Optimising Crop Establishment
Period: 2026-2030
Funding Body: Grower Group Alliance & Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)
Funds: $90,000
Project Officers: Hilary Watterson & Jenna Walliser
Summary
The Optimising Crop Establishment project aims to improve growers’ knowledge, skills and confidence in making crop establishment decisions that support stronger crop performance and yield outcomes.
Project Deliverables:
Baseline surveys with local grain growers and advisors
Regional seeder setup workshop
Large-scale crop establishment demonstration trial
On-farm data collection, monitoring and evaluation
Communication and extension resources
Gillamii’s involvement in the project will focus on developing locally relevant knowledge around crop establishment across the diverse soil types and seeding constraints of the Kent–Frankland region. Local challenges include soil acidity, low fertility, poor water-holding capacity, non-wetting soils and susceptibility to wind erosion.
The project will include a regional seeder setup workshop designed to provide practical, manufacturer-independent guidance on seeding configurations, soil types, decision points, reseeding considerations, weed suppression and other agronomic factors that influence crop establishment.
Gillamii will also co-design and facilitate a large-scale farmer demonstration trial to benchmark and validate crop establishment strategies under local conditions. The trial will use standardised data collection and soil and environmental characterisation to generate robust, science-based evidence for growers and the wider grains industry.
Gillamii’s initial proposal identified potential areas of interest for the demonstration trial including the use of wetter and/or the amount of nitrogen applied at sowing, reflecting local grower interest and the region’s variable soil constraints.
Through on-farm demonstration, workshops, grower engagement and extension activities, the project will support producers to make more informed crop establishment decisions and improve access to practical, evidence-based agronomic knowledge. Gillamii will also contribute to ongoing Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) activities to capture grower experiences, barriers to adoption and lessons that can improve future extension.
The broader project aims to ensure that by 2030, at least 75% of grain growers have access to the knowledge and skills required to improve crop establishment, contributing to an average annual yield uplift of 1–3% across 25% of hectares nationally.
A full project report will be available upon completion.