50 mins

Refining nitrogen placement in cereals: mid-row banding

Note: A recording is not available for this webinar. For more information about this study please email ash.wallace@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

Date: 22 March 2018

Presenter: Ash Wallace, Regional Research Agronomist | Agriculture Victoria Research Division

Outline: Nitrogen fertiliser is a key input for broadacre cropping in Australia, however the efficiency of converting nitrogen (N) fertiliser into crop yield is not as high as it could be. By applying N fertiliser below the soil surface / 'inter-row' during the growing season it may be possible to alleviate some of the issues associated with conventional methods of applying N.

Researchers from Agriculture Victoria are currently looking into methods of applying N fertiliser such as mid-row banding that may help growers to improve returns on their fertiliser spend.

Our webinar presenter is Ash Wallace, Regional Research Agronomist with Agriculture Victoria, Horsham. Ash's particular area of expertise relates to management of N fertilisers which is the focus of his PhD studies.

Duration: Approx. 40 mins

Kings Vista dairy farm journey into renewables

Presenter: Lindsay Anderson has dairy farmed at Athlone since 1989; prior to that he worked for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria as a design and construction engineer for new and existing power stations.

Outline: In 2010 the first 5kw solar grid connected PV system was installed at Lindsay's property. This was followed by 3 more plus a 10kw, soon to be 15kw, off grid system. In 2011 Lindsay commissioned an Automatic Milking System that required 3 phase power but Lindsay's grid supply was single phase SWER.

This change in milking system saw new challenges which has evolved into the renewable energy system he is utilizing today.

During this webinar, Lindsay shared his wealth of both knowledge and experience with:

• research that he's done on energy options
• grid supply and quality issues
• his decision making processes
• choices made and changes implemented
• what he'd like to do next

Lindsay also answered some of those of those curly questions around getting the best out of solar energy systems in dairies.

Date: 21 February 2018

Duration: Approx. 60 mins

Managing groundwater under climate change

Presenter: Webinar presenter, Dr. Glen Walker, has conducted groundwater and salinity research for over 30 years with CSIRO in Adelaide. He also led the groundwater component of the Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields project. Since 2014, Glen has been consulting with his company, Grounded in Water.

Outline: The climate outlook for south-eastern Australia is for drier winter-spring seasons and more prolonged droughts. The effects of lower rainfall is exacerbated in hydrological processes, including groundwater so that a 10% reduction in rainfall might lead to a 30% reduction in groundwater recharge. However, the limit to groundwater extraction in response to this needs to be considered in the local context of a groundwater system.

To focus efforts for managing groundwater impacts, groundwater systems should be screened on the basis of vulnerability. Any management needs to incorporate the range of different predictions and adaptive approaches are critical. For aquifers in which climate change leads to depletion, there are four approaches to management: decrease extraction, enhance recharge, mitigate impacts and find alternative sources of water. Perth is a city already experiencing severe impacts of climate change and use a combination of all of these at a significant cost.

As climate change may occur in south-eastern Australia through increasingly severe droughts, good groundwater management will be critical. Regional water authorities have been largely responsible for this and should already be making preparations.

Date: 15 February 2018

Duration: Approx. 45 mins

Stubble trouble – from in-field burning crop residues to creating revenues

Presenters: Andrew Lang (World Bioenergy Association), Colin Peace (Jumbuk Consulting), Steve Hobbs (Yarrock farms /biofuel producer) and Ray Davies (Economic Development Manager, Pyrenees Shire).

Outline: There is considerable interest in finding commercially viable uses for cereal crop stubble as an alternative to burning. Heavy crop stubble residues and pest infestations can hinder new crop establishment (especially in the Medium and High Rainfall Zones) resulting in many farmers opting to burn.

Whilst minimum tillage and conservation cropping are increasingly pursued, in-field burning is still a common practice in parts of Victoria, due to the lack of alternative uses/technologies/markets for excess straw stubble.

A number of studies and reports have been undertaken to determine the potential for cereal crop stubble to be used for other purposes such as a bioenergy feedstock as well as the impacts on nutrients and soil health of in-situ burning stubble and /or its removal.

This webinar is designed to open up discussion around the opportunities and barriers to stubble removal, its potential end uses and viable alternatives to in situ burning. The webinar will proceed with four short presentations from Andrew Lang, Colin Peace, Steve Hobbs and Ray Davies. This will set the scene for an open discussion to share knowledge and interest around progressing work in this area.

Date: 21 November 2017

Duration: Approx. 75 mins including discussion.

