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Improving sheep and cattle production through better animal health
| A seminar will be held at the Workers Club Auditorium in Goulburn on Thursday 29 October with the theme "Improving sheep and cattle production through better animal health". Dr Russell Bush, chairman of the Southern NSW Branch of the Australian Society of Animal Production said he expected there would be a great deal of interest in this seminar from researchers, advisors and producers involved with the sheep and cattle industry. Read more For more information contact Dr Bush on 02 9351 1785 or r.bush@usyd.edu.au |
Announcing the first annual Graham Centre Beef Field Day
| The first annual EH Graham Centre Beef Field Day will be held on 1 December, 2009 at the CSU campus in Wagga Wagga. The full-day program will offer a morning session of talks covering topics of interest to beef producers, as well as in-depth workshops in the afternoon. During breaks, the results of the questionnaire “Animal Health and Treatment of Beef Cattle”, recently distributed to beef producers in the Hume board, will be highlighted. Lunch will be provided for participants registered for the afternoon workshops (register by contacting bfd@csu.edu.au). There is no fee for participating in any of the day's activities. For more information, click here for a pdf of the program, or contact Jan Lievaart. |
Centre Director announces new round of student funding
| Prof Deirdre Lemerle has announced release of up to $50K for Honours Scholarships and Student Internships for the 2010 academic year. These programs are designed to encourage student involvement in agricultural research. Students applying for Honours Scholarships must be eligible for the CSU Honours Program, and work under the guidance of a member of the Graham Centre. Students applying for Student Internships will also work with Graham Centre team members; priority is given to students who are nearing completion of their degree and can demonstrate a high level of academic achievement. Scholarships for postgraduate education are also available through the Centre. These are funded by CSU's Centre for Research & Graduate Training. For more information, visit the Graham Centre’s Internal Grants page, or contact Maree Crowley. |
EverGraze Field Day at Holbrook (8 October)
| The Evergraze project at Holbrook will be holding a field day on the 8th October from 1pm to 4pm. There will be lots to see and hear from our three Evergraze Proof sites leaders that will be attending from Wagga, Holbrook and Chiltern. Plan on attending if you're interested in making more $ from livestock on perennial pasture systems and integrating native pastures with introduced pastures. If you'd like to attend, contact Jim Virgona (jvirgona@csu.edu.au or 02 6933 4174) or Shane Hildebrand (shildebrand@csu.edu.au or 02 6933 4258). A bus will be leaving Wagga at approximately 12:00pm and return no latter than 5:00pm. RSVP by close of business Tuesday, 6 October. Click here for a flyer with more information. |
Harden Conservation Cropping Experiment Workshop
| On 29th September 2009, CSIRO and the Harden-Murrumburrah Landcare Group conducted a workshop and reported on the results of a 20-year experiment investigating tillage and stubble management at 'Oxton Park', Harden. Planning and development of the experiment is the result of a long-term partnership between CSIRO and the Harden-Murrumburrah Landcare Group to combine good science with industry relevance. Since its origin in 1989 this experiment has provided a platform for many scientific studies, most of which have been reported separately. Other joint studies in the district have spun off the original experiment. This is the first time the results were presented together. Read more |
Wagga Wagga air pollution subject of new research project
| A research project has been launched to understand why Wagga Wagga has had consistently bad seasonal air pollution during recent years. The project will be undertaken by a new collaboration between the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (an alliance between Industry & Investment NSW and Charles Sturt University) and the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. Read more |
Ag science student most outstanding in study of agricultural systems
| A final year agricultural science student at Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga has secured a prestigious award from the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (AIAST). Read more |  |
Stubble management project impresses farmers
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In dry times, 30 or more farmers learnt more about the value of stubble retention at a stubble management and new annual legume pasture varieties field day at Pleasant Hills on 1 September. The site forms a long-term conservation farming initiative and highlights ways of improving water use efficiency under stubble retention. Read more |
A Dry Argument
| This important meeting for agricultural professionals was held in Wagga on 29 July 2009. A Dry Argument comprised of seminars and an interactive public discussion concerning the current set of problems facing the agricultural sector. For outline of meeting or for a detailed summary of the meeting Click here |
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Study examines impact of herbicides on biological control
