Sustainable systems for profit-maximisation in the High Rainfall Zone (HRZ) of Western Australia

Request for Tender

Sustainable systems for profit-maximisation in the High Rainfall Zone (HRZ) of Western Australia

The HRZ of WA, has canola typically following a cereal crop. In the Albany port zone, barley is the main cereal compared to the Esperance port zone, where wheat dominates. These tight cereal/canola rotations raise concern over aspects which could impact the long-term profitability and sustainability of crop production such as disease incidence and the exclusion of a legume phase. A multi-disciplinary research approach is needed to address the assessment of profitability and sustainability of various systems. The impact of crop and variety choice, rotational sequence, and agronomic management strategy in combination with integrated disease management strategies needs to be evaluated. The research outputs will provide growers in the HRZ with sound data and insights on the most profitable and sustainable production systems that they can implement.

Reference No.

PROC-9177048

Release Date

Monday 8th of April 2024

Closing Time

Wednesday 5th of June 2024, at 05:00 PM ACT local time

Offer Period

Offers will remain open for acceptance by the GRDC for a period of 6 months after the closing time.

Enquiry Deadline

Wednesday 29th of May 2024, at 05:00 PM ACT local time

Document Contact and Enquiries

Attention: Brianna Oram

Grains Research and Development Corporation

Email: tenders@grdc.com.au

All requests for further information or clarification in relation to this investment should be made in writing (email) prior to Wednesday 29th of May 2024, 05:00 PM ACT local time

All requests and responses to requests will be published on the GRDC website under Questions and Answers at the bottom of this webpage.

Consortia response

GRDC will not accept Tenders from Consortia.

Lodgement

Tenderers must submit their responses electronically through the Grains Investment Portal at: https://access.grdc.com.au - Please read this entire page before lodging an application in the Grains Investment Portal

AusTender View on AusTender

N/A

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is a statutory corporation established under the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989. It is subject to accountability and reporting obligations set out in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. It is responsible for planning, investing in and overseeing research and development, and delivering improvements in production, sustainability and profitability across the Australian grains industry. Learn more about what GRDC does.

Description

The majority of the high rainfall zone (HRZ) of Western Australia lies within the Albany and Esperance Port Zones. Typically, canola is grown following a cereal crop with data showing cereal preferences changing over time and between port zones. In the Albany port zone, the area sown to wheat has declined by 25% over the last decade with growers substituting barley, compared to the Esperance port zone, where wheat area has risen by 15%. Crop sequence is a primary driver of system performance and a valuable tool to manage disease incidence and severity. Given the amount of barley produced in the Albany port zone it is necessary for growers to embrace and implement a more comprehensive Integrated Disease Management (IDM) program to ensure the sustainability of barley production within their farming systems. There is therefore a need to examine crop production systems in the HRZ holistically. This can be achieved by combining crop sequencing decisions, agronomic management, and IDM strategies in a farming systems approach.

GRDC’s strategic partnership, Analytics for the Australian Grains Industry (AAGI), can offer the following analytics services as a GRDC in-kind contribution to this investment, where applicable to your application and requirements:

Advice on data collection techniques and protocols and experimental plans as part of your application
Ongoing advice on experimental designs and data collection protocols and plans over the life of the investment
Multifactorial farming systems trial analyses
Derivation of in-season, trial/plot-level crop physiological parameters (e.g., NDVI, biomass) and soil/weather covariates and incorporation into trial analyses and reporting from the following data sources:
Proximal or earth observation data provided by applicant
Public or applicant’s weather stations
APSIM modelling or other mechanistic modelling

To access this support, applicants must negotiate with AAGI directly and describe the agreed scope of services in an Analytics Collaboration Plan (template available from AAGI) attached to their tender. Please make enquiries to the University of Queensland, attention Dr Elizabeth Meier, at aagi@uq.edu.au. Please note, applicants that decline AAGI services must provide a technical plan for their own analytics and a value-for-money rationale for not using in-kind AAGI services.

