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An 'on the ground' insight into the current challenges and opportunities facing grain growers was the key outcome of a four-day tour through central-western and southern New South Wales by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) recently.
The tour by the GRDC's Northern Region Panel visited growers, research trial sites and grain end-users through the Parkes, Jemalong, Condobolin, West Wyalong, Temora, Marrar, Greenethorpe, Gooloogong and Manildra regions.
GRDC Northern Panel Chair John Minogue said the tour had an important advisory and strategic role in helping to guide ongoing and future research investment.
"Panellists are the GRDC's eyes and ears on the ground, so getting out into growers' paddocks and onto research sites and engaging with end-users is critical for gathering information about the future needs and priorities for research, development and extension," Mr Minogue said.
"We do two tours each year to different parts of Queensland and NSW and these are very much focused on engagement. This consultation is a two-way street - it allows the GRDC to explain its investments as well as hear what growers, farm advisers and industry consider important.
"Tours like these are a critical touch-point with industry and an opportunity to `ground-truth' existing GRDC research investments against industry needs and priorities to ensure that we identify any research and development gaps."
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Mr Minogue said while many growers and advisers across central western and southern NSW were battling drought conditions most were positive about the long-term future of the grains industry and valued the role research played in ensuring their profitability.
"Many on the northern panel are growers or farm advisers so we understand how tough it is out there, but meeting with and hearing from those across different regions really gave us insight into the situation on the ground," he said.
Issues raised by growers, advisers and end-users on the tour included: an increased interest in trials with livestock components; why a successful pulse crop is critical for NSW; the impact of increasing biologicals on soil health; future research capacity; heat and drought tolerant crops, particularly triticale and oats; improving the skills of graduate level agronomists; the carbon economy and what it will mean for grain growers; long season canola options; and what's next in the barley breeding program.
"The GRDC Panel repeatedly heard that there was a need for livestock to be incorporated into trial work to provide growers with as many options as possible when it comes to their farming systems," Mr Minogue said.
"Growers were also interested in technology and how they could measure and justify the capital expenditure before introducing new innovations on-farm.
"Given the ongoing dry conditions there was an understandable focus on mental health, along with the need for hardier varieties, better agronomy or breeding to overcome constraints, such as heat and frost.
"Another area generating significant interest at a paddock level is the contribution cover cropping and companion cropping play in improving soil health."
Many on the northern panel are growers or farm advisers so we understand how tough it is out there, but meeting with and hearing from those across different regions really gave us insight into the situation on the ground.
Mr Minogue said the information gathered during the tour would be passed onto the GRDC investment managers, who use it to help refine investments at regional and national levels, with the goal of creating enduring profitability for the grains industry.
"A valuable part of this tour was also engaging with grains' end-users to discuss potential opportunities for post-gate investment into research and development," he said.
"We know how important transport is to grain growers so we visited the Parkes National Logistics Hub to get an understanding of how developments like the proposed inland rail will affect industry.
"This tour we also met with dairy operators Moxey Farms at Gooloogong and MSM Milling in Manildra, because understanding the needs of our end users is critical in determining how we meet market requirements."
On the tour was GRDC Northern Panel members including and northern panel chair, grower and agricultural consultant John Minogue from Barmedman, Liverpool Plains senior agronomist Peter McKenzie, central Queensland senior agronomist Graham Spackman, Riverina district grower Roy Hamilton, Parkes district grower Bruce Watson, West Wyalong grower Roger Bolte, former Forbes grower Tony Hamilton, Chinchilla grower Arthur Gearon, and Nicole Jensen (GRDC General Manager Genetics and Enabling Technologies) and GRDC Western Panel Chairman Darrin Lee and Western Panel member Julie Alvaro.
GRDC staff also on the tour were GRDC Director Chris Blanchard, Gillian Meppem (Acting Senior Regional Manager North), Toni Somes (Communications Manager) and Jeff Cumpston (Manager Data Analytics).