Helping Farmers Make More Informed Decisions: The Risk/Reward Tool
By Simon Kruger, WMG Project Communications Officer
Farmers face no shortage of information when it comes to adopting new practices—but too often, that information is difficult to interpret or apply. Research reports can be technical, narrowly focused, or simply not designed with the realities of on-farm decision-making in mind.
The Risk/Reward Tool Project, funded by the CRC for High Performance Soils (Soil CRC), led by the West Midlands Group and delivered in collaboration with Charles Sturt University, set out to address this issue. Working alongside two other Farming Systems Groups—Corrigin Farm Improvement Group (Western Australia), and Central West Farming Systems (New South Wales)—the team co-developed the Risk/Reward Tool, a practical framework to improve how research findings are communicated to farmers.
Why It Was Needed
Many farmers weigh up far more than short-term profitability when making decisions. Risk, labour implications, environmental benefits, long-term soil health, and social licence all factor into how and whether a new practice is adopted. But most reporting formats still focus on economic results, without contextualising trade-offs or linking findings to the bigger picture.
This project recognised that reporting isn’t just about sharing information—it’s about enabling decisions. To do that, the communication format itself needs to work better for both the people writing the reports and those reading them.
What the Tool Offers
Developed through a co-design process with the three Farming Systems Groups, the Risk/Reward Tool supports layered communication through three formats:
- A one-page infographic for quick insight
- A four-page synthesis report with moderate detail
- A comprehensive technical report for in-depth analysis
Each format incorporates financial, environmental, social, and governance considerations—helping farmers understand not just the benefits of an innovation, but also the potential risks or trade-offs.
An accompanying writing guide helps extension staff use the tool consistently and effectively, while still allowing for local tailoring.
What We Learned
Feedback from participating groups and their farmer members showed that the tool made information easier to digest and apply. The infographic and synthesis report, in particular, were seen as useful formats for early decision-making. Extension staff noted that the tool improved internal consistency and reduced the need to recreate reporting formats from scratch. At the same time, challenges remain around embedding new tools into existing workflows—especially in organisations affected by staff turnover.
What’s Next
While the Risk/Reward Tool shows promise, further work is needed to understand where and how it fits best within the diverse reporting environments used by Farming Systems Groups. The project has opened up useful conversations about the role of extension in not only delivering information, but in shaping how farmers engage with complex decisions.
There may be opportunities to explore how the tool could support other Soil CRC projects or be adapted to different regional or enterprise contexts. Interest in digital delivery and integration with other farm planning tools has also been raised, although these directions would require further scoping and resourcing.
What the project has confirmed is that farmers value concise, comparative information that reflects their realities—not just economic outcomes, but environmental and social considerations too. Tools that enable this kind of communication have a role to play in improving both the quality of extension and the confidence with which farmers adopt new practices.
