Funding and tech support to improve grazing management
Supporting landholders to implement technology and practices to provide them with additional decision-making tools for grazing management is being offered through the new Smart Grazing, Stronger Lands project.
There are many opportunities available to join the project, which is designed to support land managers to adopt proven tools and technologies to improve decision making to increase productivity and build greater resilience to climate stresses.
Landholders can get involved through personalised one-on-one training and mentoring for the life of the project, or by trialing a new decision-making tool or technology on property and sharing the learning with others.
A mentoring application will link you with experts and mentors over two years, creating personalised support to implement decision making capabilities, such as technology or practical tools to manage dry times, track stock, assess groundcover or any other idea you have for your property, or across a group of properties facing the same issue.
At least two properties have the opportunity to be established as demonstration sites. Each can receive up to $35,000 for on-ground works to set up their decision-making tech or tool. This can include installation and the infrastructure required to implement it and mentoring support. In return, the landholder will be willing to share learnings, host other producers for a stickybeak day and be part of a case study.
SA Arid Lands Landscape Board General Manager Jodie Gregg-Smith said the project will support pastoralists to implement decision-making tools they have been interested in but may not have had an opportunity to pursue.
“What sets this program apart from others is the ongoing support offered from program developers and experts to ensure landholder success in the long term”.
The tools and tech that could be considered are limited to those that meet the project guidelines, but can include: feed budgeting tools and apps, satellite or remote sensing tools for groundcover management, drones for assessing land condition, ceres tags, walkover weighing equipment, sheep EiD data tools, pregnancy scanning, soil moisture probes or water sensors and telemetry tools used for decision making.
Smart grazing, stronger lands - Building grazing and land management capacity across Australia's Southern Rangelands is a three-state project covering 1.5million hectares across the southern Rangelands.
All SAAL participants will be connected to the SA Drought Hub network, which offers peer-to-peer learning with other project sites across all states and ongoing support from tool experts.
Applications for these programs close on Monday 25 June.
The Smart Grazing, Stronger Lands is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.
The project is led by Adelaide University through the SA Drought Hub, in partnership with Charles Sturt University through the Southern NSW Innovation Hub, Grower Group Alliance through the South-West WA Drought Hub, South Australian Arid Lands Landscape Board, DustWatch, CSIRO, Western Local Land Services, Riverina Local Land Services, Rangelands NRM, Gascoyne Catchments Group, Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, and the Goldfields Nullarbor Rangelands Biosecurity Association.
Local service providers with grazing management expertise will also play a role in delivery.
