The irrigation industry is facing substantial change that is likely to affect the quantity and

timing of water supply, as well as the infrastructure involved in water delivery and use.

Effective adaptation to this change while ensuring environmental sustainability requires

knowledge of the effects of irrigation practices and landscapes upon local and regional

biodiversity, and the potential implications of predicted policy, supplier and farm changes.

Here we report on a three year project conducted by CSIRO in collaboration with the

Ricegrowers Association who have been conducting an Environmental Champions Program

since 2005. This program aims to assist landholders to improve environmental and economic

returns of their farm businesses and also allows them to be recognised for their past, current

and future environmental stewardship at an industry level.

Irrigated agriculture in Australia’s Riverina consists of a variety of industries - rice, cereal,

pulse and oilseed production, as well as livestock. Rice is the dominant crop, and is reliant

on irrigation water supply from the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers, supplemented in some

cases by underground water. Riverina irrigators are currently experiencing unprecedented

restrictions on production due to water shortages. The current drought, together with the

ramifications of the NSW environmental flow legislation of 1997, has resulted in irrigators

receiving only a fraction of their water allocations. The Riverina’s irrigation industries have

significantly improved water use efficiency over the past 20 years through research and

improved irrigation layouts. Given recent climate change projections, and increasing pressure

on water supplies, the need for even more efficient use of irrigation water in the future is

certain. Options for reducing water use are being implemented or canvassed at both the

enterprise and supply scales. Examples include changes in the cropping mix at an enterprise

level, reduction or cessation of flooding of rice crops, fewer crops and more efficient water

use. At the regional scale, changes to the nature of supply channels are possible, while the

application of more efficient techniques may result in less drainage being received in regional

wetlands.

Water is as significant a resource for native plants and animals as it is for people. Before

irrigation development the Riverina was semi-arid plain, with a range of shrubland,

grassland, woodland, forest and wetland vegetation. With the advent of the Snowy River

Scheme, and the resulting establishment of the Murrumbidgee, Coleambally and Murray

Irrigation Areas, new landscapes have been created incorporating irrigation infrastructure,

intensive farming in the form of broad-acre crops and horticulture, and significantly, a large

change in the temporal availability of water. The removal of native vegetation has adversely

impacted some of the original ecosystems, but it has also created opportunities locally for

wetland species and regionally for some wetland birds. In addition, some terrestrial biota

may well benefit from the extra resources associated with irrigation waters, despite some

losses of habitat vegetation (e.g. some species of birds). Interest in biodiversity was not part

of the original irrigation development agenda, and overall impacts are not well understood.

In recent times there has been more of a focus on protecting and enhancing remaining

biodiversity through Landcare, Land and Water Management Plans and industry initiatives

such as the Rice Industry’s Biodiversity Strategy and Plan. However the concern now is that

future changes in farming and water management practices do not further compound any

impacts that have already occurred.

The overall aim of this project was to assess the possible impacts of changed irrigation

practices on native biodiversity at local and regional scales, using the irrigation districts of

the New South Wales Riverina as a case study.

Report from Conference Delegate, Dr Karen Kirby, Cotton Pathologist, NSW DPI. This scientific exchange provided the opportunity for me to travel to the Beltwide Cotton Conference in Orlando, Florida in January 2012. Attending the conference increased my knowledge of cotton diseases present and absent in Australia and the management strategies currently being used. I also gained further experience of presenting to an international audience. Being newly appointed to the position of Cotton pathologist, the opportunity to meet with leading scientists and discuss issues relating to diseases of cotton has helped to enhance my professional career and biosecurity profile. I would like to express my thnaks for assistance with travel to USA to present a paper at the Beltwide Cotton Conference. Leading experts will be attending this conference and my attendance will enhance my knowledge of cotton diseases and their control, whilst facilitating my ability to network with scientists on an international scale.

Water use efficiency (WUE) in an agricultural context can be defined as the measure of a cropping system's capacity to convert water into plant biomass, grain or other harvested output. It includes both the use of water stored in the soil and rainfall during the growing season. In simple terms WUE can be said to have increased if farm output per unit of water input increases, or if water use can be decreased while maintaining current production levels. In addition to this objective, WUE research also seeks to enable improvement in other areas of water management, such as reducing the costs of supplying water to the crop and minimising adverse environmental impacts should they exist.

Six CRDC administered individual projects over the 2011 to 2015 were first analysed qualitatively within a logical framework that considered project rationale, objectives, activities/outputs, outcomes, and impacts. Several of the impacts were then valued. Benefits were calculated for a range of time frames up to 30 years from the year of last investment. Past and future cash flows in 2015/16 $ terms were discounted to the year 2015/16 using a discount rate of 5% to estimate investment criteria.

Most the impacts identified were economic in nature, however some social and environmental impacts also were identified. Some of the cluster impacts were valued; the decision not to value certain impacts was due either to a high degree of uncertainty surrounding potential impacts, a shortage of necessary data, or the likely low relative significance of the benefit compared to those that were valued. It is expected the Australian cotton growing industry will be the primary beneficiary of the investment with only minor spill-over benefits to other cropping industries.

Travel : The Cotton Catchment Communities-CRC (CCC CRC) Science forum provided a great opportunity for me to meet other scientist involved in cotton disease research and to create collaboration much needed for my future project on cotton disease and seedling establishment. It greatly assisted researchers to interact not only with scientists from their own field of research but also with those who work on other aspects of cotton production.

