`What’s driving your pasture business’ will be the theme of the 2014 Grassland Society of Southern Australia annual conference to be held in Ballarat in June.
The conference is the society’s major event for the year and is expected to attract up to 400 people. It will be held at the Ballarat Lodge from June 17-19.
Conference presentations start on Wednesday June 18 and will cover pasture productivity and livestock management drivers.
Conference participants can also take part in bus tours to inspect major trials at PGG Wrightson’s research farm at Leigh Creek and soil cleaning facility at Smeaton and a nearby dairy farm and daisy farm.
A delegate’s breakfast on Thursday will include a presentation from Head of Agronomy Solutions at Incitec Pivot Fertilisers, Phil Hoult, on `How the soil test process works from paddock to paper’.
Presentations on Thursday include topics related to financial performance drivers, and enhancing on-farm efficiencies. The National Centre for Farmer Health will also present on “Looking after the farmer”.
At the conference dinner on the Wednesday evening, recently elected Queensland senator Matthew Canavan, will be guest speaker. Mr Canavan previously worked for Barnaby Joyce and is an agricultural focused economist.
Grassland Society President Marney Jones said the conference would be of great interest to farmers, rural consultants, agronomists, scientists and others interested in cutting-edge information on grazing enterprises and pasture production.
The society’s annual conference was last held in Ballarat in 2005. The annual general meeting will be held during the conference.
The society is Australia’s peak farmer organisation dedicated to the transfer of information and technology related to temperate grasslands. Formed in 1959, it has branches in South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and southern NSW.
Along with guest speakers and presentations and tours of local farms and research sites, the conference will also feature a comprehensive trade display area with a wide range of exhibitors to cater to producers.
It is the society’s 55th annual conference.
*Inquiries can be directed to the Grasslands Society of Southern Australia’s email address office@grasslands.org.au
