Grain and Graze II
Grain and Graze 2 (www.grainandgrazenorth.com.au) is a collaborative project with partners ranging from northern NSW to Queensland focussing on optimising economic productivity from mixed farming regions. The focus is on interacting directly with landholders to establish trials that will allow them better and more relevant information on factors that may affect the profitability and sustainability of their mixed farming operations. This includes identifying strategies to minimise the ‘downtime’ of a paddock when transitioning between crop and pasture phases, optimising the pasture species for rapid onset of stock, and managing weed burdens in and out of mixed phases in the farming system.
Precision Agriculture has a key role to play in identifying the synergies that can be gained and in monitoring the efficiency with which producers can rotate between crop and pasture phases. This ranges from EM surveys to monitor profile moisture status, NDVI survey to monitor early vigour of established crops or pastures, and even livestock tracking technology to examine the impact of grazing on soil and plant properties, and potentially the distribution of nutrients around paddocks.
For more information contact Dr Chris Guppy (6773 3567 or cguppy@une.edu.au)
