Reflections on the concept, conduct and findings of the producer-led Cicerone Project

Abstract

Abstract. The Cicerone Project began as a producer-led partnership that sought, over a period of 8 years, to enhance the profitability and sustainability of livestock enterprises by improving the connection between those producers, research and extension. Following a detailed survey, the research and extension needs of livestock producers were identified and several applied investigations were conducted to meet those needs and delivered through a range of extension activities. This final paper of the Cicerone Special Issue reflects on the entire Project from a wide array of perspectives, including livestock producers, researchers, extension specialists and staff employed by the Project, all of whom are authors of this paper.A notable early successful outcome of the Project was the improved precision of footrot diagnosis, which has been of value to the entire sheep industry, and that flowed from a field investigation of benign and virulent footrot combined with detailed genetic investigations, which led to an improved testing regime. This paper also reflects on the findings of an unreplicated agricultural ecosystem research trial, which measured the impact of pasture renovation, increased soil fertility and grazing management on the profitability and sustainability of three different 53-ha farmlets. Valuable findings from this whole-farmlet trial included the need for a high quality feed supply for increasing stocking rate and animal liveweights; the ability and utility of satellite imagery to detect changes in pasture growth, composition and recent grazing pressure; the value of short grazing and long rest periods for controlling Barber's pole worms of sheep; the impact of increased stocking rates on whole-farm profitability and risk; methods of optimising decisions relating to pasture renovation, fertiliser applications and grazing management; and an integrated analysis of all key measured components of the farmlet management systems. Collectively, these findings were powerful as they were demonstrated at a scale credible to livestock producers using the 'compare -measure -learn -adopt' approach, which was the key philosophy adopted by the Cicerone Project.By comparing and measuring different whole-farm systems, and by ensuring that producers had ownership of the trial process, the Project successfully delivered objective findings that producers trusted and which increased our understanding of important drivers of complex grazing enterprises under variable climatic conditions. Some of these drivers included: the influence of soil phosphorus on botanical composition and subsequent livestock production, the role of pasture renovation and soil fertility on herbage supply, herbage quality and stocking rate, and the improved gastrointestinal nematode control delivered by intensive rotational grazing.The beneficiaries of the Project included the 180 farmer members who participated in some 61 field days and workshops; the research and extension collaborators including four postgraduates who completed their research in...

Anatomical Characteristics of Petalized Anther Abortion in Male Sterile Camellia oleifera Plants

“…Colletes gigas is one of the main pollinators of C. oleifera. It can easily carry pollen when collecting nectar from C. oleifera, but pollen from C. oleifera is toxic to bee larvae (Xie et al, 2013). The pollen produced by male sterile 'Huashuo' plants is not only small but is also low in vitality.…”

Selection of experimental treatments, methods used and evolution of management guidelines for comparing and measuring three grazed farmlet systems

“…Funds were committed for the setup cost of the farmlets and then ongoing costs were needed for the support of administrative and farm staff, as well as for ongoing expenses of soil testing, fertilisers, supplementary feeding and other general running expenses. Details of the overall funding of the Cicerone Project have been described and discussed in a related paper by Coventry et al (2013). Throughout the Project, there was considerable reliance on in-kind contributions from collaborators not only during the planning phase but also during the operational phase and especially during the publication phase.…”

Delivering extension and adult learning outcomes from the Cicerone Project by ‘comparing, measuring, learning and adopting'

“…As noted in the final paper of this Special Issue (Coventry et al 2013), the high degree of commitment shown by institutional partners to the Cicerone Project would have been even greater if a mechanism could have been found to provide some funding to support those contributions made by partners. For example, in the final year of the Project, when a decision was taken to conduct a substantial outreach effort to different regions, some marginal funding was provided by the Cicerone Project to assist the extension partner, NSW DPI.…”

“…A complementary paper by Sutherland et al (2013) explains the origin of the Project while another details the surveying of livestock producers (Kaine et al 2013) to learn of their most pressing problems. Many other papers detail the overall methods and results while the final paper provides 'reflections' from the Cicerone Board members on the success or otherwise of the overall Project (Coventry et al 2013).…”