Improving personal cropping decisions with ARMonline and adult learning principles

Abstract

Abstract only

Decision support tools can help growers improve their farming decisions, but growers and agronomists often find these tools arduous to implement. Dryland grain-cropping is risky due to highly variable climatic conditions, including droughts, and growers need to consider the effects of their decisions on the current crop and following crops coupled with seasonal effects. The Agricultural Risk Management Online tools (ARMonline.com.au) are specifically designed to help rainfed grain-growers in their decision-making. It is a large database of APSIM runs, which includes 40+ locations across Australia, using 115 years of local BOM data, with an array of different crops, soil types, starting soil moisture, fertiliser rates, sowing dates, cultivars, and plant densities. The easy-to-use point and select graphical user interface allow the user to test different inputs (levers) to improve profits, sustainability, and quantify associated risks under different seasonal conditions.

We also developed workshops and online tutorial modules with an aim to improve growers’ knowledge, attitudes, skills, and/or aspirations for practice change through personal learnings. The CropARM tool helps users in identifying personal short-term (tactical) decisions for individual crops. These are then tested at the system level with RotationARM which investigates the temporal effects between crops to identify personal long-term (strategic) decisions. This process helps users understand how to capitalise on favourable conditions, reduce the likelihood of failed crops, thereby improve drought resilience.

There are many decision-support tools that have been developed but uptake is often low and hence have little effect on practice change. The structured workshops based on adult learning principles enabled peer-to-peer discussions around results. This process resulted in personal learnings around on-farm decisions from using the tools in the workshops. Decision support tools should be codeveloped with supporting learning material and extension to increase the likelihood of the desired outcome. This requires a multidisciplinary approach between researchers, tool developers and extension experts.