Boost biodiversity on your farm

The Cotton Landcare Tech-Innovations 2021 project is delivering outcomes and tools to help you improve your on-farm biodiversity.

Delivered by CRDC and CottonInfo, this project involves experts from Australia and around the world working in partnership on four critical areas of biodiversity R&D:

Biodiversity management guidelines for cotton catchments
Innovation for cotton landscape revegetation (drones & tractors)
Technology for acoustic monitoring on cotton farms (birds & microbats)
Collaboration for a legacy of Australian cotton biodiversity action.

Biodiversity management guidelines:

This involves identify priority areas and management practices for biodiversity conservation in cotton-growing environments.

The project has delivered a biodiversity management web tool that collates regional biodiversity data. It can help you identify priority areas and management actions to better restore habitat for threatened and iconic species in each cotton-growing LGA.

Innovation for revegetation (drones & tractors):

UNE's Dr Rhiannon Smith and UK-based ecosystem restoration specialists Dendra Systems, leads research to improve cost-effective revegetation on cotton farms.

The team has been trialling new and improved revegetation methods using drone and tractor technology. So far, 75 hectares of revegetation trial sites have been planted on cotton farms across NSW using drones and tractors.

The research has demonstrated the interaction between soil disturbance, moisture management and weed response, and the impact of these variables on tree survival and growth in heavy clay soils in both riparian and floodplain ecosystems in semi-arid environments.

Video: Can drones help restore native vegetation on cotton farms?

Technology for acoustic monitoring (birds & microbats):

QUT's Prof. Stuart Parsons and the University College London are leading research to support biodiversity on cotton farms. Prof. Parsons' research includes deploying innovative acoustic technologies to actively monitor, manage, and report biodiversity for a subset of bird and microbat species.

The research team have developed and deployed initial prototype acoustic sensors. QUT is trialling the new systems on cotton farms in Qld and NSW.

Grower Tamara Uebergang is supporting high-tech biodiversity monitoring on her farm near Miles (Barunggam country).

QUT bioacoustics engineer Dr Roger Coles has been collecting calls and testing them against what is ordinarily seen and heard on cotton farms.

Collaboration for a legacy of biodiversity action:

CRDC and CottonInfo have been working with cotton growers to encourage the use of new biodiversity technologies on farms and to create a legacy of biodiversity action throughout the cotton value chain.

So far, 19 growers have taken part in research, 120 people have attended project extension events, and two new collaborations have been formed (Country Road/Landcare Aust & Wee Waa Local Aboriginal Lands Council).

CRDC is undertaking research to improve our understanding of the industry's values and attitudes towards biodiversity and its management. The information collected from this survey will assist CRDC prioritise RD&E investments and contribute to setting biodiversity sustainability targets & indicators.

We invite cotton growers and consultants to participate in an important short online survey which will take about 10-12 mins. To participate please click here.

We are also seeking interest from growers and consultants to participate in a 2.5hr focus group session in your local area between 9-13 August to further explore the benefits and challenges to implementing biodiversity management activities on farm. You can register you interest to participate by emailing CRDC's Stacey Vogel.

For more:

Visit the CRDC Cotton Landcare Tech-Innovations 2021 project page. The project is funded under the National Landcare Program's Smart Farming Partnerships initiative.

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