Australia's cotton and dairy industries are set to reap the benefits of new technology that can enhance climate resilience through improved water use efficiency.
The University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) – through a project led by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) – has received $1.1 million in funding from the Australian Government's Climate-Smart Agriculture Program's Partnerships and Innovation Grant to commercialise research on advanced climate-smart, innovative irrigation control technology.
The project will translate VARIwise, a precision irrigation optimisation and control system, from the research phase to a commercial-ready package that can be adopted in any irrigation system.
UniSQ Centre for Agricultural Engineering's Associate Professor Alison McCarthy is leading this research to enable industry uptake of VARIwise, technology she developed through previous CRDC-led national projects under the Australian Government Rural R&D for Profit program.
Associate Professor McCarthy said climate-smart precision irrigation technologies enable irrigation to be applied only when and where it is required, with the correct depth.
"VARIwise represents a step change in water use efficiency gains," she said.
"Water productivity improvements are slowing following the cotton industry average 0.3 per cent per year improvement since 2007.
"Step change improvement in water use efficiency is critical for Australian irrigation industries to adapt to short and long-term changes in climate.
"VARIwise will assist industries to demonstrate their water productivity credentials."
VARIwise uses advanced irrigation decision-making approaches that integrate multiple data streams – including soil, plant, and weather information – to assess site-specific irrigation requirements precisely, unlike traditional approaches that only consider soil-water status.
On-farm research has demonstrated that VARIwise can deliver 10 per cent in water savings and five per cent in productivity improvement in cotton and pasture.
However, barriers prevent the adoption of precision irrigation technologies, including compatibility between existing sensors and irrigation systems and access to ongoing precision technology support on the ground.
Associate Professor McCarthy said allowing Australian industry to be central in implementing VARIwise into commercial systems would help overcome these barriers.
"We will work with commercial technology providers and consultants to develop VARIwise into a format that can interface with on-farm sensor and irrigation systems, enabling non-exclusive commercial access to maximise adoption," she said.
The project includes on-farm demonstration and communication activities with UniSQ researchers collaborating with irrigation technology consultants at irrigated cotton and dairy sites in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania.
