A twenty-minute online survey aimed at cropping producers expects to gain a broad understanding of farmer practices and how their goals might relate to regeneration.
The information gleaned from these surveys will help researchers connected with Southern Cross University to better engage and advise farmers in a changing landscape.
Researcher Dr Hannabeth Luke has designed more than a dozen farmer surveys with the data collected helping to create better advisory platforms. She first cut her teeth in this field designing a survey to canvas opinions about coal seam gas exploration on the Northern Rivers.
This current survey is backed by the Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC), as part of its recently announced project "Regenerative Agriculture: Understanding the intent, practices, benefits and disbenefits" and involves academic experts in soil health, agronomy, ecology, rural sociology and natural capital accounting.
Dr Luke says she is interested in teasing out how crop producers view sustainability of their farms in relation to their ability to grow production through practices that build soil health.
"A big part of this survey will be to develop indicators that measure success," she says. "That's why we will look at areas of soil health and farm productivity - big picture perspectives - to help guide the indicators that measure farm goals."
From this broader survey about 75 growers will be recruited to take part in a three-year trial, so that on-farm measurements and data can be quantified and shared - while ensuring confidentiality of those involved.
"We will be looking at production versus profit," she says. "We will be looking at a broad sweep of farms and the way that grains are integrated into their systems."
Previous research into "regeneration" practice found half of the farmers surveyed already had adopted practices regarded as building soil health and resilience, such as no-till cultivation and legumes grown in rotation.
"The idea of regenerative farming, within which soil health, farm resilience and profit are aiming to be improved, especially appeals to younger farmers," Dr Luke says.
Minimal soil disturbance, emerging methods involving precision sowing and fertiliser use will be explored but Dr Luke emphasises the need to look beyond "regen ag" to see "what else is out there".
"We are really looking to find indicators that we can use to measure success and help inform other growers," she says, noting that such tools might be less about soil testing and more about measuring water holding capacity, aggregate stability, even monitoring nematode populations or measuring the energy density of grains.
"By the end of this project we hope to find indicators that are easy to use, which are cheaper and more practical," she says. "But we will be guided by farmers."
Project lead Dr Adam Canning of Southern Cross University says: "This research will play a key role in providing clarity around the use of environmental, social and agronomic indicators for grain growers wanting to assess and monitor their progress towards the various regenerative goals they may have."
Dr Giacomo Betti, GRDC Manager Sustainable Cropping Systems - South, says: "This investment aims to provide Australian growers with clarity regarding the integration of regenerative agriculture into our cropping systems," said Dr Betti.
"Crucially, the success of the project hinges on the active participation of growers in implementing a diverse range of practices. This will enable the development of a balanced dataset and facilitate the drawing of meaningful conclusions."
The survey is available online here.
