Crops, cattle, sheep – streamed live in Condobolin

Local farmers and industry representatives have been invited to the Condobolin Agricultural Research and Advisory Station on Wednesday August 22, where they will witness the free live streaming of an open farming forum.

The forum, ‘Crops, rumps and woolly jumpers - Working together’, will be streamed from Wagga Wagga as farmers explore the real issues they face in running successful livestock and cropping enterprises.

Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Sheep Connect NSW co-ordinator, Michelle Anderson, said the forum aimed to promote discussion between a panel of southern NSW farmers and the audience - local farmers, industry representatives and service providers.

"Short films shot on the farms of a six-member farmer panel will set the scene before panel members share their experiences with the audience in Wagga Wagga and Condobolin," Ms Anderson said.

"There will be two workshops following the panel discussion – the first will focus on moving from one enterprise to another in mixed farming systems and the second workshop will look at balancing production and input costs.

"Farmers can’t control the weather and often have little influence on market prices, but they can manage input costs and we want to explore how that can be handled to benefit their enterprise.

"These sessions will address the issues which producers grapple with on a daily basis and will also be the catalyst to tailoring future events which meet producer needs and expectations."

Panel members for the forum are Rupert McClaren (Beckom - cropping and sheep), Andrew Bouffler (Lockhart - sheep stud breeder and cropping), Murray Schulz (Culcairn - cropping on arable land and beef cattle on non-arable land), Vicki Geddes (Holbrook wool producer and some cropping), Bruce Thompson (Temora - cropping) and David Sackett (Borambola - manages mixed farming systems).

Sheep Connect NSW, a DPI and Australian Wool Innovation Limited collaboration, and the EH Graham Centre, a partnership between DPI and Charles Sturt University, are presenting the forum, which is supported by Meat & Livestock Australia and EverCrop.

The forum will run from 8.30 am until 4 pm and farmers should register for the live event at the Condobolin Agricultural Research and Advisory Station by contacting the DPI, email condobolin.office@dpi.nsw.gov.au or telephone
(02) 6895 1025.

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