Final seminar presentation of the CCC-CRC/CRDC project 1.01.55 (Linking cotton-pathogen molecular interactions and black root rot management). The seminar summary can be found in the proceedings of the CCC-CRC Science forum.

This sponsorship provided expenses to travel to America to study cotton growing and machinery use in drylands and irrigated cotton Texas region.

Results are in from the N Trial at Milo., Agro Update with Stu Doyle, Controlling Volunteers - By Geoff Hunter (Namoi), Bollgard III updates, Gwydir Grower Hall of Fame!, Herbicide Resistance Management Strategy

Project CFEO1603 was commissioned to gain an understanding of the opportunities, benefits and risks involved in emission reductions for broad acre irrigated and dryland cropping.

The eleven-month project was designed to contribute towards the completion of Objective 6 of the Carbon Farming in the Australian Cotton Industry project funded by the Carbon Farming Futures E&O Program via a grant to CRDC. Objective 6 was “Clarify to cotton industry participants the opportunities, benefits and trade-offs of participating in the ERF and/or implementing potential/sequestration options”.

Reducing emissions on farm has been hampered by a lack of technical capacity in the integration of science, practical farm management, policy context and economics. This project has filled a gap by creating economic outputs that consider all aspects of emission reduction decision making for the cotton farming system and extended the key findings to industry, government and the scientific community.

Trial Update N trials, Time of planting - some interesting results , word from the Consultants.

This project has sort to identify the potential to measure the value added from training of on farm employees. This has been achieved by reviewing the literature on valuing training and interviewing industry stakeholders to develop an understanding of the training system. Once the system was defined, opportunities to measure and improve the systems were identified.

There is significant diversity in the labour productivity metrics such as area per employee (174ha to 290ha per employee), bales per employee (1260 to 2290) and cost of labour per bale ($23 to $36). These differences do require further analysis to allow meaningful benchmarks as machinery assets and use of contractors for farming and picking impact them. Although there are challenges to compare metrics between farms, in their current form they do provide useful measures for the same farm over time.

The process of shifting employees towards their productive potential will require an understanding of the specific skills required for cotton production tasks on farm. The Cotton Basics course provides a logical breakdown of the task that are impacted by employee capacity. This project recommends that the Dreyfus Model of skills acquisition be used as scale of capacity for each of these tasks. By breaking down the employees role and ability to specific tasks and skill level, capacity development can be targeted and value to the farm business quantified.

Realising value from training is not limited to the quality of the training event. Current training evaluation research has identified pre training attitude and post training application as more critical to realising value than the training event itself. This emphasises the role of the employer making clear the need for the training and how it will impact the farm enterprise, and post training re-enforcing the new skills and knowledge through practical application. This is very difficult if the training provider does not know the particular skills needs of the farm business, or the employer does not know what the trainer is providing.

Ultimately, the value of this research will be realised by growers and farm managers improving the productivity of their enterprises by attracting and developing the people who work on their farms. It would be useful to have a fuller understanding of the skills and attributes that are valued, the relationship of these skills and attributes to specific farm practices, and the current practice of employee capacity development.

There are currently about 4,000 permanent employees on cotton farms, with many more seasonal and casual workers. The vast majority of training is currently done on farm. Initial analysis of production figures suggests a significant difference in contribution to farm productivity between employees, and therefore significant gains to farm productivity from employee capacity development.

In line with CRDC Strategic Plan 2013 - 18, CRDC has supported the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation with the substratal belief that the success of the Australian cotton industry is driven by

its people. Their skills, knowledge, attitudes, innovations,

commitment and capacity to adapt are the fundamental

and often intangible elements of the industry’s success.

Investment in people and the activities that bring them

together is critical for long term sustainability, fostering

continuous improvement and creating opportunities for

innovation. The People program is a key integrating element

of the Plan, focusing on Workforce Capacity, Networks and

Communication as the three approaches through which

the people who drive the Australian cotton industry will be

supported.

The demand for skilled and capable people in regional Australia

is growing as people choose to live in more urban areas and

the resources boom creates greater competition for labour. As a

regionally based sector, the Australian cotton industry is being

affected by labour shortages. The challenge for the industry is twofold.

Firstly, how to continue developing and supporting its current

workforce so it continues to be an attractive industry in which to be

employed. Secondly, how to develop and attract a future workforce

which brings the energy, commitment and innovation that underpins

the long term sustainability of the industry. The ARLF is a not-for-profit organisation delivering development programs for current and future leaders of rural, regional and remote Australia.

ARLP programs are designed to develop leaders from the ‘inside out’ and use experiential learning and critical self-reflection as cornerstones for development by providing participants with experiences to:

• grow as an individual

• develop their leadership capabilities and broaden their perspecti es

• learn from and mobilise a network of peers

• better serve the greater good of rural, regional and remote Australia.

The ARLF as a provider of leadership development across rural, regional and remote Australia requires an evaluation framework that will elicit comparative data across time regarding the impact of alumni leadership on their workplaces, industries and communities. The research study informing this evaluation framework defined how impact was understood and the enabling and disabling factors which facilitated ARLF alumni in enacting their leadership in context.