Drought Tech Solutions

Background

This project brings together producers, advisors, agencies, NGOs and peak bodies to expand the adoption of drought decision support tools across NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. These tools enable producers to act early as seasonal conditions change, supporting informed decisions during drought as well as helping producers take advantage of favourable conditions to lift productivity, profitability and resilience.

In collaboration with FF Inc, AgVic, Southern Farming Systems, Glenrac and Tableland Farming Systems producer groups this project is engaging with producer networks and trusted advisors to expand FFs footprint by adding new probe sites in Victoria and Southern and Northern NSW, providing more robust insights into growing conditions and demonstrating the platforms full capability to increase user confidence and uptake. Market analysis through website analytics and direct feedback has shown that producers in these regions are engaged and see the value in having access to FF and its potential to address critical climatic and regional coverage gaps.

This project is also working to establish a pilot version of the myStockPlanner scenario-planning tool in Tasmania and Victoria to strengthen proactive responses to seasonal variability. A growing community of practice will support shared learning and consistent adoption of climate-resilient strategies, improving producers’ capability to manage feed resources, protect natural capital and enhance business resilience.

Seasonal and market conditions in NSW and Victoria strongly influence markets and decision-making in Tasmania, and vice versa. Improved insights into growing conditions across these regions strengthens red meat sector resilience across the southeast.

Building the user base

While Farming Forecaster is designed to provide structured user support, ensuring producers can optimise management, many users remain unaware of its full range of applications, highlighting a need for targeted training. Building on the proven approach used in the Tasmanian statewide rollout, this project is delivering an extension package for producers and advisors to improve the use and adoption of the FF tool.

This will be achieved by validating data with new site hosts, and building user confidence through training, guides, podcasts, and complementary decision-support tools. A training program will be delivered with AgVic, Southern Farming Systems, Glenrac and Tablelands Farming Systems, with refresher training in existing FF regions supported by Monaro Farming Systems, Holebrook Landcare Group and TasFarmers. Through attendance at key industry events we will also showcase producer experiences and the diverse uses of FF data.

Improving FF functionality

The growth and expansion of the FF network, as well as the age of the original software infrastructure, has increased the number of outages, errors and processing delays. Through this project, we are working with FF Inc, agricultural software consultancy Square V, and CSIRO to improve how data behind FF functions, making it more accurate and efficient, and upgrading the website to make it more functional and user friendly. Upgrading backend infrastructure will improve data reliability and ensure timely forecast delivery and the upgrades will protect system scalability, data integrity and support expansion into new regions.

We are also working with FF Inc and Square V to redesign the interface and develop an app that resolves timeouts, display issues and poor mobile usability. These improvements to will improve usability on mobile devices and have been informed by three years of feedback and planning with partners and end-users.

myStockPlanner

Producers rely on a range of tools to improve their drought resilience, from early warning of seasonal changes (FF) to understanding the financial tradeoffs when planning drought management approaches (myStockPlanner). These tools help producers plan the best approach for their business without compromising long-term viability.

Building on their former Stockplan tool NSW DPI has developed a package of online drought planning tools called myStockplanner to assist producers in scenario planning (e.g., buy. sell, agist). The unique platform brings together the NSW Drought and Supplementary Calculator, DroughtPack (part of Stockplan), Feed Cost Calculator and Drought Feed Calculator.

myStockPlanner also allows users to save their business information to a farm profile, which they can access and update even if their business records are destroyed during a catastrophic event.

Through this project, we are collaborating with NSW DPI on a pilot version of the myStockPlanner tailored for Tasmania and Victoria, accompanied by a training package for producers and advisors to facilitate adoption and optimal utilisation of the tool – delivered in partnership with AgVic and TasFarmers.

Support and training for producers

Once producers understand how scenario planning can assist in deciding the best course of action in dry times, they need support to implement an effective strategy. In collaboration with TasFarmers, we are supporting Tasmanian producers to adopt commonly employed strategies through expert advice and peer-to-peer learning activities (e.g. increasing the uptake and improved execution of containment feeding).

These activities will be combined with training in the use of Farming Forecaster, myStockPlanner and other appropriate drought resilience tools. This work builds on previous efforts in Tasmania where containment feeding discussions supported producers with personalised plans resulting in an increase in adoption. Through this activity, we aim to exchange learnings between Tasmania, Victoria and NSW.