‘Smart Farms’ Projects
Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry
The Hawkesbury Nepean River Recovery Program is funded by the Australian Government through the Water for the Future Program.
Supplementary funding for the WaterSmart Farms project has been provided by the NSW Government through its Climate Change Fund.
Acronyms.....
GIS
Geographic Information System
GL
Gigalitre
HN
Hawkesbury Nepean
HN CMA
Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management
Authority
HNRRP
Hawkesbury Nepean River Recovery Program
I&I NSW
Industry & Investment NSW
ML
Megalitre
NSF
NutrientSmart Farms (project)
WSF
WaterSmart Farms (project)
The Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment
•
2.2 million hectares
•
470km River system from Goulburn to Palm Beach
•
Includes major tributaries:
–
•
•
Wollondilly; Wingecarribee; Coxs; Grose; Colo; Macdonald
Provides
–
drinking water for 70% of NSW population
–
housing for a rapidly growing regional population
–
80% of the sand & gravel for Sydney's construction industry
Supports
–
$1 billion / year agricultural industry
–
$6 million / year commercial seafood industry
–
tourism industry with 10 million visitors / year
A Catchment Under Stress
• Urban development
• Contaminated runoff
• Water extraction (reduced flows)
• Invasive plants & animals (eg- carp & riparian weeds)
• Outbreaks of aquatic weeds & algae
• Bank erosion
• Extractive industries
• Barriers to fish passage / migration
Hawkesbury River aquatic weeds, Nov 08
Photo: Rebecca Coventry
The Solution
• ‘Hawkesbury Nepean River Recovery Program’ (HNRRP)
• $77 million provided by Australian Govt in 2008
• Asked for a suite of projects that achieved:
– nutrient reductions
– increased environmental flows
Kemps Creek
HNRRP Background
• Relevant agencies submitted project ideas
– DPI (> I&I NSW)
– DECC (> DECCW)
– DWE (> NOW)
– Sydney Water
– HN CMA
– Hawkesbury Council
Hawkesbury River aquatic weeds, Nov 08
Photo: Rebecca Coventry
• 7 projects chosen to make up package
Projects of the HNRRP
Project
Leading Organisation
1
Improving HN Water Balance Accounting
NSW Office of Water
2
Irrigation & Landscape Efficiency Program
Sydney Water
3
Licence Purchase
Dept of Environment, Climate Change & Water
4
South Windsor Effluent Reuse Scheme
Hawkesbury City Council
5
Nutrient Export Monitoring
Dept of Environment, Climate Change & Water
6
WaterSmart Farms
Industry & Investment NSW
7
NutrientSmart Farms
Industry & Investment NSW
WaterSmart Farms (WSF) & NutrientSmart Farms (NSF)
WSF & NSF will work with
any agricultural industry in
the project area
Agriculture in the HN
• Over 2,000 agricultural enterprises
• Mostly small enterprises (compared to other areas in NSW)
• Extremely diverse range of industries
• Significant proportion of farmers are from a Culturally & Linguistically
Diverse Background (CLDB):
– 30% across all agricultural industries
– 80% of vegetable & cut flower growers
– Main CLDB groups are:
• Arabic
• Cambodian (Khmer)
• Chinese (Cantonese)
• Italian
• Maltese
• Vietnamese
Agriculture in the HN (cont’d)
Agriculture in the HN
Agriculture in the HN (cont’d)
Future local issues:
• Metropolitan Water Sharing Plan
• Climate change & variability of
water supply
• Increased costs
• Urban development
Source: Malcolm & Fahd, 2009
Agriculture in the HN (cont’d)
Reasons for Smart Farms project
• Significant user of water
– river water: 96 GL licensed for agricultural use
(over 38,000 olympic swimming pools)
– town water: over 5 GL used for agriculture
• Significant exporter of nutrients
– over 2,000,000 kg nitrogen / year
– over 200,000 kg phosphorus / year
WaterSmart Farms
Primary objective:
• Deliver water savings through improved
irrigation efficiency
Secondary objective:
• Improve nutrient management and reduce
export to waterways
WaterSmart Farms
Milestones / targets
• Distribute $13 million in grants
• Achieve water savings of 5.9 GL water / year
• Reductions in nutrient export of:
– 11.8 tonnes nitrogen / year
– 1.2 tonnes phosphorus / year
• 8 field days
• 100 training activities
WaterSmart Farms
• 90% HN irrigated farms have poor water use efficiency
• Current irrigation practices include:
– uneven watering.....requires overwatering
– application rates higher than soil infiltration rate.....results in
runoff
• Implications for farmer:
– uneven crop growth
– fertiliser / soil loss (from runoff)
– increased water costs (town water irrigators)
– hence reduced profitability
WaterSmart Farms
What is the project doing?
