Evolution of the GRAZPLAN decision support tools and adoption by the grazing industry in temperate Australia

CSIRO Plant Industry has developed the GRAZPLAN family of decision support tools (DS tools) for consultants and farmers to improve the profitability and environmental sustainability of grazing enterprises. These tools are based on pasture and animal production models that have general application for simulating the biophysical processes of grazing systems in temperate southern Australia. The DS tools are designed to be easy to use and, apart from daily weather information, require minimal input of data. Where relevant, the models run continuously over a range of specified years, without further intervention by the user. The output generated can be linked to cost and price indices to enable estimation of production risk in financial as well as in biological terms. Adoption of GrazFeed, a tool to guide livestock nutrition, is widespread in the southern states where it is a keystone for the very successful PROGRAZE extension program sponsored by NSW Agriculture and Meat and Livestock Australia. GrazFeed's success is linked to the release of national feeding standards for ruminants, to the tactical nature of decisions about livestock nutrition and to a formal commitment by CSIRO, the developers, with NSW Agriculture, a major user. Adoption of another tool, GrassGro, which is used to analyse grazing enterprises for profit and sustainability, is slower. In this case the decision support is concerned with strategic planning where outcomes are probability-based and where the pasture model in GrassGro is not based on an agreed national standard. Confidence in the use of GrassGro increases where users are already familiar with GrazFeed, which contains an identical animal model. A key component of the commercial release of GrassGro is the provision of an intensive training course. Future adoption of the DS tools will be enhanced by their innovative use in teaching programs such as that at the University of New England where they are used in all undergraduate years of the rural science course. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.