Review of current irrigation technologies
This project was developed to give Australian vegetable growers an understanding of available and emerging irrigation practices and technologies that could improve profitability and encourage the uptake of more efficient water practices. The project was conducted in two phases. The first was a desktop review and extension planning phase, and the second, was the extension of the desktop review findings to the vegetable industry using a combination of farmer workshops, media such as YouTube videos, reports, articles, one-on-one interviews and a conference presentation. The key outputs of this project include the document, Review of current vegetable irrigation technologies – Desktop Review and Project Extension. This document contains the results of the desktop review and the workshop evaluations along with other supporting documents. Three YouTube videos, to support the extension activities, were produced. These videos highlight current and progressive technologies and were produced on vegetable farms in Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales. They are available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2rzh7vnzlA as well as Irrigation Australia’s website at www.irrigationaustralia.com.au. Another key output was the 19 workshops used to extend the findings of the desktop review. 226 growers and allied industry people attended the workshops which were conducted across Australia. In addition to the workshops, another key extension activity was the 32 one-on-one interviews conducted with key growers, researchers and service providers. Other outputs included a conference presentation at the International Irrigation Conference held in May 2016 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre; an article in the Irrigation Australia Journal; a generic PowerPoint presentation for use at the extension workshops; and several promotional flyers.