• Grants for irrigation infrastructure upgrades
• Education & training
• SMS Irrigation Scheduling Service
• Demonstration farm
WaterSmart Farms
Grants available for:
•
Retrofit or upgrade existing irrigation systems
– replace sprinkler heads
– replace pumps
– replace pipes
•
Convert irrigation systems
– overhead to drip
– travellers to lateral move
– travellers to pop-ups
•
Install water harvesting infrastructure
– Rainwater tanks
– Tailwater dams
•
Irrigation scheduling equipment
Soil moisture sensor
WaterSmart Farms
Grants – what is offered
• Free independent irrigation system audit
– Irrigator, property & enterprise details
– Farmer aspirations
– Soil profile description
– Water source & quality
Measuring Distribution Uniformity
– Irrigation system type & performance (Distribution Uniformity etc)
– Pump type and performance
– Drainage & recycling
– Management of irrigation system
– Recommendations for improvement
WaterSmart Farms
Grants – what is offered (cont’d)
• Town water irrigator
– Up to 50% subsidy for cost of project
– $1,750 / ML saved
• River water irrigator
– Up to 80% subsidy for cost of project
– $3,000 / ML saved
– Surrender 75% of identified water savings from licence entitlement
WaterSmart Farms
Education & training
• Project-specific workshops
• Existing training courses
• Field days
• Demonstration farm
• Bi-lingual support (Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese)
WaterSmart Farms
SMS Irrigation Scheduling Service
• Irrigation scheduling = matching irrigation to
the needs of the crop
• Technology developed by CSIRO
• Uses information from satellites, weather
stations and rain gauges to determine crop
water requirements
• Farmers receive irrigation scheduling advice
via SMS
WaterSmart Farms
Demonstration Farm
• At I&I NSW Richmond
(UWS Campus)
• Showcase best practice nutrient
& water management in
vegetable & turf production
WaterSmart Farms
Case Study – Large Field Vegetable Farm
• Background / current situation
– 30 hectares of lettuce, brassicas & cucumbers
– 330 ML river water licence
Old diesel pump
– Majority of irrigation infrastructure is 25 years old
– Handshift sprinklers with large labour demand
– Inefficient pump with large energy requirement
– Unable to target irrigation (water to laneways etc)
– Distribution uniformity of 52% - forced to irrigate almost constantly
WaterSmart Farms
Case Study – Large Field Vegetable Farm (cont’d)
• New works will:
– Replace existing system with a mixture of automated fixed sprinklers and
drip irrigation (DU >85%)
– Variable speed pump to match the different irrigation systems
– Electric pump controllers with remote (mobile phone) start / stop
– Greater flexibility in irrigation
• Only irrigate under optimal conditions
• Accurately tailor irrigation to small blocks / crop needs
– Maintain production levels with improved crop quality using less water
– 100 ML licence entitlement surrender (133 ML / year water saving)
– Total project cost - $391,959
• $300,000 WSF grant
• $91,959 irrigator contribution ($9,359 cash & $82,600 labour / maintenance)
NutrientSmart Farms
Objective
• Improve nutrient management and reduce export to waterways
Milestones / targets
Hawkesbury River aquatic weeds, Nov 08
Photo: Rebecca Coventry
• Distribute $2.9 million in grants
• Reductions in nutrient export of:
– 27 tonnes nitrogen / year
– 6 tonnes phosphorus / year
• 150 on-farm nutrient management projects
• 500 soil / plant tissue / water tests undertaken
• 12 field days & 750 landholders engaged in education / training
NutrientSmart Farms
• Current nutrient management practices include:
– Inadequate groundcover leading to erosion
– nutrient rich runoff (irrigation & natural) not filtered or captured
– animal excretion in / near waterways
– over-use of fertilisers (horticulture)
• Implications for farmer:
– loss of valuable fertiliser / soil
– algal / weed problems in dams
– hence reduced profitability
Water Hyacinth choking a detention pond
Photo: Carolyn Jenkinson
NutrientSmart Farms
What is the project doing?
