WITH an unprecedented level of rain received this year, particularly in the Great Southern region, experts are holding their breath to see how rising water tables will affect salinity.
In 2018, the auditor general released a report on salinity, entitled Management of Salinity, which called for more support to address growing salinity issues, and as a result the State government allocated funds for projects that would tackle the problem head on.
One such project is a workshop, Masterclass in Saltland Management, hosted by Gillamii, in collaboration with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and CSIRO, with additional funding support from South Coast NRM and the WA government's State Natural Resource Management (NRM) program.
DPIRD senior development officer, livestock research and industry innovation Justin Hardy said the idea was that people would leave the workshop feeling confident enough to go and do something on their own place.
"It's about being able to map salinity on the farm and work out the best solution for the degree of severity of that area of saltland," Mr Hardy said.
"It also helps them think about what their objectives are for that bit of land.
"It might be that they might just want to revegetate it and go for carbon, but on the whole more are interested in the production side so they want to try to get some grazing from it, that's the primary goal and also to stop it spreading further."
Gillamii executive NRM officer Freya Spencer said there was "no single, simple, practical and universally accepted method to manage the water balance".
"The focus of our workshops is on making selective choices in saltland regeneration that meet the dual purpose of lowering water tables and filling autumn feed gaps, providing profitable benefits in mixed farming systems," Ms Spencer said.
"This workshop is about selecting the site, making a plan, using the tools and matching plants to the soil capabilities, with the ultimate aim of making productive improvements across the whole farm system."
The one or two-day courses run twice a year and farmers spend half the time learning the ins and outs of saltland salinity and the other half visiting a local farm with a salinity issue.
Workshop participants split into groups and work out various solutions and ideas based on the learnings, leaving the test site farmer with options to implement.
Mr Hardy said it was important that the workshops were heavily farmer driven, even though there was involvement from DPIRD and Gillamii experts.
"If it's farmer-driven then we know that it's what they want and we're working on a priority issue of direct interest," Mr Hardy said.
With the right knowledge Mr Hardy was confident farmers could turn their salt land around as he has seen it before.
"One of the fundamental things is to find the most moderate saline areas and treat them before they become more severe," he said.
"That's where you are going to get a good return on investment, if you start pushing down into the more saline areas then it becomes more risky.
"DPIRD's recommendation would be to map and plan it well before you spend anything and be really clear of what you want from it."
The next workshop will be in Bencubbin on March 16 and will be run in collaboration with Merredin and Districts Farm Improvement Group (MADFIG).
- To register your interest, contact Gillamii Centre or MADFIG or book at trybooking. com/events/landing?eid=850424
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