Farms
The Project will establish a world-class demonstrator of efficient and profitable farming systems at Dookie in the Goulburn Valley. It will explore how the various sources of water – bore water, recycled water, rainfall, water stored in dams, and irrigation water – can be used in flexible combinations to make farming operations more resilient. The Dookie Demonstrator will be an invaluable resource for future generations, providing long-term data on the relationships between climate, resource use, production and environment. The data will also be used to create predictive tools that farmers can apply to their own situations. In this way, knowledge gained from the Project will support farmers (and their lenders) in testing their decisions against possible future conditions:
- The most effective balance between dry-land and irrigated operations
- The most profitable mix of farming systems to manage uncertain water supplies and to take advantage of rainfall or cheaper water when available
- The adaptation of farming systems to provide the greatest environmental benefit at farm and catchment scale
- The adoption of new technologies, such as smart irrigation systems, depending on cost effectiveness