Offered Papers Theme C: Delivering the Benefits from Grassland
Description
Key points
1. A survey of decision support (DS) tools in grassland agriculture illustrates the diversity of decisions supported and of delivery technologies that are used. Larger, whole-enterprise planning tools are undergoing a period where their user interfaces are being adapted to better reflect the requirements and practice of advisory users.
2. The history of use of GrassGro, a ‘versatile simulator’, is used to illustrate how versatile tools attract a diverse range of users and uses. Lessons learnt by the GrassGro team are discussed.
3. Uptake rates of DS tools in grasslands are generally lower than was expected a decade ago. Nevertheless, if return on investment is used as the criterion then some DS tools – especially smaller ones – are clearly successful. Uptake for educational use can be much more rapid.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Paying for Our Keep: Grasslands Decision Support in More-Developed Countries
Key points
1. A survey of decision support (DS) tools in grassland agriculture illustrates the diversity of decisions supported and of delivery technologies that are used. Larger, whole-enterprise planning tools are undergoing a period where their user interfaces are being adapted to better reflect the requirements and practice of advisory users.
2. The history of use of GrassGro, a ‘versatile simulator’, is used to illustrate how versatile tools attract a diverse range of users and uses. Lessons learnt by the GrassGro team are discussed.
3. Uptake rates of DS tools in grasslands are generally lower than was expected a decade ago. Nevertheless, if return on investment is used as the criterion then some DS tools – especially smaller ones – are clearly successful. Uptake for educational use can be much more rapid.