Outcome

Outputs

Output	Description
Output 1: By 2025, and annually thereafter gather field data for sustainability and profitability assessment of different farming system scenarios suited to the HRZ of WA.	Small plot field trials will be designed to evaluate a range of potential rotational sequences of crop production (including rotations with a legume phase) and their time of sowing, in combination with appropriate crop fertilisation (particularly focussing on canola nutrition) and integrated disease management strategies. Provision has been made for an extended trial design phase given the additional complexity of evaluating the integrated disease management strategies in the project. Trial design will include data collection necessary to assess both the sustainability and profitability of the various systems. The IDM strategies could include: Rotating varieties in the sequences evaluated Rotating crops in the sequences evaluated Stubble management strategies Managing green bridge Optimising plant health and nutrition Evaluating time of sowing impact Rotating and mixing fungicide modes of action This design phase, subsequent trial implementation and execution is reliant on a multi-disciplinary. approach that combines farming systems, agronomic and plant pathology expertise. It is strongly recommended that AAGI be involved in the design phase of the project. The design phase will include a thorough determination of the type of data that will be needed to evaluate longer term profitability and sustainability of the rotational treatments that are assessed. A small management committee comprised of researchers involved in the project and external consulting agronomists will function for the duration of the project. Digital communication and field days will be included in the project to ensure adequate extension of knowledge gained. Trial site selection should be such that the risk of a complete loss of results in a given season, due to transient waterlogging, is mitigated. The fully phased field trials are anticipated to run for four winter cropping seasons.
Output 2: By 2029, an assessment of the yield and sustainability impacts of the combinations of crop sequence, crop nutrition, and integrated disease management (IDM) strategies that were evaluated.	Annual yield results obtained from the combinations of crop type sequencing, nutrition, and IDM strategies will be assessed in terms of their sustainability impact using the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework 2021-22 as a basis. This will include not only assessing the GHG emission impact of rotational systems assessed but also carefully evaluating the impact of disease control approaches.
Output 3: By 2029, Modelled medium to long term assessment of profitability and sustainability of crop production systems evaluated.	Modelling studies undertaken for various locations within the HRZ of WA using the small plot data gathered during the project to explore the impacts of environmental variability and implications for medium to long term profitability and sustainability of rotational sequences examined. The modelling output will be used to carefully assess both the profitability and sustainability of systems evaluated. These results will be extended to growers through multiple digital channels to enable them to make informed production decisions based on results obtained from sound statistical analysis.

Output

Description

Output 1: By 2025, and annually thereafter gather field data for sustainability and profitability assessment of different farming system scenarios suited to the HRZ of WA.

Small plot field trials will be designed to evaluate a range of potential rotational sequences of crop production (including rotations with a legume phase) and their time of sowing, in combination with appropriate crop fertilisation (particularly focussing on canola nutrition) and integrated disease management strategies. Provision has been made for an extended trial design phase given the additional complexity of evaluating the integrated disease management strategies in the project.

Trial design will include data collection necessary to assess both the sustainability and profitability of the various systems. The IDM strategies could include:

Rotating varieties in the sequences evaluated
Rotating crops in the sequences evaluated
Stubble management strategies
Managing green bridge
Optimising plant health and nutrition
Evaluating time of sowing impact
Rotating and mixing fungicide modes of action

This design phase, subsequent trial implementation and execution is reliant on a multi-disciplinary. approach that combines farming systems, agronomic and plant pathology expertise. It is strongly recommended that AAGI be involved in the design phase of the project. The design phase will include a thorough determination of the type of data that will be needed to evaluate longer term profitability and sustainability of the rotational treatments that are assessed. A small management committee comprised of researchers involved in the project and external consulting agronomists will function for the duration of the project. Digital communication and field days will be included in the project to ensure adequate extension of knowledge gained. Trial site selection should be such that the risk of a complete loss of results in a given season, due to transient waterlogging, is mitigated. The fully phased field trials are anticipated to run for four winter cropping seasons.

Output 2: By 2029, an assessment of the yield and sustainability impacts of the combinations of crop sequence, crop nutrition, and integrated disease management (IDM) strategies that were evaluated.

