Rural R&D for Profit
The Australian Government's Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit program aims to boost funding to the rural research and development corporations (RDCs, of which CRDC is one) for nationally coordinated, strategic research that delivers real outcomes for Australian farmers.
CRDC has led five projects under the Rural R&D for Profit program:
- Smarter Irrigation for Profit - Phases 1 and 2;
- Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture;
- Growing a Digital Future; and
- More Profit from Nitrogen: enhancing the nutrient use efficiency of intensive cropping and pasture systems.
Smarter Irrigation for Profit - Phases 1 and 2
Phase one of the Smarter Irrigation for Profit project aimed to improve the profit of 3,000 cotton, dairy, rice and sugar irrigators, with the support of 16 R&D partners and 19 farmer irrigation technology learning sites. The project commenced in July 2015 and concluded in late 2018. It was a partnership between the major irrigation industries of cotton, dairy, rice and sugar, led by CRDC in conjunction with fellow RDCs Dairy Australia, Sugar Research Australia and AgriFutures Australia, plus other research partners.
Phase two of the Smarter Irrigation for Profit project commenced in 2019, in conjunction with Dairy Australia, Sugar Research Australia, AgriFutures and the Grains Research and Development Corporation. It aims to address the challenges of reduced water availability by improving the water productivity of Australian cropping and pasture irrigators, through developing new precision irrigation technologies, improving existing technologies and facilitating faster uptake through producer led demonstration sites.
For more on these projects: Smarter Irrigation for phase one; and Smarter Irrigation Phase 2 for phase two.
Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture
The Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture project aimed to capitalise on the big data opportunities for Australian agriculture and to transition a range of agricultural industries from precision to decision agriculture. The project aimed to design a solution for the use of big data in agriculture.
The project commenced in July 2016 and concluded in late 2018. It was a partnership between all 15 RDCs, led by CRDC, and involving other research partners.
For more on this project see Precision to Decision.
Growing a Digital Future
CRDC has been collaborating with our fellow RDCs and research partners to implement the recommendations of the Accelerating Precision to Decision Agriculture project through Growing a Digital Future.
For more information on this project see, Growing a Digital Future.
More Profit from Nitrogen
The More Profit from Nitrogen project aims to improve the efficient use of nitrogen in the irrigated cotton, dairy, cherry, mango and sugar industries. It aims to improve the nitrogen productivity of 600 irrigated cotton growers, the profit of 500 dairy farmers, the yield of sugar growers, and the yield, fruit quality, storage and packout for 400 Australian cherry and 650 mango growers. It will also help these industries mitigate the extent and impact of off-farm nutrients on water quality.
The project commenced in July 2016. It is led by CRDC, in partnership with fellow RDCs, Dairy Australia, Sugar Research Australia, and Horticulture Innovation Australia, and other research partners.
For more on this project view, More Profit from Nitrogen.
