FFI Future Farms CRC | 2023
The Future Farming Industries CRC provided MLA with new perennial pasture cultivars, new farming systems based on perennial plants and establishment technologies to drive the adoption of perennial plants.
| Project start date: | 01 July 2007 |
| Project end date: | 30 June 2014 |
| Livestock species: | Grain-fed Cattle, Sheep, Lamb |
| Relevant regions: | National, Cold wet, Dry, Mediterranean, Sub-tropical moist, Sub-tropical sub-humid, Temperate, Temperate sub-humid, Tropical Moist, Tropical wet |
Summary
This project was the overarching participant agreement for MLA to be a member of Future Farming Industries CRC (FFI CRC). The FFI CRC developed the perennial plant technologies and scientific capacity as a continuation of R&D to improve on-farm management options for water and biodiversity resources, while reducing the impact of salinity.
The FFI CRC provided MLA with new perennial pasture cultivars, new farming systems based on perennial plants, and establishment technologies to drive the adoption of perennial plants.
Objectives
The FFI CRC delivered the following;
1. Direct outcomes to align with salinity, biodiversity, water and productivity objectives contained in MLAs Livestock Production Innovation 2006-2011 strategic plan.
2. Continued collaborative investment in perennial plants for improved production and environmental outcomes and development of options for salt affected land.
3. The continuation and expansion of EverGraze (including additional AWI investment) ensuring that the project continues to deliver significant value for producers.
4. Services in the areas of risk management, economic analysis, social analysis, education and training.
5. Leverage of significant additional Federal Government investment.
Key findings
The CRC delivered a range of outputs:
- New knowledge and decision-support tools for pasture improvement across different rainfall zones
- Information on the incorporation of different feed types and species mixes across production systems
- Information on the nutritional considerations of different feed types
- Increase in options in the perennial mix including new development of saltbush lines, commercialisation of cocksfoot, and information on tropical species.
Benefits to industry
The FFI CRC developed the perennial plant technologies and scientific capacity from the previous Plant Based Management for Dryland Salinity CRC to improve on-farm management options to manage water and biodiversity resources more profitably while reducing the impact of salinity.
EverGraze was able to increase production and profit while addressing regional land management issues with an approach that provided more options and flexibility for producers in terms of the time of sale, markets targeted and timing of management operations.
The Enrich project delivered on the same outcomes as EverGraze in a different rainfall zone -options to utilise low crop producing lands, manage soil and water, reduce supplementary feeding costs and by deferral of grazing, allow regeneration of other pasture areas. It also showed that The incorporation of shrubs into a production system could produce an increase of 20% in whole farm profit.
In both the Enrich and EverGraze projects producers were involved in Design, Implementation and importantly Interpretation. This enabled the science to be more relevant as the recommendations had the additional benefit of producer "knowledge and comment “ on say capitalisation requirement, labour efficiency but importantly workload, skills needed, fit with other parts of the business.
More information
| Project manager: | Cameron Allan |
| Contact email: | reports@mla.com.au |
