There are plenty of organisations that are super keen to reach growers to highlight new research and new technology with messages that these innovations can increase farm profitability by x per cent.
If I could total the amount of these opportunities together, growers would run the most profitable businesses in the whole wide world.
That is not to discount the value these opportunities offer. They are real and they are an opportunity to ensure farmers remain profitable and sustainable.
The challenge comes with implementing all the competing research priorities and working out which innovation to implement first.
At BCG we are very aware of this challenge. Research and development needs to fit in the farm system, of which every farm has its own system.
One of the things we are doing is to ensure we understand the systems and the fit of research and development in our engagement with our Mallee and Wimmera advisory committees made up of farmer members from each regions.
In these sessions we identify as a group what the key challenges to the system are, and BCG then works to identify any previous research, the knowledge gap and how we can best assist farmers with these challenges.
Trials Review Day is another opportunity for us to identify research priorities from members. One of the highlights at Trials Review Day was getting growers from different regions to discuss what they are doing, the challenges they face and which innovations and technologies are they are trying to implement in their system.
Above I have highlighted just two of the many opportunities growers currently have available to them.
February and March are extremely busy with events, but I do encourage you to attend one or two events in the coming month; be that a GRDC Research Update in Hopetoun or Boort, the GRDC Spray Application workshop series, the Merino Gold day, or any of the numerous other events.
Don’t expect that because your advisor attends these events that somehow the knowledge and context of the latest research and development will end up in your head, because ultimately you know your system and your goals the best.
More importantly, the opportunity to network and ask a few questions either formally or informally will increase your understanding around how to integrate the research or technology in your system.
Time for a song choice. My daughter saw Ziggy Albert a week or so back, which I think is good sitting at the deck contemplating the latest innovation music.
