The Ripple Effect is a national project designed to improve water security, biodiversity, and climate resilience for Australian farmers led by Grower Group Alliance. Overall, the project will support accelerated adoption of best-practice water management, to increase biodiversity and reduce emissions, strengthening farm water security, productivity, and sustainability.
All eight Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs are supporting the project with project partners including the University of Western Australia, the Australian National University, Adelaide University, the University of Southern Queensland, and RMIT. As part of the project, the Adelaide University is leading research focused on water quality for cattle and sheep producers with on-farm testing occurring across six states and multiple agroecological zones.
With water intake driving feed intake in livestock, and water being the single most important nutrient for survival, water quality has a significant role in the productivity of our sheep and cattle industries. However, routine analysis of water quality is often overlooked in farm management calendars, and there are minimal reports on how water quality changes over time and how this may influence the intake, health and performance of livestock.
Overall, the work led from SA, will identify the water quality issues facing Australian livestock producers and mitigation strategies to both alleviate periods of poor water quality and improve water intake where water palatability is low. Further information on the Ripple Effect is available at The Ripple Effect – Grower Group Alliance.
This project is funded by a grant from the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust Climate-Smart Agriculture program.
For more information, head to the Grower Group Alliance website.