The Graham Centre has begun preliminary studies to examine the impact of herbicides on the spread and effectiveness of bio-control agents on Paterson's curse and horehound. Paterson's curse and horehound occur in degraded pastures, and it is hoped that the benefits of biological control will lead to increased growth of benefical pasture species, and more productive pastures. Click here to download media release
The impact of the emissions trading scheme on agriculture
The Eastern Riverina Landcare Network is inviting farmers to hear the latest information on the potential impact of carbon and the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme on agriculture at meetings to be held at Henty on Tuesday 14 July and Lockhart on Wednesday 15 July. Research Liaison Officer with the EH Graham Centre, Mrs Helen Burns said “Farmers are telling us that they want concise information on how the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme could affect their farm enterprise decisions and the Eastern Riverina Landcare Network has attracted high profile speakers to focus on just that.” Read more
2009 Agricultural Enrichment Day for high school students
The Agricultural Enrichment Day will be held in Wagga Wagga on Monday 6 July 2009. It is hoped the experience will inspire the students to consider a career in one of the many jobs agriculture can offer. Read more
'Canola in Depth' Update
The 'Canola in Depth' factsheet is an update from the GRDC funded project "The contribution of subsoil constraints to canola yield decline'". This edition highlights outcomes from the 2007 and 2008 Canola in Depth trials. Read more
Paddock Seminar on Controlled Traffic Farming
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On 22nd May 2009, the CSU Farm hosted a in paddock seminar to outline their move into controlled traffic farming (CTF). Interested staff and students from CSU and NSW DPI were invited to hear and see what is involved with farming using permanent wheel tracks for all machinery traffic including the header, boom spray, seeder and spreader. Read more |
Centre member John Kent among those appointed to the Board of the newly formed Primary Industries Education Foundation
| Head of the School of Agricultural & Wine Sciences at Charles Sturt University, Associate Professor John Kent, has been appointed to the Board of the Primary Industries Education Foundation. School kids will learn more about primary industries following the announcement to form a Primary Industries Education Foundation. Read more |
Shining a light on pasture cropping
| New research results from NSW Department of Primary Industries trials which put pasture cropping under the spotlight are now available to farmers. NSW DPI research agronomist, Warwick Badgery, said pasture cropping may not fit every operation but properly managed and under the right conditions the farming system can maximise the use of whole-farm resources to increase productivity. Read more |  |
Wheat's perennial potential
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A robust perennial grain crop would have the potential to increase the versatility and sustainability of Australian food production systems. For the first time, pioneering research looking to improve future generations of farming systems is evaluating the performance and potential role of perennial wheat in Australian environments. Farming systems research agronomist, Richard Hayes, says most perennial wheat material has been developed by crossing conventional wheat with various perennial grasses, such as intermediate wheatgrass. Read more |
Research shows wide row spacing may reduce yields in cereals
| Studies carried out by NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) show that where crop yield potential is high, wide row spacing can potentially reduce grain yield in winter cereal crops. NSW DPI researcher, Dr Peter Martin, presented the results of NSW DPI row spacing trials conducted in 2007 and 2008 at a range of sites in central and southern NSW, at the recent Grains Research and Development Corporation updates at Wagga Wagga. Read more |
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$34 million budget injection
It was announced in the 2009/10 Federal Budget that $34 million in new funding will be provided for construction of the National Life Sciences Hub on Charles Sturt University's Wagga Wagga Campus. Read more
Edible oils researcher recipient of 2009 Farrer Memorial Medal
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Congratulations to Dr Rodney Mailer, Principal Research Scientist for winning the prestigious 2009 Farrer Memorial Medal. Dr Mailer's award recognises his outstanding contribution to edible oils research in Australia, in particular his work on canola and olive oil. Read more |
Industry support for agricultural scientists of the future
National and local agribusiness representatives met recently with Charles Sturt University, Australia's largest provider of agricultural education, to consider how to prepare graduates for work in agricultural industries in the 21st century. Read more
Visit by the Board of Animal Health Australia
The Board of Animal Health Australia visited Charles Sturt University on 7 and 8 April and met with Graham Centre Director, Professor Deirdre Lemerle, Professor Terry Spithill, Strategic Research Professor of Parasitology, and Professor Kym Abbott, Head of School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, and other staff. Read more
