Attention to detail, system thinking and people power

The GRDC Updates held in Goondiwindi on 3–4 March delivered a packed program of sessions, information and networking for grains industry participants.

SQNNSW Innovation Hub Grain Extend Manager Dr Charlie Aves attended the two-day event and came away with a clear sense of both the industry's strengths and the challenges ahead.

"Attention to detail is paramount," she said. "The talks bounced through highlights from 30 years of updates to soils, nutrition, weed and disease control, farming systems, pulses, ag-tech and variable rates. The link running through it all was the attention to detail needed to understand your environment, systems, risk appetite, and constraints to match these to the diverse solutions presented over the two days."

A standout session came from Queensland DPI's James Hagan, who examined nitrogen economics from the CSIRO long-term farming system trial. Dr Aves said the findings reinforced the importance of farming the system rather than reacting to input prices.

"When he increased the average N price from $764 to $1,300 over all treatments, all systems had decreased profitability when input costs weren't matched with increased commodity prices," she said. "The most profitable system remained the most profitable system; the least profitable system remained the least profitable regardless of hiking N price."

She noted that high-intensity legume systems offered no significant buffering against price increases, while the low-intensity system – with fewer crops in the rotation – was the most risk-exposed, with profitability heavily reliant on commodity price.

Beyond the technical content, Dr Aves reflected on the role of people in driving industry progress.

"Whether it was celebrating Lisle Snyman and Alex Conway winning the Seed of Light and Emerging Leaders awards, chatting in the coffee line, catching up with people in the breaks or sharing a drink with someone new at the networking function, the commitment, drive and passion had me leaving energised by our industry," she said.

The event also prompted reflection on where the next big leap forward will come from. Dr Aves noted that while a 'grainstorming' session tackled problem statements, there wasn't sufficient time to explore ideas with the potential to move the industry forward in bounds rather than incremental steps; a challenge she sees as significant given how consistently the sector is already raising the bar.

All this highlighted the challenge of finding the blue-sky ideas. Soil carbon researcher Cassie Schefe offered one point of perspective, noting that growers were already being sustainable if they were producing food and maintaining soil organic carbon levels.

"What is going to see us leaping ahead to 2040 when the industry is already consistently raising the bar on what good practice looks like?" Dr Aves asked.

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Grain Extend is a collaboration between GRDC, UniSQ and the SQNNSW Innovation Hub.