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.

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.

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.

The role of tillage, fertiliser and forage species in sustaining dairying based on crops in southern Queensland 2. Double-crop and summer sole-crop systems.

Dairy farms located in the subtropical cereal belt of Australia rely on winter and summer cereal crops, rather than pastures, for their forage base. Crops are mostly established in tilled seedbeds and the system is vulnerable to fertility decline and water erosion, particularly over summer fallows. Field studies were conducted over 5 years on contrasting soil types, a Vertosol and Sodosol, in the 650-mm annual-rainfall zone to evaluate the benefits of a modified cropping program on forage productivity and the soil-resource base. Growing forage sorghum as a double-crop with oats increased total mean annual production over that of winter sole-crop systems by 40% and 100% on the Vertosol and Sodosol sites respectively. However, mean annual winter crop yield was halved and overall forage quality was lower. Ninety per cent of the variation in winter crop yield was attributable to fallow and in-crop rainfall. Replacing forage sorghum with the annual legume lablab reduced fertiliser nitrogen (N) requirements and increased forage N concentration, but reduced overall annual yield. Compared with sole-cropped oats, double-cropping reduced the risk of erosion by extending the duration of soil water deficits and increasing the time ground was under plant cover. When grown as a sole-crop, well fertilised forage sorghum achieved a mean annual cumulative yield of 9.64 and 6.05 t DM/ha on the Vertosol and Sodosol, respectively, being about twice that of sole-cropped oats. Forage sorghum established using zero-tillage practices and fertilised at 175 kg N/ha. crop achieved a significantly higher yield and forage N concentration than did the industry-standard forage sorghum (conventional tillage and 55 kg N/ha. crop) on the Vertosol but not on the Sodosol. On the Vertosol, mean annual yield increased from 5.65 to 9.64 t DM/ha (33 kg DM/kg N fertiliser applied above the base rate); the difference in the response between the two sites was attributed to soil type and fertiliser history. Changing both tillage practices and N-fertiliser rate had no affect on fallow water-storage efficiency but did improve fallow ground cover. When forage sorghum, grown as a sole crop, was replaced with lablab in 3 of the 5 years, overall forage N concentration increased significantly, and on the Vertosol, yield and soil nitrate-N reserves also increased significantly relative to industry-standard sorghum. All forage systems maintained or increased the concentration of soil nitrate-N (0-1.2-m soil layer) over the course of the study. Relative to sole-crop oats, alternative forage systems were generally beneficial to the concentration of surface-soil (0-0.1 m) organic carbon and systems that included sorghum showed most promise for increasing soil organic carbon concentration. We conclude that an emphasis on double-or summer sole-cropping rather than winter sole-cropping will advantage both farm productivity and the soil-resource base.

The role of tillage, fertiliser and forage species in sustaining dairying based on crops in southern Queensland 1. Winter-dominant forage systems.

Field studies were conducted over 5 years on two dairy farms in southern Queensland to evaluate the impacts of zero-tillage, nitrogen (N) fertiliser and legumes on a winter-dominant forage system based on raingrown oats. Oats was able to be successfully established using zero-tillage methods, with no yield penalties and potential benefits in stubble retention over the summer fallow. N fertiliser, applied at above industry-standard rates (140 vs. 55 kg/ha.crop) in the first 3 years, increased forage N concentration significantly and had residual effects on soil nitrate-N at both sites. At one site, crop yield was increased by 10 kg DM/ha. kg fertiliser N applied above industry-standard rates. The difference between sites in fertiliser response reflected contrasting soil and fertiliser history. There was no evidence that modifications to oats cropping practices (zero-tillage and increased N fertiliser) increased surface soil organic carbon (0-10 cm) in the time frame of the present study. When oats was substituted with annual legumes, there were benefits in improved forage N content of the oat crop immediately following, but legume yield was significantly inferior to oats. In contrast, the perennial legume Medicago sativa was competitive in biomass production and forage quality with oats at both sites and increased soil nitrate-N levels following termination. However, its contribution to winter forage was low at 10% of total production, compared with 40% for oats, and soil water reserves were significantly reduced at one site, which had an impact on the following oat production. The study demonstrated that productive grazed oat crops can be grown using zero tillage and that increased N fertiliser is more consistent in its effect on N concentration than on forage yield. A lucerne ley provides a strategy for raising soil nitrate-N concentration and increasing overall forage productivity, although winter forage production is reduced.

