Dryland Agriculture

Building drought resilience of vulnerable soils

This two year project (2022-2024) was developed under the Australian Government’s Drought Resilient Soils and Landscapes Grants Program to support dryland farmers managing vulnerable soils in low rainfall and high wind erosion risk landscapes.

This project was delivered in partnership with:

• Mallee Catchment Management Authority (Mallee CMA)
• Birchip Cropping Group
• Mallee Sustainable Farming
• Agriculture Victoria

Delivery focused on landscapes that demonstrate high wind erosion risk (i.e. combination of inherently susceptible soils and historically low ground cover) and areas most likely to be impacted (economically and environmentally) by drought.

This project received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

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Building drought resilience of vulnerable soils in low rainfall cropping and grazing systems

A regional partnership of Mallee Catchment Management Authority, Agriculture Victoria, Birchip Cropping Group and Mallee Sustainable Farming is working with dryland farmers across the Victorian Mallee to identify and validate management practices that can support sustainability, productivity and profitability improvements under a variable and changing climate. Commencing in 2024, this four-year project is focusing on addressing a key challenge for Mallee farmers; maintaining groundcover at the level required to protect their most valuable resource: soil.

This project is funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by Mallee Catchment Management Authority, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

This project will demonstrate how soil mapping & analysis tools can be applied to evaluate the efficiency & sustainability of current cropping systems in the Victorian Mallee and build the capacity of farmers to adopt climate smart sustainable practices within this low-rainfall environment. New, innovative and cost-effective techniques will be applied across 1,200ha (6 focus paddocks) to more precisely identify which areas of the paddock are not producing to their optimal potential, the soil properties/constraints directly influencing productivity & profitability, & the impact of current practices on key sustainability indicators. Evaluation & extension of how targeting best practice to within paddock zones according to identified constraints can support improvements in natural capital & associated productivity/profitability gains, will provide for the identification and implementation of effective strategies that support increased resilience to climate change.

This project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.

Three demonstration sites have been established to increase the knowledge and skills of Mallee farmers to implement crop management practices that improve the productivity of dryland cropping systems through nutrition, soil disease, and groundcover management. 

These management practices aim to increase the efficiency of water use by wheat and barley, which is the most important driver of productivity in the Mallee region where rainfall is low and variable. Improving water use efficiency is vitally important for Mallee farmers to maintain and improve the productive capacity under future climate scenarios where rainfall and therefore water availability for crops is expected to decline significantly.

This project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.

A regular publication designed to keep farmers across the Victorian Mallee in the know with the latest research, events and seasonal information.

Publications – Mallee CMA

This publication is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Natural Heritage Trust under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program.

Sustainable Agriculture Facilitators (SAFs) are locals who work with farmers, landholders, community groups and agricultural industries to promote climate-smart, sustainable farming practices. They provide relevant information and resources, and facilitate local connections to help support a more sustainable and resilient future for agriculture. To contact the Mallee SAF, please get in touch with:

Cameron Flowers
Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator
M: 0427 509 663
E: Cameron.Flowers@malleecma.com.au

The Australian Government has invested over $40 million in the SAF network through the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program, funded by the Natural Heritage Trust. SAFs play a key role in delivering sustainable agriculture initiatives regionally, building on the success of the Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator (RALF) network (2017–2023).

Mallee CMA is proud to support the long-running Community DustWatch program by maintaining two monitoring stations located at Walpeup and Werrimull. 

These stations contribute valuable data that helps track dust activity, inform land management practices, and improve air quality across rural Australia.

We extend our sincere thanks to the Mallee landholders hosting these stations for their ongoing support.

Community DustWatch | Land and soil | Environment and Heritage