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Context: Australia is renowned for its climate variation, featuring years with drought and years with floods, which result in significant production and profit variability. Accordingly, to maximise profitability, dryland farming systems need to be dynamically managed in response to unfolding weather conditions. Aims: The aim of this study is to identify and quantify optimal tactical livestock management for different weather-years. Methods: This study employed a whole-farm optimisation model to analyse a representative mixed enterprise farm located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. Using this model, we investigated the economic significance of five key livestock management tactics. These included timing of sheep sales, pasture-area adjustments, rotational grazing, crop grazing and sheep nutrition adjustments. Key results: The results showed that, on the modelled dryland mixed-enterprise farm in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, short-term adjustments to the overall farm strategy in response to unfolding weather conditions increased expected profit by approximately 16%. Each tactic boosted profit by between A$7704 and A$53,171. However, we outline several complexities that farmers must consider when implementing tactics. Conclusions: The financial gains from short-term tactical management highlighted their importance and farmers' need to develop and apply those skills. The tactical skills promote business resilience and adaptability in the face of climate uncertainties. Implications: The study highlighted the economic value of dynamic livestock management in response to climate variations, offering farmers in the Great Southern region the means to underpin profitable and sustainable farm practices. Under Australia's renowned climate variation, it is profitable for farmer to implement short-term tactical management adjustments in response to the unfolding weather conditions. This paper has identified and quantified optimal tactical livestock management for different weather-years for a mixed-farming system in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is clear that the societal role of meat is being challenged with ideological and simplified logic without substantiation from robust data-driven science. With this background, the international summit titled 'The societal role of meat – what the science says' was held in Dublin, Ireland, during October 2022, to provide evidence-based evaluations and the Dublin Declaration was signed by over 1000 scientists. In this paper, we provide a synopsis of the summit and then give context for evaluating the societal role of meat in Australia. The key themes of the summit were the essential roles of meat in (1) diet and health, (2) a sustainable environment and (3) society, economics and culture. Evidence clearly showed the role of meat as a nutrient-dense source of high-quality protein and micronutrients that can be safely consumed by humans. Further, the complementary role of livestock in agricultural systems was highlighted with both plant- and animal-based agriculture reliant on each other to maximise the efficient production of food. Thus, from both an Australian and world perspective, very little food considered to be human-edible is fed to livestock. The role of livestock in rural societies across the world was emphasised to underpin regional and national economies, with particular importance in those countries with developing economies to facilitate growing wealth to 'step out' of poverty and provide gender equality. Meat production, particularly from ruminants, is a critical part of Australian primary production and it is concluded that the Dublin Declaration is highly relevant to Australia. Finally, concern regarding future funding and organisation of research and extension is discussed. There is a need to continue funding highly collaborative programs that bring a broad range of disciplines together, in conjunction with undergraduate and postgraduate teaching to underpin the social license to operate for meat and livestock production. The societal role of meat is being challenged with ideological and simplified logic without substantiation from robust data driven science. The international summit titled 'The societal role of meat – what the science says' was held to provide evidence-based evaluations and the Dublin Declaration. A synopsis of the summit is described and the societal role of meat in Australia is evaluated under the themes of meat for (1) diet and health, (2) a sustainable environment and (3) society, economics and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Sound reproductive efficiency is a key determinant for the overall productivity and profitability of a beef breeding business. Failure of a cow to conceive results in either culling or the cost of carrying non-pregnant animals. Aims: This study aimed to determine and quantify the major factors associated with non-pregnancy in commercial beef breeding herds of northern Australia. Methods: A prospective population-based epidemiological study of the likelihood of non-pregnancy in cows after an annual mating in northern Australian beef breeding cows used data from 73 herds from four broad country types and 62 323 animal years; approximately 80 property-, management-group- and cow-level risk factors were considered. A multivariable model building process was employed to scrutinise the resulting dataset, so as to identify what herd management practices, nutritional, environmental, and individual cow factors