Developing a Best Management Practice guideline for the Australian Banana Industry

Demonstrating environmental performance and sustainability is a strategic priority for the Australian banana industry. Development, delivery and uptake of an EMS will allow the industry to demonstrate this. It will maintain community confidence in the Australian banana industry and its commitment to careful environmental management and the protection of key Australian icons like the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics and ensure the industry’s right to farm, now and in the future.

Delivering information and technology to the mango industry - Stage 2

Access to relevant and timely information and training resources has emerged as a significant issue from the Delivering Mango Technology (DMT) project. This project will facilitate providing managing information and technology tools for growers. Using a range of methods, including workshops, events, and web based technology facilitated through the Australian Mango Industry Association’s (AMIA) website, DMT stage 2 will develop a high profile delivery vehicle to building industry knowledge and resources .

Remote Sensing - based precision agriculture tool for the sugar industry

The project will produce practical and relevant benchmarks, protocols and recommendations for the adoption of remote sensing technologies for improved in season management and therefore production within the Australian sugar cane industry.

Agronomic Packages for Improved Yield and Quality in the Australian Peanut Industry

Monitoring aflatoxin and developing improved peanut drying practices, cadmium management and web based irrigation decision support systems.

Spatially based data delivery and recording sys-Aust Sugar Cane industry

Establish an internet platform where spatially referenced data can be viewed, entered and stored.

Internet based spatial data delivery and reporting system for cotton industry

Development of an internet based spatial data delivery and reporting system for the Australian Cotton Industry.

Feasibility of Cotton Production in the Burdekin

This project has shown the potential for cotton production in the region developed a range of tactics that can be deployed to minimise the impact of cloudy wet weather. These agronomic tactics have been published in a new book - NORpak - Cotton production and management guidelines for the Burdekin and NQ coastal dry tropics. This publication has been specifically targeted for local sugarcane producers who may stand to benefit by including cotton rotation crops into their current largely mono-culture production systems. This publication is available at http://www.cottoncrc.org.au/industry/Publications/Northern_Production.

Smart technologies for peanut industry

Commercialisation and adoption of remote sensing and GIS technologies for improved production forecasting, productivity, quality and paddock- to- plate tracking within the Australian Peanut Industry.

Enhancing supplies of high quality barley to meet pork industry demands

Producing barley varieties that have incrased grain yield and consistent or higher energy for pigs, as well as resistance to the major diseases of barley.

Cross-industry preparedness for Cotton leaf curl disease

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is a major biosecurity threat to the Australian cotton industry. This proposal seeks cross-industry investment from the cotton (CRDC) and horticulture (HAL) industries to address the threat of exotic whitefly-transmitted viruses. Testing of silverleaf whitefly, the vector of CLCuD, could provide an alternative, cheaper strategy for early warning disease surveillance compared to surveys for disease symptoms. Control of whitefly-transmitted viruses in Australia and overseas will be reviewed to produce an integrated management package for their control in Australia. This will also involve a workshop with key stakeholders and selected overseas participants, to develop a working party to help formulate this package.

Benchmarking water management in the Australian cotton industry

Benchmarking irrigation performance has always been a challenge. As part of the Rural Water Use Efficiency (RWUE3) project the team in, collaboration with the Cotton Catchments Communities CRC, National Certificate of Educational Achievement and the Knowledge Management Phase 2 project, aimed to standardise the irrigation indices in use within the cotton industry. This was achieved through: - the delivery of training workshops - access to benchmarking tools - promotion of benchmarking as a best practice to be adopted on farm.

The Potential for a New Value Adding Industry for Noni Tropical Fruit Producers

Morinda citrifolia (noni) grows widely throughout the Pacific and is native to Australia. It is a source of traditional medicine amongst Coastal Aboriginal Communities in Cape York, the Pacific Islands and South East Asia, and in recent years has experienced significant economic growth worldwide through a variety of health and cosmetic claims. The largest markets for noni are North America, Europe, Japan, Mexico, Asia and Australia with the worldwide market for these products estimated at US$400 million.

Strength and stiffness assessment technologies for improving grading effectiveness of radiata pine wood.

This work was designed to provide the Australian structural radiata pine processing industry with some indications for improving stress grading methods and/or technologies to give an increase in structural grade yields, and significantly reduce processing costs without compromising product quality. To achieve this, advanced statistical techniques were used in conjunction with state-of-the-art property measurement systems applied to the same sample of sawn timber. Acoustic vibration analyses were conducted on green and dry boards. Raw data from existing in-line systems was captured on the same boards. The Metriguard HCLT stress rating system was used as the "reference" machine grading because of its current common use in the industry. A WoodEye optical scanning system and an X-ray LHG scanner were also able to provide relevant information on knots. The data set was analyzed using classical and advanced statistical tools to provide correlations between data sets, and to develop efficient strength and stiffness prediction equations. Reductions in non-structural dry volumes can be achieved..

Economic evaluation of precision controlled traffic farming in the Australian sugar industry: a case study of an early adopter

Controlled traffic has been identified as the most practical method of reducing compaction-related soil structural degradation in the Australian sugarcane industry. GPS auto-steer systems are required to maximize this potential. Unfortunately there is a perception that little economic gain will result from investing in this technology. Regardless, a number of growers have made the investment and are reaping substantial economic and lifestyle rewards. In this paper we assess the cost effectiveness of installing GPS guidance and using it to implement Precision Controlled Traffic Farming (PCTF) based on the experience of an early adopter. The Farm Economic Analysis Tool (FEAT) model was used with data provided by the grower to demonstrate the benefits of implementing PCTF. The results clearly show that a farming system based on PCTF and the minimum tillage improved farm gross margin by 11.8% and reduced fuel usage by 58%, compared to producers' traditional practice. PCTF and minimum tillage provide sugar producers with a tool to manage the price cost squeeze at a time of low sugar prices. These data provide producers with the evidence that investment in PCTF is economically prudent.

Swan’s Lagoon Celebrating 50 years

Swan’s Lagoon, which is 125 km south-south-west of Townsville, was purchased by the Queensland Government as a beef cattle research station in 1961. It is situated within the seasonally-dry tropical spear grass region of North Queensland. The station was expanded from 80 km2 to 340 km2 by purchase of the adjoining Expedition block in 1978. The first advisory committee formed and initiated research in 1961. The median annual rainfall of 708 mm (28 inches) is highly variable, with over 80% usually falling in December–April. Annual evaporation is 2.03 metres. The 60% of useable area is mostly flat with low fertility duplex soils, of which more than 50% is phosphorus deficient. Natural spear grass-based pastures predominate over the station. Swan’s Lagoon research has contributed to understanding the biology of many aspects of beef production for northern Australia. Research outcomes have provided options to deal with the region’s primary challenges of weaning rates averaging less than 60%, annual growth rates averaging as little as 100 kg, high mortality rates and high management costs. All these relate to the region’s variable and highly seasonal rainfall—challenges that add to insect-borne viruses, ticks, buffalo fly and internal parasites. As well as the vast amount of practical beef production science produced at Swan’s Lagoon, generations of staff have been trained there to support beef producers throughout Queensland and northern Australia to increase their business efficiency. The Queensland Government has provided most of the funds for staffing and operations. Strong beef industry support is reflected in project funding from meat industry levies, managed by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and its predecessors. MLA has consistently provided the majority of operational research funding since the first grant for ‘Studies of management practices, adaption of different breeds and strains to tropical environments, and studies on tick survival and resistance’ in 1962–63. A large number of other agencies and commercial companies have also supported research.