THE West Midlands Group (WMG) is one of Australia's leading grower groups.
Based at Dandaragan, the organisation services surrounding farming areas including Badgingarra, Regan's Ford and Moora.
With about 300 members and growing, WMG is conscious of delivering value to its members and fulfilling its mission statement of delivering relevant and timely information more than ever.
Throughout the year, WMG has worked hard to develop innovative and unique events and projects to engage the membership and deliver greater value to members.
WMG has also embraced the importance of collaboration in the sector, working with a wider range of partners and contributors to bring new information and voices to its members.
With WMG hosting an event every week until the end of September, there is a lot of activity happening in the organisation and the region.
For members, this represents the delivery of value for membership and presents an opportunity for increased engagement between WMG and its membership and community.
One of the group's most exciting upcoming projects is the BeefLinks Field Day, which is being held at Hamersley station next Tuesday, August 31.
This event comes out of a collaborative research and development partnership involving Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), MLA Donor Company (MDC) and The University of Western Australia (UWA), which WMG is also a part of.
The event is being hosted and developed by WMG, in association with MLA, MDC, UWA and Rio Tinto.
The field day will focus on virtual fencing, an innovative new technology being developed by UWA and Rio Tinto, which also is of interest to WMG members.
The technology has large implications for all livestock producers.
WMG's work in backgrounding will also be on display at the event, as will other BeefLinks projects including DietID and Carbon Neutral by 2030 (CN30).
The grower group will also be hosting the region's first Student Crop Walk, which will see agricultural students, as well as students from other disciplines who are interested in careers in agriculture, coming to Badgingarra to tour WMG's Spring Field Day site.
Students from UWA, Curtin University and Murdoch University will be in attendance, as will representatives from industry including the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Nutrien Ag Solutions and the Department of Agriculture.
Speakers will include Ag4U founder Erin Gorter and Living Farm managing director Richard Devlin.
The student crop walk will give students an opportunity to experience the agricultural industry in a new way, network with their peers and develop an understanding of what farmers in the area do.
It will also expose students to WMG's trials and demonstrate how research is driving innovation in sustainability and profitability in farming systems.
Held on Saturday, September 18, the event is expected to be well attended.
The student crop walk will also act as a preview for WMG's largest event of the year, the Spring Field Day.
Showcasing the latest in research trials and the work of WGM during the year, the Spring Field Day is on Tuesday, September 21 and will cap off a great year in research and farming for WMG and is expected to have great attendance from both local producers and industry representatives.
These major events come off the back of WMG's commitment to offering value to its members by delivering timely and relevant information.
They also come about as demonstrations of WMG's increased collaboration with relevant organisations who matter to its members.
Increased collaboration with key partners including UWA, MLA, the Grains Research and Development Corporation, DPIRD and other universities will see more innovative and relevant programs and events delivered to WMG members.
It also extends the breadth of available research available to its members.
WMG is proud to be hosting so many events which deliver innovation and value to its members.
Increased collaboration has allowed WMG to develop new events which were not available in previous years and in doing so, members are getting more value than ever out of being part of the WMG membership.
