Hours of time, money and careful planning by farmers in the Geographe Bay Catchment to upgrade their dairy effluent systems has them on the front foot to manage dairy effluent this winter and into the future. Ten dairy farmers took up the opportunity for funding incentives to upgrade their systems and have an effluent plan...Continue Reading
Seven Geographe farm businesses are increasing their knowledge and application of grazing best practice by participating in the Grazer Matcher program. Grazing Matcher aims to improve productivity and profits for farmers and minimise impacts to the environment by supporting farmers to adopt best practice grazing management across their sheep and beef farms. This includes implementing...Continue Reading
GeoCatch hosted a community forum at the Geographe Bay Yacht Club in June to help inform the crowd of around 45 attendees about the progress and challenges of managing water quality in Busselton’s Vasse Wonnerup wetlands and Lower Vasse River. Scientists from the Departments of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), and Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions...Continue Reading
An exciting new trial is being undertaken in the Geographe catchment investigating the effect of phosphorus application timing on pasture productivity and the environment. The trial will look at four different times and intervals of application throughout the growing season. The trial has come about in response to farmers looking to better understand the best...Continue Reading
Closed borders are not an issue for migratory birds, who fly hundreds of thousands of kilometres across the globe to find food, habitat for breeding and feeding young. May 8 marks World Migratory Bird Day, an annual awareness raising campaign to highlight the need for conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. Locally in the Vasse...Continue Reading
Keen gardeners enjoyed making great soil mixes for pots and gardens at an outdoor workshop held on Saturday in the newly beautified Kent Street Laneway in the Busselton City Centre. Led by Chris Ferreira from The Forever Project, participants got their hands dirty getting their soil mix right and planting up pallet planters with native...Continue Reading
A recent soil testing workshop brought together farmers from across the Geographe Bay Catchment to get a better handle on their soil nutrients. Thirty-seven farmers were involved in this year’s soil testing program, with 20,000 soil samples collected across 670 paddocks. Since 2009, 240 farmers have participated in soil testing in the Geographe Bay Catchment,...Continue Reading
Scientists from Edith Cowan University have started analysing and interpreting three years of fish, birds, aquatic plants, macroinvertebrates and water regime data, as part of the integrated ecological monitoring program in the Vasse Wonnerup wetlands. The analysis will help identify the relationships between water regime, food sources and abundance and distribution of waterbirds on the...Continue Reading
The GeoCatch Sustainable Agriculture Team have supported their local farmers by increasing their soil testing capacity this summer. While the program has been previously available through GeoCatch and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, this is the first year that GeoCatch staff have done the soil sampling themselves. “Soil testing is a critical...Continue Reading
Over 50 people from the local community and management agencies attended a community information session on the Lower Vasse River at the end of November. The event, coordinated by the City of Busselton, aimed to update the community on action that has been undertaken and planned to improve water quality in the Lower Vasse River....Continue Reading
