Optimising farm scale returns from irrigated grains: maximising $ return per megalitre of water

This investment will build on GRDC’s past irrigation investments to assist growers and advisers to make informed decisions that maximise the economic return per megalitre of water. It will generate an economic sensitivity analysis to quantify the economic impact of changes in water, commodity and input price and irrigation method at the whole farm scale, allowing growers to evaluate cost:benefit scenarios. The investment will:

• Deliver an understanding of the drivers of gross margin functions in irrigated cropping and respond to the significant rise in water values.

• Analyse crop selection and management to improve economic system performance under an irrigated environment.

• Provide a comparative economic analysis for maximising potential yield contrasted with grower practices.

This investment will be supported by data in the other investments.