South-West WA Hub Update

Dry Season Resources

Listen to our latest podcast on 'Managing risk using head, heart and gut'

In the first episode of Season 2 of the South-West WA Hub's Dry Season Resources podcast, host Shannon Beattie chats with Cameron Weeks from Planfarm and Cam Nicholson from Nicon Rural Services about making risky decisions.

They discuss knowing about the extremes, and then managing the risks (both good and bad) around those extremes - using head, heart and gut.

The Dry Season Resources podcast is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, funded by the Future Drought Fund.

Listen here and subscribe to the Hub's podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

'Dry Season Shorts' video series delivers practical drought resilience tips

The SW WA Hub's Extension and Adoption team caught up with farmers and industry professionals late last year to reflect on the variable 2023 season, characterised by dry conditions.

In these discussions, farmers shared valuable insights into the proactive measures they implemented to increase their farming systems' resilience to a drying climate.

Agronomists offered expert advice to assist farmers in preparing for the challenges posed by future dry seasons.

• Tactics in a dry year, The use of fallow, with John Flannagan, grain grower in Pindar, WA
• Reducing costs and forward planning during a dry year, with Rod Birch, grain grower in Coorow, WA
• Herbicide carryover risk after a dry year, with Bevan Addison, Adama WA Market Development Manager
• Things to consider after a dry season preparing for 2024, with Grant Thompson, Director and Research Agronomist at Crop Circle Agronomy
• Ground cover and erosion management after a dry season, with Justin Laycock, DPIRD Research Scientist

The Hub team is gathering more insights to further build our Dry Season Resources library. Stay tuned.

Hub projects in focus

$2.5M innovation projects deliver solutions for improved productivity and profitability

Ten industry-focused innovation projects, led by the SW WA Hub, have come to completion.

In 2022, the Australian Government provided the SW WA Hub with $2.5 million to enable it to expand its remit beyond drought under the Agricultural Innovation Hubs Program.

A total of 10 exciting and diverse projects were rolled out, with focus areas ranging from paddock-level carbon benchmarking, through to drone‐mounted grazing monitoring for the southern rangelands and improved vineyard floor management.

“These projects are great news for agriculture in the South‐West WA agricultural region and align with National Agricultural Innovation priorities targeting exports, climate resilience, biosecurity and digital agriculture,” SW WA Hub Director Mark Holland said when funding was announced.

“Innovation and collaboration are critical to unlocking step‐changes in productivity and profitability for farmers and their communities, and these initiatives will help the Hub to deliver on this key aim.”

X-Hub project develops cost-effective tool to assess ground cover and forage availability to better manage rangelands

Six Drought Hubs collaborated nationally in a 18-month project with the combined objective of using digital technology to monitor and assess ground cover and forage availability to better manage rangeland condition across seasons.

At a local level, the SW WA Drought Hub and Contour Consulting, in partnership with Yerilla Station, located 145km north of Kalgoorlie, trialled and developed a methodology for an aerial photography-based tool to assist pastoralists make proactive stocking decisions across their landscape. The team combined ‘off the shelf’ drone technology with remote sensing and traditional on-ground photographic and in-person assessments.

The project has developed a digital library of pasture condition over multiple sites on Yerilla Station to calibrate and guide real time stocking rate decision making. It is anticipated the tool developed as part of this project will be applicable across all pastoral leases within the Southern Rangelands and potentially all rangeland regions of Australia.

Successful transformational projects soon to be announced

Last September, the SW WA Hub opened a small grants program to its Hub Consortium Partners up to the value of $1 million for transformational projects that lead to improved drought resilience within Western Australia’s agricultural systems.

The successful projects are currently working through a contracting process and will be announced soon. 

Upcoming Hub events

Registrations are open for the SW WA Hub Extension and Adoption Training Program

The SW WA Hub Adoption and Extension team will once again offer a six-part technical content training program on adoption and extension involving two face-to-face workshops and four online workshops.

