Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
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A spatial hybrid model for crop yield prediction in Western Australia
No full textAccurate crop yield estimation is crucial for ensuring food security and policy making; however, traditional methods are labor-intensive, and machine learning models often struggle to capture the complex interactions between soil, weather, and temporal data. To address these challenges, this paper first introduces a comprehensive resource—named the WA Paddock Dataset—comprising soil, climate, and satellite data for approximately 450,000 paddocks across Western Australia (WA) over a three-year period. This dataset is designed to enable high-resolution and large-scale modeling and supports other diverse research applications. Building on this resource, we present a novel hybrid regression model for predicting paddock-level crop yield that integrates MAMBA blocks, Transformer attention mechanisms, and Slot Attention to effectively capture spatial and temporal intricacies. This architecture effectively captures spatial and temporal complexities by leveraging diverse geospatial data, including soil properties, weather patterns, and Sentinel-2 imagery, to enhance predictive accuracy. Evaluation against classical machine learning models and ResNet50 demonstrates that our hybrid model significantly improves accuracy while achieving faster inference speeds compared to ResNet50 and some traditional approaches. These results establish the proposed method as a robust and efficient solution for precision agriculture and guiding impactful policy development at regional scale. Our code and relevant dataset will be made publicly available through GitHub repository
1080 baiting information for pet owners
No full textA must for pest control, but a risk to domestic pets.
1080 is the brand name given to the chemical compound sodium monofluoroacetate. It is the synthetically produced sodium salt of fluoroacetate and produced as a white powder which is odorless and tasteless to humans. 1080 has been developed for incorporating into various bait formulations for the control of vertebrate pests including wild dogs, foxes, feral cats, and feral pigs
Fisheries Research Report No. 350: Recreational vessel retrievals in Western Australia - 2009 to 2024
No full textThis report provides a time series (2009 – 2024) of the total number of recreational vessel (powerboat) retrievals at a spatial (boat ramp) and temporal (annual, month, hour) resolution for 32 boat ramps distributed from Wyndham to Esperance. This time series has been developed using a workflow that outlines each step, from acquiring raw video data to producing a completed time series of vessel retrievals. As part of this workflow, modelling was undertaken to impute counts of vessel retrieval for sites and hours for which data had not been read, or for which there were significant outages. Features within the General Additive Model (GAM) include inherent spatial and temporal variables (i.e., bioregion, site, month), as well as climatic variables (i.e., wind speed, wave height)
Fisheries Science Update - Pilbara Fishing Competition Science 2020 to 2024 - July 2025
No full textKey Points: Pilbara recreational fishing competitions are helping to track the sustainability of pelagic species like Spanish mackerel. Over 500 pelagic fish have been sampled at Pilbara fishing competitions over 5 years. This information goes towards DPIRD’s assessment of Spanish mackerel and monitoring the large pelagic resource in the North Coast Bioregion
The first Australian co-invasion of Euwallacea fornicatus, Fusarium sp. [AF18] and Graphium euwallaceae
No full textAs international trade and travel increase around the world, invasive species detections and incursions are increasing in frequency. Here we document the first detection and incursion within Australia by the Polyphagous shot-hole borer (PSHB), Euwallacea fornicatus (Eichhoff, 1868) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), an ambrosia beetle, and two of the associated fungal species; Fusarium sp. [AF18], and Graphium euwallaceae. All three exotic species were detected in a confined region within Perth, Western Australia, and represent a co-invasion. This multispecies incursion into one of the world’s most remote cities highlights the rapid increase in biological invasions globally and the pressures that urban, agricultural, and native environments face from invasive species
What’s the best way to store toxic 1080 baits?
