RiskWi$e providing grassroots support

26 November 2025

Big machinery and infrastructure purchases, timing of expensive nitrogen, phosphorus and lime inputs, crop rotation choices and even carbon markets are some of the more difficult decisions growers are wrestling with on farm.

Tackling these decisions with NSW grain growers and advisers, the RiskWi$e project is showing decisions that consider risk – both upside reward and downside risk – are right more often.

Hub Program Manager Mary Goodacre said recent RiskWi$e training in NSW, SA, WA and online with industry experts and researchers is combining what we have learnt so far about risky decisions with tips, tools and data to better assess both upside reward and downside risk.

Early results from a national network of nitrogen management trials show decisions to maintain a neutral to slightly positive nitrogen balance maximise profit and yield, buffer the risk of future nitrogen decisions and have few downsides in the long term.

RiskWi$e, which runs from 2023 to 2028, seeks to understand and improve the risk-reward outcomes for Australian grain growers. It focuses on five priority areas including nitrogen (N) decisions, sowing decisions, enterprise agronomic decisions, enterprise financial decisions and managing natural resource capital.

Grower and adviser events in 2026 will roll out providing tips, tools and data to assess upside rewards and downside risks for a range of difficult on farm decisions - big machinery purchases, pre-irrigation and spring irrigation, nitrogen in low and medium rainfall zones, and the probabilities of rain, frost and seasonal outcomes for long versus short season cereals in 2026.

Other NSW based partners are set to follow suit using the latest information from grower data, trials, workshops, and behavioral science.

“People make decisions around head, heart and gut and these are all valid approaches. Every now and then, it’s good to reflect on past decisions and consider if conditions have changed, or if new information could confirm or change your decisions,” Mary said.

“RiskWi$e can provide growers with that extra detail, new information, or benchmark to compare. A past decision made during drought might now be impacting the way you’re making decisions in a good season. This initiative can help growers make that adjustment by considering not only the risks but also the rewards.”

RiskWi$e principal partner, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has invested $30 million to support this 5-year national initiative and the national lead partner for the program is the CSIRO.

In NSW, the Hub is the Action Research Group lead for the program. Other local partners include Ag Grow Agronomy, AMPS Research, Central West Farming Systems (CWFS), FarmLink, Grain Orana Alliance (GOA), Holbrook Landcare Network, Irrigation Farmers Network, Irrigation Research and Extension Committee (IREC), Riverine Plains and Southern Growers.