While in the Southern Rangelands for a recent Regional Advisory Committee meeting, South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub Director Mark Holland, Knowledge Broker Tanya Kilminster and Adoption Manager Julianne Hill visited Yerilla Station (north-east of Menzies) which is hosting the ‘cross-hub’ project ‘Managing Rangelands for drought resilience’.
Part of a national collaboration and funded by the Future Drought Fund, the project is testing the use of drones to build a photographic library across multiple observation points of various landscapes and vegetation. It’s combining rainfall information and the body condition of stock to assist managers to make in-season/real time grazing management decisions to manage stocking rates.
It’s anticipated this off-the-shelf technology could easily be adopted by station managers to build resilience to drought and climate change.
The Hub team was at the site with project lead Richard Marver and Harpinder Singh, of Contour Environmental and Agricultural Consulting, station manager Scott Nancarrow and Amanda Day, CEO of the Goldfields Nullarbor Rangelands Biosecurity Association.
