Horticulture decision support tool launched
A new prototype horticultural economic modelling tool designed to support on-farm and regional adaptation into the future can now be freely accessed from the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre website.
The tool allows users to explore future economic possibilities for almond, citrus and table grape properties by adjusting key inputs of price, yield, water costs and fertiliser costs.
It was developed as part of a Victoria Drought and Innovation Hub project between Deakin University, the University of Melbourne and the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre.
Deakin University PhD candidate Monique Marais presenting on the economic modelling tool.
Associate Professor Robert Faggian from Deakin University said the project team had initially planned to develop climate impact models for the Mallee region but had changed tack after talking to growers about environmental challenges.
“There is a lot of information available on drought and climate change, so the problem isn’t a lack of information, it is the sheer volume of it and where to start if you are a farmer,” Robert said.
We have developed a simple tool where growers can change the inputs and it shows them the likely profit and break-even yield that they can achieve under a set of conditions. This tool puts the control in the hands of the user, so they can easily play around with the information – no training required.
Robert said the tool would be particularly useful this year, with a difficult summer forecast.
“Despite hearing that a lot of horticulture growers in the region aren’t too concerned with climate change, there is a potentially ugly summer approaching and complacency can be quite dangerous,” he said.
A good approach would be to use this tool and others to look at the possible scenarios – like how the price of water and its fluctuations might impact your bottom line – and plan for what you could do differently this year to mitigate the risk.
Robert said he would be working with his master’s students to further develop the tool and continue conversations with horticulture peak bodies about including a larger range of varieties.
“The tool currently looks at a generic table grape variety, almond variety, oranges and mandarins, but the peak bodies are interested in developing it for all of their specific varieties and cultivators and even modify it to sit within their current dashboards,” he said.
The project team would welcome feedback from growers and industry to help improve the tool. Users can contact Dr Robert Faggian at r.faggian@deakin.edu.au or Mallee Regional Innovation Centre agriculture manager Alina Saeed at MRIC-info@unimelb.edu.au.