This project is helping grain producers across the Murraylands and Riverland improve soil health, nutrient use efficiency and productivity by combining digital decision-support tools with practical on-farm demonstrations. Through Agrisolve, the Lentil Decision Tree and locally relevant field trials, the project is supporting growers to make more informed decisions about variable rate nutrition, soil management and sandy soil resilience.

Project description: 

Variable soil types, declining soil health and increasing seasonal variability continue to challenge productivity across the Murraylands and Riverland. This project is supporting growers to better understand within-paddock variability and improve management decisions through practical decision-support tools, on-farm demonstrations and targeted extension.

The project combines training in the Agrisolve variable rate platform, development of the Lentil Decision Tree, and demonstration sites investigating soil stabilisation and soil amendment options. Together, these activities are helping growers apply precision agriculture principles to nutrient management while improving soil resilience and reducing production risk.

Key achievements and results: 

As of mid-2026, this project has focused on increasing grower confidence in using digital decision-support tools alongside practical demonstrations to improve soil management and variable rate nutrient decisions. Early engagement has been strong, with producers actively adopting the Agrisolve platform and contributing to the refinement of new decision-support resources before their broader release.

While the demonstration sites have only recently been established, early project outcomes indicate strong grower interest in precision nutrient management and practical approaches to improving sandy soil resilience. Monitoring and field evaluation will continue throughout the season, with crop walks planned to showcase results as they emerge.

The project has successfully established the foundation for improving soil health and nutrient management across the Murraylands and Riverland by combining digital decision-support tools with practical, on-farm demonstrations. Growers have shown strong interest in adopting precision agriculture technologies, with early activities focused on building confidence in interpreting soil variability and applying site-specific management practices.

Field demonstrations are now underway to evaluate practical approaches to improving sandy soil productivity and nutrient management under local conditions. As the project progresses, these demonstrations will provide growers with regionally relevant information to support more targeted fertiliser investment and improved soil management.

Project progress includes:

• Delivered three pre-seeding workshops introducing growers to the Agrisolve platform and demonstrating how soil zones and seasonal biomass data can support variable rate fertiliser decisions.
• Expanded grower participation in precision agriculture through new Agrisolve registrations and the development of paddock-specific soil zones to support site-specific nutrient management.
• Completed development of the Lentil Decision Tree, providing growers with a practical tool to support paddock selection and management decisions for lentil production.
• Established demonstration sites across Karoonda, Peake, Loxton and Waikerie to evaluate soil stabilisation products, soil amendments and practical options for improving sandy soil productivity under local conditions.
• Continued to build practical knowledge and decision-support resources that help growers better understand soil variability, improve nutrient use efficiency and strengthen the resilience of their farming systems.