Dear <<First Name>>,
Welcome to February already! We hope everyone has faired okay through the wild weather of the past few weeks and please reach out to your local group or facilitator if you need any advice or support.
As always the calendar in our area is looking very full throughout February. Many of our groups have hit the ground running this year, and we encourage everyone to look through our upcoming events and head along to anything that takes your fancy.
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Control Blackberries Now
Blackberries are an invasive species in Australia - listed as a Weed of National Significance. They negatively impact our ecosystems by smothering native vegetation. They can make grazing and cropping difficult with large infestations, and can also become a hazard during natural disasters.
Blackberries can be managed through a variety of different methods, including chemical, biological and physical control options. Rivers of Carbon have produced an excellent article detailing why blackberries are such a significant weed, summarising control methods, and they've listed a number of resources at the end.
Late summer and Autumn is the prime time for blackberry control, and given our wet La Nina Summer, blackberries are enjoying ideal growing conditions. The Victorian Blackberry Taskforce have produced the excellent Blackberry Control Manual and the guide goes into to detail about managing and controlling blackberries. Head to the VBT website to download the guide and find other useful information and resources.
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Sunday 6th February | 9.30am - 11.30am
172 Up River Rd, Gooramadda
Rutherglen Landcare Group invites you to a Composting and Soils Session. Find out what is under your land and how to make it plant friendly.
If you need further information contact Jenny Davidson on 0418 169 917. All Welcome, morning tea provided, BYO chair.
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Webinar Local Climate History and Future Climate Drivers
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Monday 7th February | 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Online
Join Graeme Anderson, Climate Specialist from Agriculture Victoria for this online webinar. Graeme will run through our longer term rainfall history and will talk about what’s normal, what isn’t and what we should be planning for in the coming years, as well as sharing some new climate and forecast tools for farmers.
This webinar is presented by Greta Valley Landcare Group and will be hosted using Zoom. Please register to receive the link here.
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Identifying weeds in this region and why is this important?
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Thursday 10th February | 8:00 - 9:00pm
Online
Presented by the Rural City of Wangaratta: Sue Brunskill has worked with weeds for more than 30 years in horticulture, bush regeneration and farming. She taught weed management at TAFE for many years and has always been involved in Landcare. Join Sue as she takes us through the basics of identifying weeds. Learn about the different types of weeds and their identifying characteristics. Find out about some useful resources and an App that can help you along the way.
Register for the Zoom link here.
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Forecasting Future Farming Impacts on Beef Cattle
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Monday 14th February | 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Moyhu Memorial Hall, Moyhu
Greta Valley Landcare presents Lachlan Campbell from the North East CMA to talk us through the forecast impacts on beef cattle production in our local area as a result of our changing climate. Climate modelling specifically for our local catchment will be explored and he will discuss the challenges and opportunities with particular reference to water availability and pastures for our local catchment. Light supper provided.
Please note that we may move to an outside venue or postpone this event if covid risk levels are still high. Please register so that we can inform you of any changes, RSVP online here by Thursday 10th February.
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Forecasting Future Impacts on Beef & Sheep Farming
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Wednesday 16th February | 7:30pm - 9pm
Everton Hall, 2161 Great Alpine Rd, Everton
Lachlan Campbell from the North East CMA will talk us through the forecast impacts on the various production enterprises in our local area as a result of our changing climate. Climate modelling specifically for our local catchment will be explored and he will discuss the challenges and opportunities with particular reference to water availability and pastures for beef cattle and sheep farmers in our area. Proudly hosted by the Burgoigee Creek, Hodgeson & Horseshoe Creeks and Springhurst & Byawatha Hills Landcare Groups.
RSVP online at www.tinyurl.com/MOLCfarmfuture by Monday 14th February. Light supper provided.
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Mega Myrtleford Repair Cafe Event
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Saturday 19th February | 10am - 2pm
Myrtleford Showgrounds
Myrtleford & District Landcare & Sustainabiltiy is hosting their Repair Cafe with Chopped and Changed Kustom Car Club, Myrtleford Men's Shed, and the Albury-Wodonga Repair Cafe team.
This event will also be other showcasing living tips including low energy solutions, led lights, solar power solutions and the establishment of the Myrtleford Community Power Group. Find out more info at www.facebook.com/myrtlefordrepaircafe.
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Webinar: The importance of managing ground cover
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Wednesday 23rd February | 12-1pm
Maintaining ground cover over summer is incredibly important to mitigate high soil temperatures, maintain biological soil health, reduce soil disturbance in summer storm events, protect pasture quality and increase organic matter and carbon capture in soils. The guest speaker for this webinar is Damien Adcock who is a Research Agronomist with Barenbrug Australia. Damien has completed his PhD on soil science and has a strong understanding of the benefit of ground cover and links to soil organic carbon and organic matter. Proudly hosted by the Burgoigee Creek, Hodgeson & Horseshoe Creeks and Springhurst & Byawatha Hills Landcare Groups.
