Imagine farming on some of the most fragile land in the State and being able to say, after the worst rainfall figures on record a mere 25% of your 250 mm average, that you harvested a viable crop from 50% of your farm seeded area.
This is the remarkable story of Ron and Nick Hards, who farm in the Millewa at Yurara in the Northwest corner of the State. The key to their success has been passionately protecting their topsoil.
For more information visit the Agriculture Victoria website:
For protecting the land during dry times visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/farm-management/managing-for-and-during-drought/protecting-the-land-in-dry-times
For information on managing drought visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/farm-management/managing-for-and-during-drought
For information on monitoring groundcover agriculture.vic.gov.au/farm-management/soil/erosion/monitoring-groundcover-and-soil-degradation
For more information on farming in the Mallee visit the Mallee Sustainable Farming (MSF) website msfp.org.au/
For a fact sheet: Soils Ain’t Soils: The Mallee Experience visit msfp.org.au/815-2/
For a Stubble Guide for the Mallee visit msfp.org.au/publications/msf-stubble-guide/
For information on planning ahead for grain versus hay visit the GRDC website grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/groundcover/ground-cover-issue-120-jan-feb-2016/plan-ahead-for-grain-versus-hay-contingencies
