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Dry Season Resources Podcast

The Hub’s Dry Season Resources podcast shares practical insights from farmers, researchers and other industry experts on managing dry seasons. Episodes cover strategies for early planning, in-season decisions, and preparing for the following year, helping build climate resilience across farming communities.

New episodes are released every second Wednesday.

You can listen to the latest episodes below. The podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major apps.

Have feedback or suggestions?

If you have ideas for topics we could cover on the podcast, we’d love to hear from you. You can email us at swwadroughthub@gga.org.au.

S3E21 Building better projects through effective co-design

19 November 202537:05

In this episode, we’re joined by Jethro Sercombe, Director of Innovation Practice at Third Story, and Tanya Kilminster, SW WA Hub Knowledge Broker, for a deep dive into co-design in agriculture. Together, they unpack what co-design really means and explore how it can be applied to agriculture-related projects to achieve stronger outcomes.

S3E20 Sandy soils series: Managing water and nutrients for horticulture

5 November 202521:07

Neil Lantzke, Principal Research Scientist in DPIRD’s Intensive and Irrigated Plant Systems team, shares his expertise on growing horticultural crops on the sandy soils of Western Australia’s Swan Coastal Plain. Neil explains why these soils struggle to retain nutrients and water, and highlights innovative agricultural practices that are being developed to address these issues.

S3E19 Sandy soils series: Understanding and managing non-wetting soils

22 October 202531:47

Murdoch University’s Professor David Henry and recent PhD graduate Maria Pfeifle, now with DPIRD, explore the issue of non-wetting soils (also known as soil water repellency) in Western Australia. They unpack what it is, why it occurs, and what remains unknown, delving into the complexities of managing this persistent challenge.

S3E18 Sandy soils series: Re-engineering sandy soils into productive land

8 October 202535:28

Dr Gaus Azam, a soils researcher at DPIRD leading the GRDC project “Re-engineering soils to improve the access of crop root systems to water and nutrients stored in the subsoil”, joins Esperance agronomist Quenten Knight from Agronomy Focus to discuss the soil re-engineering work underway across Western Australia.

S3E17 Sandy soils series: The benefits and challenges of sandy soils

24 September 202530:31

We’re kicking off our Sandy Soils podcast series with Dr Stephen Davies (DPIRD) and Dr Therese McBeath (CSIRO), co-conveners of the 2025 Sandy Soils Conference in Perth. They share highlights from the conference, and dive into the key challenges shaping sandy soils management in agriculture.

S3E16 Renewables in agriculture: How regional communities can stay ahead of the renewable energy curve

10 September 202528:22

The third and last episode of Farmanco’s limited podcast series on integrating renewable energy into agriculture explores how regional communities can stay ahead of the renewable energy curve, featuring Shire of West Arthur's Vin Fordham-Lamont and Karen Harrington.

S3E15 Renewables in agriculture: Are renewable energy projects worth it for WA growers?

27 August 202524:44

The second episode of Farmanco’s limited podcast series, "Diversifying Farm Income: Integrating Renewable Energy into Agriculture", explores whether renewable energy projects are worth it for Western Australian growers. Our guests are Farmanco's Farm Management Consultant Greg Easton and icubed Consulting Senior Associate Fraser MacMillan.

S3E14 Renewables in agriculture: Why energy companies are knocking on WA farm gates

13 August 202528:14

Farmanco’s limited podcast series, "Diversifying Farm Income: Integrating Renewable Energy into Agriculture", unpacks the opportunities and challenges of integrating renewable energy projects into agriculture. The first episode of the series explores why renewable energy companies are knocking on WA farm gates, featuring Farmanco’s Kelly Ryan (Project Manager) and Williams and Harrismith grower Mark Fowler.

S3E13 Insights from the International Rangelands Congress

30 July 202528:31

Pastoralists Alys McKeough (Carey Downs Station) and Debbie Dowden (Challa Station) were sponsored by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) to attend the 2025 International Rangelands Congress in Adelaide. They share key insights and takeaways from the event, from global perspectives on rangeland management to the importance of international collaboration.

S3E12 WaterSmart Dams: Understanding dams with the Water Evaluation Platform

16 July 202525:55

Dr John Duncan from The University of Western Australia and Dr Daniel Kidd from the Grower Group Alliance discuss the recently released Water Evaluation Platform (WEP). Created as part of the WaterSmart Dams project, WEP is a web application simulates the performance of a dam and its catchment allowing the landholder to understand and analyse the different options available. Designed with industry experts and growers, the WEP can support drought-resilient investment decisions.

S3E11 Optimising farm decisions in mixed farm operations

18 June 202531:19

Dr Michael Young, from Farm Optimisation Group and Johno O'Halloran, a farmer from Kojonup, discuss the use of the farm optimisation model to support data-driven decision making in mixed farming. This model allows farmers to test different scenarios and can help improve outcomes and reduce decision fatigue.

S3E10 WaterSmart Dams: capturing and keeping water in dams

4 June 202534:29

Dr Nik Callow from the University of Western Australia shares insights from the WaterSmart Dams project, which aims to build resilient water supplies for cropping and livestock operations. Solutions discussed include using repurposed tarpaulins to increase catchment runoff, daisy dam covers and vegetation to reduce evaporation, repurposing subsurface drainage systems, and decreasing leakage losses.