Balonne Shire, Queensland, AU

Group Power

In a remote rural location without ready access to Government agricultural extension support, a group of farmers came together to form the Balonne Management Group (BMG), with the specific goal of self-funding their own farm management advisory services, targeted to both group-level and individual farmer requirements. In turn, BMG sought-out the reap Founders as their service provider of choice. The power of the BMG group ensured significantly enhanced bottom-line results for farmer members – cheaper farming inputs, aggregated production for better sales outcomes, tailored technical advice for each farmer, and identification of locally-adapted management practices.

Challenges Resolved

Enhancing sustainability of rainfed cereal cropping enterprises through legume-based rotations.

The dominant farm enterprise of winter cereals (wheat and barley) monoculture was not sustainable. The introduction of pulses (chickpeas) and pasture legumes (lucerne, annual medics, vetches) to provide species rotational diversity ensured: soil organic matter and fertility restoration; essential weed, disease and pest breaks; broader farm revenue base from pasture-raised livestock production.

Conventional cultivation systems were highly destructive to soil structure, fertility, and microbiology.

The early-1990s marked the start of the no-till revolution for these farmers, as a direct result of improvements in herbicide technology, changes to seeding equipment and greater knowledge of weed population dynamics. Conventional tillage operations over the years had a sustained detrimental impact on soil health because it broke down soil aggregate size and caused soil compaction. As soil aggregate size became finer, the soil was more prone to wind and water erosion, and water infiltration levels were reduced. Tillage was also highly damaging to soil micro-organism populations.