Content will suit grower group staff, industry consultants or new extension/research staff that extend research to support farmer adoption.

Dates and topics are:

• April 10 (in-person): Issue capture/situational analysis & KASA/MAKAT
• April 11 (in-person): Extension planning framework
• April 17 (online): Extension event planning
• May 1 (online): Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation
• May 8 (online): Facilitation training
• May 15 (online): Group chat mentoring session

Participation is flexible: register for some or all dates. 

Learn how to provide farmers and landholders with tailored insights into their changing climate

On Thursday 22 February and Friday 23 February, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Climate Services for Agriculture team will be presenting two in-person 'Train the Trainer' sessions for the program’s free digital product, My Climate View. Also in attendance on Thursday will be Dr Meredith Guthrie, DPIRD Senior Research Scientist (Climate).

My Climate View is a collaboration between Australia's national science agency CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, and has been designed together with Australian farmers with funding from the Future Drought Fund.

This event is supported by the SW WA Hub. 

Innovative drought resilience solutions showcased at evokeAG conference

The eight Australian Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs will join forces at the premier agrifood tech conference evokeAG on 20 and 21 February, providing a united front to address one of the most pressing challenges facing agricultural communities – an increasingly variable climate.

EvokeAG delegates will have the opportunity to learn about some of the diverse initiatives undertaken by the Northern Australian, Tropical North Queensland, Southern Queensland Northern NSW, Southern NSW, South Australian, Tasmanian, Victorian and South-West WA Hubs at their joint exhibitor booth.

Following the evokeAG conference, the SW WA Hub will host a two-day tour, subsidised by the Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development, offering a first-hand look at innovative water systems in the Wheatbelt and South-West regions of Western Australia.

Dam photo: Southern Dirt

Drought Hub Team Out and About

L-R: Alison Lacey (Hub Adoption Officer), Sandra Fowler (farmer, Rapanui), Kaitlyn Anderson (Facey Agricultural Research and Extension Coordinator), Julianne Hill (Hub Adoption Manager)

Capturing key learnings on confinement feeding

Hub Adoption Manager, Julianne Hill, and Hub Adoption Officer, Alison Lacey, met up with Congelin farmer Sandra Fowler to capture her experience with confinement feeding. 

Sandra farms with her husband Noel and family at ‘Rapanui’, north east of Williams. She manages the livestock enterprise.

Sandra shared with Kaitlyn Anderson (Facey Agricultural Research and Extension Coordinator), Julianne and Alison some of the reasons why confinement feeding has worked for them, and some of the considerations needed to make it work successfully.

The SW WA Hub team recorded a video of Sandra's key learnings to share them with other farmers. The video will be available soon as part of the the Hub video series, 'Dry Season Shorts'.

Have Your Say

Complete survey to have your say on soils

A national survey to assess soil issues, knowledge gaps and research and extension opportunities across Australia is open.

The anonymous results will be summarised for the Regional Soil Coordinator project in a report to DAFF to ultimately help inform the design and delivery of targeted soil interventions to address priorities under the National Soil Strategy.

Grain traceability survey

Is grain traceability worthwhile or practical? What proportion of consumers will pay for traceability credentials?

UWA researchers are seeking to identify and represent farmers’ positions and views on potential traceability solutions, focusing on farm sustainability as part of the Investigating the economics of grain traceability investment decisions project. 

Participate in Farm to Port survey

Grain growers are encouraged to complete a survey that will assist research aimed at optimising grain supply chains.

The ‘Farm to Port’ study is led by The University of WA and supported by the SW WA Hub through its student bursary program.

UWA PhD student Garima, who recently received an extension and adoption bursary from the SW WA Hub, said the aim of the study was to produce a framework, based on simulations, that could assist growers to optimise decisions during and after harvest.

“This could include decisions relating to transportation, storage, packaging and marketing of crops,” she said.

