GSSA president Meg Bell

A SERIES of weekly webinars, including a virtual farm tour, are being planned for the Grassland Society of Southern Australia’s 61st annual conference.

The webinar sessions will be held every Wednesday evening for five weeks from July 22 and will follow the theme ‘Growing with Grasslands’.

It was originally intended to hold the conference in Gippsland, but the plans were shelved because of COVID-19 restrictions.

It will be the first time in the society’s 61-year history that it hasn’t held a face-to-face annual conference.

The weekly online sessions from 7.30pm-9.30pm will look at projects in pastures, what lies below the ground, legumes, pastures abroad and a virtual farm tour.

Society president Meg Bell said that this was a great opportunity to take advantage of the current situation by utilising a new mode of delivery for the society.

“While we won’t be able to get together in person this year, people who join the conference will get the same valuable information that will help them to improve understanding of grasslands farming,” Ms Bell said.

“Having a virtual conference allows us to look further afield for international speakers and different subjects, so we’re confident it will be a fascinating program, ” she said.

At this stage speakers from New Zealand and Argentina are expected to be on the program, which will be finalised in the coming weeks.

People will be able to register to livestream the webinars, which will include opportunities for questions. Recordings will also be available at a later date, along with a publication of the proceedings. The online sessions will continue until August 19.

The society is planning to revive an in-person event in 2021 in Gippsland. Registrations for the 2020 virtual conference are now open at www.grasslands.org.au