New Ground: WMG Introduces RiskWi$e to Yerecoin Farmers
By Kate Parker, WMG Graduate Project Officer
In what was a first for the team, the West Midlands Group (WMG) recently hosted a farmer discussion event outside of the West Midlands region. Organised as an introductory session for the GRDC funded RiskWi$e Project, the WMG Team set up at the Yerecoin Tennis Club on April 11th with assistance from Tim Walker from Yerecoin Traders who supplied not only the catering, but was also integral in getting the word out to local producers. Although there was a relatively small turnout, this was expected, being the first time WMG has hosted an event in an entirely new region.
The GRDC RiskWi$e project is a national initiative that aims to help farmers better assess the risk and reward of their farm management decisions. You can find out more about RiskWi$e here.
After an introduction to WMG and the goal of the RiskWi$e Project, the group worked through and discussed the trade off that exists between complexity and importance in farming decisions. The attendees from Yerecoin noted that while growers already understand risk, they are unlikely to attach a numbered percentage of probability to it. Another key point was that utilizing an agricultural consultant often meant the need for growers to understand intricate complexities of every decision made has decreased. Although there has been a higher reliance on agronomists and consultants for complex decisions in WA, there was no shortage of complexity in the discussion around the project.
Following the introductory conversations around ‘risky’ decisions, the session moved into a focus on one of the current five themes of RiskWi$e, nitrogen (N) decisions. More specifically, N use efficiency and how to know when to push N applications for yield and when to hold back in an increasingly variable climate. Attendees delved into every aspect of the Nitrogen theme, touching on the variability not only across regions but also within the region, individual farms and even individual paddocks. The use of variable rate was an area of significant debate, with some advocating for it whilst others indicate the stress and complexity of the practice isn’t worth the potential benefits. The discussion then moved into different innovations that have definitively assisted in ease of decisions including the involvement of agronomists, liquid nitrogen, crop varietals, and satellites with even some beginning to play with AI.
This informative discussion provided many different perspectives with every single attendee engaging with the content and bringing something unique to the conversation. The event has given WMG valuable feedback on how to best progress the project to benefit all of those involved. WMG would like to thank everyone who took part in the day and hope to continue the conversation going forward.
