In late 2022, winter-fill irrigation water was auctioned by Southern Rural Water (SRW) to landholders along the Tambo River. Each property that bought water triggered the requirement for irrigation development guidelines (IDGs). As part of the IDG process SRW, the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (WGCMA) and Agriculture Victoria worked [...]
A truffle farmer near Stratford was concerned about the recent rise of saline groundwater and the possible effects on his newly developed truffle farm. Agriculture Victoria Irrigation and Horticulture staff visited the grower to talk through tree husbandry, salinity in the Macalister Irrigation District, groundwater recharge and movement, as well [...]
A recent irrigation farm plan application from beef farmers in Stratford triggered an in-depth extension process which resulted in positive outcomes for the irrigators, the environment and cultural heritage values. Agriculture Victoria developed a concept plan as part of the normal farm planning process which outlined a significant area of [...]
On a large dairy farm in Denison, a farming family has spent years developing their irrigation system. Their goals were to improve water use efficiency and reduce their labour requirements. An irrigation farm plan was completed, which mapped out their current infrastructure and identified opportunities for improvement. The farm's soil was [...]
Accessing soil maps for your farm in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District (GMID) or Sunraysia irrigation area just became a bit easier. If you have Google Earth or Google Earth Pro loaded on your computer you can directly download the maps for your area. How to access the maps If [...]
Context: Leathorn Dairies in Newry, West Gippsland, demonstrated just how important basic maintenance can be in improving irrigation efficiency. Over a two-year period, Agriculture Victoria performed two irrigation efficiency assessments on one of their centre pivot irrigation systems. One assessment was conducted before and one after machine maintenance was carried [...]
Maximising the return on investment for any solar installation requires using as much of the power as possible, at the time it is generated, or selling excess power at a reasonable price. Feedback tariffs have steadily declined and are now down to around 2-5c per kWh, so feeding (selling) back [...]
A pilot interactive irrigation scheduling tool is now available on ExtensionAUS for irrigators to use, providing daily evapotranspiration (ETo) and rainfall data from the Bureau of Meteorology for any location in Victoria. The tool is updated daily showing the past 7 days, next 7 days and provides irrigation scheduling information [...]
The Agriculture Victoria Irrigation team in Maffra, with assistance from the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (WGCMA), developed and delivered an irrigation basics workshop to 19 dairy staff. The workshop was hosted at the Macalister Demonstration Farm (MDF) in March 2023, allowing a hands-on learning experience for the staff. A [...]
An on-ground works incentive project facilitated by Maffra’s Agriculture Victoria Irrigation team faced a unique set of challenges. The owner of the dairy farm was based internationally for the entire duration of the team’s consultation on the irrigation upgrades. This required clear and concise communication with the property owner via [...]
