Dry Season Resources

The Transformative Aboriginal Agricultural Methods (TAAM) project is exploring how Aboriginal knowledge and modern agricultural science can work together to improve soil health, restore landscapes and support more resilient farming systems.

This episode is part of the Indigenous farming methods series and in it, we speak to Clint Hansen, founder of Maaman Marra Boodjar, and Associate Professor Dave Blake from Edith Cowan University.

They discuss how Aboriginal knowledge holders, farmers and researchers came together to share their understanding of Country and explore culturally informed approaches to landscape rehydration. Clint explains how leaky weirs - built using locally sourced rocks, branches and soil - can slow water movement, capture sediment and seeds, and support the regeneration of eroded areas.

The episode also explores how soil testing, microbiome analysis, drones and sensor networks were used to measure changes in soil moisture, temperature and biomass across trial sites near Perenjori.

The TAAM project is supported by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, Edith Cowan University and the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Shannon Beattie.

• 'If we don't look after Country, we won't have anything' - National Indigenous Times
• Video - Transformative Aboriginal agricultural methods: Maaman Marra Boodjar
• Video - Transformational program: pathways towards resilience in Western Australia
• Field day blends Aboriginal knowledge and science for climate resilience - WA Agricultural Research Collaboration
• Transformative Aboriginal agricultural methods: Maaman Marra Boodjar - SW WA Hub
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Securing reliable on-farm water is one of the most pressing challenges for Wheatbelt farmers facing consecutive dry seasons, with some spending over $60,000 in a single year just to keep water up to stock.

In this episode, Dr Richard George from DPIRD and Professor Brett Harris from Curtin University talk about a targeted approach to finding water in fractured bedrock aquifers deep beneath the Wheatbelt landscape.

Drawing on the results of Phase One of the WaterSmart Farms program, where 75% of sites struck usable groundwater, the conversation covers how precision magnetic surveying is dramatically improving drilling success rates, what reliable groundwater means for farm decision-making through dry periods, and what's needed to take this method from research into broad industry uptake via Phase Two's voucher program.

• The Ripple Effect project - Grower Group Alliance
• WaterSmart Dams project - Grower Group Alliance
• Water Smart Projects gallery - Grower Group Alliance
• MADFIG is delighted to announce the release of our first Podcast! - MADFIG
• WaterSmart Dams: Understanding dams with the Water Evaluation Platform - SW WA Hub
• WaterSmart Farms voucher program - DPIRD
• Water Evaluation Platform
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Australia’s Southern Rangelands are some of the most variable and challenging pastoral landscapes in the world. Climate variability, rising costs, legacy land condition and large-scale operations can make it challenging to make management decisions and know where new technologies can genuinely add value.

In this episode, landscape ecologist Richard Marver from Contour Consulting and Krystie Bremer, Executive Officer of the Gascoyne Pilbara Rangelands Initiative (GPRI), discuss the planning work underway through the Smart Grazing, Stronger Lands project.

Drawing on decades of experience across the Southern Rangelands, they explore how a challenge led and place-based approach can support better grazing management. They discuss the role of local knowledge, peer to peer learning and demonstration sites in helping pastoral businesses assess where targeted technologies may improve decision making and drought resilience.

The episode also explores the difficulty of navigating the rapidly growing agtech industry. Richard and Krystie discuss the SW WA Hub’s developing AgTech Adoption Guide, which aims to help pastoralists and advisers better understand available tools, likely costs and where different technologies may suit different operations.

The conversation highlights that successful technology adoption is not simply about new tools. It depends on matching technology to local conditions, business goals and management capacity.

The Smart Grazing, Stronger Lands project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust. It is is led by Adelaide University through the SA Drought Hub.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Doug Hamilton.

• Southern Rangelands Revitalisation Program | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
• Gascoyne Regional Drought Resilience Plan
• Managing livestock health and disease during dry seasons - Drought Hub
• The triple bottom line: lessons from the Pastoral Business Toolbox - Drought Hub
• Virtual fencing and drone monitoring: enhancing rangeland management through AgTech - Drought Hub
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Virtual fencing could become a game-changer for Australian livestock producers, replacing kilometres of wire and hours of labour with a GPS collar and an app. But its potential goes well beyond convenience. By giving farmers unprecedented control over grazing pressure, virtual fencing is shaping up as a powerful tool for dry‑season management and climate resilience.

