South-west Victoria and south-east SA farmers can expect to hear good news on the weather front at the Grassland Society’s annual conference in Millicent, SA, on July 18-19.
Weather forecaster Anthony Violi, from AV Weather, is tipping average rainfall for the region for the rest of the year, which should suit local farmers.
Mr Violi, who is one of the guest speakers on the program, predicts the region won’t receive as much rain as recent years but farmers will be happy.
“There has been 700-800mm around Mt Gambier in May-September for the past two years, which was extreme. It might be about half that this year which is more like average,” he said.
“I think rain will come in big bursts with a few weeks between each rain event. It should be good for farmers who are already telling me they can’t get on paddocks because it’s too wet.”
The 59th Grassland Society of Southern Australia annual conference at the Millicent Civic and Arts Centre has adopted the theme `Past + Future = Pasture’ and will give farmers an insight into how new technologies and business management structures can improve their farming outcomes.
In 2016 Mr Violi turned his three-decade passion for weather forecasting into a career.
“I have been studying this for a long time. I make forecasts independent of climate models. If I followed the climate models I’d be forecasting dry for the rest of the year but I don’t see that happening. The weather has pretty much done what I said it was going to do for the past six months,” he said.
This accuracy has seen the former strawberry farmer build up 2200 clients across Australia and 17,000 followers on Facebook.
“I wouldn’t have those numbers unless I had some idea of what I’m doing,” Mr Violi said.
In the talk, Mr Violi will detail climate cycles and the role they play in Australia's variable climate, and look at the bigger climate picture, why we are seeing what we see, and what we will be seeing when the big cycles change.
On the conference program, a panel of local farmers, Travis Telford, Richie Kirkland, Kingsley Breeding and Tom Ellis Jnr will speak on what has worked for them in the past and what they hope to achieve in the future.
There will also be a technology session on GPS ear tags for cattle and sheep, electronic ID and data collection, and pasture drone technology, and sessions on where agriculture fits into the regional economy and managing pastures for a variable climate.
For more information please go to www.grasslands.org.au.
To RSVP, contact GSSA Secretary Melinda Caspersz 1300 137 550. Email: office@grasslands.org.au
