Lockyer Valley, QLD

Boasting fertile alluvial soils and highly diversified fruit and vegetable production, the Lockyer Valley in Queensland is one of the most valuable horticultural regions in Australia. Growers in the Valley produce a wide variety of vegetable crops including carrots, pumpkin, corn, beans, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, which are sold on both on Australian and overseas markets.  

Due to the high value of the produce grown in the Valley, it is critical that growers are vigilant in their approach to pest management and employ methods which are both effective and sustainable.

One of the biggest production challenges for brassica growers in the Valley is the control of Diamond Back Moth (DBM). From the late 1980s there have been cases of insecticide resistance and since that time growers have employed an integrated pest management (IPM) approach to pest control. The Soil Wealth ICP team are working with the Lockyer Valley Growers Association to promote IPM on an area wide management (AWM) scale to help combat insecticide resistance and achieve effective control of this potentially devastating pest.

New demonstration site

The Mulgowie Farming Company is a family-owned producer growing conventional and organic sweet corn, green beans and broccoli across Australia. With a strong focus on innovation and sustainable farming practices, Mulgowie has teamed up with Soil Wealth ICP to take their soil management to the next level. 

Mulgowie has already driven improvements in soil health through controlled traffic farming, cover crops and minimum tillage. The next step in improving their soils is to understand how to manage beneficial soil biology and get the beneficial fungi, mycorrhizae, back into their soil at their home farm in south-east Queensland (Lockyer Valley) as well as other sites in northern Queensland (Bowen), northern New South Wales and Victoria (Gippsland).