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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-02 Daily Xml
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SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question about developments in our grazing sector.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Climate change is a reality for all of us, whether we live in the city or the country, and while city-dwellers can work to adapt their houses by shading windows or growing appropriate foliage cover, the livestock on which we depend for meat and wool are not able to change so readily. Will the minister advise the chamber how graziers have been assisted to manage climate change variability?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. Those of us who have had dealings with those in regions and rural areas will know the importance placed by farmers and graziers on the weather and the skill it takes to judge the timing of sowing and harvesting crops, or adjusting animal husbandry practices to ensure that, for instance, lambs survive the adverse conditions forecast in a sheep graziers' alert.

It is because of the importance of climate to our agricultural community that I am pleased to be able to tell the chamber about some of the important research undertaken by SARDI on climate adaptation over the last three years. The Climate Application Team at SARDI, which is based at the Waite, has been working on the impact climate change and seasonable variability will have on pasture and livestock operations. The team's research, which has been taken in partnership with a range of livestock producers in varying climatic conditions across South Australia, is part of the Australian government's $46.2 million climate change research program.

I understand that the team has found that the impacts that graziers will face over the next 15 to 20 years are likely to be shorter growing seasons with greater variability in pasture growth, which will be accompanied by reduced pasture quality and lower yields. This poorer volume and quality of pasture will flow through to a reduction in wool quality.

Increases in the number of days with elevated temperature will also impact on animal health and the productivity of the livestock systems. SARDI's senior scientist, Melissa Rebbeck, aims to provide information to producers so they can assess how different management options may have benefits for their own enterprise and position them to better manage climate risks.

The study used a computer model called Grass Gro to assess the benefits of the different adaptive strategies adopted by 300 livestock producers. The variables included in the adaptation study were: varying stocking rates, lambing and calving dates, weaning times, pasture mix, soil types, livestock sale dates, and types of enterprise.

Using the simulation model provided by Grass Gro, which incorporates local rainfall, temperature, radiation and carbon dioxide projections, as well as soil, pasture and livestock performance parameters, a wide range of individual situations can be plotted. This simulation allows managers to run a number of options through the model and then compare outcomes. This provides farmers with a decision support tool and, as a result, taking much of the uncertainty out of the decision process.

When researchers returned to visit 150 producers to show them the results from the simulation program, producers were able to discuss the practicality of the adaptations and advised which specific changes they proposed to make. The significant knowledge gained by this research is demonstrated by a number of adaptations which livestock growers decided to implement.

Some of these changes included minimising the need for supplementary feed by reviewing lambing and calving times, age of animals at first mating, stocking rates and sales times; making their systems more flexible by varying the times of sales or turnoff of stock, changed confinement feeding, stock movements, greater animal trading to encourage core breeding and agistment; and improved pasture use through better grazing management systems.

These included controlled cell rotation, confinement or movement of stock to pasture growth phases. I congratulate SARDI and Ms Rebbeck on this important work which provides a significant boost for our graziers, giving them the tools to increase profitability and sustainability into the future.

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