Nursery Industry BMP's

Garden centres are often located in urban environmentally sensitive areas and are involved in giving advice to the public on matters with environmental impacts.
Plants sourced from non accredited nurseries may carry disease such as phytophthora and frequently customers bring in plants for disease and pest identification.
Protocols will be developed to address these issues. Extensive sampling and disease diagnostic analysis will be undertaken to identify existing problems.
Literature, workshops and field days will provide technology transfer and audits will monitor uptake of the new protocols.

Horse Industry Council BMP's

Horses, land and water Environmental Best Practice will be rolled out throughout WA and involves all types of horses and all ages of owners and riders. The two existing manuals listed below form the education and learning process.
Action planner Monitoring and evaluation via the checklists will indicate progress made by the different sectors of the horse industry and show where additional support may be needed.
Management guidelines covering property, paddock and intensive horse keeping management
The goal would be uptake of the process by 10% per year of horse owners for the next five years.

VegesWA Update of Good Practice Guide

Uptake of new soil management information has had limited adoption by the vegetable industry.
The appointment of a Soils Development Officer combined with commercial scale demonstration sites have the potential to reduced nitrogen inputs by 3,000 tonnes   per annum plus more efficient use of irrigation and pesticides.
A group of soil management and other related issues specialists will support the activities.
Cover crops, soil amendments and other management strategies will assist with the adoption of the better practices
The use of reference groups and benchmarking data will guide the direction of the project. Key management areas will be water management, nutrient management, soil management, pest and disease management coupled with on going expansion of the Good Practice guide.
The project will aim to promote outcomes through the industry magazine, electronic newsletter, grower meetings and field days.
Numerous partnerships are involved.

Orchardists BMP's Irrigation Benchmarks

This project will establish water and nutritional benchmarks for WA fruit orchards to encourage greater efficiency of application.
Participation in training has not always resulted in changes to in-orchard practice. There is significant variability in orchard practices and there is a need to clearly identify what are current common practices.
Benchmarking will provide the basis for in-orchard practice change and to provide for continual improvement. A manual will be produced and data collection methods created.
The project will be supported by industry field days, communication packages and report generation which will be published.

Wooroloo Salinity Management

This project will aim to development and implement further farm sites to manage saline and acid sulphate soils. It will organise field days and develop resource material and link with suitable relevant expertise such as UWA.
Restoration includes fencing, weed control and establishment of perennial pastures and tree crops.
The key objectives are to improve soil health, carbon content and to enhance biodiversity of remnant vegetation, waterways and wetlands.
Community involvement will be through private landholders, field groups, catchment groups and students.

Sustainable Agriculture Online Knowledge Base

The Sustainable Agriculture knowledge base is an almost encyclopaedic online repository of information to support sustainable agriculture and rural land management across the Perth region. Because it is web-based it is accessible anytime.
The knowledge base provides access to over a thousand information resources and tools organised according to land use type and management issue. This makes it easier to find relevant information.
The knowledge base focuses initially on providing information for sustainable horse and horticulture development and management. Much of the information, however, is also relevant to sustainable land management by small landholders and other land users.
Information is available on a wide range of activities from pasture improvement to soil and water conservation to weed and pest management. A discussion feature also enables users to comment and discuss content. Registered users can be sent regular updates of information.
Check out the sustainable agriculture knowledge base by clicking here…

Wine Industry BMP's

Environmental issues in the WA Wine Industry have become a priority for a number of reasons. Increased production, climate change, water use efficiency and regulations, among other things, all threaten the wine industry. This project will investigate and access the range of environmental issues in the WA Wine Industry and the outcome will be a best practice tool kit backed by an education and support programme. Benchmarking data will be provided for research purposes.
The kit will clarify the assurance/ accreditation schemes which are currently available.
A suitably qualified and experienced Industry Development Officer will be appointed to implement the project in collaboration with a range of people having specialist expertise.
WIAWA represents 9 wine regions and the project relates to the whole value chain involving Viticulture, wine production, Branding, distribution, retail and customer focus.