FARMING extension services will increasingly be delivered through group, not individual consultation according to North Coast Local Lands Services general manager Bruce Brown.
About 200 farmers turned out for a field day at Casino on the North Coast on Friday.
Mr Brown told attendees that future farming extension services will be group work delivered by partnerships between agribusiness and the public sector.
Organised by LLS and Norco Rural, the event covered a multitude of season and market-relevant topics.
Ways to control weeds like Giant Parramatta Grass, currently in growth overdrive across the region, was dealt with, along with pestivirus, options for increasing the number of polled cattle in a herd and low-cost ryegrass, oats and companions for winter.
The event was held on the property of Limousin breeder Grant Sheddon at Greenridge.
Mr Brown said the days of individual farmers having access to one-on-one farm visits on a regular basis were gone.
Taxpayers were simply no longer willing to extensively fund extension services in agriculture, he said.
“With limited government resources, this is the most effective way of getting research and development out there,” he said.
“The private consultant is filling a gap but they too are looking towards setting up group situations.
“Research has shown there can be a bigger learning curve in a group situation.
“Producers talk informally at these types of events and there is big value in that.”
Workshops to identify key trends and areas of opportunity across four key North Coast agricultural industries - beef, dairy, macadamias and blueberries – would be held over the next six months, Mr Brown said.
All would aim to establish ongoing producer groups to drive productivity, he said.
For their part, private farm suppliers and processors at the Casino field day backed the concept of playing a stronger role in extension.
Norco Rural’s animal production field services officer Bruce Lyle said at the end of the day agribusinesses wanted to add value to a producer’s business.
“We see our role as much more than just transactional,” he said.
Northern Co-operative Meat Company boss Simon Stahl said private enterprises in the agricultural sector saw value in getting more extension people on the ground.
Shan Goodwin
Journalist for The Land on the North Coast.
Journalist for The Land on the North Coast.
