The future of farming in drought-hardened Australia
In Australia, droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, reducing agricultural output in a $36bn industry. Until the rains came early this year, farmers in New South Wales had suffered their worst drought on record. But as the FT’s Jamie Smyth discovers, they’re fighting back in a variety of ways, ranging from digital moisture measurement to satellite mapping and innovative crop rotation
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Drought hardened Australia. In this parched country, it can be a struggle to raise livestock or grow crops.
We were in drought for three years. So we really didn't crop anything for three years.
Warmer temperatures are increasing the frequency and severity of droughts, reducing agricultural output.
Our loss of income was quite extreme. We dropped from about five permanent staff to three. A lot of these guys had been here for a long time.
I've come to northeastern New South Wales to investigate the future of farming on the world's driest inhabited land.
Good day.
Good to meet you.
I'm Guy, yeah.
Yeah, Jamie.
Welcome. Let's go have a look.
At this 2,000 hectare research farm in Narrabri, Guy Roth and his team are on a mission to find new and sustainable farming techniques to better suit the climate.
We've got researchers here looking at different types of wheat, fava beans, and chickpeas trying to select lines that are more tolerant of heat stress, which will then in turn in years to come produce high yields for farmers.
The rains finally came here earlier this year, but in these photos taken here over the last three years, you can see the effects of their worst drought on record. Dust storms like these also show why Guy's team is veering away from traditional plying and tilling that mix soil more susceptible to being blown away.
That's our valuable soil when lost into the atmosphere. It's our most fertile soil.
Using digital technology is a key strategy in capturing and holding the maximum amount of moisture in the soil.
We've got some soil moisture probes. They are measuring the soil 24/7. I can look that up on my phone and see the soil water content in real time. So we can make that more accurate because it affects potential yield. That's for better returns and better profitability for farmers.
We also do yield mapping. We know where the highest yielding spots are and the lowest yielding spots are. The GPS enables us to do is to drive the tracks always in the same spot so we don't have any soil compaction, and that increases the yield where there is no tracks.
Guy and his team work with local farmers, like Andrew Watson, in nearby Boggabri, who provide them with advice on what they see as a priority.
Last year was not much more than 210 millimetres of rainfall for the entire year.
What did this look like last year in the drought?
Dry dead grass, pretty much. So it wasn't very pretty.
In Australia, overall farm profits fell $64,000 per farm over the past two years, according to Australia's agricultural research agency. What was the impact of that drought?
Essentially we were irrigating about 15 per cent of our land where we'd normally irrigate 60 per cent.
One way of battling the effects of climate change is sharing data.
So we have been very heavily involved in a economic benchmarking group, or it's actually a broad group across New South Wales. We take the data from that and it shows what cropping system, not just what crops, so what rotations are working the best.
He's also embraced technology to minimise water loss.
So certainly the overhead sprinkler systems have brought about a 30 per cent water saving on average. We've been able to grow the same yields or better yields with less water.
Back in Narrabri, I catch up with another local farmer. Ian Gourley runs a rain-fed dryland farm. He's also trying new farming techniques and technology.
So we've, all we have, everything's all GPS guidance. We have permanent real tracks. The satellite imagery to do crop monitoring and surveys to look at what's, what our soil structure is, and what our water holding capacities are, and how we can then manage that.
Innovative rotation practises can even include planting non-profitable cover crops simply to protect or improve the soil for future crops.
You know, maybe forgoing a year's income on a cash crop to grow a cover crop to make the whole rotation more profitable.
Australia's farmers are not alone in fighting the effects of climate change. However, the agricultural industry here has been forced to move faster, and it's now set to become a digital leader in farming.
What we learn out of this drought was it just changed our whole thinking on what the future might look like.
Farming is not static. It continues to evolve.
