Australian grain growers are not commonly known as online gamers.
But, a new University of Southern Queensland (USQ) research project is attempting to use the hobby to help the broadacre cropping industry better prepare for – and manage – drought.
The university and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries developed the online agricultural risk management platform ARMonline over a period of seven years.
Grain growers throughout Australia use it today.
ARMonline allows users to plan their crop production. It evaluates the season ahead by assessing cropping scenarios from the past 115 years using crop soil and weather models.
Now, with the help of a $1 million federal Government grant, USQ researchers will update the platform with game-based learning approaches to support decision making and improve business, social and environment drought resilience.
Lead researcher, Associate Professor Keith Pembleton, said the project would also be run in collaboration with colleagues from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, with the end goal to increase farm productivity, profitability, and adaptability.
“While dryland grain growing is well established in Australia, our climate is highly variable and many growers use gut feelings rather than taking an analytical, risk-balancing approach to farming decisions,” he said.
“Through the additional training elements and gamification of the platform, we’ll be able to further customise the ARMonline tool.
“That new training material will allow us to upskill growers from central Queensland to northern New South Wales, to identify and quantify key climate and drought risks to develop individual drought resilience strategies based on personal learnings.
“These efforts all help to reduce growers’ stress when making decisions – whether that’s short term decisions around what to do with a failed crop, through to long-term decisions around balancing risks coming into a dry period.”
For more information about the ARMonline suite of tools, visit www.armonline.com.au/#/
Grain growers and agronomists interested in participating in the project can contact Associate Professor Keith Pembleton via Keith.Pembleton@usq.edu.au
This project received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