were associated with non-pregnancy and estimate their magnitude of effect. Key results: Non-pregnancy was disproportionately high in the Northern Forest (32.1%), compared with the Northern Downs, Central Forest and Southern Forest where it was 17.1%, 16.0% and 13.2% respectively. Time of expected calving had the largest impact on occurrence of non-pregnancy. Parity also had a significant influence, with first-lactation cows typically having 5–12% higher non-pregnancy than did mature cows. Non-pregnancy decreased with an increasing body condition score at the branding/weaning muster for lactating cows. The difference in non-pregnancy when comparing availability of wet-season pasture phosphorus content and digestibility of pasture during the dry season was 13.2 and 10.2 percentage points respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the substantial impact environment, herd management practices, nutrition and disease factors can have on the reproductive performance of females. Implications: To optimise the efficiency of females (through reducing the occurrence of non-pregnancy) under commercial conditions in northern Australia, production systems should support beef herds calving early in the production year, being in at least moderate body condition and having access to more digestible pastures that address the nutritional requirements for both protein and phosphorus. This indicates focus for management, especially in the Northern Forest where the likelihood of non-pregnancy was highest. A large epidemiological study of annual pregnancy rate was conducted in commercial beef cattle breeding herds in northern Australia. The effect on non-pregnancy of the major herd management, nutritional and environmental risk factors and individual cow factors was determined and quantified. This paper presents the findings of the study designed to determine the major predictors of cows not achieving pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Grain & Graze program attempted to improve the 'triple bottom line' of mixed-farming systems in Australia through a major program of research, development and extension (RD&E) that operated across nine regions, with a total budget of A$31 million provided by four R&D corporations and over 60 regional partners. Regional activities were complemented by a series of national projects and management and governance arrangements were organised at both regional and national levels with significant producer input. While the two-tiered management structure resulted in both tensions and opportunities the outputs of the program were substantial including 278 demonstration and trial sites, 180 training courses, over 200 publications, tools and manuals, over 100 research papers and a database of national and regional data. Over 8000 producers participated in program events, over 5000 actively trialled new activities and around 3200 adopted recommended practices despite severely unfavourable seasonal conditions over the 5 years of the program. A return on investment of 3.4 : 1 for the core funders was comparable to some other agricultural RD&E programs if lower than others. The program expanded the scope of farming systems RD&E in Australia through explicit recognition of the triple bottom line and development of formal and informal approaches to integration across these dimensions. It established regional and inter-regional networks of producers and scientists that can be expected to have ongoing significance. The papers that follow in this special issue reflect the magnitude of the program's achievements [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain & Graze was a mixed-farming systems program conducted across nine regions of Australia over 2003-08. It had a goal of ensuring adoption of recommended practices on 6800 farms within the 5-year life of the program. This extension-based success target was further reflected in adoption targets set in contracts for each of the nine regions, and embedded into the program's extension initiative, the Change-on-farm strategy. By 2008, the program had achieved adoption on 3200 farms. While less than half the target, this was considered by many a remarkable achievement, raising questions about the efficacy of adoption targets as a measurement of success. In a program based on devolution, regional delivery and local empowerment, the targets were contested between participants on other grounds. This paper explores how the targets were set, what Change-on-farm supported, what it achieved and how its success related to adoption targets. Using the Grain & Graze program as a case study, the paper concludes that the notion of targets as a motivator of success rather than as a measure of success is pertinent in complex systems-based research and development. The authors do not advocate avoiding targets, but suggest that both targets and the evaluation process by which success is measured be mutually negotiated in the true spirit of participatory process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain & Graze was an innovative, multi-scale, multi-organisational, inter-disciplinary and triple bottom line research, development and extension (RD&E) program conducted to investigate and improve mixed-farming systems in Australia from 2003 to 2008. This paper reports on a sociological evaluation of the program’s institutional arrangements that was undertaken as one of a small number of social research projects within the program. Based on discourse analysis and investigation of participant experiences, it found the program was characterised by two