No full textBeing able to store toxic baits could allow livestock producers to target ‘hot spots’ of predator activity, supplementing or even replacing broadscale baiting, therefore avoiding potential risk of bait-resistant populations. We compared 1080 dose recovered from dried meat baits (DMB; camel, horse and kangaroo) and sausage baits stored by different methods (shed, locked transport box, freezer, cryo-vacuumed) to identify whether they were still lethal, and address concern that freezing/thawing could result in loss of the water-soluble 1080 toxicant. We developed a bait collection method to halt microbial activity (preserving 1080 dose), al-lowing collection of baits manufactured under field conditions by five regional Recognised Biosecurity Groups according to their own schedule and methods. We assayed 351 baits (including 43 negative control baits, i.e., no toxicant), just over half (54%) of which were manufactured by us, using consistent meat masses, 1080 doses, and drying methods. For freshly manufactured baits, there was good consistency in bait manufacture, with no significant difference in recovered 1080. For stored baits, there was no effect of time on recovered 1080 for up to 2 months (maximum length of study), indicating different storage methods were equally effective in maintaining lethal baits. Manufactured sausage baits contained significantly more 1080 than DMB manufactured for this study, and showed substantial variability in recovered 1080 dose, which could reflect gun handling error. Storage in a locked transport box resulted in marked insect damage, likely rendering baits unattractive to target species. Freezing baits did not result in reduced 1080 dose. The majority (93%) of deployed/stored baits had a lethal 1080 dose recovered (13/192 baits were below theLD50 for a 20 kg dingo). Dry shed storage is prescribed as best practice, but freezing baits does not reduce their toxic dose. Future testing for longer durations of storage would be beneficial
Salinity in Calcarosols occurs through the presence of sodium, chloride, bicarbonate and sulfate ions, is caused by sodicity, and leads to decreased osmotic potential
No full textContext Salinity occurs in sodic soils in Australia, but its effect in Western Australia is poorly understood.
Aims We determined the cause of salinity, the ions responsible, and their potential significance as constraints to crop growth on sodic soils at Merredin and Moorine Rock.
Methods Soil was collected from 76 profiles to depths of 1.0–1.4 m (388 samples). Samples were analysed for EC1:5, pH, texture, and exchangeable and soluble ions.
Results Exchangeable cations were best calculated as the difference between total cations (determined from BaCl2/NH4Cl extracts) and soluble ions (determined from water-soluble extracts). Profiles showed increasing sodicity, alkalinity and salinity with depth. The major soluble cation responsible for salinity was Na+; the major soluble anions were Cl−, HCO3−, SO42−, and CO32−. High salinity in subsoils (depth \u3e 0.2 m) was strongly correlated with dispersive charge (adj. R2 = 0.73). Osmotic potentials were calculated for two levels of gravimetric soil water, the water content of the soils at sampling, or assuming 30% (dry mass basis) soil water. At Moorine Rock, soils mostly had osmotic potentials less than −1.5 MPa. Increasing soil water content to 30% made osmotic potentials less negative. At Merredin, there was strong stratification of osmotic potentials; surface soils mostly had osmotic potentials between 0 and −0.5 MPa, but subsoils mostly had osmotic potentials between −1.0 and −1.5 MPa.
Conclusions Crop growth in these landscapes is likely to be constrained by salinity, particularly in dry years
Seasonal variability in the South West Land Division: what’s in store for 2025?
No full textClimate trends in the South West Land Division (SWLD): Analysis of three time periods, 1950–1974, 1975–1999 and 2000–2024, reveals declining April–October rainfall, stable November–March rainfall, an increase in days exceeding 32°C between August–November, and a stable number of nights below 2°C during August–October. Performance of probabilistic rainfall outlooks: Evaluation of three-month probabilistic rainfall outlooks over 60 months (12 months × 5 years) indicates multi-model consensus occurred 48 times. Of the 48 times, the outlooks were correct 48% of the time and incorrect 13% of the time. 2025 seasonal outlook: Current projections for the 2025 season suggest neutral El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions in the Pacific Ocean and a neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Most models indicate above median rainfall for February to April, accompanied by above normal maximum and minimum temperatures for the SWLD
Put your money where success has been – a rapid review of interventions to improve pastoral land condition in the southern rangelands of Western Australia
No full textThe paper reports on a six-day study trip of rangeland regeneration efforts implemented between 1984 - 99 in the Goldfields Region of Western Australia (WA). Results of land regeneration efforts have been influenced by the extent and severity of degradation, fragility of soil type, episodic flooding and drought, and the degree of total grazing pressure (TGP) control. Locally endemic plant species fared better than sown native species. The long-term effect of cultivation has been variable as have the benefits of shallow water ponding. The benefit of any cultivation has depended on the proximity of seed source areas of native species. Plant establishment has been improved where the water ponding has made the surface soil more sodic and cracked. Deeper, longer-lasting ponding behind bulldozer-built banks has been effective in rehabilitating rangelands. A small study of fracturing hardpan with explosives has shown benefits. Measurement of Mulga (Acacia aneura) trees planted in water-ponded areas has allowed an assessment of mean annual increments of carbon that could inform future carbon farming initiatives in the rangelands