1 / 21

Rob O’Connor, Rabi Maskey and Terry Batey

Accelerating the uptake of opportunities presented on-farm with a multi-billion dollar government investment in irrigation infrastructure. Rob O’Connor, Rabi Maskey and Terry Batey. Session Outline.  Background  What we wanted to achieve  What was done and why

otto
Download Presentation

Rob O’Connor, Rabi Maskey and Terry Batey

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Accelerating the uptake of opportunities presented on-farm with a multi-billion dollar government investment in irrigation infrastructure Rob O’Connor, Rabi Maskeyand Terry Batey

  2. Session Outline  Background  What we wanted to achieve  What was done and why  What the impact was  Learnings

  3. Background In the Goulburn Murray irrigation District  The irrigation supply systemis being modernised at an unprecedented rate  Farm irrigation infrastructure is being upgraded at an unprecedented rate  Water has been purchased out of the district

  4. Blue Water Futures Project Key Outcomes:  More productive and profitable use of water  Renewed confidence to invest in farm irrigation technology and infrastructure

  5. Outcomes

  6. Goals

  7. Key Deliverables

  8. Key Deliverables One Day Events - farmers Farm Irrigation Field Days  5 field days on farms with new technologies  Popular with irrigators and service providers

  9. Key Deliverables Staff and Service Provider Training  Provided a more supportive environment for change and a “multiplier effect”  This financial year the DEPI irrigation team conducted over 690 1:1 farm visits  Range of groups targeted: DEPI, CMA, irrigation surveyors and designers, GMW Connections, others.…

  10. Key Deliverables Benefit-cost analysis farm case studies  7 developed on different irrigation technologies  Used at field days, for staff training & political lobbying…

  11. Key Deliverables Decision Support Tools  Irrigation investment  Irrigation scheduling App Digital Delivery  Carryover water farmer video podcasts

  12. Key Deliverables Improved Border Check Irrigation Performance Research Project  Collaboration between DEPI Research, BWF and Murray Dairy  BWF’s role was to extend the research results- irrigators and service providers

  13. Project Impact Key evaluation measures  Attendance  Knowledge and skills  Decision making  Practice change Other methods  Benefit-cost analysis irrigation upgrade farm case studies

  14. Project Impact More informed irrigation system choice “I’ve been seriously considering putting in a lateral move irrigation system on my farm, as part of the Farm Water Program… …based on what I’ve heard today, it’s going to be hard to make the lateral move pay for itself if I only grow winter crops under it”

  15. Project Impact Improved irrigation system design “After doing the irrigation course I knew the sprinkler system had to be capable of delivering 16mm a day or more… … a lot of people save money in the design, but it ends up costing them in the long run with higher pumping costs and lower crop yields”

  16. Project Impact Utilising new technology “(As a result of going to the farm walk) we put in 2 soil moisture probes that are connected to the internet. We have learnt we can use a longer irrigation interval in autumn on our lucerne. As a result, we are using less water to grow the same amount of feed. We plan to put more probes in and connect up a rain gauge as well”

  17. Project Impact Farm Water Program Whole Farm Plans Round 1 & 2  12,060ha completed  52GL water savings (2013-14)  381 projects completed  Over 11,900ha Round 3 - expected:  16GL water savings  123 projects  Over 3,800ha

  18. Learnings  It’s best to start with the end in mind  It’s not all about how much the project delivers  There can be big rewards in developing and harnessing contacts and networks  Irrigation technology has boomed in the last 10 years

  19. Learnings  Significant gains can be made in farm productivity (and profitability) through improved irrigation management  Farmers value - opportunities to learn from each other - financial information

  20. Concluding Remarks  Northern Victorian farmers are being provided with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve farm irrigation management  An integrated extension program has had some success in assisting irrigators capitalise on irrigation modernisation and using water more productively and profitably There is still a lot of work to do. Scope exists to expand RD&E in order to better capture the benefits on farm of the multi $b spend

  21. Thank you

More Related