Relevant news, events and resources

'Rehydrate Your Farm Landscape' bootcamp

The Mulloon Institute is holding a bootcamp on the theme "How to catch water and restore landscapes for your property" on March 25-27 in Carrolup, WA. Learn how to apply simple strategies to improve productivity and drought resilience. Manage and repair salinity.

Community Resilience Network workshops

South-West NRM is organising a series of workshops to build community resilience to drought. The first workshop, on 23 February, will feature a presentation on the 'Social Impacts of Drought' by Dr Leanne Lester from UWA, and will facilitate group discussion to identify actions to build community resilience to drought or other impacts.

Workshop locations are Boyup Brook, Bridgetown, Donnybrook, Harvey, Manjimup and Brunswick Junction.

Two years free access to Soilmentor app

Soils for Life is running a Soil Health Challenge for Croppers initiative, offering a limited number of Australian croppers two years free access to the Soilmentor app, valued at $1,000. This is a great opportunity for croppers to track and better understand their soil health, and participate in a group learning environment.

Revised livestock drinking water guidelines

Draft revised Livestock Drinking Water guidelines have been published on the Water Quality Guidelines website. The draft guidelines are available for public comment until 10 March 2024. To make a submission for the Livestock Drinking Water Guidelines draft, please visit the Water Quality website where the draft and submission form can be downloaded.

Australian Government loan helps build farmers' drought resilience

The Regional Investment Corporation's Drought Loan aims to help Australian farmers to prepare for, manage, and recover from drought.

This loan can be used to:

• Prepare for drought: Prepare for future droughts through measures including water efficiency techniques, accumulating feed reserves.
• Fund drought management activities: Pay outstanding bills, pay for fodder or carting of water for livestock or produce.
• Fund drought recovery activities: Contribute to the cost of drought recovery activities including planting and/or restocking (when seasonal conditions allow).
• Refinance debt: Refinance certain existing debt at our low interest rate to improve cash flow.

Find out more about the loan terms and eligibility criteria on the Regional Investment Corporation website.

Locally relevant news from the Future Drought Fund

Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative – Small Networks Grants

The Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal (FRRR) has released Round 2 of the Small Network Grants program for community organisations in remote, rural and regional communities for projects designed to enhance local drought preparedness.

Funding is through the Future Drought Fund and there are streams of $20k and $50k available, subject to location. 

Applications close 26 March. 

Climate tool takes user-friendliness to next level

The Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO have released the latest updates to the farmer-focused climate information product My Climate View.

The free digital tool now offers local climate projections for 22 agricultural commodities. Further updates mean more farmers and land managers can get a quick overview of what the future climate means for their enterprise.

For example, an apple grower can now see – side-by-side – changes to sun damage days, spring frost days and the amount of winter chill expected by the 2050s.

Livestock producers can get an overview of expected changes to seasonal rainfall for their pasture growth at the same time as projected changes in number of heat wave events.
In addition to the overview feature that has been added to My Climate View, climate information is also available for field tomato growers and pork producers.

My Climate View has been developed in collaboration with Australian farmers and land managers to help them prepare for future climate conditions.

It is unique among Australia's agricultural weather and climate tools.

It presents past and future climate information all in one place; it allows farmers and land managers anywhere in Australia to access commodity specific climate information at a 5km2 grid around or across their properties; and it was designed based on feedback from farmers and land managers.

My Climate View is developed by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO as part of the Climate Services for Agriculture program and funded by the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund. 

Feedback from farmers and land managers across Australia has been used to help develop the product, to understand how it can best support longer-term agribusiness risk management and adaptation planning.

Training opportunity

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Climate Services for Agriculture team will be presenting two in-person 'Train the Trainer' sessions for My Climate View on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 February in Perth. Also in attendance on Thursday will be Dr Meredith Guthrie, DPIRD Senior Research Scientist (Climate). Find out more and register.

Find out about Future Drought Fund

The Future Drought Fund (FDF) provides secure, continuous funding for drought resilience initiatives and will help Australian farmers and communities prepare for the impacts of drought.