In this episode, Esperance farmer Simon Fowler and SARDI researcher Bianca Agenbag unpack how the technology is helping producers maximise pasture utilisation, run virtual feedlots through feed gaps, and protect precious feed reserves when seasons turn tough. They also discuss the research underway to help farmers assess whether virtual fencing stacks up economically for their own operations.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Doug Hamilton.

• Virtual fencing: breaking down boundaries in livestock grazing - SW WA Hub
• Virtually Fence Free project (Future Drought Fund) - NQ Dry Tropics
• Commercialisation of Virtual Fencing for Livestock - SARDI / PIRSA
• Virtual fencing for improved drought resilience on South Australian farms - SA Drought Hub
• Virtual fencing for improved drought resilience on South Australian farms - SW WA Hub
• Virtual fencing provides productivity gains from strip grazing in broadacre farming - SW WA Hub
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Uncertain seasons require clear thinking, not more noise.

In this episode, Rod Birch, a grain grower from Coorow, shares his approach to planning for and managing through dry seasons and broader uncertainty.

Rod discusses the importance of focusing on core fundamentals, identifying key risks such as lower-than-expected rainfall, input supply and markets, and avoiding unnecessary noise when making decisions.

The conversation explores planning across short, medium, and long timeframes, along with the role of good relationships and trusted advice in supporting decision making.

While Rod speaks from a grain growing perspective, the principles apply across agriculture, reinforcing that although conditions change, the fundamentals of good planning remain the same.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Dr Mary-Anne Glanzlowe.

• Links on drought and mental health support - SW WA Hub
• RiskWi$e - The National Risk Management Initiative - Grower Group Alliance
• Navigating extreme seasonal variability in WA’s Wheatbelt - SW WA Hub
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Input constraints are a challenge, not just currently in 2026, but also off the back of dry seasons when financial constraints can dominate decision making. In both contexts, smart allocation can make a real difference to whole of farm performance.

In this episode, cropping farmer Dylan Hirsch from Latham WA and CSIRO research scientist Roger Lawes discuss practical strategies for making the most of limited inputs, with a strong focus on the highest input cost of nitrogen.

They discuss how ranking paddocks by yield potential using historical data and remote sensing can help target limited inputs, while also considering how growers can adjust crop and rotation decisions when conditions or supply constraints change.

Roger then shares insights from the national Grain Automate project, including a new calculator tool to help evaluate precision spraying investments.

The conversation highlights the role of farm data in decision making to effectively optimise a constrained resource.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Doug Hamilton.

• Grain Automate Economic Model Calculator - Grain Automate - GRDC & CSIRO
• Spray Program Calculator - GRDC & CSIRO
• Grain Automate - GRDC
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Seasonal climate outlooks can inform planning, but they are only one part of farm decision-making.

In this episode, Dr Meredith Guthrie, from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and Phil Smyth, northern Wheatbelt agronomist from Nutrien Coorow, talk about the 2026 seasonal outlook.

Meredith explains current climate drivers, how to interpret climate model probabilities and how the potential development of an El Niño and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole may result in 2026 looking a bit like the difficult year of 2023.

They then go on to discuss what these forecasts may mean for growers, including dry sowing, crop selection, managing input costs, and making the most of early rainfall opportunities.

The conversation highlights the importance of using forecasts as guidance while focusing on sound management decisions throughout the season and how there is always space for hope.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Dr Mary-Anne Glanzlowe.

• Long-range weather, climate and water availability - Bureau of Meteorology
• Seasonal Climate Outlook - Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
• Long-range forecasts: weeks, months and seasons - Bureau of Meteorology
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Water quality is one of the most overlooked factors in spray performance, yet it can have major impacts on efficacy, compatibility and long-term resistance risk.

In this episode, agronomist Bill Campbell from Campbell Ag and Damon Cusack from the Fitzgerald Biosphere Group (FBG) discuss how water quality varies across Western Australia and what growers can do to better manage it.

They explore common issues including hard water tying up glyphosate, high turbidity reducing the effectiveness of paraquat, and elevated pH shortening the half-life of certain insecticides and fungicides.

