Adapting and advancing: How is investment into irrigation in northern WA shaping the future of pastoralism?

Outside the Ord River Irrigation Area in Western Australia, the majority of irrigation developments are on pastoral land focussed on fodder production.

In this BeefConnect webinar recording, join the Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development’s (DPIRD) West Kimberley and Pilbara Irrigated Agriculture team when they discuss the current state of pasture development and irrigated fodder production by pastoralists.

Development Officers, Christopher Ham and Carla Milazzo provide an overview of the Pastoral Irrigated Agriculture project under the Northern Beef Development program.

Topics include:

• Current status of industry – brief recap and current rate of development
• Scene setting – options for agriculture within the WA pastoral lease system
• Economics and stats – changes over time
• Research trials undertaken and key take aways – Pastoral Ag project and Stylo project
• Challenges and barriers
• Opportunities – irrigated and non-irrigated options – synergy with other cropping systems (ORIA/cotton)
• Supply chain – where does fodder fit in? Why invest in irrigation?
• Future direction/new ideas for research – soils, efficiency, emissions, long term health, alternative systems/ leucaena/IPM
• How to contact us

You can watch the full recording or use the playlist below to jump to the start of a particular section within the presentation. (41:16; published 2 June 2025 by FutureBeefAu).

Download a copy of the presentation – Investment into irrigation in northern WA (PDF; 5.72 MB)

Additional resources:

• Grazing irrigated pastures in northern Australia – Key principles
• Grazing irrigated pastures in northern Australia – Best management practice
• Grazing irrigated pastures in northern Australia – Troubleshooting
• Northern Irrigation Solutions Network: Approvals and regulation from different perspectives
• Mosaic agriculture: a guide to irrigated crop and forage production in northern WA

Full recording

Playlist

1. Adapting and advancing: How is investment into irrigation in northern WA shaping the future of pastoralism?
2. Pastoral Irrigated Agriculture (& Horticulture)
3. So, why would you invest in irrigation?
4. What is driving the investment?
5. Regional changes
6. Advancements
7. Complexity is daunting – resilience and perseverance required
8. Regional synergies & local supply chains
9. Pastoral Irrigated Agriculture Project
10. To gain >1.0 kg/day – need both quality and quantity!
11. Digestibility/Energy limitations of tropical grass
12. Perennial grasses are highly productive
13. Perennial grass varieties – ME x Growth Rate
14. Variability is not explained by pasture variety
15. Nitrogen response in Rhodes grass
16. Nitrogen-use efficiency (of urea) declines as input level increases
17. Videos available – Grazing irrigated pastures in northern Australia
18. Other annual crop options?
19. Constraints?
20. Feedbase – Dryland Stylo Project
21. Adapting and adopting
22. Future direction
23. Thank you (and contact details)