Dryland Legume Pasture Systems: pasture demonstration sites

Over the past three decades there has been a shift from integrated crop-livestock production to intensive cropping in dry areas, which has significantly reduced the resilience of farms in low to medium rainfall areas. Intensive cropping is prone to herbicide resistant weeds, large nitrogen fertiliser requirements, and major financial shocks due to frost, drought or low grain prices.A pilot project with MLA and AWi in WA and southern NSW has demonstrated how novel pasture legumes such as serradella, biserrula and bladder clover can improve livestock production while reducing nitrogen requirements, weeds and diseases for following crops. The extent to which these new legumes establish, grow and persist on South Australia's alkaline sandy soils requires clarification.The demonstration sites are primarily an extension tool, unlike research trials requiring detailed data collection. The purpose of these sites is to gather information on regional legume performance, including benefits to the crops that follow.