better irrigation • better environment • better future www.irrigationfutures.org.au Established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program © Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures, 2005 Established and supported under the Australian Government's Cooperative Designed by USQ Graphics, Media Services, DeC (05-392) Research Centres Program » CRC IF Vision Our vision for irrigation practice and water use in Australia is that by 2020, as a nation we will have: • Defined and implemented the principles of sustainable irrigation practice in all environments; • Processes that resolve the water use compromises necessary for people’s needs, the environment, production and amenity. » CRC IF Mission We facilitate cooperative research and training networks and programs which continuously improve irrigation policy, tools, practices and processes to: • double irrigation water use productivity; • improve profitability for commercial irrigation enterprises; and • protect and enhance our landscapes and environment. » CRC IF Values • Leadership • Excellence • Creativity and innovation • Outcome focus • Honesty and sensitivity • Teamwork and collaboration • Kool & funky » Contents 1 » Executive summary .................................................................... 2 1.1 » Chairman’s Report ....................................................................... 2 1.2 » CEO’s Report ................................................................................. 3 1.3 » Chief Scientist’s Report ............................................................... 5 2 » Governance, Structure and Management ................................... 8 3 » Commercialisation, Technology Transfer, Utilisation ............... 12 4 » Research ................................................................................... 16 4.1 » Research Activity and Progress against Milestones ............... 16 4.1.1 » Policy and Planning for Change ................................................ 16 4.1.2 » System Sustainability – Rural and Urban ................................. 20 4.1.3 » Future Irrigation – Practice and Technology ............................. 23 4.2 » Future Research Directions ....................................................... 26 5 » Education and Training .............................................................. 29 6 » Collaboration ............................................................................. 33 7 » Specified Personnel .................................................................. 38 8 » List of Publications and Patents ............................................... 39 8.1 » Books and Book Chapters ......................................................... 39 8.2 » Refereed Journal Articles .......................................................... 39 8.3 » Conference Publications ........................................................... 41 8.4 » Technical Reports ...................................................................... 44 9 » Communications Strategy ......................................................... 46 9.1 » Public Presentations ................................................................. 47 9.2 » Media ........................................................................................ 53 10 » Grants and Awards .................................................................... 55 11 » Performance Measures ............................................................. 56 12 » Financial Information ................................................................ 58 12.1 » In-kind Contributions ................................................................. 58 12.2 » Cash Contributions ................................................................... 58 12.3 » Resources ................................................................................. 64 12.4 » Allocation of Resources between Categories .......................... 65 Auditor 's Report ............................................................................................. 66 [1] 1» Executive Summary 1.1 » Chairman’s Report The CRC for Irrigation Futures operates in a water management environment dominated by the National Water Initiative, continuing rural and urban drought, the growing spectre of climate change, expanded community expectation with respect to environmental performance and agribusiness globalisation. Within this environment the CRC has made quite remarkable progress in cultivating an integrated, cooperative effort in irrigation R&D, not previously experienced within our nation. This in itself is of significance given the geographic diversity and distances between zones of irrigation and related R&D. It also illustrates the power of the CRC model in general, and that of the CRC Irrigation Futures in particular. A number of strategic initiatives have been undertaken in the last 12 months. These are intended to achieve more substantive guidance by our highly experienced board, to more effectively communicate with our partners and clients, to foster more effective adaptation and uptake of outcomes from our R&D, and to secure ongoing, expanded investor commitment. The strategic initiatives included development of: • Mechanisms to more actively engage the board members and partners in establishing investor objectives and means to deliver value to all parties • Improved participant engagement and reporting mechanisms • Targeted capacity to deliver policy and practical tools to a clearly defined need or market • A clearly articulated Research Strategy and Plan for the remaining 5 years of the CRC They, in turn, substantially underpin the strategic intents declared for Research Plan 2, these being; • optimising irrigation practice; • measuring landscape impacts of irrigation; • promoting options for community and river catchment futures; and • influencing community, industry and government. The Research Plan 2, whilst still in development is anticipated to focus on two key program themes, these being, the development of toolkits to improve irrigation practice at the enterprise level, and the development of approaches to system harmonisation in irrigation water distribution, delivery and use in a landscape context. To that end the Board has ensured that efficiencies achieved in completing Research Plan 1 will be available to enhance the significant community benefits targeted by the second stage Research Plan. Finally, the continuation of Land and Water Australia’s National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (NPSI), the relationships developed with this entity, and the emergence of other initiative such as the National Water Commission is very encouraging, as is a heightened engagement with private investor partners. This provides reinforcement to our belief that the CRC model of R&D will increasingly demonstrate a real return on the funds, capacity and intellectual commitment applied to irrigation R&D, and an extremely important contribution to the industry’s ability to address effectively, the challenges of the “triple bottom line” Peter Hayes Board Chair [2] Cooperative Research Centre for IRRIGATION FUTURES 1.2 » CEO’s Report The second year of CRC for Irrigation Futures operations has seen a dramatic upturn in activity and outputs. We have clearly moved from engagement and establishment to performance and delivery. This report details both the collaborative leadership being provided in delivering on our first stage research plan and importantly, the extensive activities and capacity of our in-kind personnel embedded in irrigation communities Australia wide. The CRC’s key organisational achievements during the past 12 months have included: • Growth in core partners from 13 to 14 with an additional gross investment into the CRC of just under $2 million; • Successful establishment of a corporate governance and administrative infrastructure which is providing confidence to our Board and partners; • Successfully capturing the knowledge and vision of our 11 board members through their active involvement in board subcommittees and direct project support; and • Establishment and operation of effective project input and output reporting mechanisms which not only allow the efficient delivery of this report but importantly support project managers and officers in achieving our business targets. From a project point of view our achievements are extensive and varied as demonstrated in the following pages. Evidence of this performance is possible because: • The CRC has brought together 112 of Australia’s best irrigation researchers to work collaboratively on over 33 projects over the past 2 years; • CRC activity has occurred in every state in Australia with significant international linkages being expanded upon and new ones explored; • The CRC has managed to utilise 94% of the committed in-kind resources for the first two years of operation; • Although in-kind expenditure on research activities is near budget, cash expenditure is below budget allowing a planned re-allocation of these funds toward second stage research plan objectives in years 3-7; • The efforts of CRC personnel have resulted in 96 publications and reports and over 160 public presentations and media reports – building our brand presence, exposure and relevance in the industry; • The relevance and capacity of the research grouping established under the CRC banner has generated just under $0.35 million in external revenue to the CRC over the last 2 years; • The CRC has established sound strategic