  In June 2023 Soil Wise, a collaborative project to help farmers and land managers improve their soil health and nutrient management, supported a roadshow across seven catchments in south-west WA to encourage farmers and landholders to build their knowledge and skills to make and use compost. The workshops were presented in collaboration with Lower Blackwood LCDC, Peel-Harvey Catchment Council, Leschenault Catchment Council, GeoCatch, Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee, Torbay Catchment Group and Oyster Harbour Catchment Group. Every workshop was full, with some locations even having to prepare a waitlist, culminating in over 200 land managers attending the events. The days were packed with information, kicking off with Composting 101 and followed by a hands-on compost-making demonstration. Building a whole range of composts: Fermented Compost, Johnson Su Bioreactor, and Thermal Aerobic pile. Willyung Farm hosted our full-day event with expert Mark Tupman of Productive Ecology including 26 participants mainly other farmers. Giving locals a chance to see a larger-scale farm composting system in action. Feedback has been incredibly positive and there’s lots of enthusiasm for both large and small-scale composting as well as plenty of interest in making compost teas and extracts for seed coatings. Soil Wise funded the workshops. Soil Wise is funded by the National Landcare Program Smart Farms Small Grants – an Australian Government initiative. It is supported by Healthy Estuaries WA – a State Government program. Visit the Soil Wise events calendar to see upcoming events across South-West WA: https://estuaries.dwer.wa.gov.au/soil-wise/events/ 
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 During the cooler and wetter months (Makuru season) estuaries receive much of their freshwater inputs for the year thanks to winter rainfall. Estuaries are fascinating ecosystems that change constantly throughout the year as they exchange water from rivers and streams with ocean water. When we have rainfall, our Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), quality scientists observe a process called stratification in our estuaries. This is where the less dense freshwater from rivers sits as a layer on top of denser, salty, ocean water. This is a natural process for estuaries but can contribute to low oxygen conditions at the bottom of the water column, which can be problematic for aquatic life. In some of our estuaries, stratification occurs nearly year-round. Look for physical profiles for your local estuary see up-to-date information about salinity and oxygen stratification here. Rainfall also brings nutrients from the catchment to our estuaries, which can provide fuel for algal growth. Catchment management work done through Healthy Estuaries WA is reducing nutrient inputs to our waterways. Up in the catchments, our fertiliser management program has received the largest-ever number of expressions of interest this year, and we thank farmers for their interest in the program. We partnered with fellow catchment groups, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), and DWER, participating farmers in the year-long program will receive support for soil testing and interpretation of the results to make informed nutrient management decisions. The program has also been announced as a finalist in this year's Premier's Science Awards! We recently celebrated the conclusion of the uPtake project. Thank you to the many partners involved in the project, which has validated that national critical values used to inform phosphorus fertiliser recommendations are relevant for south-west WA soils and contemporary pasture species. Learn more from our video and factsheet, which summarises four years of on-farm fertiliser trials. Read all about this and much more below. For more information about any of the topics covered, go to estuaries.dwer.wa.gov.au or email [email protected].  |
Author: Bruce Radys
Senior Project Officer Archives
August 2024
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