competing views of what the program was or ought to be. Weaving across the program's formal and informal elements and national and regional scales of management, these 'narratives' reflect the program's coexisting 'revolutionary' aspirations and 'organisational' aspirations. Attention to the coexistence of these narratives and the way they were expressed within the program provides insight into the values, complexity and challenges of agricultural RD&E programs. It points to the significance the broader philosophical and governance context has for contemporary agricultural RD&E programs and other public science and sustainable development initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A collaborative project between researchers, regional natural resource management organisations and landholders set out to explore three questions about the relationships between biodiversity and land use in Australia's mixed-farming landscapes: (1) the extent to which farm-scale measures of biodiversity were related to agricultural production; (2) the influence of the type and intensity of agricultural production on native biodiversity on farms; and (3) the relative influence of site and farming system on selected measures of biodiversity. Four land-use types on 47 mixed farms across nine regions, derived from several of Australia's 56 natural resource management regions, were surveyed in autumn and spring 2006 and 2007. Surveys of birds, surface invertebrates (beetles, ants, spiders), vegetation and soils were undertaken on four land classes on each farm; crop, 'rotation' (break crop/pasture phase), perennial pasture and remnant vegetation. Data were collected by participating regional staff, using a standard protocol, which were sent to a central collection point for collation, analysis and interpretation. Species richness, functional diversity and vegetation structure were assessed. This introductory paper focuses on results relating to species richness, which for most taxa was greater in remnant vegetation than other land-use classes and declined along a disturbance gradient (remnant, pasture, rotation, crop). Properties with a greater proportion of perennial pastures recorded higher species richness than properties that were dominated by crop. Properties that recorded high wheat yields (t/ha) also recorded lower species richness for spiders and birds. The presence of insectivorous birds and beneficial invertebrates (spiders, beetles and ants) in all land-use classes suggests the potential to apply integrated pest management approaches to mixed-farming systems across the country. Site and system features were found to be important determinants of biodiversity, with their relative importance varying with the scale of investigation and the taxa. At the landscape scale, bird species richness was correlated with the amount of remnant vegetation within a 5-km radius of the farm boundary, and with the condition of native vegetation on the farm. The average size of remnant vegetation patches was 5 ha or less on nearly half of the properties surveyed. At the farm scale, ant species richness was correlated with site features, while beetles were correlated with management/system features such as the presence and fertility of perennial pastures. Analyses at the functional group level will provide more detailed information on relationships between different land-use types. Further experimental work needs to be undertaken to qualify the suggested impact of land management practices on different taxa, while repeated surveys will allow for the collation of datasets over time, from which population dynamics may be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited information is available on the management and delivery of national-scale biodiversity projects. Even less information is available on such projects operating in agricultural matrices, particularly how they address the expectations of multiple stakeholders from paddock to farm, regional and national scales. This paper describes the approach taken to implement and deliver the Biodiversity in Grain & Graze project, which was national in focus, regional in operation and local in delivery. The project was instigated by four research and development corporation partners who were keen to connect the interests of mixed-farming producers to the environmental goals of nine collaborating regions across Australia. One aim of the project was to engage producers in participatory research on the biodiversity values of mixed-farming systems. This aim could not have been met without considerable effort building regional capacity in biodiversity research and developing a national network of researchers, regional extension staff and stakeholders. This national network was engaged primarily through program and project workshops, regular electronic communications and site visits. Levels of engagement were high, resulting in a sense of ownership by all stakeholders, counteracting to some degree the ill feeling associated with the late inclusion of the biodiversity project to regional activities. Issues relating to goal confusion were evident throughout the whole project, despite a concerted effort by the project team to address such tensions. Previous studies have indicated, and we concur, that biodiversity components need to be built into programs like Grain & Graze at the beginning, and need to be developed in consultation with farmers, regional agencies and research organisations to ensure that expectations are shared and the project is fully supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]