Two birds with one stone: Utilising dead pines for heat energy production at Meredith Dairy

Presenters: Sandy Cameron, Meredith Dairy and Shaun Quayle, DragonNRG

Outline: Meredith Dairy is an on-farm enterprise, milking sheep and goats year-round to make specialty cheeses and yoghurts. Their products are sold throughout Australia and exported around the world. The owners, Sandy and Julie Cameron have a strong focus on sustainability and have an explicit aim to pass on to the next generation a business that is "economically viable, environmentally sustainable and part of a vibrant rural community."

The latest project in their quest to shrink their environmental footprint was the installation of a 240kW biomass boiler to replace a bank of aging LPG boilers delivering hot water to factory processes. This new boiler has drastically reduced the carbon footprint and energy costs associated with the enterprise and has also provided a surprising extra benefit. Initially the boiler was fueled by chipped wood waste from Pyrenees Timber but now burns woodchips processed from senescent pines on the property.

Dragon NRG engages in direct action in the abatement of global greenhouse gas emissions by installing specialised equipment for heat energy production from biomass.

Sandy and Shaun will talk about the journey, including the challenges and successes to installing and operating the "Dragon" at Meredith Dairy.

Date: 8 November 2017

Duration: Approx. 45 mins including questions.

Climate change innovation grants

Presenter: Sarah Price, Project Manager of the Virtual Centre for Climate Change Innovation, Dept of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

Outline: Applications are currently open for the Climate Change Innovation Grants. $3.8m in competitive funding is available for innovative projects that address climate change challenges. Applications close November 30.

The Virtual Centre for Climate Change Innovation has been established to foster innovative approaches and collaboration between community, business, industry, researchers and government to reduce greenhouse gas emission and adapt to climate change.

Date: 26 October 2017

Duration: Approx. 30 mins including question time.

Springtime viticultural climatic indices outperform traditional indices relative to day of year of wine grape maturity

Presenter: Chelsea Jarvis

Outline: Day of year of maturity data was collected for 45 different vineyard blocks in 15 wine regions in Australia. These vineyard plots represented a variety of cultivars and climates. Using gridded climate data, five commonly used viticultural climatic indices along with four modified indices and two springtime indices were used in correlation analysis relative to day of year of maturity.

The two springtime indies had the best correlation to day of year of maturity, outperforming more commonly used indices such as growing degree days or mean January temperature.

Furthermore, indices modified to include the month of September and exclude April had better correlation to day of year of maturity than those that used the traditional months of October to April. The maximum springtime temperature index that was found to have the best correlation to day of year of maturity was then used to explore the relationship in springtime temperatures relative to El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean Dipole.

It was found that combined ENSO and IOD event phases have the greatest impact on maximum springtime temperature index values, with the combination of La Niña-IOD positive events having the highest index values and La Niña-IOD negative, the lowest.

Date: 19 September 2017

Duration: Approx. 30 mins plus questions.

Climate trends account for stalled wheat yields in Australia since 1990

Presenter: Zvi Hochman, Senior Principal Research Scientist and a Research Team Leader, Integrated Agricultural Systems, with CSIRO Agriculture and Food

Outline: In contrast to the first 90 years of the 20th century (from 1900 to 1990) when Australia's wheat yields more than tripled, wheat yields had not increased between 1990 and 2015. Our researchers asked why...

We found that the yield potential of rainfed wheat declined by 27% over the past 26 years. In 1990 yield potential was 4.4 tonnes per hectare but it declined to 3.2 t/ha by 2015.

We showed that this decline is a result of increasing temperatures and declining rainfall in the wheat zone during the wheat crops' growing season.

The loss of yield potential is not evenly distributed. While some wheat growing areas have not suffered any decline, others have declined by up to 100 kg/ha/year.

Despite the 27% decline, farmers' actual yields remained steady because they are effectively closing the yield gap. In 1990 they were achieving 38% of potential yields and this increased to 55% by 2015.

Farmers are successfully using technology to keep pace with an increasingly challenging climate. They are making the most of advances in farming technology and adapting them to their needs. They are growing improved wheat varieties and improving their farming practices. They have reduced tillage, they are adopting integrated weed management and applying fertiliser more strategically

Date: 29 August 2017

Duration: Approx. 40 mins plus question time.

Mitigating Methane Emissions from Dairy Cows

Presenter: Dr Peter Moate, Senior Research Scientist in Dairy Nutrition, at Agriculture Victoria's Ellinbank Research Centre.

Methane is a gas that is burped out by Dairy cows. Although it is colourless, odourless and lighter than air, it is vitally important that methane emissions from cattle be reduced.