2009 Graduations
| A number of students received their PhD or Masters Degree at the CSU graduations in Wagga in early April. Among those successful were: Patrica Please, Alison Southwell, Ella Whitelaw, Richard Hayes, David Deery and Shaun Curtin. During their studies, these students were all involved closely in Graham Centre projects. | ||
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Absent: Shaun Curtin Thesis titled: The roles of double-stranded RNA binding proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana. |
Scholarship awarded to Ray Cowley
| Congratulations to PhD student, Ray Cowley, who has been successful in receiving sponsorship from the ATSE Crawford Fund to attend a three-week workshop on Rice Production in May/June at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. We look forward to Ray presenting a seminar on his return. |  |
Charles Sturt University the leading provider of education
| It is clear that Charles Sturt University is now Australia's leading provider of education in agriculture and related areas. In 2009 there has been a significant increase in student numbers across all courses. In the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, the Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) has experienced an 82% increase in enrolments with over 100 first year students studing by internal and distance education modes - up from 56 students in 2008. In the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences there has also been a significant increase in student intake into Equine Science and Animal Science courses. In a survey of Agricultural Science students, their main reason for coming to CSU were "reputation" and "location". Read more |
Biological control of tropical weeds using anthropods
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Dr Anantanarayanan Raman has just released his latest book titled "Biological control of tropical weeds using arthropods". Weeds are a major constraint to agricultural production, particularly in the developing world. Cost-efficient biological control is a self-sustaining way to reduce this problem and produces few non-target effects than chemical methods, which can cause serious damaage to the environment. The book covers the origin, distribution and ecology of twenty model invasive weed species, which occur in habitats from tropical to temperate to aquatic. To view more http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp? isbn=9780521877916 |
Groundbreaking research into computer vision has relevance for agriculture
| Dr Richard Xu has been successful in achieving funds for a RIBG grant titled "Agricultural Computer Vision and Image Processing Infrastructure". The money will purchase new cameras and computers for image processing and algorithm development. The state of the art mobile will be used to: Improve the communication of aspects of agriculture and food production to the urban community of Australia; Create new research direction in current projects to measure plant, animal and pest growth and movement. The research lab was featured on Prime Television on 31st Dec 08, to view more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49pYnRuWAaw or go to Dr Xu at Centre for Research in Complex Systems http://silica.csu.edu.au/staff/cs/rxu |
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Communications guru will be missed
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Long-term NSW DPI Communications Officer Michel Dignand retired on the 31st March after 19 years with the Department. Michel will be greatly missed by Graham Centre staff for his notable contribution to the Centre's communication strategy and public image. Michel provided his photographic expertise free of charge to the Centre and was also a valuable source of technical information relating to a range of issues, including logo design, event management and working with tricky software issues. |
Successful dairy links with Pakistan
| Professor Peter Wynn and a group of undergraduate students from Charles Sturt University visited Pakistan to conduct a three-day seminar in Lahore on dairy production. Read more |  |
GRDC Award to CSU Adjunct Professor
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CSIRO principal research scientist, Dr John Kirkegaard, was presented with the GRDC Seed of Light Award at the Wagga Wagga GRDC Adviser Update. This Award recognises excellence and achievement in grains research extension and communication. Read more |
Graham Centre students address GRDC Adviser Update
| Graham Centre PhD students outlined their research projects at the recent GRDC Adviser Update. Read more |  |
Challenge issued on Integrated Weed Management
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Glyphosate-resistant crops will provide benefits and opportunities only if they are used as part of an integrated weed management package, according to Deirdre Lemerle, Director of the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation. Read more |
Decreasing fertiliser requirements with compost
| Recent national media coverage of one of our honours students, Melanie Bower, provides important promotion of our research to the Sydney metropolitan community. Read more |  |
Helping hand from NSW farmers
The NSW Government is co-ordinating fodder relief efforts for Victorian farmers as the worst bushfires in our history continue. Read more