• Grants for on-farm nutrient mgt works
• Education & training
• Compost program
Greenwaste being composted in windrows
NutrientSmart Farms
Grants available for:
• perimeter re-vegetation / buffer zones / filter strips
• stock exclusion fences / off-stream watering
• detention ponds
• erosion control / filter strips
• pasture re-establishment
• livestock effluent management
Gully erosion due to lack of groundcover
NutrientSmart Farms
Grants – what is offered:
• Assistance with developing the project
• 50% subsidy towards the cost of the project
Cattle off-stream watering point
Natural re-vegetation of casurinas after
installation of stock exclusion fencing
NutrientSmart Farms
How nutrient export reductions are estimated
• Literature Review
– Nutrient export rates for each industry (kg / ha)
– Nutrient export reductions for each intervention (%)
– Site specific factors applied
• Accurate measurements (eg- soil tests) and farmer
knowledge used where possible
• GIS mapping to accurately measure properties and
interventions
NutrientSmart Farms
Education & training
• Project-specific workshops
• Existing training courses
• Field days
• Demonstration farm
Cambodian vegetable farmers at a field day
• Bi-lingual support (Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese)
NutrientSmart Farms
Compost Program
•
Provided 19 000 tonnes of free compost to a range of industries
•
This was applied to 250 ha on 62 farms
•
Approx. 80 tonnes / hectare
•
Why?
– Improve soil moisture holding capacity
– Improve soil structure
– Increase soil carbon
– Provide appropriate mix of nutrients
– Reduce reliance on traditional fertilisers
Piles of compost ready to be incorporated
•
Developed specifications to ensure quality
•
Aim was to encourage use over long-term & improve compost supply
•
Research ongoing
NutrientSmart Farms
Case study – Dairy Farm
• Background / current situation
– 100 milkers
– Dairy yard waste (effluent) is collected
& pumped a short distance
– Effluent is concentrated in one area &
soil is saturated with nutrients
– No wet weather effluent storage capacity
– Runoff results in nutrient export to waterways
– Valuable nutrients are lost
Dairy effluent solids trap
NutrientSmart Farms
Case study – Dairy Farm (cont’d)
•
Effluent irrigator
New works have:
– Upgraded dairy yards so effluent can be easily captured
– Installed an effluent solids trap
– Upgraded effluent pump and piping to transfer effluent
– Installed an effluent irrigator system to distribute effluent across 5 hectares of pasture
and avoid overloading
– Reduced export of an estimated 1,700 kg nitrogen & 280 kg of phosphorus annually
– Enabled reuse of an estimated 1.6 ML effluent water annually
– Total project cost $84,100
• $41,700 grant
• $42,400 farmer contribution ($5,300 cash & $37,100 labour / maintenance)
Grant Administration
• Process for grant administration is extremely
important
– Spending $15 million of the public’s money
• Need transparent process to ensure grants:
– are distributed fairly and equitably
– achieve good value for money
• Expenditure is independently audited
Grant Administration
Process for obtaining grants:
1.
Read funding guidelines & check eligibility
2.
Submit Expression of Interest and arrange farm visit
3.
Design your project
•
NSF – design with Smart Farms officer
•
WSF – water audit undertaken & farmer nominates project
4.
Project is then considered against selection criteria
5.
If approved, Works Agreement (contract) with HN CMA
6.
Funds delivered, undertake works & submit final report
Grant Administration
Selection Criteria
•
Common (WSF & NSF) selection criteria:
– Technical feasibility of the project
– Project sustainability
– Applicant's resources (capacity & skills) & commitment
– Project focus
•
Specific WaterSmart Farms selection criteria:
– Water savings (ML per hectare)
– Cost ($) per megalitre water saved
•
Specific NutrientSmart Farms selection criteria:
– Connectivity to significant waterway
– Cost ($) per kilogram of nutrient export reduction
Grant Administration
Works Agreement
•
‘Contract’ for the works to be funded
•
It will detail:
– an outline of the project
– the people involved in the project
– The landholder’s responsibilities for the project, such as:
• what works are to be undertaken
• completion dates
• maintenance requirements
• payment schedule
•
Landholder invoices CMA for payments
•
Generally have 12 months to complete projects
•
All projects need to be completed by June 2011
•
Works Agreement generally for 10 years