Track 3-05: Effective Pathways for Industry Use of Grasslands Technology
Description
The rate and extent of adoption of grazing systems technology is limited by the relevance of recommendations and the complexity of integrating new practices into farming systems. This paper describes how, through development of regional information packages, a national project is enhancing adoption of the outputs from research investment. Every farm has unique goals, soils, landscape, enterprise setup and existing practices. When making investment decisions, farmers consider the cost and potential impact of each option compared to other competing options, the fit into their existing management philosophy and other changes necessary to realise the potential benefit. Overlaying this, farmers consider whether the innovation applies to their region, and commonly cite lack of regional applicability as a reason not to adopt. We argue that development of regional packages is a powerful means of targeting the needs unique to each region. Such packages can include recommendations from whole-farm system experiments, modelling and case studies which tell the full story around profit, risk, natural resource management and lifestyle impacts of change options, and adviser training for supporting farmer adoption decision processes. By focusing on communicating how research outputs are relevant to local farming systems, utilising local input, regional packages have the capacity to change the way R,D & E is conducted and delivered, accelerating delivery of industry and environmental benefits.
Included in
From Research to Practice Change–Achieving Adoption through Regionally Packaged Technology and Farm Systems
The rate and extent of adoption of grazing systems technology is limited by the relevance of recommendations and the complexity of integrating new practices into farming systems. This paper describes how, through development of regional information packages, a national project is enhancing adoption of the outputs from research investment. Every farm has unique goals, soils, landscape, enterprise setup and existing practices. When making investment decisions, farmers consider the cost and potential impact of each option compared to other competing options, the fit into their existing management philosophy and other changes necessary to realise the potential benefit. Overlaying this, farmers consider whether the innovation applies to their region, and commonly cite lack of regional applicability as a reason not to adopt. We argue that development of regional packages is a powerful means of targeting the needs unique to each region. Such packages can include recommendations from whole-farm system experiments, modelling and case studies which tell the full story around profit, risk, natural resource management and lifestyle impacts of change options, and adviser training for supporting farmer adoption decision processes. By focusing on communicating how research outputs are relevant to local farming systems, utilising local input, regional packages have the capacity to change the way R,D & E is conducted and delivered, accelerating delivery of industry and environmental benefits.
