The Stress Testing Regenerative Agricultural Practices (STRAP) project is investigating how different cropping and farming system approaches perform under variable and drought-prone conditions, and what they mean for productivity, profitability, soil health and long-term resilience.
Regenerative farming practices are attracting increasing interest from growers looking for ways to improve soil health, reduce risk and build resilience to increasingly variable seasons.
But a key question remains: Do these approaches deliver under the tough conditions experienced across southern Australia’s dryland farming regions?
The STRAP project is designed to help answer that question. Led by CSIRO in partnership with Ag Excellence Alliance, technical partners and regional farming systems groups, the project is establishing five long-term trials across different climatic zones, including sites at Murrayville and Balranald in the Mallee. Four additional large-scale demonstration sites will complement the long-term trial sites.
The project will run over five years, providing the opportunity to observe how different farming system approaches perform across seasons, rather than relying on results from a single year.
What are the principles of regenerative agriculture?
The STRAP project is evaluating practices based on five key principles:
- Minimising soil disturbance
- Maintaining soil cover (with cover crops or mulch)
- Maintaining living roots in the soil
- Diversifying crops through rotation and intercropping
- Integrating grazing where appropriate
Why long-term trials matter
Farming systems are complex and seasons are variable. A practice that performs well in one season may not deliver the same result in a dry year. Similarly, a management change may have costs in the short term but benefits that emerge over several seasons.
This is particularly important in the Mallee, where low rainfall, sandy soils, seasonal variability and soil constraints can all influence crop performance.
Long-term trials provide an opportunity to look beyond a single yield result and ask broader questions:
- What happens to the soil?
- How does the system perform in a dry season?
- What does it cost to implement?
- Does it improve profitability or reduce risk?
- What happens over multiple seasons?
- Can the approach be practically adopted?
The STRAP project will assess outcomes including production, profitability, soil resilience and function, and environmental sustainability. The results will also be supported by modelling to explore how different management scenarios may perform across the wider landscape.
Six farming system approaches
The STRAP long-term trials, including those located at Murrayville and Balranald, will compare six different approaches to improving drought resilience.
- High production: A production-focused system aiming to maximise profitability and production through conventional approaches, maintaining high fertility and incorporating emerging nitrogen management approaches.
- Pasture inclusion: A system incorporating a multi-season pasture phase and legumes, with reduced inputs and a focus on building carbon, soil resilience and soil function.
- Diverse within rotations: Exploring greater diversity within crop phases, including intercropping, to investigate potential benefits for water and nutrient use.
- Legumes for nitrogen: Increasing diversity between crop rotations, with a focus on legume nitrogen supply, reducing input costs and building soil resilience.
- Cover focus: Investigating ways to retain living plant cover for longer, including long-season varieties, opportunistic summer cover and perennial options.
- Amendment driven: Using organic amendments to increase soil carbon while also addressing soil constraints.
It’s not about finding one ‘best’ system
The STRAP project will evaluate a range of possible outcomes instead of focusing on one single winning approach.
Farming systems need to work within their local environment, rainfall pattern, soil type, machinery, labour availability, markets and business goals. A practice that works well on one farm may not be appropriate on another.
The STRAP project is designed to build a better understanding of the opportunities and trade-offs associated with different systems approaches.
For growers, this ultimately provides better information to help answer questions such as:
- Could increasing crop or pasture diversity improve resilience on my farm?
- Is there a role for longer-lived groundcover in my farming system?
- What are the production and economic trade-offs of reducing inputs?
- Can organic amendments provide lasting improvements to soil function?
- How do different systems perform when rainfall is limited?
- Which practices are likely to provide the best balance between productivity, profitability and resilience?
What comes next?
In the coming seasons, Mallee Sustainable Farming (MSF) will continue to monitor the Murrayville and Balranald long-term trial sites and share observations, results and learnings with growers and advisers across the Mallee. Keep an eye on MSF social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn), the MSF website and MSF newsletters for project updates and event details as the project progresses.
For more information:
Visit the MSF STRAP project page: Stress Testing Regenerative Agricultural Practices (STRAP) – Mallee Sustainable Farming
Visit the CSIRO STRAP project page: Stress Testing Regenerative Agricultural Practices
Read more about the project in the CSIRO News Release: Farmers put regenerative agriculture to the test – CSIRO
Keen to be involved in the STRAP project, email admin@msfp.org.au
