Address high cost of roadside weeds, say croppers

Rob Robinson, Rainbow, is in Hindmarsh shire and grows vetch, cereals, pulses and oaten hay for export.

He said he was growing increasingly frustrated with what he said was 'lack of consideration' over the management of roadside weeds.

Mr Robinson mentioned the issue on social media to his Twitter followers, generating 160 responses.

"The phone has been going off all the time, they are from Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria - everywhere," Mr Robinson said.

"There are people genuinely concerned about it, a lot more than I thought of."

He said councils had been spraying the immediate edge of the roadside with glyphosate, instead of slashing.

"They have been doing it for a number of years, but when you are on a good thing, don't stick to it.

"It's just exaggerating the problem."

He said there were areas that weren't a problem, three years ago, 'now they are just a hedge,' he said.

When he came through recently, on a windy day, he said he had to use the windscreen wipers, as so much airborne seed was coming across the road.

"That's just drifting out into the paddock."

He said the weeds included fleabane, African Lovegrass and resistant ryegrass, which were really hard to kill.

"It's costing us $35 extra hectare, a year to implement strategies to try and maintain a low population in the paddocks and I think we are losing the battle."

He said he now had to do a first spray and then a double-knock.

"We have 76 kilometres of property adjoining roadside or parks," he said.

"If we had to maintain one side of the road, it would be from Horsham to Stawell."

He said he understood why the council sprayed the roadsides for fire management, as it was a cheap and easy way of controlling weeds, but there had to be a better way.

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John Bennett, who runs a cropping and sheep operation near Horsham, said roadside spraying contributed to weed resistance.

"I don't think the roadside weed management strategy is as sophisticated as what is going on in the paddock," Mr Bennett said.

"It leaves the roadsides bare and it leaves a spot where the summer weeds want to come up, as well, and they are not controlled."

He said that opened up the potential for Feathertop Rhodes grass to become established.

"It's creating a fallow environment, with moisture, where weeds can come up."

Slashing was a much more strategic method of weed control.

"It leaves a mulch on the side of the road, which reduces the high fire risk and leaves those dangerous intersections mown, so you can see."

He called for 'industry best practice'.

'We are asking the shires to adopt that, but they might not necessarily know that that is - so we, as an industry, need to come up with who has got the gold-plated standard of roadside management.

"Then we have a bit of an aspirational target and we can go to councils and say 'this is what good management looks like."

He said Hindmarsh was probably doing the best it could, in the most cost-effective manner.

Victorian Farmers Federation Environment, Planning and Climate Change Committee chair Gerry Leach said roadside management in Victoria needed to improve.

"Poor practice and lack of funding means roadsides are not being adequately managed, leaving farmers to clean up the mess," Mr Leach said.

"The VFF supports appropriate funding of catchment management authorities to improve cross tenure planning and support on the ground action in coordination with local councils and local farmers /Landcare."

Hindmarsh Shire mayor Melanie Albrecht said council slashed roadside weeds, but would also use chemicals where needed.

"This depends on seasonal conditions and the availability of contractors, the state of the weeds and if we are leading into the fire season," Cr Albrecht said.

"Slashing can often lead to regrowth, and where it is a harsh weed, chemicals are used to kill the weed before it seeds which prevents the weeds from spreading."