Case Study

Land Water and Wool Case Study: Melissa Rebbeck, SARDI

Farming in the first decade of the 21st century in Australia is as challenging now as it was 100 years ago, but the grab-bag of tools that help farmers manage for drought and flood is growing. South Australian wool, wheat and barley growers Susan and Ben Carn are making the most of these tools. They farm 8000 hectares running 4000 to 5000 sheep in a low rainfall area at Quorn, north of the infamous Goyder’s Line of Rainfall, the demarcation established in 1865 above which anything (more)...

Land Water and Wool Case Study: Brendan Lunney, Yass

Brendon Lunney remembers reading as a schoolboy about how water was washing away Australia’s farmland. He grew up, studied arts and seemed bound for other things when, at the age of 27, he bought a farm. Now, three decades later, the reality of his early school learning and the devastation wrought by water washing through eroding gullies have become all too apparent. Measurements logged by scientists funded by the Land, Water and Wool program on his farm “Bogolara”, near (more)...

Land Water and Wool Case Study: Rick Robertson, Bairnsdale

An East Gippsland farm three kilometers inland from the coast isn’t a place one would normally expect to find a paddock of Old Man saltbush, but that doesn’t worry Rick Robertson. Rick is just pleased to have found the solution to a perennial shortage of summer and autumn feed for his 7000 Merino sheep. Eight years of tough seasons meant things had to change on the 1000 hectare fine wool Merino stud, ‘Gracemere’, that Rick and Jenny Robertson and their three daughters (more)...

Land Water and Wool Case Studies: Chris Walton, Yealering

FOR 25 years, Chris Walton has tried almost everything to control salinity on his Yealering farm in WA’s Upper Great Southern region. He reached a critical point in the mid-1990s when, alarmed by the worsening problem, he spent $100,000 in three years on salinity. “I reckon about a third of it was wrong,” Mr Walton said. “We have to find better solutions that are accurate because no-one can (more)...

Land Water and Wool Case Study: Benalla

Agricultural researcher Jim Moll has seen first-hand the benefits of woolgrowers taking a whole farm approach to agronomy, economics and the environment. Jim was responsible for crunching the economic numbers in Land, Water & Wool’s groundbreaking study of how to run stock more profitably while improving the environment in the hill country of central Victoria. Land, Water and Wool was a $20 million national program which aimed to boost the sustainability (more)...

Thinking BiGG - farming families tell their stories of biodiversity

Thinking BiGG - farming families tell their stories of biodiversity is a 40pp feature case studies booklet which comprises an introduction and seventeen case studies of farmers that have participated in the national Biodiversity in Grain & Graze (BiGG) project. The intent of the case study booklet is to capture the unique, individual experiences of a selection of BiGG collaborating farmers and how biodiversity relates to their farm production and (more)...

The Watershed Torbay Experience

Watershed Torbay was established on 2001 as a national demonstration project to undertake whole of catchment waterways restoration. Funded by Land & Water Australia through the former national Rivers Consortium, the aim was to further develop and t

Improving Productivity and Sustainability in Irrigation

Projects featured in this booklet highlight the diversity of the research commissioned by the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation and the practical outcomes they offer for irrigation sustainability and productivity.

Land & Water Australia's Portfolio Return on Investment & Evaluation Case Studies

For five years Land & Water Australia has been developing a comprehensive approach to estimating the Return on Investment (ROI) from its research and development (R&D) portfolio. The key driving question has been ‘What impact has Land & Water Australia’s research had on achieving the sustainable use and management of Australia’s natural resources?’ To date, 33 (more)...

Compaction trial at McMaster