The Queensland forest industry

An overview of the commercial growing, management and processing of forest products in Queensland.

Relocation of Intensive Agriculture to Northern Australia: The Case of the Rice Industry

Development of new agricultural industries in northern Australia is seen as a way to provide food security in the face of reduced water availability in existing regions in the south. This report aims to identify some of the possible economic consequences of developing a rice industry in the Burdekin region, while there is a reduction of output in the Riverina. Annual rice production in the Riverina peaked at 1.7 M tonnes, but the long-term outlook, given climate change impacts on that region and government water buy-backs, is more likely to be less than 800,000 tonnes. Growers are highly efficient water users by international standards, but the ability to offset an anticipated reduction in water availability through further efficiency gains is limited. In recent years growers in the Riverina have diversified their farms to a greater extent and secondary production systems include beef, sheep and wheat. Production in north Queensland is in its infancy, but a potentially suitable farming system has been developed by including rice within the sugarcane system without competition and in fact contributing to the production of sugar by increasing yields and controlling weeds. The economic outcomes are estimated a large scale, dynamic, computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the world economy (Tasman Global), scaled down to regional level. CGE models mimic the workings of the economy through a system of interdependent behavioural and accounting equations which are linked to an input-output database. When an economic shock or change is applied to a model, each of the markets adjusts according to the set of behavioural parameters which are underpinned by economic theory. In this study the model is driven by reducing production in the Riverina in accordance with relationships found between water availability and the production of rice and replacement by other crops and by increasing ride production in the Burdekin. Three scenarios were considered: • Scenario 1: Rice is grown using the fallow period between the last ratoon crop of sugarcane and the new planting. In this scenario there is no competition between rice and sugarcane • Scenario 2: Rice displaces sugarcane production • Scenario 3: Rice is grown on additional land and does not compete with sugarcane. Two time periods were used, 2030 and 2070, which are the conventional time points to consider climate change impacts. Under scenario 1, real economic output declines in the Riverina by $45 million in 2030 and by $139 million in 2070. This is only partially offset by the increased real economic output in the Burdekin of $35 million and $131 million respectively.

Relocation of Intensive Agriculture to Northern Queensland The Cotton Industry

Development of new agricultural industries in northern Australia is often perceived as a solution to changes in water availability that have occurred within southern Australia as a result of changes to government policy in response to and exacerbated by climate change. This report examines the likely private, social and community costs and benefits associated with the establishment of a cotton industry in the Burdekin. The research undertaken covers three spatial scales by modelling the response of cotton and to climate change at the crop and farm scale and linking this to regional scale modelling of the economy. Modelling crop growth as either a standalone crop or as part of a farm enterprise provides the clearest picture of how yields and water use will be affected under climate change. The alternative to this is to undertake very costly trials in environmental chambers. For this reason it is critical that funding for model development especially for crops being crop in novel environments be seen as a high priority for climate change and adaptation studies. Crop level simulations not only provide information on how the crop responds to climate change, they also illustrate that that these responses are the result of complex interactions and cannot necessarily be derived from the climate information alone. These simulations showed that climate change would lead to decreased cotton yields in 2030 and 2050 without the affect of CO2 fertilisation. Without CO2 fertilisation, yields would be decreased by 3.2% and 17.8%. Including CO2 fertilisation increased yields initially by 5.9%, but these were reduced by 3.6% in 2050. This still represents a major offset and at least ameliorates the impact of climate change on yield. To cope with the decreased in-crop rainfall (4.5% by 2030 and 15.8% in 2050) and an initial increase in evapotranspiration of 2% in 2030 and