Water and Sustainability for Woody Crops (FP18)

The Water and Sustainability for Woody Crops project is investigating management options to ensure long-term sustained productivity of woody crops. Security of feedstock supply is a key pre-requisite for development of an industry based on woody biomass.

Key questions being addressed include:

1.     What level of nutrient export could be expected in a harvested mallee crop, and how does this affect the nutrient balance of mallee belts in the longer term?

2.     Can we improve the productivity and profitability of mallee belts by trapping, and making use of the surplus water that runs off the alley areas in large but infrequent rainfall events?

3.     What interactions do we need to consider in managing for both water and nutrients in the longer term?

4.     How does tree physiology affect the response to harvesting under different harvest cycles and different seasons of harvesting?

5.     What impact do tree belts have on adjacent agriculture, under harvested and non-harvested regimes?

Objectives

• Improve woody crop profitability and sustainability through appropriate management of water and nutrients
• Develop strategies to maximise system profitability through optimising harvesting times with the physiology of the trees and adjacent agriculture.
• Develop the capability to design water harvest systems, estimate quantity and cost of water delivered to sinks and predict yield response in terms of above and below ground biomass production
• Demonstrate that water harvest systems for woody crops can be successfully integrated into farming systems with precision agriculture practices, reliable farm water supply, water erosion management and whole farm planning.

For more information, email project leader, Daniel Mendham.