Annual yield results obtained from the combinations of crop type sequencing, nutrition, and IDM strategies will be assessed in terms of their sustainability impact using the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework 2021-22 as a basis. This will include not only assessing the GHG emission impact of rotational systems assessed but also carefully evaluating the impact of disease control approaches.

Output 3: By 2029, Modelled medium to long term assessment of profitability and sustainability of crop production systems evaluated.

Modelling studies undertaken for various locations within the HRZ of WA using the small plot data gathered during the project to explore the impacts of environmental variability and implications for medium to long term profitability and sustainability of rotational sequences examined. The modelling output will be used to carefully assess both the profitability and sustainability of systems evaluated. These results will be extended to growers through multiple digital channels to enable them to make informed production decisions based on results obtained from sound statistical analysis.

Proposed Budget

Proposed Contract & Term

GRDC will contract under the terms of the GRDC Standard Two-Party Research Contract.

The schedule(s) attached to the contract will detail the project details: the outcomes, outputs, milestones, budget, participating personnel and required intellectual property.

The template Contract containing the proposed terms and conditions is available from the GRDC website at https://grdc.com.au/research/partnering-in-rde-investment/contract-templates

It is anticipated that any resultant contract in relation to this procurement will commence with a proposed term of 58 months, commencing August 2024.

Conditions for Participation

The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process:

The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners
The Tenderer and any proposed subcontractor must be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and any other applicable labour laws and standards in the jurisdiction in which they operate.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not have a judicial decision against it (not including decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements and who have not paid the claim.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not be named on the Consolidated List, being the list of persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanction laws, as maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Minimum Form and Content Requirements

The following are the mandatory content and format requirements that the Tenderer must complete and provide to participate in this procurement process:

Submit Tenders using the Grains Investment Portal.
Write Tenders in English and express any measurements in Australian legal units of measurement.
Budget details must be submitted on the ‘GRDC Budget Template’ provided in the Grains Investment Portal.

Evaluation Criteria

In the table below are the Evaluation Criteria that the Tender Evaluation Team will use to assess the value for money of all Tenders.

No	Type	Weighting
1	Technical – Qualitative evaluation criteria related to non-price factors such as methodology, project plan, track record, experience.
1a	Provide a detailed description of: proposed trial site location(s) and rationale number of years and seasons of field testing experimental design that will be implemented which outlines treatments, types of data to be collected and methods for collection to be adopted and includes crop type, variety, nutrition (focus on canola), and integrated disease management strategy. proposed methods of data analysis measurement(s) of sustainability that will be used, data that will be collected to support these and communication of these measurements to growers approach to modelling and system profitability determination, including data to be collected to support the modelling effort communication of project outputs to growers anticipated budget (including personnel, travel and operating costs) using mandatory GRDC Budget Template potential linkages to other relevant projects or activities in the two port zones and how these might be leveraged in this investment.	60%
1b	A list of all key personnel, including proposed sub-contractors, detailing relevant: time each team member will contribute to the project background and expertise experience, including collaborating with industry personnel and stakeholders achievements of the project lead in providing effective leadership, management and timely delivery of high-quality outputs.	30%
1c	An overview of your approach to data management in accordance with GRDC RD&E Data Management Guidelines, including: existing data that you intend to use during the project and any potential restrictions on its use, including in publication or commercialisation of the intended project outputs how all data will be managed during the project new valuable data that will be created during the project and the Approved Repository where it will be stored.	10%
2	Price - The tendered budget.	N/A
3	Risk - Risks inherent in the application including the degree of compliance with the draft contract and any actual or perceived conflict of interest.	N/A

Lodging a Tender

Questions and Answers

Q1. The Tender refers to HRZ in both the Albany and Esperance Port Zones. Is there an expectation that the complex small plot field trials described in Output 1 will occur in both port zones?

Or should applicants design a program to concentrate small plot trial resources in the Albany port zone where barley dominates the rotation and GRDC has a identified a higher risk to production?”

A1. The expectation is that small plot trials will take place in both port zones and could be tailored to reflect regional differences.

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