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Water Resources, 06 Mar 2024
How well is fallow working to build profit across your farming system?
Waiting until there is a threshold of soil water before sowing is critical for maximising water use efficiency
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Water Resources, 25 Jan 2024
New guide on water use for dryland cropping
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has introduced 'Water Smart Farming', a comprehensive manual designed to enhance water use efficiency in dryland cropping. This publication addresses the complex challenges of managing soil moisture, unpredictable rainfall, and varying soil and crop types. Aimed at growers and advisors, the manual consolidates the latest research into a single, accessible resource. Topics covered include crop water usage, plant available water capacity, technological advancements in water use efficiency, and managing dryland cropping risks. Mark Callow, GRDC’s sustainable cropping systems manager, emphasizes the importance of agronomic decisions rooted in up-to-date research for maximizing water efficiency and yield. Authored by leading Australian researchers, including CSIRO's Kirsten Verburg and SARDI's Peter Hayman, the manual presents an integrated approach to farm water management.
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Water Resources, 17 Nov 2023
Comprehensive strategies to enhance western farming systems
A series of major farming systems trials in Western Australia are taking a participatory approach in garnering baseline information to rethink aspects of cropping rotations. The data generated will be used by modellers to determine lower greenhouse gas emission cropping systems for growers in low and medium-rainfall regions.
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Water Resources, 14 Nov 2023
Maize the winner, but it comes at a cost
Grain maize proved to be the highest-yielding irrigated crop in research trials but, as a summer crop, it also uses the most irrigation water.
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Water Resources, 18 Oct 2023
Embracing a data-based approach to optimising soil moisture
Assessing the merits of using plant-available water capacity and soil moisture measurement are important parts of making on-farm decisions. Researchers agree that combining PAWC information with soil moisture monitoring can give growers an edge in decision-making, providing valuable information to help with decisions, including what and when to plant, the likely response to mid-season fertiliser applications, and yield predictions.
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Water Resources, 10 Oct 2023
The response to wet years
Subsoil drainage, mitigation strategies, replacement crops and workshops were among the NGN-driven projects that tackled waterlogging impacts during the consecutive La Niña years
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Water Resources, 18 Aug 2023
The WA tall stubble story – a tale of pros and cons
New cropping equipment is improving seeding and harvesting efficiencies but growers in Western Australia are asking questions as to what the implications are for retaining residue in the form of tall standing stubble through their adoption. A series of trials are underway through the GRDC’s National Grower Network in Western Australia to unpack the pros and cons of tall stubble.
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Water Resources, 29 Mar 2023
Fallow tool for the low-rainfall zone
A rule of thumb is a useful decision-making trigger and a team from CSIRO have derived one for fallow in low-rainfall cropping systems in Western Australia.
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Water Resources, 26 Sep 2022
‘Tech’ efforts bridge the gap between science and user-friendly products
Agtech companies will soon be able to test the latest plant-available water models, minimising the commercial risks associated with ‘productising’ researcher-developed technology and speeding up grower access to better data.
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Water Resources, 16 Jun 2022
Researchers drill into irrigation profit drivers
A GRDC-invested project, ‘Optimising farm-scale returns from irrigated grains: maximising dollar return per megalitre of water’, led by the University of Tasmania, is being conducted with irrigation growers across Australia. It is helping growers disentangle profit drivers for irrigated crops using a framework that examines the effects of markets, irrigation water requirements, crop type, climate, location and farming system on risk and return.