Extracting more profit from our farming systems
Learn more about CSIRO, DPI & GRDC research into extracting more profit from our farming systems
Project Overview Video
A brief summary of key findings
At all experimental sites, we identified systems with 3-yr average annual profit (EBIT) (2018-2020) that were $200 to $300/ha more profitable than the baseline system, and at 2 sites there were systems $700/ha higher than baseline.
These more profitable systems included mixed systems involving early-sown, grazed crops (wheat, canola) with legumes (vetch) or higher N strategies. In crop only (un-grazed) systems, the timely sown, diverse sequences with high value legumes and more conservative N strategies were most profitable. In addition to the experimental data, longer-term simulation suggested that these diverse systems also carried lower risk as expressed by both variability in annual profit, and profit in the lowest 20% of years. There was also evidence of decreasing disease risk and stable or declining weed populations and a much lower average herbicide cost in the diverse systems compared to the baseline systems at all sites.