The conversation highlights key results from FBG’s Water Quality Snapshot project, which revealed significant variability in water sources, even between dams on the same farm.

Practical strategies include testing all water sources, ranking them by quality, matching water to product where possible, and investing in storage or treatment systems. The episode also points to useful tools and fact sheets available through the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

A small investment in understanding your water could make a big difference to spray results and farm resilience.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) and is hosted by Doug Hamilton.

• Sprayer workshops – filter to “west” region and “workshops” - GRDC
• Water tests - CSBP
• WaterSmart Dams: Making Dams Work Again — Fitzgerald Biosphere Group
• Water Evaluation Platform - University of Western Australia
• Water quality factsheet - GRDC
• Spray mixing and batch guides - GRDC
• Water Smart Dams project - Grower Group Alliance
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Livestock monitoring and management is crucial for keeping animals healthy and productive during extended summer periods.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Izzy Drage, Field Veterinary Officer at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), and Katherine Davies, Senior Development Officer in DPIRD’s Animal Systems group. They bring valuable experience in livestock health and practical on‑farm management.

We discuss the practical and strategic approaches to managing livestock during prolonged dry and hot periods, touching on water management, feed planning, disease observation and prevention, and long-term climate resilience for livestock.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Dr Mary-Anne Glanzlowe.

• Livestock nutrition in dry seasons with hay, silage and containment feeding - SW WA Hub
• WaterSmart Dams: capturing and keeping water in dams - SW WA Hub
• Managing heat stress in sheep, beef and dairy cattle - SW WA Hub
• Animal biosecurity - DPIRD
• Animal welfare in emergencies - Heatwave (and dry season) - DPIRD
• Annual ryegrass toxicity in livestock - DPIRD
• "Condition scoring of sheep" factsheet - DPIRD
• "Confined paddock feeding and feedlotting of sheep" factsheet - DPIRD
• DPIRD Diagnostics and Laboratory Services
• DPIRD field vet contacts
• Electronic identification for sheep and goats in Western Australia - DPIRD
• The Emergency Animal Disease Hotline – how does it work? - Animal Health Australia
• Emergency animal disease preparedness - DPIRD
• "Growing weaner sheep" factsheet - DPIRD
• Hypocalcaemia in sheep - Agriculture Victoria
• Livestock ownership, identification and movement in Western Australia - DPIRD
• Lupinosis - DPIRD
• Prevent chemical residues in livestock - DPIRD
• Reportable animal diseases – Western Australia - DPIRD
• Saltland Genie
• Season agricultural region - DPIRD
• Sheep dry season management - DPIRD
• Sheep feeding and nutrition - DPIRD
• Sheep reproduction and genetics - DPIRD
• Sheep tools, resources and calculators - DPIRD
• Significant Disease Investigation Program - DPIRD
• Supplementary feeding and budgeting - DPIRD
• Water for livestock - DPIRD
• WaterSmart Dams – Making Dams Work Again - Grower Group Alliance
• WaterSmart Farms – water security and resilience in a drying climate - DPIRD
• Hub news - Drought Hub

Quality soil data and precision agriculture can reduce risk and improve farm performance.

This episode kicks off our new Innovation series, dropping every second instalment of the Dry Season Resources podcast. This series is hosted by Doug Hamilton, Innovation Specialist with the Grower Group Alliance and the SW WA Hub.

In this episode, Doug is joined by Aidan Sinnott, consultant and director at VRT Solutions, and Giles McMeikan, agronomist at Farmanco. Both bring extensive experience in precision agriculture and the handling, processing, analysis and interpretation of on-farm datasets.

They explore how soil surveying can be used to manage risk in modern farming systems, soil surveying technologies available to farmers, how soil data can help improve water use efficiency, and the practical implementation of variable rate technology (VRT).

The conversation highlights the importance of well-managed on-farm data, strong collaboration between agronomists and precision agriculture consultants, and ensuring VRT does not compromise key profit drivers such as time of sowing.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) and is hosted by Doug Hamilton.

• VRTS Web Tools Directory
• Fostering the adoption of variable rate fertiliser application for improved nutrient use efficiency - SPAA
• Hub news - Drought Hub