This webinar will be held using Zoom. Register in advance for this webinar here.
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Growing agriculture through innovation and sustainability
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Tuesday, March 1- Friday, March 4 | 10am-11.30am |
Free online conference
The Outlook 2022 program includes three, one-hour sessions each day over four days, covering significant trends and issues for the agriculture sector. Our speakers are industry leaders and experts from across Australia and internationally.
Sessions include:
- Global and national context
- Drought resilient farms
- Benefits of water trade in the Basin and how markets could be improved
- Trading in a greener environment - can Australia's ag exports maintain competitive advantage?
- Future of food: what it means for Australia
- Agriculture's new workforce
- Plus, key commodities
Register your free spot here.
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Strengthening Rural Communities | FRRR
Applications close 5pm Tuesday 22nd February 2022
The Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) program aims to give the thousands of small rural, regional and remote communities across Australia an opportunity to access funding to support broad community needs. Given the events of summer 2019/20, it has also been expanded to offer funding to support recovery in bushfire-affected communities.
Grants are available for a broad range of grassroots, community-led initiatives that directly and clearly benefit local communities. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and assessed quarterly. For more information click here. For more information click here.
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Tackling Tough Times Together | FRRR
Applications close 5pm Tuesday 1st March 2022
The Tackling Tough Times Together grant program helps communities access the resources they need to support one another through the ongoing effects of the drought.
Grants are available for a broad range of grassroots, community-led initiatives that directly and clearly benefit local communities. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and assessed quarterly. For more information click here.
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Small Environmental Grant Scheme | Norman Wettenhall Environment Trust
Expressions of Interest open regularly
Providing support for people undertaking projects that will make a positive difference to the natural living environment, in land, sea or air, rural or urban. The Norman Wettenhall Environment Trust supports grassroots organisations and individuals, and academics who are working with on-ground community groups. The expression of interest process opens regularly throughout the year. For more information click here.
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Have Your Say - Victorian Fishing Authority draft stocking plan
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Feedback due Friday 4th February
To help shape what gets stocked between May 2022 and April 2023, the VFA is asking for feedback on its 2022-23 Draft Stocking Plan. Local sites on this list include the King River, Ovens River and Glenrowan Rec Reserve. Submissions on the plan can be sent through to improving.fishing@vfa.vic.gov.au and will be accepted up until Friday 4th of February 2022.
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Silage Plastic Survey - For all landowners who use silage wrap
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Don’t miss your chance to influence the development of the new recycling program, A Circular Economy for Silage Plastics, which aims to collect and recycle 100 per cent of silage plastics from dairy farms by 2030.
This survey is confidential and takes just 15 minutes, and will help build an understanding of current practices and future preferences.
Click on the link now to have your say: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GN7YF36
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Victorian Rural Women’s Network - Mentoring Program
Applications for the program are open until Monday 7 February
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This exciting program will offer rural women the opportunity to be a part of a mentoring partnership with a focus on building networks and skills relevant to their career and leadership goals. The mentoring partnership will be overseen by one of our expert facilitators who will bring a depth of knowledge and experience in women’s leadership and career development in agriculture and rural communities.
The program is open to Victorian women of all ages and experience levels who live regionally or rurally and work or have skills and experience in the agriculture sector.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Pippa Auld or Lara McPherson at VRWNetwork@agriculture.vic.gov.au or submit your expression of interest on the Agriculture Victoria website.
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Nest Box Tales
Over 300 of our native species in Australia use tree hollows. Of these, 114 or 15% of our native bird species use tree hollows, the majority for nesting purposes. Some bird species, including Masked Owls, Sooty Owls, Australian Owlet-Nightjars and White-Throated Treecreepers also roost in tree hollows year-round.
Native mammals are also heavily dependent on tree hollows, for sleeping during the day or to raise offspring. Of Australian native mammals, 83 species or 31% use tree hollows. These include bats, possums, gliders, and ground-dwelling mammals that climb such as quolls, native rats, dunnarts, phascogales, numbats and antechinus.
Numerous reptile (79 species, 10%) and amphibian species (27 species, 13%) also use tree hollows.
Nest Box Tales is a fantastic website voluntarily created by Alice McGlashan, and there is an accompanying Facebook Group for anyone to join and share stories and learn from other’s experiences, about nest boxes and tree hollow using native wildlife across Australia. Check out all the different nest box designs available to download, and learn more about recommended materials and installation tips.
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