News

Seasonal outlooks a hot topic at irrigation event

By Djembe Archibald

Jul 24, 2025

On a wet Moama morning, dozens headed into the Rich River Golf Club to talk all things irrigation and the future of agricultural technology.

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As well as networking opportunities and sponsorship stalls, the day was filled with talks from a variety of speakers.

Goulburn-Murray Water river operations manager Andrew Shields kicked off the presentations. Photo by Djembe Archibald

The morning was kicked off by Goulburn-Murray Water river operations manager Andrew Shields, who spoke about the water outlook for the year before taking crowd questions.

“It’s certainly more favourable than what it could be, but the outlooks are based on what could potentially happen in the Indian Ocean, and that’s not heading that way at this stage,” Mr Shields said.

“It looks like we’re heading into to something in between a La Niña or an El Niño phase.

“A lot of those climate outlooks are suggesting that it probably needs to get into the negative Indian Ocean dipole phase for those wetter signals to play out.

“These are just indicators, and we’ll keep an eye on what’s happening until we see that rain.”

Thorburn Drone Solutions Chris Thorbrun spoke about drone usage from a farming perspective. Photo by Djembe Archibald

After a presentation by INCYT chief operating officer Andrew Minnikin, Thorburn Drone Solutions’s Chris Thorburn discussed how drones present an efficient, accurate and cost-effective solution in agriculture.

He spoke from a farmer’s perspective on the applications of the drones for spraying, spreading, and mapping, particularly in areas that are hard to access.

Emily Fasham, who has a farm an hour north of Moama, attended the event. Photo by Djembe Archibald

“The main message I wanted to get across is that drones are not here to replace other, application methods. They’re here to complement them,” Mr Thorburn said.

“I think the future and the technology is there, the only real limitation that I can see at the moment is the batteries and the power supply because they’re quite heavy and that just exacerbates the issue with the efficiencies when it comes to operating the drone.”

Rubicon Water's Peter O'Donnell was one of the sponsor stalls at the event. Photo by Djembe Archibald

Attendees were also spoken to by Kieran O’Keeffe about the latest information and practical strategies for improving spray application and reducing off-target spray drift.

GRDC north grower relations manager Charleton Glenn provided the latest insights into GRDC’s current projects and investments shaping the future of irrigated grain production.

Flexi Grain’s Dustin Lovell with Advanced Ag’s Luke Nagle and Stephen O’Conner. Photo by Djembe Archibald

Charleton provided an update on key initiatives and research outcomes aimed at improving productivity, profitability and resilience in irrigated systems.

Other speakers included Irrigation Farmers Network research manager Damian Jones, Nicon Rural Services director Cam Nicholson, and a farmer talk from Cohuna dairy farmer Jodie Hay and Nathan Pate from Tocumwal.

The event was held by the Irrigation Farmers Network.