In this webinar, Dr Peter Moate will explain why methane is so important , what research has been conducted by the department, the successes achieved in measuring methane emissions from cows, and the use of dietary, management and breeding strategies to reduce methane emissions from Australian dairy.

Dr. Moate leads the Australian component of an international research project concerned with investigating nutritional abatement of enteric methane emissions from dairy cows. Peter has published more than 100 papers in refereed scientific journals.

Duration: Approx. 45 mins including question time.

Date: 30 May 2017

Heat load tools for industry webinar

Presenter: Andrew Wiebe, Atmospheric Scientist, Katestone.

Weather and climate effects us all, however it does so in different ways; while rain is good for some it may be detrimental for others.

When weather and climate has an impact on your business or industry you need tools to analyse, predict and manage the risk associated with it.

Environmental consultancy company, Katestone, takes long term weather data and generic weather forecasts and turns them in to industry specific tools. These tools enable the effective management of many aspects of the environment from dust and odour impacts to heat stress in livestock and humans.

One of Katestone's flagship tools is the Dairy Forecast Service funded by Dairy Australia. It helps Australian Dairy operators to proactively manage heat load in their herd by providing an early warning system of imminent weather and heat load predictions for any Dairy right across Australia.

Presenter, Andrew Wiebe, is an atmospheric scientist with Katestone. Andrew's core activities are to integrate meteorology and climate into business specific decision support systems, management tools.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Duration: Approx. 30 mins including question time.

Date: 28 March 2017

The NRM spatial hub – A new online tool for farm mapping, planning and monitoring

Presenter: Phil Tickle

The NRM Spatial Hub is a new web tool that gives farm managers the ability to map their properties in a secure environment, access government data, analyse land resources, create development plans, and monitor land condition. In just a few minutes a farm manager can access and analyse the latest time-series ground cover data at paddock scales and also compare their property with the neighbours over the last 30 years.

Landholders and industry bodies alike are hailing the system for its potential to improve on-farm investment decisions and long term sustainable production. Users have also identified; significant labour savings of up to a month a year, better utilisation of pastures and, with appropriate infrastructure investment, the potential to significantly increase long-term safe carrying capacity and profitability.

This webinar will provide an overview of current capabilities and discuss plans for future development aimed at southern grazing and mixed farming systems. The presenters will also discuss how they plan to facilitate collaboration to make things easier on-farm and for third-party service providers. They will also be seeking feedback on the utility of the tools and plans over the next 12 months.

Duration: Approx. 30 mins plus question time.

Date: 9 February 2017

Modelling the impacts of climate change on soil carbon in pastures of western Victoria

Presenter: PhD candidate, Rachelle Meyer (University of Melbourne)

Increasing soil carbon stocks is an often mentioned agricultural mitigation option. However, increasing carbon stocks in Australian soils is difficult given the highly variable climate, and the feasibility of increasing soil carbon stocks as the climate changes is uncertain. During this presentation the results of a modelling study addressing the potential impacts of climate change on carbon stocks in pastures of western Victoria are discussed.

Implications for sustainable stocking densities and the various sources of uncertainty in the response including climate and soil modelling uncertainty are addressed.

Duration: Approx. 30 mins plus question time.

Date: 24 January 2017

Bureau of Meteorology – Near real time national soil moisture estimates

Presenter: Dr Adam Smith, Senior hydrologist with the Bureau of Meteorology.

During this webinar, Adam will will give a live demonstration on how to use the new Australian Landscape Water Balance website to obtain near real time soil moisture estimates for your location or catchment.

Adam has led the implementation of the Australian Water Resources Assessment (AWRA) Modelling System at the Bureau. The AWRA Modelling System underpins the Australian Landscape Water Balance website, and has recently been released as an open source community modelling system https://github.com/awracms/awra_cms.

Duration: Approx. 40 mins plus question time.

Date: 21 December 2016

Using analogues in agriculture and NRM to help describe future climates

In the context of climate change, analogues help provide information about the likely impacts to, and response of, natural systems to climatic conditions which fall outside the 'normal' range currently experienced at a particular location. During this webinar the presenters outline the uses and limitations to using the CSIRO Analogue Explorer Tool and their own use and knowledge of how others have used analogues in climate change communication.

Duration: Approx. 40 mins plus question time.

Date: 22 November 2016

Latest findings from 'Reducing on-farm N2O emissions through improved nitrogen use efficiency in grains' trial

Presenter: Dr. Oxana Belyaeva, Research Scientist, Agriculture Victoria

Dr. Belyaeva, will outline the latest findings from a three year 'Action on the Ground' field trial which aims to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in grain production systems.

