The agriculture industry remembers DPI employee, the late Julie Howard

Our office was like dozens of others across NSW, providing agriculture advice and conducting research that made a big impact on agriculture productivity and long-term sustainable land management.

Ms Howard, like many other secretaries and office managers, was the front face of DPI and was enormously respected by staff and clients. How to collect soil samples, proving relevant crop, pasture, soil and livestock information for clients was a vital part of the business.

Also equally important was the support she provided for much of the ongoing research and extension effort emanating from our operation centre.

DPI centres, like ours at Coonabarabran, dotted around the country, were vital parts of the NSW DPI agriculture extension and research role, generally highly valued by primary producers.

Why Minister Katrina Hodgkinson, around 2012, signed the end of the DPI role in agriculture extension, is beyond me. It was, to a small degree, transferred to Local Land Services with vastly reduced staff numbers and effort.

The Coonabarabran DPI office was a typical example of what impact the network of agronomists, livestock officers and auxillary staff, including secretaries and field assistants, could and did achieve. Much of our effort for example was related to light acid soils that comprised about 40 percent of landholdings in our work district. Prior to the 1970s much of this country was regarded as second or third rate because of lack of research and extension effort and lack of knowledge of how to improve these soils.

From the late 1960s through to the turn of the century dozens of experiments were conducted in our and adjoining districts seeking crop and pasture species that would thrive on these, at that stage, poorly regarded soils.

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Ms Howard provided a vital role in these studies being largely responsible for ensuring all data was properly recorded and documented. As the years progressed pasture species suited to acid soils, serradella initially, not only suited these soils, built their fertility, were lasting and productive.

From these studies later came long term persistent and productive perennial grasses. Initially Consol lovegrass and then Premier digit. Cropping was also a challenge on these soils. Legumes cowpeas and then lupins, were found productive and profitable. Many oat varieties showed up in these studies as acid soil tolerant. Along can triticale and it also proved to perform well on acidic soils.

Once acid soil plants were identified, bearing in mind many of these soils were acid well into the profile, it was possible then to conduct meaningful soil fertility studies. Soil testing initially indicated nearly every element was deficient on these soils. Non-acid soil tolerant species failed to perform regardless of fertiliser combinations.

But with acid tolerant plants the main deficiencies were found to be sulphur and phosphorus, plus for non-legume crops also nitrogen. We now had a profitable system on once regarded near useless soils.

Field days, seminars and day to day extension of these results involves a lot of organisation and work such as developing and printing publications as well as planning functions. Julie Howard, and colleagues in other centres, were responsible for much of this work and can legitimately claim equal rights to the success of these research and extension programs.

People like Ms Howard are often not adequately acknowledged when results from various successful research and extension programs are evaluated. Yet such staff have been fundamental to the success of them.

Even more important, no matter who came to our office seeking assistance, they were all provided by people like Ms Howard with the utmost respect and assistance. It might have been identification of a plant, seeking a publication, or just discussing a problem and how best to address it. Ms Howard and colleagues ensured even the smallest of issues were properly addressed and referred to the best avenue for the best solution.

The Julie Howard's of this world are the salt of the earth people.

Next week. Soil moisture, every drop counts.