Osborne Park, Western Australia
May 2, 2007
Dryland agriculture in Western
Australia (WA) received a significant capacity boost last
Thursday with the opening of the
ALOSCA Technologies
manufacturing facility at Watheroo.
ALOSCA encapsulates Rhizobia in its world first clay granular
technology, delivering inoculants to legume pastures and crops
with minimal fuss, maximum life and maximum productivity.
Easier to handle than conventional slurry inoculation, ALOSCA
allows dry sowing and more flexible seeding and is safe to use
with pesticide seed dressings.
ALOSCA also remains viable for extended periods, particularly in
stressful conditions, allows 'spread' nodulation rather than
single 'crown' and enables nodulation deeper on the root system,
which means fixation further into spring when the topsoil has
dried out.
Part-funded by a $300,000 grant from the Australian Government’s
Regional Partnerships Program, the facility is located on
ALOSCA shareholder Bill Scott’s farm, 25km north of Watheroo.
Performing the official opening, Federal Member for O’Connor,
Wilson Tuckey said advances in dry seeding technology had,
effectively, added two inches of rain a year for broadacre
farmers in WA.
“ALOSCA is a great initiative, combining science, business and
local farmers,” Mr Tuckey said.
 During the tour of production facilities, ALOSCA Technical
Manager, Chris Poole (photo), revealed that about 1000 tonnes of ALOSCA
granules were formulated at Watheroo in 2005/06 and that the
bacterial culturing component of the process was developed and
piloted off-site at the Centre for Rhizobium Studies at Murdoch
University.
“The experience and support from research Professor John
Howieson and his team has been invaluable in overcoming the many
challenges high volume bacterial culturing presents,” Mr Poole
said.
Professor Howieson said reaching the stage where ALOSCA now
embedded Rhizobium into clay and moved it around the country,
was a great achievement for all involved.
“Despite already being world’s best practice for inoculating for
dryland agriculture, ALOSCA still has plenty of science to do to
further improve its product and range.
“The exciting thing for farmers in WA and across Australia is
the ALOSCA team, from the investors to the product developers,
to the scientists, to the management team, is united, committed
and focused on being the best and bringing the best granular
legume inoculant technology to farmers,” Professor Howieson
said.
Neil Ballard of Ballard Seeds, Tincurrin, addressing the 30
farmers, investors, researchers and others at the launch, was
blunt in his assessment of the former commonly used slurry
method.
“Thousands of hectares of legumes are sown annually without
inoculation because the traditional slurry method is messy and
time consuming when time is scarce at seeding,” he said.
“Slurry is an outdated method, now replaced by an easy and
efficient operation with ALOSCA.
“Dry sowing, with full Rhizobial survival, is now possible, as
is under-sowing of cereals with hard seeded pasture varieties so
that they emerge in the stubble the following year.
 “Also, if farmers can get all their legumes to nodulate
effectively and to their full potential, they’ll save the time
and money it takes to apply artificial nitrogen,” Mr Ballard
said.
He added that ALOSCA had given farmers a product that saved them
time and money, enabled new and old strains of pasture legumes
to reach their potential and, importantly, helped make grain
legumes profitable.
ALOSCA General Manager, Stuart Crockett, said ALOSCA was a
wholly WA owned company and had recently received patents for
its world first granular legume inoculating technology.
“Our micro-biological products are bred at Murdoch University,
transported to Watheroo for mixing with calcium bentonite mined
at the Scott’s farm, then transformed into a granule applied to
the soil to enhance and ensure inoculation of legumes.
“While it may seem a simple process, it is backed by exhaustive
science, business and technical due diligence to ensure WA
farmers enjoy the benefits of a world class product made,
effectively, in their own backyard,” he said.
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