In 2014, Agriculture Victoria researchers established nine nitrogen response trials on farmer's paddocks in irrigated and dryland cropping systems (low, medium and high rainfall regions) to investigate NUE and the effect of soil type, farming system and environment on N mineralisation, N fertiliser recovery and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions.

Determining the optimal supply of soil and fertiliser nitrogen to meet crop demand, will help farmers minimise their N fertiliser cost, by capitalising on existing N stores, and reducing nitrogen losses and associated environmental impacts through runoff and N2O emissions.

Duration: Approx. 30 mins plus question time.

View the recording

Date: 10 November 2016

Satellite soil moisture monitoring

Presenter: Dr Elizabeth Morse-McNabb, Senior Research Scientist – Remote Sensing, Agriculture Victoria

The department's Agriculture Research Spatial Information Sciences group uses a range of satellites to map surface soil moisture and plant biomass. This webinar will reveal the extensive lengths needed to calibrate satellite information to make sure the maps are 'not just pretty pictures'.

A couple of projects in focus for this webinar will be a recent soil moisture mapping project using a new radar satellite; and the evolution of many years of working with plant greenness indexes from satellites showing the various ways this information can be used.

Duration: Approx. 30 mins plus question time.

Date: 4 November 2016

Climate variability and change: What's been happening and where are we heading?

Presenter: David Karoly, Professor of Atmospheric Science in the School of Earth Sciences and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of Melbourne.

Description: Professor David Karoly will give an overview of recent observed climate variations and trends globally and for Australia. David will then discuss what this means for farmers in SE Australia in terms of projections of climate change and efforts to limit global warming.

Date: 27 October 2016

Key findings on managing soil carbon and nitrous oxide from the Fertcare program

Current research into nitrogen use efficiency and soil carbon has been incorporated into Fertcare with the help of funding from the Australian Government. This webinar will outline the various activities and resources produced through Fertcare, and the key take home messages for people needing or providing soil and plant nutrition advice to optimise productivity, while minimising GHG emissions.

The Fertcare program ensures that accredited fertiliser advisors are assessed against standards set by the Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council (ASPAC).

Presenters: Jeff Kraak, Program Manager, Fertilizer Australia and Chris Dowling, Agronomist, Back Paddock

Date: 2 September 2016

New soil water and CliMate apps to enable better decision-making on farms

During this webinar, David will show you how he and his colleagues have put rainfall data (BoM and yours) to work to estimate soil water – and developed this into a new Soil Water App. He will also outline how you can use the CliMate App.

David is a soil scientist working in government, private consulting and also with the University of Southern Queensland. He lead the development of Australian CliMate and the recently developed SoilWater App.

Presenter: David Freebairn, Consultant, Soil Scientist, App Developer, Brisbane

Date: 21 July 2016

Dairy businesses for future climates

The webinar focused on findings from a 3 year research project – 'Dairy Businesses for Future Climates'. This research set out to explore how three dairy farm systems in Gippsland, South Australia and Tasmania might perform under predicted climate changes (out to 2040) and how they could adapt to a changing climate.

The research, funded by Dairy Australia & The Australian Government was an inter-disciplinary project that involved farmer working groups in 3 regions of south eastern Australia.

Presenter: Brendan Cullen (University of Melbourne)

Panelists: Dan Armstrong (D-ARM Consulting), Nicole Reichelt (University of Melbourne) & Gillian Hayman (Dairy Australia, Land Water & Carbon)

Duration: 58 mins

Date: 21 June 2016

Soil moisture monitoring in Victoria

Knowledge of soil moisture levels at sowing can be a deciding factor for farmers when deciding what, when and, even, if to sow a new crop. Dale Boyd, who runs Agriculture Victoria's Soil Moisture Monitoring program, outlines the background and recent results from the program, as well as how that data is interpreted.

Presenter: Dale Boyd, Agronomist, Agriculture Victoria

Duration: 56 mins

Date: 13 April 2016

Challenges in modern research, development and extension delivery and innovation

Presenter: Kate Sargeant (Dairy NZ)

A two part webinar focussing on how the New Zealand dairy industry operates and how they are tackling some of the challenges in modern R, D & E delivery & innovation.

Kate is an awarded extension & development leader who has some terrific insights from her experiences over the past 20 months as a Senior Development Officer with Dairy NZ.

Duration: Part 1 – 27 mins, Part 2 – 37 mins.

Date: 2 February 2016