Pastures

Pastures play a major role in agricultural enterprises and contribute over $3 billion annually in Western Australia through animal production, improvements to crop rotations and conserved fodder. In a typical year pastures occupy up to half the land in low to medium rainfall areas and over two thirds of the land in high rainfall areas. Improved pastures are increasingly being used to play a more comprehensive role in farming systems to address emerging challenges for environment protection and food production.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is a world leader in pasture breeding and selection, grazing systems design and agronomic management of pastures. The department provides information, tools and resources to support the success of the agriculture sector in improving the productivity and profitability of pasture systems under both dryland and irrigated conditions. 

Articles

  • Soil testing and plant analysis are valuable tools to diagnose constraints to crop and pasture production.

  • Irrigating crops with saline water can result in yield loss and decreased quality.

  • Water quality can influence the efficacy of chemicals used in spraying crops and pastures.

  • Liming to recover an acidic soil to an appropriate pH can result in significant production benefits, however a response to liming indicates that previous production has been lost due to an acidic t

  • Management of weeds, disease and nitrogen nutrition are ongoing challenges that limit yield potential.

  • In September 2017, six department research officers presented at the biennial Australian Agronomy Conference in Ballarat, Victoria.

  • The Greener Pastures project was set up to assist the Australian dairy industry meet the two major challenges in managing high performing pasture systems: maintaining profitability while meeting th

  • IrrigateWA is an irrigation app that will assist with the implementation of correct irrigation scheduling for a variety of crops, regions and soil types in Western Australia.

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